The Magic Mile (2005) User Reviews

should get more regular airings

[nujuv · 8/10 · 4 October 2006]

Saw this in London with Mirrormask - was hoping for a muppets short or something, but...

Difficult to judge shorts, but having been a film student (waste but fun) I know how hard it is when you come up with a good idea to resist the urge to cram more stuff in.

Here is a simple yet utterly compelling fantasy - and if someone took the concept and turned it into a full length flick, it would probably fall flat on its face. The fact we don't the know why or how great the effect of this 'magic mile' is adds to the marvel - and the confussion and reaction of the two actors adds more to the mystery and warmth of the film. Bloody good effort.

Imaginative and engaging on a minimalist level

[bob the moo · 15 September 2005]

A deaf woman is walking along the beach on a dull and overcast day when she comes across a wheelchair sitting on the sand, bereft of an owner. She walks past it into an area of the beach where she suddenly can hear the noise all around her. She continues up the beach, amazed by this discovery, having forgotten about the wheelchair.

Minimalistic and yet imaginative, this short seems mere seconds long because it does such a good job of drawing you into the story with the greatest of ease. The magic mile appears to be part of a beach where illnesses vanish and, no, it isn't explained any more than that – there is no reason, no development, we only see the effect on the people who discover it. It sounds bad but it isn't but I can't easily explain why it isn't. The direction is simple but effective and the cast do a great deal with very little – particularly Dumayne, who is totally convincing throughout. It won't be to everyone's taste and for every person saying it is wonderful there will be one saying it is pointless. I'm somewhere in the middle I'd guess but it is certainly engaging and imaginative enough to be well worth a look.

I Was Confused

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 21 September 2005]

THE MAGIC MILE opens on a beach where a deaf woman seemingly runs into a force field of sorts and which instantly reminded me of the BLAKE'S 7 episode Orac . The woman removes her hearing aid and wanders around the lonely downcast beach where she comes across a pair of boots and some clothing and it was then that I was reminded to the major plot device of THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN but then the story turned out differently from how I expected it to

It's difficult for me to review THE MAGIC MILE simply down to the fact that it confused as to what it's really about . When I said the opening was similar to a BBC telefantasy show from the 1970s I wasn't in fact kidding at all because I genuinely thought there were force fields involved . And since we're seeing much of the narrative through the eyes of a deaf woman it's difficult to hear what the man on the beach is saying to her much of the time

A moody short film that captures the bleak atmosphere of a beach on a windy cloudy day but one that needed more explanation for it to succeed

Beautiful film (contains spoilers)

[romolafan · 10/10 · 29 November 2005]

This beautiful film, made in 2001 in Kent, is about a deaf woman, roaming an overcast beach. She finds an abandoned wheelchair, then when she walks past it, she can hear things. She continues to walk, amazed at the sounds she can hear and fins a pair of boots. She then sees a man lying on the ground. The boots are his; she helps him back into the 'magic mile' in which all disabilities are abolished.

This is a beautifully shot and very original film. I love the idea of this tranquil, deserted beach possessing miraculous qualities. Minimum dialogue and action allow for a clear thought process, and I didn't find it confusing at all, as some short films can be.

Louise Dumayne's joy at her ability to hear is lovely. A wonderful film.

Tactile

[fico_of_arboria · 10/10 · 24 August 2007]

If you've ever lost something or someone and just the most fleeting of moments would make it bearable, you can enjoy this film.

One is startled with the lady at the sounds. You go with her as she connects the sound of pebbles with her footsteps; as she discovers her own voice. One feels the grains of sand between his toes; the stones beneath his feet as he skips toward the shore in what could be described as a child-like manner, but is surely just the joy of discovery in its most pure of forms.

It's simple and sensuous and completely conveys the joy and wonder of discovering something so basic, most of us take it for granted.

This film makes me smile in the simplest way.

a parable

[Kirpianuscus · 27 December 2018]

A magnificent one. A woman, a beach, a man. And the references to "Stalker" by Andrei Tarkovsky . A space in which every disability is abolished. The cinematography, the performances, the large beach and every scene gives a pleasant, hopeful feeling. Because it is easy to write "it is a well made short movie" but you feel than it is more. A parable about life and its limitations. A great hommage to the freedom. And a profound useful emotion.