This Is Her

At Sundance we all willingly pay a jacked up priced to sit in the theater and watch innovative new cinema, but what about the sixth finger, the extra nipple, if you will, that comes along with the film we paid for? Ah yes, you know what I’m referring too, the short film preceding the feature that often leaves me saying, “um…ok, now play the movie.”  I have seen more short films in the past seven days then ever in my life, so I now feel I have some sort of reference point when it comes to judging what I mostly consider little nuggets of uselessness.

Ok, so that may be harsh, I have in fact seen some shorts that I liked as much as a feature, or in one case even more then the main film that came after, but there does seem to be a theme of the shorts being more personal then relatable to the audience. I was constantly frustrated by watching shorts programs because, for most films, I felt empty and slightly peeved after they ended, and for the ones I really enjoyed I just wanted them to continue. I wanted the characters to be developed instead of just revealing a glimpse and then rolling credits. For instance in shorts program five I was very intrigued by the little boy who was obsessed with rabbits in Netherland Dwarf, but I still felt slightly uneasy when the film ended because my time with the character was cut short.

Many shorts I saw felt completely indulgent on the part of the creatures. For instance Horsefinger3: Starfucker, the short before Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead, was ten or so minutes of stupidity where an actor gets turned on by a girl wearing huge horse hooves on her arms. She dresses him in a porky-pine outfit was they have sex and then finds that he has fur under his skin. In my opinion a silly little film such as this just wastes time. But there are always those who think it is absolute brilliance so its objective I guess. (more…)

Kanizsa Hill

Like short stories in literature, short films take on a life of their own in comparison to feature length films. When you’re limited to telling a story within the span of 5-15 minutes, every frame, every piece of dialogue, and every moment becomes painstakingly important and laced with meaning. After getting a chance to see the Short Film Program V at Sundance, and the Animation Shorts at Slamdance, I have to say how impressive it is to see talent cropping up all over the globe in these small projects. The two programs combined yielded a total of over 20 films so I’m going to break it up and just mention some of the personal highlights.

Short Program V

Surrounded by a festival often filled with dark subject matter and people taking themselves too seriously Captain Coulier shines through as a perfectly funny spoof on cult 50’s sci-fi classics such as Lost in Space. While this as a concept is funny in its own right, this film would be nothing without the brilliant writing, and well timed comedic performances by the entire cast. (more…)