Shortcake #9 – “Biting Elbows – Bad Motherfucker (Insane Office Escape 2)”

If you haven’t seen this already, then immediately do so. I don’t think this film qualifies exactly to meet the criteria for a short, because it’s a music video and all. Still, you rarely see a music clip that well done. And you really see that the Russian boys who made the clip (and the band as well) pulled all the stops went all out – like they would have any way.

I have to say, I just had a blast and I didn’t even care for the music in the background. You’re in for a five-minute roller-coaster ride full of adrenaline, violence, first-person shooting, blood, free-running, and did I say adrenaline? That’s right, “Insane Office Escape 2” is a mash-up of “Reservoir Dogs”, “Max Payne” and “The Matrix” put in one continuous shot filmed from a hand-held (or rather head-strapped) perspective. I’m in awe of how well this thing was put together. The action doesn’t slow down, the special effects are convincing and the violence is just fantastic. Seriously, I had to watch it twice to notice that it is, in fact, a music video.

Yup, that’s it. Go on and watch and then watch it again. It’s that good. I even watched it mute once – the same adrenaline rush. I actually feel sorry for the band right now, as it was supposed to illustrated their music. Well, tough luck.

Shortcake #8 – “Run” and “A Handful of Pennies”

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy… That’s pretty much been the theme of my week and maybe that’s why the theme of tonight’s Shortcake is rather grim. I decided to highlight two short films today, both of which are of the shocking kind. Because of their nature I don’t think I should go into details of their respective stories – I simply think that the shock and surprise factors are most important for films like that.

 

The first short of the day is called “Run”. It’s a compact 7-minute long story of Sam – an American by accent – who travels through Europe like young Americans do, and writes a letter to his mother from the road. I can’t say more than that, but I wanted to say that this short film really messed with my brain. Since, I believe, that was the premise of “Run” – to make you feel uneasy and disturbed – I want to congratulate Mat Johns on a job well done. He single-handedly directed, shot and edited the entirety of this film, which might be what is responsible for the very personal and discomforting feel “Run” imposes on a viewer. In short, this film is a bite-sized piece of Park Chan-Wook-approved painful cinema.

 

The remaining entry in today’s Shortcake is going to be “A handful of pennies” directed by a duo of E.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Josh Flowers, and written by Michael Peake. Briefly speaking, this film is just a conversation. A conversation between a hunter and prey, wherein one party is determined to do whatever it takes to break the other party’s spirit. I’d say, in contrast to “Run” – even though they are both shocking and violent – “A handful of pennies” reminds me more of a sequence from a full-feature movie that has never been made. We don’t know where the characters come from… We don’t know who they are. The only thing we know is the reason for them sitting at the same table. As the story unfolds, the viewer is left in yearning for more. I would like to see how the characters resolved their issue and maybe that’s why this film does its job, because the remainder of the story can be written by your own imagination… whatever way you shall please…

That sums up this week’s instalment of Shortcake. You’ve got two films that revel in the shock and violence, but each of them holds their ground on its own. “Run” is more of a fleeting novella about keeping up appearances that quickly spins out into horror, whereas “A handful of pennies” is story of a psychotic guy who doesn’t like being played by anyone and has a weird personal relationship with Dr Pepper. Enjoy!

 

Shortcake #7 – “Rampage: Project Vermillion”

This week has not been exactly normal and due to several unforeseen circumstances my writing got terribly disrupted. Anyways, I managed to go and see “Stoker” and I intended to have the review written and up online by now, but hey…

Meanwhile, why don’t you have a look at “Rampage: Project Vermillion ? It’s a very nice short that takes the monster movie genre with a small twist. It’s done on a budget which shows, but in my view, the nature of the special effects give “Rampage” a nostalgic and hipsterish gojira-esque feel. However, the Cloverfield-like way of shooting the monster sequences (shaky camera movement and out-of-focus imagery) conceals any shortcomings of the technical department and gives the whole movie a modern look. Surprisingly enough, it’s not the effects, but a simple conversation that takes up the bulk of “Rampage”. A conversation that implies we’d get to see more of Justin Calen Chenn’s short-monstrosity-extravaganza. I mean seriously: you just gave me a slice of cake… A very good cake… You can’t just take it away now. In an ideal world I’d like to see this short turn into a series of at least three films. So I guess, we should start donating money to Justin in order to make this happen, right?

