Emilie Black’s Top 10 Favorite Short Films of 2016

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Emilie Black

So many, many short films are made each year, yet a lot of film fans overlook them, thus making themselves a disservice. 2016 saw a fantastically good crop of shorts from a variety of countries, showcasing the talents of filmmakers worth watching. In 2016, I saw over 175 short films through film festivals, Vimeo, YouTube, etc. Choosing a top 10 was tough this year and kept changing from day to day. Out of those ever changing titles, here are the 10 Best short films, or my 10 favorites at the moment, and a bunch more worth checking out.

Special mentions (aka I wish it were a top 25): Innsmouth, Postpartum, Stained, Injustice for All, Japanese Legends: Slit, Watchbear, The Puppet Man, Kaddish!, Little Boy Blue, Deathly, Overtime, Hoshino, The Tunnel, Bionic Girl, and Disco Inferno.

On to the Top 10…

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Gerry (2011)

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Emilie Black

Gerry Boulet is credited as being Quebec’s first rocker. Of course he was not the only one at the time per se as the province saw that rise of Plume Latraverse, Michel Pagliaro, Robert Charlebois, etc. Gerry Boulet and his cohorts made an impact on French-Canadian culture and music. Boulet and his band Offenbach were a radio staple and strong concert presence in the 1970s and 1980s. Boulet died of cancer in 1990 at what could be considered the peak of his solo career. The film titled simple Gerry covers his life from childhood, through important events that shaped him, then through his career with Offenbach (2 different member line-ups) and his solo career. The film portrays him in a way that seems genuine, with his good moments, his bad ones, and his problems.

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Chasse-Galerie La Légende (2016)

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Emilie Black

La Chasse-Galerie, or the Flying Canoe (aka The Bewitched Canoe) is a well-known legend from Québec about a group of travelers making a deal with the devil to get home. In this cinematic version of it set in 1863, a group of men travelling home are slowed down by a snow storm. After they request help, the devil gives them a flying canoe to take them home but with some conditions that come with harsh punishment if not followed. After one of them cheats the devil, vengeance is taken on his descendant 25 years later.

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Emilie Black

Warning: Spoilery and long review by a self-admitted Star Wars fan (with Stormtrooper tattoo to prove it).

A small group of rebels sets off to go retrieve the plans to the Death Star after receiving a communication that seems to indicate that they will be the downfall of the Empire in this sequel/prequel/side story to the Star Wars prequels/original trilogy. Touted as the first standalone Star Wars, Rogue One is heavily entrenched in the Star Wars lore and fills in gaps and what could have been considered plot holes in the past. The story here is easily to follow for people who may have never seen a Star Wars film, but it feels like a story built for the fans of the franchise. The story feels like a Star Wars one and the characters feel like they belong in the universe with many cameos and full presences by some very familiar faces and names. This leads the story to feel familiar and yet the changes, the connections that could have been or the additions or who knows make it feel like something is missing to the story. Rogue One is a hard one for this review to fully embrace while wanting to, which is an odd place to find one’s fan brain in.

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VIDEO Killer (2016)

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Emilie Black

A woman receives a VHS tape one morning from an anonymous source. After watching the video and its odd, violent animation, she is puzzled and feels like she is being haunted. She soon decides to look for answers. Directed by Richard Mansfield (and have no verifiable writing credits online to check who did what), the film takes the premise of a found tape leading to investigations by those who have found or received it and turn it into what can be described as mostly found footage with touches of first person POV and other filming styles. The story is fairly basic with just a few characters and works as a found footage mystery for most of the film. It uses many story telling techniques with varied degrees of success creating a film that feels disconnected in places.

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Mon Roi (My King) (2015)

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Emilie Black

A woman finds herself in physical rehab after a major skiing accident; there she heals from this accident and from her past relationship with her wild ex. Written by Etienne Comar and Maïwenn with the latter directing as well, the story of “Mon Roi” follows a woman going through a good part of her life led by her love and passion for a man who may very well be quite destructive. As she works on being able to walk again, literally and metaphorically, her past is seen through a series of long flashbacks. This is handled in a way that works perfectly here, showing her life basically from the moment she met him and keeping these long flashbacks in chronological order. This actually leads to almost forgetting that the main character is thinking back on these moments until these scenes at the rehabilitation center become longer.

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