Second Best
Director: McClelland Alyssa
Producer: McClelland Alyssa, Bray Daisy
Fiction, Australia, 2017
19:59 min | trailer on vimeo

‘The Second Best’ is a cinematically perfect achievement, which broaches a very interesting theme in a way that is at once both funny and serious. A serious theme is provided in the form of strained family relationships as a result of a mother who takes an overly keen interest in her children’s achievements, which leads to lots of problems and friction. If twins are also present, it is safe to say that these inner familial conflicts will inevitably worsen. But that is where you would be mistaken; this film handles the problem of a parent, who puts the success of her own children above everything else and makes it her own greatest priority. Even the preference for one’s own children is part and parcel of this theme. The film handles these problems in a comic manner through the mother’s exaggerated appearance and also portrays the inseparable bond between the sisters, which serves to remind the viewer that family comes first.
(Youth Jury)