Six of One (2000) User Reviews

Interesting but a little crude

[bob the moo · 17 May 2003]

Opening with John falling to his death out of a bedroom window we follow the story back, as loving husband Guy plays squash away from home regularly. One weekend he has a conference but, returning from a cancelled flight he finds his wife Linda in bed with John leading to his sudden demise. However from the perspective of the other players is this really the full picture?

In theory I have little problem with short, but in delivery I think it went a little wrong somewhere along the way. The plot is good and creates a nice little story that we find out more about as we see the bigger picture from the other character's perspective (kind of like TV's Boomtown). This works quite well except for the repeating viewings of mundane sections such as driving up to the house and the like. The main weakness is the lack of really strong characters - or maybe relatable characters. The film's suggestion in the final frame that this sort of complexity occurs all over the place was a fair one but I could relate to none of the characters and this kept me out of the film at times.

The animation is good but too crude for my tastes. The repeated nudity was a distraction to me. Maybe it was the cold way it was presented but I felt that the short didn't benefit from it at all. The voice work is quite good without being very distinctive and Watts' Guy stood out.

Overall a clever little story that suffers a little through the delivery - particular the adult images and the slight repetition. Still worth watching though.

Interesting story, dragged down by the visuals

[heywood100 · 19 May 2003]

The actual tale told in Six Of One is really quite an interesting one, and for that reason alone it is worth watching. But I can't help but feel that it would have been better as a live action film rather than an animation, if only because they would have had to keep it a lot cleaner than it is.

The story is told from a number of different perspectives, with each one revealing things from a slightly different viewpoint and unveiling more and more of the story. This form of storytelling may be becoming something of a cliche but it's handled with a surprising amount of skill here, which makes it even more of a disappointment that the animation is full of such crude and off-putting sexual images. It is only this that stops Six Of One from being one of the best short films I've seen for quite a while, and it does indeed stand in its way. Just as you're getting immersed in the story you have to pull away and grimace at the primitive and childish drawings of genitalia. But unless you are likely to be very offended by this, I would still suggest giving Six Of One a chance, if only for the well thought out story.