That’ll be all for now. I think this might be a new formula for my Shortcake column: a shorter, more compact, and hopefully starting now – a bit more frequent event. Honestly, too many quality shorts are slipping to my fingers and I can’t write about all of them if I’m doing it once a week. I’ll think about how I want to go about it, but I think short films will start making appearances in here more often.

Off to write that “Stoker” review. I’m out.

Shortcake #6 – “Tomorrow 6:30” and “Mum”

Look what I found on Twitter! On second thought, I don’t think it’s an appropriate way to call it. Taking into account the sheer volume of quality films that steamroll through Twitter every second, I should probably say ‘Look, I found a thing, but there’s probably a million things that I missed when I wasn’t looking’. Anyways, I think I should be doing this more often as tonight I had to really sit down and think what to write about. I don’t want this little column of mine to be meaningless, I want the shorts I find and want to talk about to have their chance to be seen on their own. And listing a whole bunch of stuff in one sitting isn’t going to accomplish that.

This time I had a tough time shortlisting the shorts (sic!) I wanted to highlight. I still have a bunch of left-over material that just keeps piling up, so definitely I’ll have to consider showing them more often. After a bit of thinking I figured I’d devote today’s post to two pieces that struck a personal chord within me.

The first shortie of the day is “Tomorrow 6:30”. It’s rather on the longer side (23 minutes) but it’s definitely worth the time. For one thing, if you live in the so-called western world, you probably don’t get many chances to have a look at what the Middle East really is like – normal. “Tomorrow 6:30” shows how a young man Farid, who is about to leave Lebanon and pursue his dreams abroad, spends his last night before departing. It turns out that making a move like that is not as easy as it sounds. Farid has to realize that his life will never be the same and moreover it is already starting to change.

This particular piece feels very personal to me as I too once went through something similar. I guess anyone who decided to leave their home country in order to find their place on Earth could relate to Farid somehow. You’d know how difficult it is to leave all your friends and family behind. It’s even harder once you realize that like in case of Farid’s, it goes both ways. After all, he wasn’t the only one who left. He may be the one physically moving out, but – in accordance with the theory of relativity – the whole world leaves him too and moves in the opposite direction.

The other little gem I’d like to include here is “Mum” – a beautiful picture about the importance of memories. I don’t know how to describe it without spoiling it, because the story here is of secondary importance. It’s just emotion caught on tape (or its digital equivalent). “Mum” is just a reminder of how complex and difficult a mother-son relationship really is. Probably every mum knows that their son’s love is never out there in the open. It’s almost always awkward and so it is here when a mum and her adult son take a trip together (just as they used to do in the past).

“Mum” is just a fantastic (almost tear-jerking) reminder of how transient and uncertain our lives are. Therefore, we need to learn how to let things go and make peace with ourselves, as our lives are always in a state of flux and we can never have the luxury of stability.

To sum up, I had a phenomenal time watching “Tomorrow 6:30” and “Mum”. Even though they are clearly different, they somehow manage to touch on the same subjects of maternal love, loneliness, abandonment and change in life; from completely different angles, but still… That’s why I think it’s OK to put them side by side.

Enjoy.

Shortcake #5 – “Sprung” and “Watch your mouth”

Yes, that’s right. More Tropfest goodies straight from sunny (wait, what?) New Zealand. After discovering “Sounds Perfect” completely by accident, I figured it would be unwise of me if I did not get a peek at other entrants in the Hobbiton edition of Tropfest. And so I have…

Quite frankly, I was a bit baffled by the jury’s decision to award the Grand Prix to “Cappucino Tango”, which I think was a good piece, but not good enough for me. I’m sorry but it looked like a homework assignment in ‘Film making 101’ class. Nevertheless, most of the shorts that got shortlisted for the finals were shot very professionally and stood their ground in terms of production value. In my view, however, there were one or two front runners that stood out above the crowd.

Because, you see, short form has its obvious limitations, so the idea, story and the resultant art needs to circumvent them and escape the confinement. So, trying to pack as much dialogue and content into a 7-minute-long form is not necessarily the way to go. Of course, Tarantino would probably prove me wrong here, but still I believe that a good short needs to have a spark of sorts. Otherwise, it might just come across as a pretentious attempt to make a mini-movie with everything in it. Whenever you order appetizers at a restaurant do you expect to get a mini steak with a miniature portion of chips and a salad on the side? Well, I sure don’t.

