Film Festival Reviews
PLUS: BAVO DEFURNE | 11'09"01 | SHORTS 2003
On this page - LFF SHORTS: AREA 52 | BROTHER OF MINE | KITTY |
ONE SHOT WONDER | THEY SHOOT HOSTAGES DON'T THEY | UNHINGED |
Also: FEATURES MADE OF SHORTS Back to the SHADOWS FILM FEST page • last update 20.Nov.02
LFF SHORT FILMS
Any chance to see short films on a big screen should be siezed upon!
REVIEWS BY RICH CLINE
AREA 52dirAdam Turner; scr Adam F Goldberg; with Fred Savage, Ray Baker, Joe Sabatino, Jabu Dinani, Tamara Davies• 02/US 19m
These filmmakers obviously have some high-powered friends--besides the name cast, there's a serious budget at work on this short, which is the length of a sitcom episode. It's a very broad comedy about a new officer (Savage) assigned to Area 52 instead of the coveted Area 51. In Area 52 he finds a group of misfit incompetants and worries that a terrible injustice has been served. But looks are deceiving. This is a goofy film with a silly and cheesy sense of humour. 20.Nov.02 lff
BROTHER OF MINEdir-scr Jens Jonsson; with Hendrik Lundstrom, Jonas Lindqvist, Lena B Eriksson, Leif Andree • 02/Sweden 10m
This is a seriously well made little film, not only inventive visually, but dealing with a meaty issue with style and wit and intelligence. It's about two brothers left in the car while their mother goes off to talk to her ex, their dad. While she's gone, the older brother starts picking on the younger, and it gets rather nasty indeed. Until the parents appear, and their silly rivalry seems minor by comparison. Clever use of colour and monochrome combine with the characters' quiet strength and resilience to make this deeply moving and unforgettable. 20.Nov.02 lff
KITTY
dir-scr Patrick Gillies; with Scott Khouri, David Sheerd, John Boyce • 02/NZ 5m
There's a great idea here, but it's all a bit clownish. A guy late for a date loses control of his VW Bug and plunges off a high cliff (very high, he passes a plane on the way down!). While falling, he has plenty of time to think about his day, then he remembers one horrific detail (hint: the film's title). Colourful and rather hysterical, the film looks great but indulges in corny overacting and a couple of very silly gags that weaken it considerably. 20.Nov.02 lff
ONE SHOT WONDERdir-scr Cairnes, Cairnes & Grammenos; with Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes • 01/Aus 6m
Two film students talk about how to make a short film in one single take ("The classic race against time, in real time - the film geeks'll love it!"), and as we watch them brainstorming their homage to Welles and Hitchcock ("Is it the McGuffin or the McGuyver?"), the filmmakers cleverly do just what they say they'll do. Show in wide-screen monochrome, it looks great and has some hilariously funny gags in it, including a wickedly subtle ending. 20.Nov.02 lff
THEY SHOOT HOSTAGES, DON’T THEY?dir-scr Cairnes, Cairnes & Grammenos; with Jason Marion, Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes, Gerasimos Grammenos • 02/Aus 7m
Hilarious black comedy about a kidnapping, Aussie style, in which the kidnappers become obsessed with their victim's video camera, trying to tape a ransom note but arguing over who uses it, then getting sidetracked by the special effects button. As one disaster after another happens, it gets funnier and funnier, even though it always maintains that edgy sense of danger. Inventive and very cleverly put together. 18.Nov.02 lff
UNHINGED
dir-scr Noreen Kershaw; with Ian Hart, Berwick Kaler, Mathew Duton, Alan Bird • 02/UK 10m
This witty British short centres on a man (Hart) who has an obsession with doorknobs and tries to get help from a shrink, whi suggests he indulge in his passion to cure himself. Bad idea. Lushly photographed and fluidly directed, the film looks fantastic, but it goes on far too long (5 minutes would have been plenty) and stretches its one joke to thin. 20.Nov.02 lff
• ALSO: features made of shortsPERSONAL VELOCITY
dir-scr Rebecca Miller
Subtitled "Three Portraits", three very loosely related short dramas look at independent-minded American women.
THREE
dir Kim Ji-Woon, Nonzee Nimibutr, Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Astonishing triptych featuring three short films on death and the afterlife (ie, ghosts!) from Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong.
STATE OF THE NATION
dir Barbara Albert, Michael Glawogger, Ulrich Seidl, Michael Sturminger
Subtitled "Austria in Six Chapters", this collection of documentary shorts examines the shifting political tide in this European country.
DOLLS
dir-scr Takeshi Kitano
Three thematically linked stories based on Japanese bunraku puppetry - artistic and colourful.
PLUS: BAVO DEFURNE | 11'09"01 | SHORTS 2003
