Once in a while a student film comes along that has a well written story, beautiful cinematography, and wonderful acting. Unfortunately Matthew Saliba's Pandora's Paradox is not one of these films. I happened to catch this short film at a New York film festival and I was far from entertained. Clocking in at about twenty minutes this film was a long watch and I found myself looking at the clock several times. This to me seems like the easy way to make a film nowadays, throw a bunch of random images on the screen, add some cheesy colored lighting, and toss in some annoying sound and voila end of the semester film project. What happened to constructing a well written screenplay? fully fleshed out characters? or even creating something original. The story has something to do with a boy, some doctors, a weird old guy with a phallic object on his underwear and a giant toe which somehow all leads to the main character and his withdrawal from life. The acting seemed like it was way better than your typical student film but it was hard to tell when the parts we're reduced to annoying laughter and screaming. Basically this film did nothing but annoy me and I can't really even think of a reason to recommend it. If you enjoy these kind of student films then this might be up your alley but Unless your looking for a Pretentious David Lynch knockoff stay far away from this film.