Fingerface (2015)

Posted on November 11, 2015 by emmakwall

Re-blogging the below review of a strange, funny and original film called Fingerface. The film is now available to watch in full on YouTube here.

Image result for fingerface andrew dawson

So a couple of weeks ago I got an interesting message from a nice man called Andrew Dawson. Basically he asked if I’d be so kind as to watch his independent film and review it. Er…..yes please!

Fingerface had just premiered at the Hamilton Comedy Film Festival and also *drumroll please* won Best Screenplay at the Sydney Indie Film Festival.

Very cool. But I didn’t need any convincing – this was something that I was absolutely delighted to do.

Fingerface is a very unique film, even within the independent / low budget variety. Not only did Andrew do literally everything himself from the script to the music to the acting to the camerawork (phew!) but the entire film is played out by….. fingers. Yes that’s right, fingers. Fingers with felt tip faces.

I won’t pretend that I wasn’t a little apprehensive before watching it. I mean at 88 minutes Fingerface is certainly not a short – this is a feature length film starring Andrew Dawson’s fingers. And of course I couldn’t help but speculate on how well it would work and how much I’d enjoy it.

The story centres around main character (or main ‘finger’) Giles as he attempts to woo Stephanie – the girl of his dreams. In his attempt to impress her he ends up on kind of a quest (involving pirates, a cult and an open mic night) and though Fingerface is a love story, it is simply too unusual and adventurous to be a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy – even if the actors weren’t all fingers!

Well I certainly enjoyed it anyway. It was well made, well written and best of all – had a feel good vibe. I laughed out loud a fair few times and actually caught myself rooting for characters (fingers) and similarly – hating them too. And I really loved the music. Much of the soundtrack was Giles playing his guitar (well not really – the guitar was made out of paper but you know what I mean) and this was perfect for a film that felt charming right from the start – except those dreamy steamy sex scenes which were a tad cringe.

But to be honest I could sit here and list loads of things I liked about Fingerface. I loved the dry humour and surprise plot turns. The felt-tip pen drawn sets were endearing and appealing and I really liked the straight talking Harry – who I’m sure would have been played by Michael Smiley had Andrew wanted a full size actor instead of a finger.

But I’ll tell you what I liked the most – the sheer proof that you do not need buckets of cash to make a film. You don’t even need one (small) bucket. I’ve been a fan of independent, low budget movies since I was a teenager and I am a big advocate for them. Some of my favourite films are so low budget no-one has heard of them and I’m not kidding. But I get bored of the big blockbusters. Exotic women, exploding cars, Liam Neeson hamming it up in a leather jacket – you don’t really need any of it.

For me, the best movies tell a great story and I couldn’t possibly ask for more than that.

Fingerface is released as VOD on 1st December 2015. You can pre-order it here and watch the trailer below.