Holiday Camp (2010) User Reviews

Nice and to the point

[sandover · 20 December 2010]

Even with a nugget of a plot that runs also like a well-tuned mechanism of clichés, this short strikes home. It's summer, it's camping, it's adolescence playing "Truth or Dare?" As everybody remembers the perennial dare and kiss a same-sexed (uneasy) friend is acted-out. Some insistence on the kiss attracts the expected stupid comments of adolescence starting out. But with the intervention of the superintendent more than three and in less than six minutes admit their sexuality, as summer heads back home. This little short, intended as part of a collection against homophobia, addresses mostly adolescents, and with the axis put upon the mostly effeminate image one expects from gayness, to the detriment, actually, of "virile" boys at a loss to admit their feelings. Thankfully, in this short the boy that expresses his not-so-repressed feelings, does not pass through an ugly scene of the usual bullying. This role is quasi-reserved for a girl; but instead of exemplifying any sense of misogyny, Vincent, the director, shows with a keen sense the antagonism between adolescents in just three strokes, an antagonism more fully depicted to excellent results in his sulfurous pastoral "Give me your hand".

Almost destroyed by the ending

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 July 2016]

"En colo" or "At Summer Camp" is a French 8-minute live action short film from 2010, so it had its fifth anniversary last year already. There is very little story in here, just an occasionally gay-themed reference, but I personally enjoyed the film on some occasions because it's just harmless fun depicting a bunch of French kids having fun at summer camp partying and playing a few games like "Truth or Dare". And during a kiss, the truth comes out that one of them is obviously more into boys than the others? But is that really how things are. The director here is Pascal-Alex Vincent and the writer who came up with the original idea is Guillaume Nail. I guess he did a solid job overall without delivering any greatness. But the very last shot almost destroyed the entire film because it is just so unrealistic, not only that he is a gay too, but also because he has a crush on the other guy and that he would show it in exactly that situation. I have to give this little movie a thumbs-down. Maybe it would have been a thumbs up without the very last scene, but this way I can absolutely not recommend it.

nice

[Kirpianuscus · 3 November 2019]

A very short film with and for teenagers. The frame/ a holiday camp. French teenager, a superintender, a game very usual in this context, a revelation and a not so bad / only unrealistic end. Short/ few cliches, nice atmosphere, manifesto against homophobia and a good air .