UNSTOPPABLE SHORTS BLOCK 1
Director Camille Wormser has a lot to say about mental illness, and uses that as a platform to stage what is such a funny, and unique comedy short. “Just Right” feels like one of those short films that could be transplanted in to a feature film, but for now, it works as a short form comedy about coping with mental illness and working with OCD as an element of life that stifles personal connection.
Tag Archives: Short Film
Subway Stops (2023) [Slamdance 2023]
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS BLOCK
The streets and subways of New York City are filled with a colorful variety of performers, panhandlers, and personalities, and there have been some films based around this environment. The whole ecosystem of New York City thrives on artistic expression and people performing, and it’s a shame that Joe Zakko’s documentary short feels like a missed opportunity.
The Bolero (1973)
The winner of the 1973 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Live Action), Bill Fertik’s film essay offers a consideration of Maurice Ravel’s masterwork via a performance of the piece by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Spinning Man (2018)
Director Jordan Rosenbloom’s “The Spinning Man” is what I’d call “The Conversation” if it were set in the post apocalypse. It spotlights the less sensational side that’s never explored in post apocalypse fiction, and it’s the paranoia that comes from surviving and surviving in a world where resources are dwindling fast.
The Thing That Ate the Birds (2021)
Director Dan Gitsham and Writer Sophie Mair’s horror short is a masterful creepy tale about dysfunction and what happens when your actions have dire consequences. I wasn’t sure what to expect with “The Thing that Ate the Birds,” but partners Mair and Gitsham deliver on all fronts as a complex and creepy genre entry.
The Bootleg Files: The Hero
BOOTLEG FILES 823: “The Hero” (1917 short starring Billy West and Oliver Hardy).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A blatant (if effective) rip-off of Charlie Chaplin’s act.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: There is no great call for a Billy West revival.
When Charlie Chaplin’s popularity exploded into superstardom status during the mid-1910s, the demand of his films became greater than his ability to create original new works. To fill the void, a number of comic actors began to dress up in Chaplin’s distinctive Little Tramp costume and make-up and churn out short films of a Chaplinesque nature. Most of these imitators were not that special and their work has been lost to oblivion. But one copycat created a near-perfect facsimile of Chaplin’s act, to the point that his films were occasionally marketed as being genuine Chaplin films.
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Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (2022)
The Walt Disney Co. hasn’t done very much since it acquired the trademark to the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character in 2006 – for those unfamiliar with the back story, Walt Disney created Oswald for Universal Pictures in 1927 and made 27 silent black-and-white shorts. But Disney lost the rights to the character, at which point he created a new character called Mickey Mouse.
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