Therefore, I have to say that “Sprung” by Grant Lahood ended up being one of my personal favorites  It’s well-paced, shot and cut beautifully and is simply funny – in a good way. What is it about? Let’s say that “Sprung” is about how physics ruins our hopes and dreams. I can’t really say much more than that – you just need to watch it for yourselves. It’s a bite-size mini doughnut filled with deliciousness.

The other short that caught my attention was “Watch your mouth” by Cristobal Araus Lobos. It is directed and edited very decisively, so that the dialogues don’t scream ‘amateur’. The story holds its ground and it doesn’t attempt to have a moral at all cost. “Watch your mouth” is a witty play at the concept of whether tooth fairies, Santa and other childhood make-believe demigods have a place among us and strikes the fine balance between the content, dialogue and the message, all packaged very neatly.

All in all, both “Sprung” and “Watch your mouth” are very good and deserve some recognition. Still, if I had been responsible for who gets the awards, hands down “Sounds Perfect” would have been my first choice.

Shortcake #4 – “Sounds Perfect”

I’m sorry. I just had to do this… I just watched one of the most hilarious shorts in weeks and I simply needed to write about it. Not that this particular piece needs publicity, because it just scored some gongs at Tropfest in New Zealand, but – in my humble view – young, ambitious and talented filmmakers need as much good word as humanly possible. While I do know, my readership is a bit limited at the moment, still if anyone is exposed to this little short and I could have something to do with it, I will be really proud and overjoyed.

 

Without further ado, I give you “Sounds Perfect” by Allan George. From what I gather, it is his debut as a director, although he is rather experienced when it comes to work with a lens, which is very noticeable in his film. I’d say it’s a very professionally produced piece of comedy and it is a delight to watch. “Sounds perfect” is essentially a para-documentary piece about a lad called Dave who works as an audio enhancement engineer in the adult film industry – at least that’s what he calls making sure that all the rumble in the jungle sounds professionally and provides the viewers with unforgettable experience (not that anyone would notice)… And he takes his – otherwise very under-appreciated – profession way too seriously. “Sounds perfect” is a 7 minute long parade of giggles infused with just the right amount of horizontal mambo metaphors. I had a very good time watching it and now I can’t wait for what Allan George comes up with next.

Oh, and by the way – eclairs and wellie boots will never be the same again.

Shortcake #3 – “Panic attack!” and “Mamá”

In a blink of an eye, yet another week has passed. It makes you stop and think about the transience of life… But who has the time. Instead of that, I’m just glad I get to have my weekend again. This also means I get to share some shorts again. I’ve been really hard at work trying to figure out the direction this column will have (I get to call it a column now, right?) and while I’d really like to showcase mostly new things that I dig out myself or stumble across while trawling blogs and websites, I think I’d like to reserve some space for shorts that already belong in the past.

Tonight I’d like to share these two very short forms that have more in common that one would imagine in the first place. I specifically chose these films, even though initially I wanted to write about something different (I might do it next week still if nothing better falls in my lap). The reason I decided to put them side by side is that they had been the perfect vehicles for their creators to get fished out from the crowd and given an opportunity to show the world what they’re capable of.

And so, the first film of the day – “Panic attack!” from 2009 by Fede Alvarez – is a meticulously crafted account of aliens(?) attacking Montevideo (the capital of Uruguay). It’s very short and bullet-like and reminiscent of a video clip rather than of a movie in its traditional sense. What is the most interesting in my opinion about “Panic attack!” is that its budget amounted to 300$, which is quite impressive when you examine the quality of the film. It’s really well shot and the special effects hold up to the modern sci-fi standards. Certainly, you’re unable to smell the cheapness that is far too common among the amateur science fiction.

 

I dare say that the perfectionist quality and passion that went into this little project had something to do with the fact that Fede Alvarez – a film-maker who has done nothing more than father a couple of short movies – was chosen by Sam Raimi to direct a remake of “Evil Dead” – one of the most important horror movies of all time (have a look at the red band trailer if you dare) and by the looks of it, come April 2013 we’re going to experience a whole new level of ‘horror’.

The second feature of the day is “Mamá” by Andrés Muschietti – created back in 2008, but released in December of 2012 as a part of marketing campaign for a full-length feature of the same title. That’s right. “Mama”, that is now running in cinemas across the pond and is about to drop in the UK in a month’s time, is what “Mamá” could have never been; a properly funded horror story with a professional cast and everything.

