THE LIGHTSABER MAKER *** Canada 2018 Dir: Jeremy Brown. 11 mins
Writer-director Jeremy Brown’s short film is engagingly played in talking head documentary style by Scott Patey, cast as the marvellously named Valin Horn. Son of a famous jedi, he claims to have been frozen in carbonite, waking up with a custodial droid and his friends and family long gone. Horn is the galaxy’s only maker of artisanal lightsabers and shares with us his memories of Jedi summer camp and how crap he is at moving things with The Force. With a guest appearance by Kylo Ren (Doug Morison), Brown’s likeable film is built upon a single joke that would feel overstretched in any significantly longer format, but here works – aided by Patey’s amiable, amusing central performance. The production values and visual effects are very strong for this budget level. It might play best at festivals with the right fanbase. Lovely rendition of the STAR WARS theme during the credits.
Review by Steven West