Science Fiction Short Film Festival, 4 Feb 2006
There was drama, there was illness, but I did end up seeing the twenty short SF movies at the Cinerama on Saturday. Capsule reviews follow.
La Vie d'un Chien, dir. John Harden (USA, France).
Black-and-white stills with voiceover (and English subtitles), flashed quickly enough to almost animate a couple of times. Looked like maybe only the trappings of SF at first, but it was satisfying, meaningful, and fun.
Killswitch, dir. Dan Przygoda (USA).
Cliche since The Running Man at least, this one's about a robot fleeing capture and the special forces guy who could blow it up at any time if that were as much fun as the chase. The news-program sequences looked bad and were poorly integrated with the robot-centered sequences. I felt that the robot's actions weren't morally consistent.
Scribble, dir. Faisal A. Qureshi (UK).
Short and surreal, not obligately SFnal, unclear in some ways, but compelling. I liked it.
Heyday, dir. Rachel Wang (UK).
Good characterization of a mixed-race couple of older folks in assisted living. The plot copped out, though; it could have been SF, but it could also have been unreliable narration.
The Grandfather Paradox, dir. Jean-Francois DaSylva (Canada).
A physics teacher's lectures begin to be illustrated with ray-gun-toting examples. Really funny. This one was probably the crowd favorite of the first showing.
Circus of Infinity, dir. Sue Corcoran (USA).
I didn't like the "shot out of cannon == life" metaphor, and I reject the lame fantastic allegory subgenre of SF.
Piece of Wood, dir. Tony Baez Milan (USA).
Will people still fight if their weapons are destroyed? Well adapted from the Bradbury story.
Perfect Heat, dir. Miska Draskoczy (USA).
A doctor and a patient in a blank white room, only sometimes they're host and interviewee on a talk show. Weird, disturbing, pointless.
Skewed, dir. Jeremy Wechter (USA).
A paranoid freelancer figures out that what's driving a company's success and what's propelling the world toward doom are the same thing. I loved the way this one lingered on moments of centering for the guy and his friend; most shorts are so constantly active.
Red Planet Blues, dir. David H. Brooks (USA).
Claymation Martian tries to interact with our latest robot. Cute, but I wasn't that interested.
I think they loaded the second showing with more good stuff on the assumption that more people would see it. It might've been marginally more, since the evening one actually sold out and I don't know that the 4pm show did, but the theater was about equally full for both. The organizers hadn't anticipated such a response. I'm not sure if they were planning to blather as much if there'd been fewer people, but there was a lot of wasted time as it was.
Super-Anon, dir. Stephen Plitt (Canada?).
Relatives of superheroes try to find their place in the world through group therapy. Funny but to the point of being awful sometimes.
They're Made Out of Meat, dir. Stephen O'Regan (Ireland).
If you haven't read the Bisson story, please do. It won't take a moment. This was a good staging, hampered somewhat by using human actors in a diner for the aliens (though the eyebrow of the one guy had real star quality) but improved by the addition of sample humans.
Heartbeat, dir. Omri Bar-Levy (Israel).
Planet creation as music video. Very cool.
Into the Maelstrom, dir. Peter Sullivan.
Cops investigate a dead mailship. Astonishingly predictable, lame horror.
The Hard Ages: Trial Run, dir. LT Gill.
Spineless guy is dumb in several different ways, including falling asleep on an explosion-prone job. Laughable technology, nonsensical climax. This threatens to be a series, according to the program.
Cost of Living, dir. Jonathan Joffe.
Fortunately, if William B. Davis cannot afford a new body on his own, they'll let him sharecrop it. Very well done.
Neoplasia, dir. Frode Klevstul.
(No, you do not get to start your movie title with a lower-case letter.) Young people in an underground habitat take grueling tests to qualify to go to the surface. Some are dreamers, some are cynics, some get screwed over. Compelling stuff.
Welcome to Eden, dir. Erin Condy (USA).
Silly computer-animated scientists break the light-speed barrier and face the consequences. Cute, got laughs, pretty good.
Wireless, dir. Andy Spletzer (Seattle, USA).
(Our hometown film geek got big applause.) Handwavey science in a modern-noir plot and mode. A little heavy-handed, but not bad at all.
Microgravity, dir. David Ethan Sanders.
A woman alone on a tiny space station talks to her friend and sees visions of equipment failures. Her accent was hard to make out in a couple of places, but otherwise this was excellent.