 

“Mamá” is a ghost story about two girls whose mother doesn’t want to leave them alone. It’s not exactly a story even, but more of an extended scene. However, it was more than enough for Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) to notice the young director’s talent and allow him to tell the story the way it was supposed to be told. Now, I haven’t seen the feature film yet, but I’m more than keen to watch it once it opens in The Rainy Isles.

All in all, I give you “Panic attack!” and “Mamá” – two films that share more than just Spanish-speaking directors. They both tell me I should pay closer attention to the short form, as one day I might be a witness to the birth of a glamorous career of a fantastic talent.

Shortcake #2 – “Paperman” and “C: 299792 km/s”

Gosh, it’s been a week already. I promised myself to be publishing more, but writing about “Zero Dark Thirty” actually turns out to be more time-consuming than I originally anticipated. In reality, it’s more reading than writing, but I shall finish it soon.

Anyway, since it’s Friday and I wanted to provide this blog with a touch of predictability, this post is going to become the second instalment of my weekly “Shortcake”. In fact, it so happens that this week I had the opportunity to watch a couple of really good shorts, but for now I’ll confine this column to one (maybe two) films a week.

 

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably aware – and having a Facebook account really helps in that regard; at least a couple of people shared this film on my feed already – Disney released its Oscar-nominated animation “Paperman”; a ‘disneyfied’ story about love and perseverance. It’s worth noting that people who created it are the same who are responsible for making the “Toy Story” franchise, “The Incredibles”, “A Bug’s Life”, “Cars” or “Monsters Inc.” Interestingly, “Paperman” is being sold to us as the prototypical piece in new technology of animation that combines traditional hand-drawn images within a completely computer-generated framework, be it ‘traditional’ or 3D. In short, just like “Luxo” (the well-known short film about a lamp that became Pixar’s business card) brought upon the age of fully-CG animations, could “Paperman” herald the renaissance of the more traditional sub-genre in the world of animation? Anyways, enjoy, if you haven’t already seen it. And make sure you see it fast; Disney is well known for withdrawing its features from free wide release.

 

The other piece that I desperately wanted to highlight was “C: 299792 km/s” – a sci-fi live-action passion short raising a question of utilizing our knowledge and technology to accomplish greater goals. It’s a wonderful piece, especially if you know that it was created using no computer-generated special effects. Everything you see in the film was accomplished with models, creative decorations and tricks. In other words, it’s made the way the original “Star wars” was made. I don’t know about you, but I was super excited when I learned about that. Maybe the acting is a bit too amateur-esque, but it is after all an amateur feature. It’s well worth the time and if you do have a soft spot for sci-fi, I think you’ll love it.

Right, I’ll sign off now. It’s fascinating to see how in one week I stumbled upon these two little gems that seem to be representing the two opposite ends of the spectrum. “Paperman” is definitely a vessel for a new and cool technology that should dazzle our senses and what-not, whereas “C” should bring you back to the days when the genre was being defined and the lack of powerful tools that we have now at our disposal needed to be substituted with creativity.

Have fun!

In the meantime, have some shortcake – “Black Metal”

It’s been a couple of days since I actually had time to sit down and type something. Between a job and a life things just sometimes don’t play the way one would wish, but hey. In turn I managed to have a think about what I might want to include into this little dollhouse of mine. So far, this blog has been solely a collection of my thoughts about films I saw and while I think this might be mostly what I’ll continue on doing, I would very much like to include certain things that would be recurring in nature and hence provide this blog with a sense of consistency (yes, columns, that’s what they’re called). Right, so between trying desperately to find time to watch “Life of Pi” before it shuffles off from the theatres, other important Oscar-related things that I really want to watch and then write about (“Zero Dark Thirty”, “Lincoln” and “Les Mis” say ‘hello’), my other piece that I’m to trying piece together (yup, that was intended) I think the next week will hopefully be super busy writing-wise. And on top of that, I really want to start this hopefully weekly thing where I would just highlight short films that I found really interesting.

I didn’t plan on this in any way. The idea just dropped on me the other day when I read about “Black Metal” – a really good and honest short film that premiered at this year’s Sundance and is widely available on Youtube. It’s only ten minutes of your time and it is really worth seeing. I really think this very concise film touches on an important subject that is bludgeoned to death in the media, namely the music as an alleged inspiration for crime, violence or murder. Keep it in your pants though, no politics here. I don’t want to start a tirade on the subject nor do I think I’m qualified to do so at the moment. I just think that like every coin has two sides, this problem has a side that is rarely spoken of.

Just watch and think for yourselves, enjoy.