Reviews of When Hope Is Helpless 79

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  The Big C
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by burgos387 on 02/11/2012
  Another wonderful thing about aging is that at some point, people we know get sick and die, and we don't know how to handle it. Question did Ted know you were taping the conversation. That might have cheered him up. I just got through a horrible illness, and I found out, like you, a close friend, and my cousin have some form of Cancer. When struck with the news yes, we're numb... Another wonderful thing about aging is that at some point, people we know get sick and die, and we don't know how to handle it. Question did Ted know you were taping the conversation. That might have cheered him up. I just got through a horrible illness, and I found out, like you, a close friend, and my cousin have some form of Cancer. When struck with the news yes, we're numb at first. What do I do? The best thing I find is to let the sick person talk. You can disscus and should disscuss the illness with them. I usually try to make them laugh. Laughter is really good for the soul.
  
  In a way your piece had a spiritual message. Ted was thinking of you, and you were thinking of Ted, and then you called him. Was it just chance that you called, or was it your two spirits reaching out to each other in one's time of need. Something to think about. read
• 
  Hope relieves helplessness
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by kingy on 09/26/2010
  A current problem looks smaller when a bigger problem confronts. Theres always some reason to smile & feel lucky. Happiness is an index and yet its balanced. If hope fails , then the reason of life is as good as lost.... To be content is to be happy , sympathy aggrevates cancer, to be useful to the world as long as you live.... Thats the cause and thats bigger , its not how... A current problem looks smaller when a bigger problem confronts. Theres always some reason to smile & feel lucky. Happiness is an index and yet its balanced. If hope fails , then the reason of life is as good as lost....
  
  To be content is to be happy , sympathy aggrevates cancer, to be useful to the world as long as you live.... Thats the cause and thats bigger , its not how long you live, its how useful your life is or what difference to makes to the world... read
• 
  Different
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by **DELETED ACCOUNT** on 05/23/2010
  This film is very interesting, especially dealing with something so powerful such as "the big c". It has a very poetic / film noir style to it. The music was good and suited the film well. The film is different in a good way. The cutting matches the story-telling, music, and the film overall.
• 
  Nice Sentiment
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by nataliewalker1984 on 11/24/2009
  The sentiment of the piece is powerful and I think that the although the performance could have been better it shows that these are real people. I think the sound effects were unnecessary and spoiled the piece. I liked that relevant pictures were put up on the screen as it was classified as a documentary but were the text slides that were put up really necessary? A good effort... The sentiment of the piece is powerful and I think that the although the performance could have been better it shows that these are real people. I think the sound effects were unnecessary and spoiled the piece. I liked that relevant pictures were put up on the screen as it was classified as a documentary but were the text slides that were put up really necessary?
  
  A good effort but not a great result. read
• 
  Cancer? WTC?
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by joemcclean on 11/10/2009
  I gotta give it to you. You certainly have a lot of material! I just heard a TV exec the other day say "through as much shit against the wall you something will stick!" Im not calling your stuff shit, but you're certainly giving us all you have. I was intrigued with this one. I like the uncomfortable conversation about cancer, but as it becomes more about the WTC I think the... I gotta give it to you. You certainly have a lot of material! I just heard a TV exec the other day say "through as much shit against the wall you something will stick!" Im not calling your stuff shit, but you're certainly giving us all you have. I was intrigued with this one. I like the uncomfortable conversation about cancer, but as it becomes more about the WTC I think the focus of the topic at hands changes too much. Maybe it's okay this way in the 1 hour version but not in a short. This short could have been shorter. read
• 
  The big C
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by chessaol on 10/09/2009
  What do you say to a friend who has the big C? The answere are never easy. How will they cope? The conversation is hard and Elmer shares a powerful moment. The film is adequate for the task but the scenes of Elmer talking at his desk are, all out of focus. This is not normal for an Elmer film. I will lay the blame on the power of the piece being presented. Clean it up next... What do you say to a friend who has the big C? The answere are never easy. How will they cope? The conversation is hard and Elmer shares a powerful moment.
  
  The film is adequate for the task but the scenes of Elmer talking at his desk are, all out of focus. This is not normal for an Elmer film. I will lay the blame on the power of the piece being presented. Clean it up next time Elmer.
  
  I hope for you and your friend to come through this OK. Sound quality was good and in general the film was good. read
• 
  Really bad
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by Corleone on 07/24/2008
  This video starts out a lot better than most of Elmer's stuff. Unfortunately, over the course of 7 minutes, it degrades into typical Elmer. The bulk of the video is a phone conversation between Elmer and his friend Ted. Their conversation is all over the place and not very interesting to watch or listen to. There is a very strange and pointless tangent in the middle of... This video starts out a lot better than most of Elmer's stuff. Unfortunately, over the course of 7 minutes, it degrades into typical Elmer.
  
  The bulk of the video is a phone conversation between Elmer and his friend Ted. Their conversation is all over the place and not very interesting to watch or listen to. There is a very strange and pointless tangent in the middle of the conversation in which Elmer and Ted discuss the World Trade Center attacks before returning to the subject of Ted's cancer. After a while, the conversation abruptly ends because Elmer's camera batteries die.
  
  This video has the typical watch-Elmer-as-he-narrates shots and also features some annoying and overly-flashy text. It also contains Elmer's typically poorly acted recreations.
  
  There are also some extremely graphic images of a tracheotomy which come out of no where.
  
  The music is far too loud. It becomes very distracting and makes understanding the conversation difficult.
  
  Near the end of the video, Elmer begins to use cross-fades to splice together different sections of the conversation. Doing this makes me question the authenticity of the previous portions of the conversation. Is this actually what was said? Did Elmer place the answer to one question as the answer to another question? If he is capable of audio editing, why didn't he edit out the unneeded 9/11 tangent? read
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  At It Again
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by Untitled8 on 07/12/2008
  Your films are loving my reviews. :) I think we're back on track with this one. This one I enjoyed because there wasn't any "fat" in it. It's hard to review your films since you don't have a typical story to them and you definitely have your same style you're going for. This film has lots of heart but I really, really hope you start boosting your production value on these... Your films are loving my reviews. :)
  
  I think we're back on track with this one. This one I enjoyed because there wasn't any "fat" in it.
  
  It's hard to review your films since you don't have a typical story to them and you definitely have your same style you're going for.
  
  This film has lots of heart but I really, really hope you start boosting your production value on these things.
  
  Then you'll have something. Right now it comes across to the reviewers as amateur hour. You actually have subject matters that can affect some reviewers but it's a shame that their first reaction that this is ultra-low budget. read
• 
  Not bad
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by timhan on 02/22/2008
  First off, I definitely fall into the anti-elmer camp, but! Well, apart from the really annoying violin music, I think this doc wasn't half bad. There were plenty of images inter-cut with the dialogue, so that made it quite interesting to watch, and was quite touching. I wonder if he ever visited his friend in the end though?
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  Personal
  A review of When Hope Is Helpless
  by NorthLion on 09/29/2007
  It had good content but I can't help thinking that the style of some of the inserts were a bit out of place and distracted from the main plot. The ending wasn't completely clear though, it made you wonder what happened and how long ago the phonecall was. PErhaps a sort of epilogue or something might have been suitable?