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Reviewed by: Andrew Robertson

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"Jack Northover's minimal piano score and Max Bellamy's cinematography both well serve Gleeson's two roles as director and editor."

Thomas Gleeson's debut short is a striking piece of minimal film-making. The best rule of thumb for good documentary is an interesting subject shown in an interesting way. Here, and there's more than one here, a process of moving house.

Literally so. Jacked-up on a hydraulic trailer we won't see until later, a house is physically relocated on New Zealand / Aotearoa. We start indoors, fixed cameras pointing at empty cupboards, unplumbed sinks, doors and their shadows in the central corridor.

Sudden recontextualisation, trees move past the windows and then we realise we are moving past the trees. Bumping doors, rattling floors, oven as pendulum. Exterior shots from high in the valleys give new, human, scale, the not-quite glacial pace of heavy haulage across glacial landscapes. Oversized over bridges, undersized through treelines. Plasterboard tears like a wound, pink insulating foam flesh.

In new location preparations are made. Good augers for the ground, and then humans. Toddler intent, comfortable feet, clearing skies and laundry. At each turn Gleeson's camera finds something new. Even the junction for Invercargill brings understanding, even if only a measure of distance.

Jack Northover's minimal piano score and Max Bellamy's cinematography both well serve Gleeson's two roles as director and editor. This is a film made in the edit, from door opening to curtain close. It's a treat, even moving. This is nearly Gleeson's sole directorial credit, save for a music video also on his Vimeo the bulk of his film work is as editor. That's not to minimalise it however, editing is one of the secret sauces in cinema.

The processes in front of the camera are equally fascinating. That red rig that folds to lower the house to the ground is as much a mystery as our first visions of its use. The passage of time is made in leaps small and large. Gleeson plants seeds here, germinating ideas, as sure-footedly as the house is relocated. At the end the house is framed, surrounded by decking, and the film is as surely constructed around it.

Reviewed on: 26 Mar 2021
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A documentary about moving a house.

Director: Thomas Gleeson

Year: 2012

Runtime: 11 minutes

Country: New Zealand

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If you like this, try:

Howl's Moving Castle
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