91 Bewertungen
It's grim up north the old saying goes; Gasman by Lynne Ramsey won't change that stereotype but it does illustrate the talent of this director. This short film shares similarities with the both work of Mike Leigh and social realist 'kitchen sink' films of the sixties, in showing a slice of life story from the lower classes. Read; bleak setting and diegetic sound.
Set in an undisclosed Scottish city at Christmas, the story concerns a day in the life of lower class father (James Ramsey), daughter Lynne (Lynne Ramsey Jr) and son Steven (Martin Anderson) as they walk the tracks. En route, they mysteriously pick up more children from a woman (Jackie Quinn), Lisa (Lisa Taylor) and Robert (Robert McEwan).
Gasman is a powerful piece, due in no small part to the performance by Lynne Ramsey Jr. It is a powerful portrait of a working class young girl and the confusion she faces. When pretending to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, you really believe that 'There's no place like home.' The supporting cast are also suitably bedraggled for their characters to be believable. There are some fine visual flourishes in this short piece; the close shots of people getting ready for their day out give the film a very intimate feel, as if you are really looking into their family life. There is appropriate use of light and dark contrast, in particular as they are in wide shot walking up the tracks. Also, the working club Christmas party is visual delight, with child POV shots, slow motion and chopped up editing.
At times the Scottish dialect is quite hard to follow with the sound quality being quite raw. My main issue with the film would be that Gasman doesn't have anything original to say. Gasman is suitably bleak according to genre convention but its essential message being that it's challenging growing up in a lower class environment has been a mainstay of social realist cinema since before Kes. Still grim it would seem.
Set in an undisclosed Scottish city at Christmas, the story concerns a day in the life of lower class father (James Ramsey), daughter Lynne (Lynne Ramsey Jr) and son Steven (Martin Anderson) as they walk the tracks. En route, they mysteriously pick up more children from a woman (Jackie Quinn), Lisa (Lisa Taylor) and Robert (Robert McEwan).
Gasman is a powerful piece, due in no small part to the performance by Lynne Ramsey Jr. It is a powerful portrait of a working class young girl and the confusion she faces. When pretending to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, you really believe that 'There's no place like home.' The supporting cast are also suitably bedraggled for their characters to be believable. There are some fine visual flourishes in this short piece; the close shots of people getting ready for their day out give the film a very intimate feel, as if you are really looking into their family life. There is appropriate use of light and dark contrast, in particular as they are in wide shot walking up the tracks. Also, the working club Christmas party is visual delight, with child POV shots, slow motion and chopped up editing.
At times the Scottish dialect is quite hard to follow with the sound quality being quite raw. My main issue with the film would be that Gasman doesn't have anything original to say. Gasman is suitably bleak according to genre convention but its essential message being that it's challenging growing up in a lower class environment has been a mainstay of social realist cinema since before Kes. Still grim it would seem.
- twistedhooch
- 24. Okt. 2006
- Permalink
One of the most difficult problems to solve is the people relationships.
The father has two families, which means the four little children have blood relations. However, maybe of course, they do not know that.
In the Christmas party the main character girl is coming to feel uncomfortable about the other girl who is her half sister indeed. In the last scene, when they are coming back home, the order of the people especially the girls mentions the very touchy feelings of them. The girl is so confused but does not know the truth. This is a very interesting film and is questioning us about what to do with such a problem.
The father has two families, which means the four little children have blood relations. However, maybe of course, they do not know that.
In the Christmas party the main character girl is coming to feel uncomfortable about the other girl who is her half sister indeed. In the last scene, when they are coming back home, the order of the people especially the girls mentions the very touchy feelings of them. The girl is so confused but does not know the truth. This is a very interesting film and is questioning us about what to do with such a problem.
- user-704-392173
- 7. Juli 2013
- Permalink
A little girl, Lynne, puts on her yellow dress with her mother's help, while her brother is playing with a toy car and sugar. They are taken by their father to a Christmas party. On the way to the party, the three people meet a woman with two children. One of the two is a little girl who is as old as Lynne. Lynne talks to the girl and they become friends, so they just are friends. However, things are not so simple. They arrive at the party and a lot of children including Lynne enjoy themselves. While Lynne is dancing with Santa, the girl feels lonely and sits on the knees of Lynne's father. Looking at the scene, Lynne realizes that the girl is not just her friend. Lynne feels jealous of and anger with her. Since this moment, her mind is very complicated.
