"The Manual" is an American half-hour live action short film from 2017 and this one received a respectable amount of awards recognition already since its release. Writer and director is Wil Magness and this is his most recent work at this point. And it also reaches audiences like so many other science fiction short films, so it is not too difficult to get your hands on this still relatively new movie. There aren't many characters in here at all and I liked it, so the focus is crucial on one or two in the center of the story. Sadly, the story itself did not impress me as much as I hoped it would/could, but maybe this is also because I am not the very greatest science fiction film fan. Still the visual side, especially the robot, was pretty decent, but occasionally, the execution and ideas, also with the plot twist at the very end, simply did not match the talent, so it looks very ambitious, but the road and the production values, especially in terms of story telling do not really feel as good as I wanted them to be. It's not a bad film by any means, so everybody who likes the genre can give it a go I guess. Still there is nothing here that stands out, maybe the music comes closest, so overall I have to give it a thumbs-down and negative recommendation. like I said, one only for genre lovers.
Review of The Manual
