Soft (2006) User Reviews

good short film packs a punch

[brapbrap100 · 7/10 · 31 December 2008]

Soft is a great short film. It has all you want in a short film. fast pace, excellent story. Good round over all.

I think this film has done really well because it appeals to most people from all social classes. The father was a great actor, and his portrayal of the dad was fantastic.

His eyes said everything and the voice was just an asset which he used brilliantly as well. I would love to see him in more roles in the future as well. By far Soft is a good film and deserves the BIFA award it picked up

well done bravo Simon. like to see your future films. Some times a few films are made and they leave and impact.

Soft does this.. 7 - 10 this is worth viewing.

Well made, but full of adult content

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 July 2008]

This is an excellent film on bullies, but more importantly on the effects this can have on anyone--not just kids but parents. Unlike the normal film on bullying, the gang not only bullies other kids but in this case actually beats up the father--who, oddly, just takes the abuse. Now I am not necessarily saying he should fight the teenagers (there are too many and the way laws are generally written, he'll be the one to go to jail--go figure), but he never even contacts the police. It's obvious to his son that Dad is scared--and in an odd reversal, it's up to the son to actually come to his father's assistance! The film is very compelling and I definitely felt my heart beating VERY fast when I watched it. I was also aware that I definitely wanted to see the father kill or at least severely hurt the punks, so it's obvious this sort of film is a good one to churn up an emotional reaction!

HOWEVER, and I must point this out, this short film goes a bit over the line--not so much with just the violence but with one of the punks showing off his rather small "willie" at the family. It's too bad, as I would have loved to show this film to my high school students to generate a discussion, but I think our principal would probably have a stroke (as would most parents) if I showed a film with male "member" in it. While I wasn't so much offended, it prevents the film from being shown to wider audiences and that's a shame. Odd, though, how it's okay to show kids the violence but not the nudity.

PS--I used words like "willie" and "member" because I don't think others would make it past the IMDb submission guidelines.

Soft

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 17 February 2024]

Dad (Jonny Phillips) gets home and wants his teenage son "Scott" (Matthew O'Shea) to go get some milk. Ignored, he goes himself and encounters a gang of exhibitionist hoods who knock him to the ground. On returning home, he discovers that his bruised son also encountered these thugs earlier and when quizzing him about fighting back, realises that they and their ring-leader (Michael Socha) are now sitting on a car outside their window, goading them. What to do now? Call the police? Keep quiet and ignore them or confront them? What does happen is hardly expected and really quite effectively thought-provoking.

Another great piece of work from Bub & The Team

[barringtonrobinson · 9/10 · 29 June 2007]

As a long time contributor to the World of short film and as ever truly representing fine film making. Here is a piece that speaks not just from Nottingham but subtly highlights an epidemic throughout the country. For me it tackles masculinity in away that we do not see too often, there is no football, no boxing none of the usual props that are normally used to reflect what we are supposed to be as men. Simon uses contemporary methods realistic dialogue and performances to reflect what is happening today. The relationships that are shown are also very well played out, within the group of young (asbo) teens, between father and son, even the apathy of the shopkeeper. The fact that all the neighbours are too scared to get involved.

I have no doubt that Ellis & his team can transfer his storytelling ability to a longer form quite easily and i am looking forward to buying my ticket and taking my seat. But i do hope that he will keep his hand, even occasionally in the shorts arena to keep the bar at a level new filmmakers have to try and surpass.

From Telling Lies (the first film of his i saw) to Soft he has consistently got better and shown that there is more than one talented Film maker in Nottingham.

Outstanding Short Film!

[crasylove · 10/10 · 26 June 2007]

I watched this film at the Worldwide Short Film Festival (WWSFF) 2007, in Toronto, Canada. I had been generally unimpressed with many of the films in the programme. Some were mediocre, bad, and some were quite good. HOWEVER, no film blew me away like SOFT did. I had never in my life witnessed an audience so enraptured in a film before - to vocally cheer for the characters, and feel such strong emotions.