First, this film is very difficult to understand. Therefore it was not until I watched this film three times that I figure out what is represented. However, the director made it so on purpose, I think. Metaphors used in this film are all elaborate. Therefore it is hard, though, it made a sophisticated impression on me.
This film is a kind of masterpiece. I mean the great actors, actresses and director excel. Without them, this film couldn't be like this.
First, this film is very difficult to understand. Therefore it was not until I watched this film three times that I figure out what is represented. However, the director made it so on purpose, I think. Metaphors used in this film are all elaborate. Therefore it is hard, though, it made a sophisticated impression on me.
This film is a kind of masterpiece. I mean the great actors, actresses and director excel. Without them, this film couldn't be like this.
- AdamHawkes
- 11. Juli 2013
- Permalink
Gasman is a proper short film - little plot, none of it told explicitly, but a larger story going on around the camera. Like most of Lynne Ramsey's stuff (Ratcatcher being the best and most enjoyable example, because it isn't a short)it feels like and probably is 1970s/80s East-end Glasgow, the struggling classes and a fairly grim outlook, but you see the little sparks of interest in real lives, and being a small story told very much from a child's point of view, it's much more hopeful, interesting and happy than it could have been. The characters, so few, and so little seen in the short still have immense believability and completeness. Most people will find this dull, but if you're the kind of person who knows how to get hold of a copy, you're probably the type of person who'd enjoy it. Arty, but not impenetrable, simple but thought-provoking.
A father, his daughter (Lynne) and his son (Steven) go to a Christmas party with a woman's daughter and son who look like almost the same age as them. This short film describes the children's sensitive mind. Lynne is jealous of the other girl for sitting on her father's lap, while the girl feels sad and lonely because there are not her parents and there are many strangers in the party. When I was a child, I felt a little jealous of other girls for talking with my father and also I felt lonely when there were not my parents around me, therefore I understand their feeling well. I cannot understand the father's feeling yet, however I would understand it in the future. I recommend everyone watching this film because it describes not only children's feeling but also parents' mind in an unusual situation and the audiences would watch it from children's and parents' viewpoint.
- mao-yana32
- 16. Juli 2013
- Permalink
I've never been a fan of short films for their 'art-school' and 'experimental' qualities. Simply being a product of those two is not enough. They are almost always too personal, too opaque, and too much obviously serving as 'stepping-stones'.
I was therefore happy to see Lynne Ramsay's short films as the chrysalis for her superb feature films. I was also impressed to learn that she won the Cannes short-film prize, *twice*. And now I can see what others saw in her, for _Gasman_ is the best short film I have ever seen.
Available on the Criterion DVD with _Small Deaths_ and the less good _Kill the Day_, _Gasman_ is a fully-fledged, visionary film that translates directly into the skill and grace of _Ratcatcher_.
_Gasman_ moves directly from the first piece of _Short Deaths_, with the distant father and Lynne Ramsay Jr. again taking centre screen. But _Gasman_ comes to a kind a fruition--a full story with many of the same themes and techniques of _Ratcatcher_: closely observed yet elliptical human behaviour, housing projects, slum-beauty, children's natures, a jumbled impressionistic world caught in partial body closeups and shots from behind people.
The film 'tells' nothing, but the story is dead clear and builds slowly to an emotional pitch that is almost unbearable.
This is a film of jaw-dropping beauty. Sounds trite, but that's how I feel. When the Da and two kids walk on the tracks, the camera is set to a partially closed iris which intensifies the available light and colour in an otherworldly sheen--one that is gone when they return on the same tracks at night, in disappointment. Beauty in service of story is the key.
This *is* the best short film I have ever seen.
I was therefore happy to see Lynne Ramsay's short films as the chrysalis for her superb feature films. I was also impressed to learn that she won the Cannes short-film prize, *twice*. And now I can see what others saw in her, for _Gasman_ is the best short film I have ever seen.
Available on the Criterion DVD with _Small Deaths_ and the less good _Kill the Day_, _Gasman_ is a fully-fledged, visionary film that translates directly into the skill and grace of _Ratcatcher_.
_Gasman_ moves directly from the first piece of _Short Deaths_, with the distant father and Lynne Ramsay Jr. again taking centre screen. But _Gasman_ comes to a kind a fruition--a full story with many of the same themes and techniques of _Ratcatcher_: closely observed yet elliptical human behaviour, housing projects, slum-beauty, children's natures, a jumbled impressionistic world caught in partial body closeups and shots from behind people.
