HCAU Review: Sing
Best Live Action Short is hardly the most exciting category of the Academy Awards, it’s probably not even in your top 3. However, for me and probably for a few of my compatriots, it was more than just a dull moment of the Oscar’s before the real deal, since Hungary’s Kristóf Deák’s movie, ’Sing’ won the title.
Deák’s 25 minute live action is set in the 1990s in a Hungarian elementary school, where the new girl, Zsófi, is trying to fit in. Her love of singing leads her to join the school’s award-winning choir, but her excitement soon turns to disillusionment due to their teacher’s cruel rule for the less talented: Zsófi is asked to only imitate singing, so she wouldn’t risk losing the prestigious competition they are practicing for. When the off-key heroine and her new friend, Liza, find out that their teacher has been silencing a number of their mates, they decide to step up against the injustice. Their conspiracy leads to a what some might say predictable, but nonetheless emotional and touching finale, when finally (spoiler alert!) everyone gets to sing.
This short film tells the story of unity and resistance against a seemingly invincible figure – ’a parable of defiance against unjust and corrupt authority’, as the New York Times put it, which makes it rather relevant today. But apart from this message, it also offers great entertainment with authentic, relatable child actors (Dorka Gáspárfalvi as Zsófi and Dorka Hais as Liza), and beautiful music.
In our opinion ’Sing’ is a must watch, you can’t even use “not having enough time” as an excuse! To learn more and listen to the choir’s singing, visit www.singshortfilm.com.
(Photos: hungarytoday.hu, classfm.hu)