The 48 Hour Film Project has filmmaking teams across the country create a short film from scratch in…you guessed it, smart guy…48 hours. The films then compete to be named “Best Film” for whatever city they’re representing. Then, the winning films from each city go up against each other to claim the title – “48 Hour Film of the Year.” “Child Prodigies: Where Are They Now?” was the 2002 “Best of Philadelphia” selection.
“Child Prodigies” is a mockumentary focusing on Perry Saint Luc, who, by age twelve, was already a master ballet dancer having danced across stages all over the world. But it was during a trip to Russia that something snapped within the child prodigy. Returning home a little tweaked, much like someone returning home from prison or war, Perry decided that he was going to give up dancing to become part of a larger choreographed work, to become one with the world, to become a “kinetic engineer.” The film joins Perry as he’s full swing into his kinetic engineering, where frying up some eggs or pushing a broom has, in his mind, gained some sort of profound meaning. Watching him stagger about the city kinda reminded me of Crispin Glover’s character in “Wild at Heart.”
I can imagine that being funny while trying to create a short film in 48 hours can be a real bitch, but the cast and crew behind “Child Prodigies” have managed to pull off just this. This means they have the natural funny running through their bones and this also means these are the people I want at my next clambake.
