The 5th Short Film Hall of Fame

Getting Mads Mikkelsen for his short film must have been something of a coup for Simon Staho, and although he'd already directed a feature film in 1998 (also starring Mads Mikkelsen) it really has a 'student film' feel to it, with Staho in an experimental frame of mind. Before Covid (a new defining marker of our time) a friend of mine and I used to go to a small theater in the city - one of those very up-close-and-personal ones where up-and-coming playwrights put on all kinds of plays and shows that sometimes push the boundaries of art, or else hue closely to a certain framework that's tried and true. Nu very much feels like one of those plays, and afterwards we'd go have a drink to discuss it and either rip it to pieces or, if it was at least decent, explore what it all meant. The "gay issue" for lack of a better term (I'm sure there are hundreds of better) was a frequent theme, and here also, Nu explores homosexuality within the framework of the traditional expectations of an era when a guy was just expected to marry a woman and have children, without acknowledging his inner-most feelings. Perhaps that is why nobody talks in the short - people simply didn't talk back then. They were expected to just get on with what society demanded.

What bothered me quite a bit was that when the woman in this short became threatened by the man's sexuality and despondent over her abandonment she up and decides to drown their child - ending up in a mental institution. I get that the point might be, "don't force people into these roles or bad stuff happens" but turning this woman into a monster felt a little wrong. At the end, the lady is once again a violent transgressor. But perhaps I'm reading it all wrong. This short film is obviously open to interpretation, and yes, a woman in this situation, especially in those days, would normally react with anger - but killing the child just paints her as the villain through no fault of her own. Is her walk into the pond on her wedding day a suicidal wandering? The man rescues her, and although he eventually abandons her and the child, in the end she's painted in a pretty bad light. That age old trope of a woman being emotionally unstable reinforced through her actions here. (I might add though that at one stage the man walks off into a pond and ends up submerged, for a reason I can't quite grasp. He's in over his head, and is traumatized to the point of suicide as well?)

The film speaks well through touch, and just in the way the actors touch each other they act and say most everything that needs saying - and the framing is particularly good. Staho and more experienced cinematographer István Borbás get top points for that. Whatever was done to the baby's screams in this, it seems to have triggered something primal in most people who watch this short - and it feels awful to see anyone raising a child suddenly left to do it alone. For such a long time, people were just expected to marry a member of the opposite sex and start producing children whether ready to or not, and if not then nobody comes out of it unscathed - child or parent. Being gay just rubbed salt into the wounds, and the usual tale would be working a 9-to-5 job you hate, married to someone you hate and don't find attractive, with demanding children with problems. I really hope society continues to evolve, and freedoms increase so we never go back to a time (there are always people who want to go back, with even anti-contraception on the rise) when people were expected to fulfill a certain role in spite of who they really are. This short film reinforces that. There are places though, such as Saudi Arabia, that are still at square one.

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I loved Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and especially Man to Man with Dean Learner so I'm delighted this was nominated, as I'd never seen it before. Similar to Garth Marenghi, Matthew Holness plays Terry, a writer and peddler of pulp fiction, this time trashy crime novels - and specifically "The Reprisalizer", a Death Wish-type vigilante series loosely based on his own life, and featuring his beloved Allegro which is barely road-worthy and two Colt Cobra six-shooters. Of course, this is Holness, so the author is a devastatingly sad, foundering, middle aged man who is trying with all his might to keep his books in print and have them featured in libraries, and completely failing at that. When he isn't arguing with librarians over the merit of his fiction, he's daydreaming (in 70s exploitation film style) about being the Reprisalizer and shooting various punks "in the balls".

When not battling away in libraries and publishers offices, he's visiting Ron in hospital - an aged friend in particularly bad condition. Ron leaves Terry a note telling him he's leaving everything to the author, being one of those rare people who enjoyed his writing - but there's something Ron has left him which will invariably invite disaster, knowing Terry. That's if the last few minutes of A Gun For George isn't a fantasy, for during these moments the film has reverted to that 70s exploitation-reminiscent grainy film. The film also implies that Terry had a brother, George (which is what he calls his Allegro now) who was actually tortured by miscreants, thereby instigating the revenge fantasies that he uses in his novels. This could all be make-believe, which sometimes gets difficult to separate from fact in Terry's mind. I would have said that he considers his car his brother, but there is a picture with two versions of Terry in it. He's one of those characters who lacks the self-awareness to realise that he's on the very bottom when it comes to judging the worth of his prose, and that his novels aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

I really enjoyed A Gun for George, and I think it not only played into the strength for comedy that Matthew Holness has, but was touchingly human. It showed a man that had such a deep sense of what his wish-fulfillment would be like that he's put it on paper - thinking it worth sharing with the world. Of course, it would be more healthy for Terry to move on, in every respect, but he has something inside of him that needs some kind of psychological resolution. It's frightening in that you can just sense that one day he's going to try to achieve this, and it's going to end very badly - not only for him, but for other people. He lacks the complexity to work through his traumas in a healthy way, and instead sees things on a very base level - he'd like to torture and shoot those he sees as criminals, and all responsible for a crime he can't get past. I'm treating it all a little too seriously here. "What about my rights?" asks one scared punk in Terry's imagination/novel. "What about your wrongs?" asks Terry/The Reprisalizer. It's a very nice homage to exploitation cinema, a very funny short film and another notch on the belt of the talented Matthew Holness.

They wanted mercy. He didn't.

My interpretation of that part of the film was that the woman was suffering from depression (and possibly post-partum depression, which can last longer than many people think). I thought that the distorted cries of the baby were meant to reflect her deteriorating mental state. I saw the infanticide as the act of someone who was sick and needed help, not as an act of revenge or retribution for the husband emotionally abandoning them.

