London Mitchell’s Delivering Sunshine Reminds Us That a Simple Act of Kindness Can Change Everything

By Will Hite

Delivering Sunshine is a short film written, directed, and produced by London Mitchell and was presented at the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival.  It is the story of a young boy collecting old shoes in a wagon. The boy stumbles across a homeless man and gives him a pair of shoes. The film’s title corresponds with the theme of the film (spread kindness to others) as well as the narrator’s explanation of the word “climate” and how one person’s climate affects another. The message of the film rings true in every sense of the word and the short story’s protagonist serves as the paradigm for how I want to live my life. 

On the other hand, more work needs to be done in order to punctuate the message precisely. First, the editing could be slightly smoother, specifically, whenever two clips were shot from the same POV, the transition gets shoddy. Furthermore, the climax of the film seemed fairly predictable but could be easily fixed if the child simply picked up a wider array of objects in order for the climax and resolution to be more surprising and thus more fulfilling. Finally, the young protagonist needs more development and should have had a moment of adversity while still being able to deliver the “sunshine”. Fortunately, this film’s message, the Maya Angelou quote on the title slides, contains so many layers and dimensions that I foresee no problems with the filmmaker being able to perform the necessary adjustments.  

I’d give this film a 3 out of 5 rating.

Will Hite is a senior at Connecticut College and is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is studying theater and film and is aspiring to be a screenwriter.

Author: C. M. Rubin

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