Sundance review: Shorts Program IV
Today, our second day at Sundance, I had the chance to go pick out any movie that was showing today (aand still had available tickets) and go see it. I opted to go see one of the shorts programs, because I love short movies and had no clue what i would be seeing. I really like short films, because they offer a lot of freedom to the filmmakers, because they can be much more abstract and experimental and aren’t quite as tied to plot as full length films. The shorts program that was playing was the fourth one, and I must say that it was very good. All of the films were definitely worth watching and were all very diverse in their subject matter.
The first short that played was The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5, which was about a teenage boy who swears that robots came and warned him of an impending robot attack, which only he can stop by convincing the world that at 4:50 they must be in a designated place, so as to be spared. The humor was very offbeat and elicited many laughs from the crowd. It was shot incredibly well, all in black and white, often revealing a lot of the hilarity in this situation, as well as some sadness. Though it was a little shorter than expected, it was still very good.
The second film, Sparks, told the story of a woman visited by an insurance claims investigator after her house burns down. There are many clues suggesting that she had burnt her house down, so she tries to lighten him up by giving him drinks and trying to seduce her way to the 2.5 million dollar claim on the home. It was very stylishly shot, often cutting away from the main action of the story to show humorous flashbacks from the past. There was also some great footage of a concert in which the main character was reminiscing about being the lead singer of the band. The music in the concert was great, and it worked to bring a deeper layer to the film, by presenting the main character in a different light, which I thought was really unique.
Choices was a very short film, clocking in at four minutes. It showed a very intimate love scene between a couple, while the man in it did a voiceover narration talking about the divorce of his parents. The juxtaposition of the narration and the scene created a really odd effect in the viewer. It was both sad and passionate, and although it seemed much more like a scene that should have been played in a longer film, rather than a stand alone piece, it was very good and thought provoking.
Short Term 12 was easily the most powerful of all the films. It told the story of a man working in a correctional facility for young kids. His girlfriend also works with him, yet they seem to be having a lot of relationship issues that aren’t explained until the end. The film worked because it showed this man working hard to try to make a connection with the troubled kids, so that he could try to turn their life around. The actors all put in great performances and really carried the weight of the film to make it truly excellent.
James told the story of a boy with the same name, who has deal with his parents on the brink of a divorce and the mixed feelings he has as he discovers that he is gay. It was very sad and depressing, watching scenes of James sitting on the steps listening to his parents argue until his father admits he never wanted kids, or as with the end of the film, which I won’t give away, but I will say that it was disturbing. It was very well put together, but the depressing tone of it does makes it hard to enjoy.
An odd and funny film, Our Neck of the Woods, caught me offguard. I didn’t expect to see a story about people who work every day painting the eyes and noses on plastic deers as they come along a conveyor belt. And it was equally odd to discover that the deer often catch on fire, although the overseer to the area can’t explain why. So one lucky person each day gets to go around with a fire extinguisher and put out all the fires. But the overseer of the factory seriously begins to question his plastic lifestyle, when a young foreign girl comes to the factory and inspires him make changes. This film was also very humorous like many of the other films, yet had some heartfelt moments too. I really enjoyed it.
With the last short, Next Floor, it seemed that they had left the strangest and best short for last. To tell too much about it would really ruin a lot of the experience of actually watching it, but basically it involves a large table of rich people continuously and ravenously eating as much exotic meat that can be brought to them. but as they eat the floorboards under them start to creak, and things begin to spiral downward the more and more they eat. The scenario is a disturbing sort of black comedy satire, which presents this ridiculous situation and lets you ponder the meaning behind it. The cinematography was great, and it was really amazing watching the film and wondering how they could have made it with only a budget for a twelve minute movie. It was an exciting end to a great line-up of short films, which has me very excited about going to see other shorts while I’m here.