Now, I have read several plot summaries that imply that what she does IS meant as a punishment. However, I think it's significant that he is haunted by her when he is an old man. He did what he had to do to make himself happy, but at the cost of his wife's mental health (and ultimately her freedom, possibly her life if we infer that she died herself in the mental hospital since the version of her we see as a ghost is unaged).

The Heart of the World

I've seen two of Guy Maddin's movies, The Saddest Music in the World and My Winnipeg, and I enjoyed both a lot. This one distills what I like about them into a concise, 6-minute package. Besides the admiration the director wears on his sleeve for silent filmmaking, obviously, his defeatist sense of humor is on full display here. I mean, wouldn't it figure that the one person who can save the Earth ditches the two brothers, who appropriately represent life and death, for the embodiment of money and the guy who is likely responsible for this whole crisis? Luckily, she comes to her senses at the last moment, and also in true Maddin fashion, it's quality cinema that saves the planet. For that reason, however, it seems more like a glorified promo than a short film, which fits since the director made it to screen before full-length movies at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. I still had a weird and funny time and credit it for whetting my appetite for more Maddin. I believe this would be a good place to start for those unfamiliar with his work.

I watched Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) for the first time today. Directed by Yuri Norstein, it is about a little hedgehog on a journey.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The hedgehog is quite charming and endearing. It is easy for the viewer to become engaged in him and his adventure. The film is beautiful and lovely. It has a very nice look and feel to it, delightful, warm, and playful. The score was quite effective too.

Hedgehog in the Fog tells the story in an engaging and charming way and can delight viewers, young and old. Glad I finally saw it. Great nomination.

Malice in Wonderland (1982) is a strange and surreal twist on the classic story of Alice in Wonderland. Directed by Vince Collins, the film uses a lot of sexual and bizarre imagery. I liked it a lot. I loved the weird, trippy style of animation and thought it was a fun ride. An entertaining and effective short film. I hadn't seen it before, but I'm happy to have seen it now. Good nomination.

I watched The Heart of the World (2000) today for the first time. Written and directed by Guy Maddin, this Canadian short film is about a woman who is a scientist who works at the earth's core. She is also in love with two brothers and has to save the world from dying.

Overall, I liked this. The film intentionally looks and feels a lot older than it is, being in black and white with no spoken dialogue. I thought that was an interesting artistic choice. The film is also really fast paced and moves extremely quickly. It makes for an entertaining, fun time. The use of music and the editing in the film were effective. Interesting pick.

I watched Shell Out (Un Obus Partout) 2015 tonight. Directed by Zaven Najjar, this short film is about a man and his friend who have to drive across a heavily guarded bridge in order to visit his fiancee. They decide to do so on the night of the world cup.

I liked the style of animation here with the characters in silhouette. The decision to switch between the journey across the bridge and the soccer game is an interesting and effective one. I also felt the music was quite effective in enhancing the mood of the film.

This was a pretty good story and I thought it was directed and edited in a smart and engaging way. This was a good nomination, as it doesn't seem to be a very well known short. I'm glad to have checked it out.

The Heart of the World

The short film of two men who love the same woman, a scientist who studies the earth's core and has the knowledge that the world is to end in one day. She must decide which of the two men she loves. One of the brothers, an actor portraying Chris, oversees an orgy of drunken people, while the other brother, a mortician, whose corpse rise. Along comes a man, who is an industrialist, who is in love with money and in love with the woman herself. She decides to go to the center of the heart and become its new heart.

I thought this movie was very confusing. I watched it three times to grasp what was going on. Its not a bad film, but just to much sensory for me to really enjoy.

The story of a young man and his friend, in Beruit, during a war. The young man convinces his friend to help him get from one side of a bridge to the other, where his girlfriend is waiting. They use the distraction of a Futball game between Belgium and Argentina, but at what cost?

I really enjoyed the visualization of this film. I thought it was interesting to use the distraction of the game as way to get what they ultimately wanted to do.

Deadline to join is today, right?

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The story of unknown writer Terry Finch, who continues to write stories of a vigilante who fights the thugs of Kent. The only thing is Terry continues to write reoccurring scenes in every novel, which causes the publisher to reject his latest book. Terry seems down on his luck most of the film and people continue to harass him and his car named George. Terry has thoughts of seeking justice for those who do him and his car harm. Terry's acquaintance, Ron, is on his death bed. Ron has left his possessions to Terry, who has visited him almost every day to read his novels to the dying man. While Terry reviews the books on the shelf at Ron's apartment, he finds a lockbox that contains a gun, which gives Terry an idea to take back his life.

I like this film. It had a 70s vibe which isn't a bad thing as I grew up in the 70s. It was entertaining and would probably watch it again.

Oops, I can't post my entry here, right?

Sent my entry to jj, in case I still can join.

right, I was going to message you and tell you to message it to JJ. Im sure the bid is still open. Most of us have watched almost all the films.

I'm waiting for the deadline to pass before I start watching in earnest

You can start watching anytime. I have had two long sessions where I have most of the films done.

I finally figured out how to get them to work on my Amazon Fire TV. My laptop tends to be slow.

A documentary film of a leper colony in Iran. Leprosy is a devastating disease. It affects a person physically and mentally. They say "ugliness" in the film but their view on life is positive. They are filled with religious fervor. These people do not take things for granted. They are isolated from the outside world other than the doctors, nurses and teachers who take care of them.

I do not find any ugliness in this documentary. The only ugliness is the people who make them feel unwanted and lowly. I enjoyed this documentary and it would be one I would share with others, who I know would view it as I have.

Nominations aren't secret here. You can just post your entry.

You guys are on a roll here. I'll have to pick up my pace, it seems.

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