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SIDNEY TURTLEBAUM | THREE SUMMERS | THE WINDOW
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last update 11.Apr.09
See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL
R E V I E W S B Y R I C H C L I N E
From the BFI's 23rd London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Mar.09
with Philippe Gosselin, Roger D Klein, Major Mugrage
08/US 6m
This witty and very funny short features three frames - each looks into the window of a nearly identical room. Each has a man living inside, and as it progresses, we see them peering out the window, getting dressed and undressed, sleeping. Soon, all three shed their inhibitions until they are doing hilarious stripteases and acting out for their neighbours. It's like a peep show triptych. And their increasingly silly poses and dances are genuinely funny, right to the, erm, explosive finale. It's also vividly well shot, full of colour and energy, sharply edited and acted out with loads of personality. And while it's purely silly and gratuitous, there's also a bit of subtext to keep us engaged, as it plays with issues of both voyeurism and exhibitionism.
with Philipp Denzel, Luc Feit, Michael Baral, Friedemann Thiele, Johannes Richard Voelkel, Benjamin Cantu
07/Germany 12m
scr Raphael Smith
with Derek Jacobi, Rupert Evans, Romy Baskerville, Lin Blakley, Francesca Marie Claire, Margaret Stallard, Saul Issroff, Katie Lyons
08/UK 19m
Produced like a big-budget film, this emotional short follows a cranky but impeccably turned out older gentleman who continually surprises us with warmth, humour, bitterness and devious charm. And he's wonderfully well-played by Jacobi, with tiny touches of attitude and emotion. We meet him when he attends the North London funeral of someone he clearly doesn't know, comforts the widow and picks her pocket. He uses the cash to pay a young escort, Gabriel (Evans), and then invites him to go for a walk. What begins to grow into a kind of mentor-student relationship between two men in "the business of survival" soon starts spinning into something very different. The cast is so strong, and it's directed and edited with such skill, that it makes us hope we'll get to see the further misadventures of Sidney. It's also viciously hilarious, as well as charming, cruel and haunting.
with Daniel Koehler
08/US 4m
scr Dennis Hensley
with Dennis Hensley, Erin Quill, Tony Tripoli, Ossie Beck, Nora Burns, Felix Pire, Todd Christian Hunter, Chil Kong
08/US 25m
Clearly the pilot for a proposed TV comedy, this hilarious short gathers together a group of friends (and a couple of interlopers) to watch Pretty Woman, during which they make hilarious observations, act out the key scenes and generally pack the screen with references to other films. It's a great idea, and hugely entertaining, mainly because each person on screen is such a vividly silly character. Most amusing are Burns' Dr Beaverman, offering psychological observations on the feminist issues in the film, and Quill's Lauren, who really would rather not play Julia Roberts in the recreation scenes. It genuinely makes you want to see what this group of goofy comics would do to other favourites.
Min Kuk Ar en Dildo
with Ester Martin Bergsmark, Emanuel Nyberg
07/Sweden 15m
with Jonathan Firth, Ray Fearon, Layke Anderson, Lauren Steventon
08/UK 14m
Shot in a lush, cinematic style, this slight little story is packed with telling glances and suggestive situations, even as it keeps any overt explanations of the plot hidden from us. It centres on a restaurant chef (Firth) who writes a strong letter to his sous chef (Fearon), then watches him closely all day, waiting for him to read it. As the hours pass, the chef becomes obsessed with how the sous chef interacts with two younger workers in the kitchen (Anderson and Steventon). It's a mixture of flirtation and hints of something bigger that makes everything boil over. Filmmaker Mair cleverly tells us everything we need to know through visual clues; it's subtext-o-rama as these people kneed, chop and whisk, while we become increasingly anxious to see what's up between them. This cleverly echoes the chef's own anxiety, and with few words, the film has an extremely moving final act. A lovely little film.
Tre Somre
scr Morten Kirkskov, Carlos Oliveira
with Morten Kirkskov, Simon Munk, Stine Schroder Jensen, Carsten Bjornlund, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Sarah Boberg
06/Denmark 28m
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© 2009 by Rich Cline, Shadows
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