Hey folks, Harry here... the secret joy bomb of film festivals that never fully gets recognized... The Short Films! These are the directors that 'come from nowhere' four years from now that make you go, "Where the hell did this director come from?" Well... Right here. They make funny stupid goofy weird bizarre wild shorts... they make poignant emotion bombs... they make films like the following... enjoy....
Bob The Intergalactic Bostonian Bum here with a report on a few of the highlights from the Boston Underground film festival (BUFF)
I'll call this report "10 shorts not to miss." I've been to a few of the Shorts Programs and, though I've only seen a some of the festival's many shorts, I though I'd give a brief report on the ten best I've seen. I highly recommend catching any of these if they come to an area near you. Also, for all you Bean-Towners, there's still two more nights of programming, so check out BostonUndergroundFilmFestival.Com for info on the last two days of this kick ass festival.
10. "Titler" (dir. Jonathan Bekemeier). This one has Hitler singing. Not THE Hitler, but rather a Hitler in a dress. Funny, bizarre, fucking great. He sings songs that are pornographic parodies of songs from musicals like "Cocksucker, cocksucker, Suck me a cock" (Matchmaker from Fiddler On The Roof). Really nuts shit, but..Yeah... see it.
9. "Hard Life"(?) (dir. ???) Not really sure the exact title of this one, nor the director. It wasn't in the program, but apparently the filmmaker is a student at Boston University. This one was a bit rough around the edges, but still a clever film. It had two recovering alcoholics sitting at opposite ends of a table with a bear out of reach. Not to mention they are both forced to listen to "We Are the World". Not as polished as some, but defiantly worth checking out, especially for a student film.
8. "Pleasureland" (dir. Bryan Poyser). Sort of a riff on VIDEODROME, this film involves a guy who rents porno tapes and the girls in them come alive to fuck him, then unplug. If premise alone were enough, this film would be higher on the list. But, the dialogue and acting were a bit flat. Still, really trippy and interesting. This is really what underground film festivals are all about. I believe it premiered up here and well continue showing around the country.
7./6. TIE: "Minotaur" (Daniel Sousa) "Lint People" (dir. Helder K.). Two visually impressive pieces of animation. The former combining various media to create an amazing effect, the latter a stop motion piece. Though neither plot did much for me, they were both quite well animated.
5. "Moving Illustrations of Machines" (dir. Jeremy Solterbeck). Further proving that the best animation is in the indy short circuit. Man, technology there was a certain quality about this one I can't explain, it's a dark short about a machine that seems to do stuff to eggs. Recommended especially for fans of the brilliant "More" (which is now on line at SciFi.Com)
4. "Rejected" (dir. Don Hertzfeldt) "Ma‚ Spoon Is Too Big" "I Am A Banana" Where does he come up with this stuff? God bless the academy for gracing this true piece of insanity with a nomination for best-animated short.
3. "Heart of the World" (dir. Guy Madden) A film that needs to be seen multiple times to be truly appreciated, and it must come out on DVD so that it can be watched frame by frame to pick up every little detail. It's sort of a silent film that looks like a silent film, with music that's like a silent film but... well, it's just fucking good. It's defiantly one that you must see now.
2. "Zen and the Art of Landscaping" (dir. David Kartch) The funniest short I've seen this year (next to "Rejected" at least) this is a pseudo-melodramatic soap opera of infidelity and seduction that keeps building and building. Like the best shorts of the fest, it takes convention, smashes it upside-down and rearranged its insides into a work of art.
And #1,...
1. "Dog Days" (dir. Ellie Lee). Amazing. Don't want to give away any plot, it must be discovered for yourself. It's THAT good, one of the best short films ever made. Just look everywhere you can where this is playing, it's soooo fucking amazing, Apparently based on a short story called "Flying Leap," this is the post-nuclear slice of Americana that the world has been waiting for. Shot in black and white, this is simply, a work of beauty.