The film 'tells' nothing, but the story is dead clear and builds slowly to an emotional pitch that is almost unbearable.
This is a film of jaw-dropping beauty. Sounds trite, but that's how I feel. When the Da and two kids walk on the tracks, the camera is set to a partially closed iris which intensifies the available light and colour in an otherworldly sheen--one that is gone when they return on the same tracks at night, in disappointment. Beauty in service of story is the key.
This *is* the best short film I have ever seen.
- beckyness-12086
- 1. Nov. 2021
- Permalink
This short film from Lynne Ramsay is extremely impressive on a technical level as well as emotionally stirring. The director has an uncanny ability to capture those seemingly small and insignificant moments in a child's life which have a lasting and profound effect; those moments when everything changes, innocence is lost and nothing will ever be the same again. The children in her films learn the facts of life the hard way and quite often have to make sense of them on their own without the aide of an understanding parent. I was more moved by "Gasman" than I was with "Ratcatcher" (her first feature length which is a must see for true film connoisseurs) for this reason. The director keeps information from the audience, so that when we discover what the little girl discovers it's just as new and poignant for the viewer without being predictable. Lynne Ramsay is a true "auteur" who possesses the uncanny ability to capture beautiful and haunting moments of life.
- karenflash
- 21. Apr. 2008
- Permalink
I too was surprised by Ramsay's "thorough understanding" of a child's mind and feelings. Gasman was a good description of a Little girls relationship with her father. Her rivalry with another little girl, who looks quite similar, and is of the same relative age; the two in a sort of competition for the fathers lap. Not being able to 'share' her father she begins to pull her rivals hair. In this film the railroad is a symbol of the fathers long toiling life, his being torn between his two families/lives. I am sort of wondering, what the two sons, they kind of just walk and are in the sides of the shots, not really characters but props, but I cannot quite figure out what they are doing/ what purpose they are sharing.
Someday in a winter season, a girl and her brother go to a Christmas party with their father. She wears very cute dress and coat. She looks like so happy, but her gay feeling does not last for a long time.
This movie is only about 14 minutes, but this makes me creepy. At first, I thought this movie is bright and makes me smile. I thought this movie draw a special day of a happy family. However, this image was changed soon This is very dark story... The story is dark, but the situation is a happy Christmas party. This contrasting situation is fresh to me and it is a beautiful part of this movie.
The main character, Lynne, is so great. She expresses the pure heart of children well. Another character, Lynne's brother, is also great. He does not tell a lot, but his facial expression and behavior tell me about his feelings.
This movie is easy to understand.
This movie is only about 14 minutes, but this makes me creepy. At first, I thought this movie is bright and makes me smile. I thought this movie draw a special day of a happy family. However, this image was changed soon This is very dark story... The story is dark, but the situation is a happy Christmas party. This contrasting situation is fresh to me and it is a beautiful part of this movie.
The main character, Lynne, is so great. She expresses the pure heart of children well. Another character, Lynne's brother, is also great. He does not tell a lot, but his facial expression and behavior tell me about his feelings.
This movie is easy to understand.
Gasman is a 1998 film by Lynne Ramsa. This film won Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Fest, the BAFTA Awards, and the Atlantic Film Fest. The direction and the camera work of this film are very strange. There is a little girl and a little boy. There is Christmas music. The girl gets dressed. The boy gets sugar on his toy car and plays with it. There is a mother, hurrying them up. In this scene, you can see the face of the characters hardly. Then, they go out and walk along the railway. The family arrives at a Christmas party. The visual and sound are somehow filled with uneasiness. This may be because of the strange direction and the unstable camera work. So, you will be drawn into the screen although it is very short film.
- mindopener623
- 14. Feb. 2014
- Permalink
One day, the girl whose name is Lynne leaves home with her father and brother to go to the Christmas party. They walk along the long railroad. After a short time, one woman is waiting them and leaves her two children who are the same age as his children. So he go to the party with four children. There are a lot of mysteries in this film. I don't understand why the title of this film is gas man and who the woman was. It is just my guess, but I suppose that she is his former wife. I can understand her feeling. The girl who is just about her age is realistically portrayed very well. Probably, Lynne feels that the girl keeps her father to herself. But the girl might be lonely because Lynne didn't care about her. So she tried to attract Lynne's attention. I think understanding children's feeling is very difficult.
- rumi-s0507
- 20. Aug. 2013
- Permalink
A mother is helping her son and daughter to get out and two children leave for the Christmas party with their father. On the way to the party, they meet a woman with her son and daughter and they go with the family. At the party, the daughter feels it is strange that the other daughter is so attached to her father. This story is very confusing, but I guessed that all four children are his, though they have a different mother. By watching the film, I could feel stress of the children which they can't monopolize their parent' affection, moreover it wouldn't be surprised if that might cause a serious social problem. This film expresses the child's emotion well and tries to tell us the problem.
A girl and her brother get dressed up and go out with their father. On the way, they meet a woman, a girl and a boy. They look like the same age with the brother. Two girls, two boys and their father go to a Christmas party. The girl looks happy, however, she sees the girl who she met a while ago is on the lap of her own father. She is angry. Probably, they are half brothers. However, the children are good friends.
This is a fairly serious story for me. I don't understand why their mother and father take them to the party together. I think that it is not good that a half-brother and half-sister met each other when they are children. The scene of the railroad track where father and his divorced wife talk is deeply impressive. I feel sorrowful because the season of winter is added to the scene. However, the girls are very cute. The blonde hair and the dress are charming. The party looks lively and happy, therefore I want to join such a party. I like the party scene.
This is a fairly serious story for me. I don't understand why their mother and father take them to the party together. I think that it is not good that a half-brother and half-sister met each other when they are children. The scene of the railroad track where father and his divorced wife talk is deeply impressive. I feel sorrowful because the season of winter is added to the scene. However, the girls are very cute. The blonde hair and the dress are charming. The party looks lively and happy, therefore I want to join such a party. I like the party scene.
- goto-kazoku-4
- 8. Juli 2013
- Permalink
Lynne, 8-9 year - old girl goes to a Christmas party with her father and brother. At the party, she notices that another girl treats his father as if he is her real father and get jealous and learns something surprising then. Although the story turns out to be not that complicated, I love this movie because it has a nice structure. While I am watching this film, it leaves many questions to my mind, for example, "Why mother does not go to the party?" "Why are there only father and their children in that party?" or "Why the girl is so familiar to Lynne's father even though she is supposed that they are stranger?" and all those questions are answered at the end of the film. I thought that this structure makes the movie interesting and the audience satisfied.
This story is complexly. Lynne who is main character in this story meets one girl. However, she sees the girl who sitting on a knee of Lynne's father. She wonders the girl becoming friend with Lynne's father. Finally, she comprehends their relation.
I'm impressed by the scene that is the girl sitting on a knee of Lynne's father. This scene is the most important point in this story. Various feelings of characters are jumbled together. I think Lynne is jealous because the girl appears suddenly and keeps a thing to herself. Lynne probably can't understand. So she uses violence on the girl. Furthermore, their father doesn't want to scold Lynne because he probably wants to love both of them.
In conclusion, he wants them to be friend with each other. At the same time, he knows it is difficult practically. On the other hand, Lynne parts from the girl before she is convinced. So Lynne and her father are gloomy.
I'm impressed by the scene that is the girl sitting on a knee of Lynne's father. This scene is the most important point in this story. Various feelings of characters are jumbled together. I think Lynne is jealous because the girl appears suddenly and keeps a thing to herself. Lynne probably can't understand. So she uses violence on the girl. Furthermore, their father doesn't want to scold Lynne because he probably wants to love both of them.
In conclusion, he wants them to be friend with each other. At the same time, he knows it is difficult practically. On the other hand, Lynne parts from the girl before she is convinced. So Lynne and her father are gloomy.
This is a film made in 1998. Main characters are a father, his daughter and son. One day they walk to a party and meet two children, a girl and a boy, and their mother on a railroad. Later, the daughter of main side feels jealous of the other girl because she is familiar with her father. Actually, a remarkable secret among those characters is hidden.
Some children have a strong desire for exclusive possession, especially for their favorite things or people. In this case the daughter gets unpleasant for another girl since she feels as if another girl stole her father's love. Why do children show such intention? That's because, in my opinion, the world children know is too small. They cannot and are not allowed to take action by themselves. Therefore they try to defend the present position and surroundings. Don't describe them as selfish.
Please watch this film taking account of my remarks. Then, how do you feel about the girl, is she annoying or sympathetic?
Some children have a strong desire for exclusive possession, especially for their favorite things or people. In this case the daughter gets unpleasant for another girl since she feels as if another girl stole her father's love. Why do children show such intention? That's because, in my opinion, the world children know is too small. They cannot and are not allowed to take action by themselves. Therefore they try to defend the present position and surroundings. Don't describe them as selfish.
