Jump is one of the more handsomely produced movies I've seen on Openfilm. It was shot on Super 16mm, and every camera set-up feels just right. Each dolly shot comes at just right the moment, and the use of subjective camera angles is spot-on. Even more remarkably, the movie is set at a public pool and features a large cast of kids. At no point do we feel that the kids are being told where to stand or how to act. This little world is completely realized and entirely believable, leaving us room to get lost in the story.

It's about a scrawny little kid who wants to impress a girl by jumping off the high-dive board. Much of the action is seen through his eyes. That board looks like it hovers about a thousand feet above the pool. The filmmakers create a lot of suspense with camera angles. It's a small goal and a simple story, but the way it's told and laid out in visual terms makes it seem like the most important thing in the world during the film's running time. That's when you know you're in the hands of a gifted storyteller.

All this praise and I couldn't even understand the dialogue - there are no subtitles. Some feelings and goals are universal, provided they're being communicated in a particular way. Jump speaks the universal language of film quite fluently.