Friday, August 20, 2010

Fantastic Short Film Friday - Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man
















And we are back with another weekly installment in our Fantastic Short Film Friday series, as we look to showcase films released in the "lesser" known form of cinema- the short film.

This week we have for you an amazing 23-minute short about everyone's favorite Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz called, Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man. From Whitestone Motion Pictures, the short is written and directed by Brandon McCormick and co-written by Charlie Wetzel. It's wonderful, tragic and well, it made me want to re-read the original classic series. What more can I say?!!

Here's the official synopsis from the film's website:

Based on the backstory of one of the most beloved childrenʼs novels of all time comes the extraordinary love story between a simple woodsman and a beautiful maiden. Not having many possessions but wanting to marry his maiden, the woodsman sets his heart to build a large and beautiful cabin.

L. Frank Baum wrote the back story to the Tin Woodsman in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man is Whitestone Motion Pictures retelling this little known story of the tragic arc of a beloved character who was once human, made of flesh and blood that turned into tin.


Sounds great, right? Frankly I'm stunned by the production quality and cinematography of the short film. It's muted, dark, and perfectly befitting the story told. Heartless brings a wonderful steampunk quality to L. Frank Baums classic and if there's one thing I like more than zombies, it's steampunk. The story is moving, it has a fantastic voice-over and narrative, the costumes look great (which is rare in short films) and honestly, this is what that awful 2007 Tin Man mini-series by the SyFy channel should have been. It's sad when a 23-minute short is better then a 4-part big budgeted miniseries on TV. You really are terrible SyFy channel!!

To find out more information about the short including the soundtrack go: here.

So there you have it- a fresh, new, minty film for lovers of the Wizard of Oz, Tin Men and of course, shorts. Enjoy!!


Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

No comments: