Netherland Dwarf (2008) Reviews

• Cute rabbit can't make up for weak story on his own

  Horst_In_Translation2017-06-07

  Besides, it also does not really have the screen time to make that kind of difference. But first things first: "Netherland Dwarf" is an Australian English-language short film from 2008, so this one will have its 10th anniversary next year. The writer and director is David Michôd, who is mostly known for the Oscar-nominated "Animal Kingdom" still and with this film we have here, he somewhat enters the world of animals as well as it is about a boy's relationship with his dad and the impact women and a little pet rabbit my have on it. The child actor did not impress me at all was extremely wooden in his delivery and you could see that he was just reciting stuff he learned earlier, not a good casting decision. No surprise really he hasn't appeared in anything else before or after this film. Grown-up lead actor Ewen Leslie is better, but that's not too difficult though. Overall, the film runs for 16 minutes and this includes a fair amount of closing credits. As a whole, the father-son relationship aspect, which is the center of the film did not make a great difference to me, let alone managed something on the memorable scale. The negligence with losing the rabbit eventually is not helping either in making the characters more likable. And Rabbito Benigni? I am not sure about that. But I am sure that I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

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• Poignant and sad

  bob the moo2014-04-06

  For those like me that did not know, Netherland Dwarf is a breed of rabbit and in particular it is the breed of rabbit that young boy Harry really wants to have. His father really wants his estranged wife to come back to Australia and not spend another 6 months out in the US working while he has his son full-time. In different ways the two of them struggle with what they don't have and don't spent much time thinking about what they do have in each other. This short is a very slight affair but it is cleverly and poignantly structured to squeeze the heart rather than punch it. For the majority of the film it is a reasonably simple affair with Harry wanting a rabbit and his father clearly struggling with where his life currently is – both are distracted by what they want. The film heads to a rather upsetting ending in some ways but at the same time it is a touching final shot in particular – a little bit painful in some ways but still touching. The camera is intimate and allows some nice framing to put us in the flat – I would have liked some longer takes when it did have those effectively framed shots, but I guess with a child in the scene it is difficult. Egan's performance is good though; at first I thought he was a little bit awkward with his words but then I realized that this was not him struggling with a script but rather just being a hard-of-hearing child and thus it worked. Leslie has to carry a lot of the emotional weight of the film and he does it well; he feels tired, a little desperate and sad and this works better than having one big scene or being playing it over the top on the emotion. It is a very nice and tender little film and with small touches it reveals itself to be a lot more touching than I expected it to be.

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