An interesting premise and this short is amusing enough, but I didn't think how it played out was as creative as it could have been. It's fun to guess at who the real psychologist is based on the pair's interaction, but it seems like he would point to some personal effects in the room (oh, say a photograph). It was more interesting for me to think of it as symbolically showing us how people treat each other when they both believe they're right about something, arguing irrationally and with condescension, but I don't think that's the film's intention. I also thought it would have been better with either of the other two logical possibilities, that both of them were psychologists, or neither of them were.
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gbill-7487731 December 2018
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Quinoa198410 February 2018One of the things I notice about the short films often nominated in live-action is that they are often *about SOMETHING*, as in there's an issue to push or some time of agenda. Not that that's always a bad thing - the towering #1 of the bunch for 2018 is about one of the saddest moments in 20th century American history - but it does crowd out other short films made by people who have no other aim than to be clever or witty or try to get some laughs out of a premise that can get mileage from the actors and/or the writing. In that sense The Eleven O'Clock is the most palatable as far as not having something it is aching to get across, unless, of course, one is looking at the issue of psychology and therapy as the issue, but in that sense one might look at the Spanish Inquisition sketch on Flying Circus to be an in-depth historical overview of that period.
This has the air of a light but still great Python sketch, where it's all built around the misunderstanding of who is in charge when a doctor is talking to the patient. Here the roles get reversed to the point where you wonder when the switch will occur, as "Dr" Klein tries to convince the "actual?" Doctor Phillips that he's not really the doctor and that he's the patient. Around and around it goes for ten minutes, and if it's not always laugh out loud funny it's a film made by people on their toes and hoping to keep the audience on them as well. The ending is also wonderful in that way of coming full circle, and the cast (including writer/actor Josh Lawson, adept at comic timing like no one's business, so is Damon Herriman as Klein) makes it work completely.
If you want to have a quick breath of relief from the other nominated films, which are harsh and brutal and sad and full of pain and suffering, this is... only less savage than the others when looking at human nature and society. If I saw something like this in my college film group I'd hail it as the second coming. -
planktonrules12 February 2018"The Eleven O'Clock" is a funny short film and the only one of the nominees for this year's Best Live Action Short Oscar that isn't deadly serious nor powerful. While I do NOT think it's among the very best of the nominees, it has a very good shot at winning simply because it is so different and all the deadly serious films might just take votes away from each other.
The story is well acted and directed. It consists of a patient and a psychiatrist arguing with each other. It seems that one is a real psychiatrist and the other a very deluded man who THINKS he's the psychiatrist...and telling them apart is no easy thing!
In many ways, this reminded me of the old Poe story "Stonehurst Asylum"....where the patients take over a psychiatric hospital and become the doctors and nurses...and it's difficult to determine who is who! Well done and quite interesting. -
This film is truly hilarious and the period look gives it an edge of sophistication rarely seen in an independent comedy short. I still think about the fact that this didn't win the Oscar and it bums me out majorly.
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'THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
A 13-minute short film about a psychiatrist who's desperately trying to outwit, and out-analyze, his mentally unstable patient, who believes he's the doctor. The short was directed by Derin Seale and written by Josh Lawson. It stars Josh Lawson and Damon Herriman. This is my favorite Oscar nominated live-action short film of 2017. It's funny and cleverly acted. There's also a nice twist at the end, which I saw coming, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. The short is definitely an entertaining little comedy flick.