Overall, lots of fun, really glad I went even with a headache.
La Vie d'un Chien, dir. John Harden (USA, France).
Black-and-white stills with voiceover (and English subtitles), flashed quickly enough to almost animate a couple of times. Looked like maybe only the trappings of SF at first, but it was satisfying, meaningful, and fun.
Killswitch, dir. Dan Przygoda (USA).
Cliche since The Running Man at least, this one's about a robot fleeing capture and the special forces guy who could blow it up at any time if that were as much fun as the chase. The news-program sequences looked bad and were poorly integrated with the robot-centered sequences. I felt that the robot's actions weren't morally consistent.
Scribble, dir. Faisal A. Qureshi (UK).
Short and surreal, not obligately SFnal, unclear in some ways, but compelling. I liked it.
Heyday, dir. Rachel Wang (UK).
Good characterization of a mixed-race couple of older folks in assisted living. The plot copped out, though; it could have been SF, but it could also have been unreliable narration.
The Grandfather Paradox, dir. Jean-Francois DaSylva (Canada).
A physics teacher's lectures begin to be illustrated with ray-gun-toting examples. Really funny. This one was probably the crowd favorite of the first showing.
Circus of Infinity, dir. Sue Corcoran (USA).
I didn't like the "shot out of cannon == life" metaphor, and I reject the lame fantastic allegory subgenre of SF.
Piece of Wood, dir. Tony Baez Milan (USA).
Will people still fight if their weapons are destroyed? Well adapted from the Bradbury story.
Perfect Heat, dir. Miska Draskoczy (USA).
A doctor and a patient in a blank white room, only sometimes they're host and interviewee on a talk show. Weird, disturbing, pointless.
Skewed, dir. Jeremy Wechter (USA).
A paranoid freelancer figures out that what's driving a company's success and what's propelling the world toward doom are the same thing. I loved the way this one lingered on moments of centering for the guy and his friend; most shorts are so constantly active.
Red Planet Blues, dir. David H. Brooks (USA).
Claymation Martian tries to interact with our latest robot. Cute, but I wasn't that interested.
I think they loaded the second showing with more good stuff on the assumption that more people would see it. It might've been marginally more, since the evening one actually sold out and I don't know that the 4pm show did, but the theater was about equally full for both. The organizers hadn't anticipated such a response. I'm not sure if they were planning to blather as much if there'd been fewer people, but there was a lot of wasted time as it was.
Super-Anon, dir. Stephen Plitt (Canada?).
Relatives of superheroes try to find their place in the world through group therapy. Funny but to the point of being awful sometimes.
They're Made Out of Meat, dir. Stephen O'Regan (Ireland).
If you haven't read the Bisson story, please do. It won't take a moment. This was a good staging, hampered somewhat by using human actors in a diner for the aliens (though the eyebrow of the one guy had real star quality) but improved by the addition of sample humans.
Heartbeat, dir. Omri Bar-Levy (Israel).
Planet creation as music video. Very cool.
Into the Maelstrom, dir. Peter Sullivan.
Cops investigate a dead mailship. Astonishingly predictable, lame horror.
The Hard Ages: Trial Run, dir. LT Gill.
Spineless guy is dumb in several different ways, including falling asleep on an explosion-prone job. Laughable technology, nonsensical climax. This threatens to be a series, according to the program.
Cost of Living, dir. Jonathan Joffe.
Fortunately, if William B. Davis cannot afford a new body on his own, they'll let him sharecrop it. Very well done.
Neoplasia, dir. Frode Klevstul.
(No, you do not get to start your movie title with a lower-case letter.) Young people in an underground habitat take grueling tests to qualify to go to the surface. Some are dreamers, some are cynics, some get screwed over. Compelling stuff.
Welcome to Eden, dir. Erin Condy (USA).
Silly computer-animated scientists break the light-speed barrier and face the consequences. Cute, got laughs, pretty good.
Wireless, dir. Andy Spletzer (Seattle, USA).
(Our hometown film geek got big applause.) Handwavey science in a modern-noir plot and mode. A little heavy-handed, but not bad at all.
Microgravity, dir. David Ethan Sanders.
A woman alone on a tiny space station talks to her friend and sees visions of equipment failures. Her accent was hard to make out in a couple of places, but otherwise this was excellent.
Overall, lots of fun, really glad I went even with a headache.