These three Einsteins decided to go check out the shorts programs, and it looks like they experienced some real jewels. I didn't see any of them, but I wish as all hell that I had seen SCRIPT DOCTOR, it sounds tremendous. Check it out!
Annette, Tom and Cora back with more shorts from SXSW!!!
Alright, we’ve covered some shorts from this year’s program and now we’re gonna cover some more. We’re amazed at how outstanding this year’s lineup is, and find it completely sad that most of you will never have a chance to see them. Who knows? Maybe one day soon, the studios will realize how 99% of audiences would rather see a little 5 or 10 minute short than yet another trailer for ENEMY OF THE STATE. Remember the old days when you’d be lucky enough to catch a cartoon or two before? Anyway, hopefully by reviewing them, and basically letting you know they exist, some of you may take the initiative and seek them out…
SCRIPT DOCTOR – Holy shit. It really upsets us that gems like this might never be seen. Can you remember the last time you laughed continuously for eight solid minutes? Before this one, we couldn’t have told you either, but we actually missed dialogue on account of our bellyaches. Who needs ABS OF STEEL when you’ve got brilliance like SCRIPT DOCTOR. Okay, imagine an episode of ER, only instead of human patients, the patients are scripts which need various degrees of work. >From a simple punch-up to an extraction, every script is there for a little healing. Take for example the couple in a doctor’s office, obviously being counseled on conceiving. When informed that the “mother’s” concepts are ready to grow, yet the “father’s” ideas are sterile, the doctor asks whether or not they’ve considered “adapting”. I don’t know if that bit comes across in print or not, but trust us, this one is absolutely jam packed with clever shit you’ll be wishing you though up. The climax of this dizzying eight minute short culminates in a full-on emergency with a BATMAN 5 script starring Harvey Corman. You’ve got the doctor hollering to get Ebert on speakerphone as the nurses scramble for the WHITE-OUT filled hypodermic, a couple of number two pencils, etc. We don’t want to give too much of this one away as we’re sure it’ll be showing up on the Independent Film Channel or SOMEWHERE one day soon. It has to, it’s sheer genious. I want to shake directors Jordan, Scott, & Adam Fields hands right now and complement them on an incredible job.
MUTINY – directed by Henry Griffin, this twenty-eight minute short follows a VERY unorganized jazz band on their attempt to pick everyone up and make it to Dallas for a gig. Both the acting and the dialogue in this one really drive it straight to your funny bone. Actor Nicky Katt is the ringleader trying to gather the rest of his unmotivated, stoned, and drunken buddies into the old ass, busted up truck that you hope won’t leave them stranded along the way. Madness and hilarity ensue as they discover their route is under construction and they’re left with a barely coherent hitchhiker navigating the way. God this needs to be seen!!!
RAZOR’S EDGE – brilliant direction by Lorenzo Benedick and great writing by Lorenzo and Allen George Buck will keep you on the edge of your seat as the suspense slowly builds to a GREAT story twist. The story occurs in 1950’s Texas, involving a barber trying to shave a VERY nervous customer bald. Another one to show studio execs to convince them that these small films MUST BE SEEN!!! (and what better place to showcase them?) We can’t wait to watch this one again with a completely unsuspecting audience.
TRESPASSES – Produced by Sandra Bullock and combining some really good actors, stunning cinematography, and a superb script, this was one serious short with one whole helluva lot going on! You’ve got death, strift, desertment, strife, incest, inbreeding, and strife. This is yet another perfect example of why shorts should replace half the trailers before movies…
MUDDY FORK – Was shot on video and blown up to 35 with a western setting, horses, costumes, destruction, good actors, a bit of a surprise ending as well. Shorts are the one place you are never safe. With only ten minutes to tell your tale, filmmakers will take you on all sorts of rides to all sorts of places in the minimum time possible. The endings are much more consistently “downbeat” or simply left open. This is one of those, and we loved it.
