Double Happy

A young teenager in New Zealand finds himself being roped in to committing a crime at a local corner shop owned by a Fijian woman

This is a relatively long short film clocking in at 15 minutes . One would have hoped in that case that its maker Shahir Daud might have developed the story a bit more but he fails to a large extent . It also shows signs that the short doesn't know what it's trying to be . Is it a coming of age story ? It shows signs that it's trying to show the angst ridden suffering of wanting to belong and of the dubious an individual someone will go to you in order to aciheve this . Paradoxically for a short film it shows signs of being padded until the final denountment . It's adequately directed and acted but there's a lot of substance to it which means it comes across as being a rather empty short film . We all know racism is bad but Paul Haggis achieved this point much better in CRASH