Please watch this film taking account of my remarks. Then, how do you feel about the girl, is she annoying or sympathetic?
This is a short film which is a little sad story. The main characters of this movie are little girls and their father. However the parent and child have some problem. The girls have the same father and different mother. The sentiments of the girls in cold Christmas season conveyed my mind deeply.
This film is Christmas story. Therefore, the manyChristmas songs like let it snow use in this film and give reality for me. I felt cold air of Christmas season. Although it is Christmas story, this story is dark and deep. However, the warm of human exists in end of the film certainly.
It is film that contained complex theme in fifteen minute. The trifling quarrel between two girls seems sorrowful. I felt fragility and bond of relationship of parent and children. I want you to see this film and think about relationship of parent and children.
This film is Christmas story. Therefore, the manyChristmas songs like let it snow use in this film and give reality for me. I felt cold air of Christmas season. Although it is Christmas story, this story is dark and deep. However, the warm of human exists in end of the film certainly.
It is film that contained complex theme in fifteen minute. The trifling quarrel between two girls seems sorrowful. I felt fragility and bond of relationship of parent and children. I want you to see this film and think about relationship of parent and children.
This is a short movie. One day, a girl who wears dress and brother go to a Christmas party with father. When they walk on a railroad track toward the Christmas party, they meet another family which is composed of a women, her son and daughter. they go to the party together except the women. The girl feels that the daughter knows father very well. In fact, there is a hidden truth. At first, I don't understand what is happened. However, when I watch the last scene, I can understand everything. So, If you want to know the hidden truth, I want you to watch this movie.
- coldplayer-57213
- 9. Aug. 2017
- Permalink
Gasman is the story on the day of the Christmas party. A little girl dressed up and goes to the party with her brother and father. On the way to the party, they meet a boy, a girl and a woman. A woman left her children with a man, and the story develops on the party. None of explanation, but perhaps these four children does not complete related by blood. There is something that is not understood, but it is effective to make interest for a spectator. I watched the film with a doubt, so I did not get sick. This film expresses the children's feeling well. The length of showing the child face is grate. It is consummate that how to get intervals. It is difficult to understand for me a bit. To tell the truth, I do not like such a complicated story, but it is interested. This is a very thoughtful film.
A working class father in 1970's Glasgow takes his two children to a Christmas party at a local pub. Along the way, he meets a woman with two children that are about the same age. He gives her some money and takes these two children along to the party too. Everyone gets along quite well until the first daughter realizes who these two children are.
Lynne Ramsey's third short feature does a really fantastic job at balancing a child's point of view with feeding the audience enough information to see what's coming. It's a vivid depiction of working class Glasgow (the Christmas party alone makes the entire short) and one of the moments that shift childhood perspective towards adulthood.
Lynne Ramsey's third short feature does a really fantastic job at balancing a child's point of view with feeding the audience enough information to see what's coming. It's a vivid depiction of working class Glasgow (the Christmas party alone makes the entire short) and one of the moments that shift childhood perspective towards adulthood.
This film deals with a matter in a family. There are some words during the movie, but it is difficult for me to understand the detail situation of the family. You can see four children, Father and Mother in the short. It is a Christmas season, but it is not a happy one for the family.
There is appropriate use of light and dark contrast when they are walking up the tracks. I feel sorrowful because the season of winter is added to the scene.
Some people will think this film is a dull one and I got mixed feelings. I do not watch it many times. However, this 15 minute short is a masterpiece. You should watch it.
There is appropriate use of light and dark contrast when they are walking up the tracks. I feel sorrowful because the season of winter is added to the scene.
Some people will think this film is a dull one and I got mixed feelings. I do not watch it many times. However, this 15 minute short is a masterpiece. You should watch it.
I think this is a strange film.
At the beginning of the film, people's faces are not seen. The images that are projected in the opening of the film are extreme close up, so it is difficult to know what the objects are.
It is an unusual style.
Gradually, I could know the objects shown in this film, however I could not understand what message the filmmaker wants to send.
I could only know the storyline of this film.
The atmosphere in this film is melancholic, so I was depressed after watching this film.
At the beginning of the film, people's faces are not seen. The images that are projected in the opening of the film are extreme close up, so it is difficult to know what the objects are.
It is an unusual style.
Gradually, I could know the objects shown in this film, however I could not understand what message the filmmaker wants to send.
I could only know the storyline of this film.
The atmosphere in this film is melancholic, so I was depressed after watching this film.