“Tainted Love” Shorts Block
I love the whole plot twist that ensues in the middle of “My Monster,” a short film basically about finding the right mate, and them showing up when they least suspect it. Brea Grant is always a pleasure to see pop up in these genre pictures, and she’s great in Izzy Lee’s holiday set fractured love tale.
I wasn’t aware of the idea of the fan campaign until 1999 when the quest to save the science fiction show “Farscape” made a ton of headlines. I soon realized that what happened wasn’t an isolated incident, especially as “Firefly” earned a ton of fan support. While fan campaigns like petitions and mail in campaigns have become common place on the internet, fan campaigns reach far back before even home computers were ever made available. “United We Fan” is an original and quite fantastic look at the birth of fan campaigns, how the entire concept represents the best of fandom and the fan community, and the destruction of stereotypes that’s followed the concept of fan campaigns for years.
There are those short films that you go in to, and when they’re done, you wish they could have been so much longer. Lucy Bridger’s drama about a young girl name Mia (Sapphire Paine) who learns to live with a new foster family is subtle, sweet, touching, and actually quite excellent. I would have to see director Bridger adapt this in to a full length film someday very soon.
Director Annika Birgel short thriller asks: How far are you (or anyone) willing to go to get the job of your dreams? Set during a casting call, young Greta is called in to the office of a director and his assistant. Being subjected to various questions for the sake of getting to know her and connect her to his character on his film, his vague questions about her life turns in to very invasive and emotionally upsetting probes about her love life, and her family.
People tend to take for granted how much love can be turned on and off, and how quickly relationships can end. “Wet Pavilion” is an unusual but interesting short drama about a young man sitting in the back of his brother’s car. While he, his brother, and his brother’s girlfriend slide through a car wash, he watches their relationship disintegrate before his eyes.
Documentary Shorts Block
“Tungrus” is a short documentary that you’ll likely never see anywhere else. It’s a documentary about family, about living in confined spaces, and yes, it explores the idea that the possible to answer to a problem is eating the family pet. No seriously. “Tungrus” centers on the large Bharde Family, in Mumbai that lives in a cramped apartment with one another and their pets. After the father brings home a baby chick, the chick manages to survive and grow in to a large rooster.
Blast Beat (2018)
“Blast Beat” doesn’t have much of a premise; it’s merely a slice of life for a black metal band. When a guitarist (Alexandre Dostie) auditions for a black metal band, he has a hard time convincing the lead singer that he can play with and for the band. When she (Corinne Cardinal) decides to try out his vocal abilities, he doesn’t quite seem to be up for the task. “Blast Beat” does have a few funny beats in its four minute run time, including the unusual ability of singers to be able to switch from beautiful opera to loud booming howls for their audience. Pascal Plante’s short is a fascinating and comical look at a skill many underestimate.