SOFT won "Best Live Action Short" at the WWSFF, and well deserved! Simon developed the characters extremely well by using tension and raising the stakes (which was defined by subtle choices the characters made). I cannot stress how smart this film was. The film was cinematically beautiful, with interesting visual choices to play with conventional cinema. Most of all, the acting really was superb because of how realistic the dialogue and character choices were.

This is a film I would recommend to anyone who wants to see a short film that can evoke powerful emotions. Those who watch a lot films will appreciate films that make a lasting impression on you. Well, SOFT is one short film that you won't forget.

Not a brilliant short but has a great character dynamic at the core that made it engaging

[bob the moo · 12 May 2007]

Scott comes home and goes straight to his room, having been attacked by a group of yobs after school. Unaware of this his father pops out for a pint of milk and gets hassled by the same group, who then follow him home as he tries to avoid trouble. The father is halfway through telling his son to try and stand up for himself when he realises that the yobs are outside his door, forcing him to confront his own cowardice while his son looks on.

I've not always enjoyed Simon Ellis' films but as a "doer" he certainly deserves my attention and this film seemed topical and interesting thank to its base in the realm of asbo yobs and "happy slapping". However the reason I found the film interesting was not because of these topics but more because of the two lead characters, who the film is about. It is not brilliant but I found this aspect of the film tot be really well done and interesting in a sort of character driven film. The real story is the unspoken relationship that comes out very quickly between father and son as the cowardice (or common sense?) of the former becomes clear to the latter. It is interestingly done and made me think about the dynamics and the situation beyond the running time of the film.

As a narrative it could have done more but for my money it left the characters at the best place – with a lot of stuff visible in the their faces but not in their words. Credit to the actors then for producing so much of this film in their performances. The father (Philips) is easily the strongest and does justice to the character but the son (O'Shea) and "asbo" (Socha) are both strong. Ellis does well with the crane camera but also uses the mobile phone video feel to be in keeping with his story and provide some visual styling beyond the higher budget stuff (£50k being a big budget in this world) .

Not a perfect film then but it does produce a very interesting character dynamic that drew me in effortlessly and also got an impressive central turn from Phillips despite his rather unattractive character.

A lesson on manliness

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 4 December 2015]

"Soft" is a British short film from almost 10 years ago that won writer and director Simon Ellis really a lot of awards and was also nominated for a BAFTA, which it lost to Paddy Considine. A father gets bullied by a group of young men and he needs to prove to his son that he is up to the challenge when they approach his house and attack his car. I liked the watch. I am not sure if the final twist was realistic, which hurt a bit as everything else about it is nicely atmospheric and realistic, but it's not as bad of an ending that it could endanger the entire film. There was potential for a ****/*****, but all in all it does not achieve greatness, even if it looks really good early on. I recommend the watch. Gonna watch the Considine movie now that I mentioned earlier. Check out my review for that one too if you like. Lets see if it deserved to beat the pretty good "Soft". A bit sad to see Ellis still has not evolved into full feature filmmaking as this one is already almost 10 years old. He has the talent I think.

Vivid and truthful

[marinelad · 10/10 · 23 July 2007]

Previewing a number of short films for Sarajevo Film Festival I was amazed by this one. This mini social drama made me interested in other Ellis' works so I've spent some time exploring his home page. Beautiful photos, funny stories, plenty awards, bright young man...

In this brilliant 14-minute film Ellis shows father who's having a problem with raising his son the way he learns to fight for himself, father who is not able to confront, to stand up even for himself. Being attacked and humiliated by the same street gang, they are both scared. For a boy, it is natural to get terrified by older and violent kids, but father seems even more frightened. Since his father is too weak (soft), the boy takes the role/responsibility of an adult. So vivid and truthful, so excellent story, great actors and superb editing - I could barely name any weak point.

Cannot wait Ellis' first feature film!