The 5th Short Film Hall of Fame

Seven

While his directorial debut, Alien 3, was a disappointment to many, David Fincher totally redeemed himself with this classic neo-noir...

Sorry about that... <checks notes>

This is a tense little short film that's at the other end of the spectrum of movies about oil company and fishing village conflicts like Local Hero. Aside from being a lot less funny, obviously, this one focuses on the traditions of such communities, some of which might be too ancient. Johnsen gives a memorable performance as Yohana for the way she conveys the burden on her shoulders, as does Teigen for acknowledging her burden (and being grateful it's not his). As for the pivotal scene on the boat, I like how director Morgan puts you in Yohana's shoes for how her decisions about what to do with that last minute complication and in those seven seconds felt like my own. I also give him credit for capturing the Arctic's natural beauty and for some cool shots, especially the match cut between the coffin boat and Yohana's boat. While thrills and chills are not what the short is all about, I wish the short spent more time on the boat because a little more suspense wouldn't have hurt. I still think the short succeeds as one about the importance of letting the young and/or least indoctrinated take the reins, or in the very least, have a turn on the soapbox every once in a while.

Glad you like it. While I like the framing device with the cast interviews, I would also watch the show unironically. It makes me think of Lars Von Trier's TV series The Kingdom (which I also recommend if you haven't seen it already). That reminds me: I've only watched 3 episodes of Darkplace. I oughta finish it some day.

Speaking of, whoever edits Matthew Holness' Wikipedia page has a good sense of humor:

Goodbye Mommy

My nomination of Malice in Wonderland was directed by Vince Collins who would later make weird 3D animations using a computer running Windows 98 (I'm guessing here), and while this film is more technologically advanced than Collins' 3D work, there is some similar weirdness in the models and animations. This film has a more coherent plot than anything I've seen from Collins, but it's still Lynchian (to use a phrase that is probably overused by myself and others), but also there is some later era Hertzfeldt and some film noir. Animation is great because it allows us to peel a layer of sanity away from a film and not have to worry about the bounds of reality to help us get there. This film peels away multiple layers, and I'm here for all of it. I may have overrated it on first viewing, but I loved this weirdo animation piece.

Nu (2003) -

Storywise, this short is somewhat barebones. The wife probably had the best scenes since she's the one who's affected the most by Jakob and Adam, but overall, it's a fairly straightforward and simple story which doesn't bring much of anything new to the table. Fortunately though, there's enough to the film's style which makes up for this. Given the somewhat unconventional ways certain characters enter the frame of certain shots, how Mikkelsen's character casually walks through the areas surrounding his house as he goes between lovers, and the absence of dialogue, the film feels caught between reality and memory and I always appreciate these kinds of aesthetics which warp reality. This short also does a good job at representing the confusion of loveless marriages as the scenes which stuck with me the most showed Mikkelsen and his wife awkwardly touching each other's faces. These scenes do a great job at capturing their confusion as to how to interact with each other. Finally, the frame narrative was a nice touch. So yeah, nothing too special, but it's still pretty good.

Next Up: Seven

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I need to work on my reviews, but I'm almost halfway through. Just finished A Gun for George.

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Seven (James Morgan, 2018)

So generally speaking this looks alright and has some cool things. The funeral pyre is the most interesting moment visually but it feels pretty standard otherwise and I'm personally getting tired of soft focus close up shots, just please do anything else lol. The highlight for me was definitely the score, which isn't anything crazy, its just really good stringy movie score shit. Its perfectly fine and will exit my brain instantly.

Seven (2018) -

Even though this short left me asking for more, I enjoyed what it had to offer. My favorite aspect is how it explores two points of view. The first point of view is on the villagers who want to kill the oil worker. This is to set an example for the oil industry about interfering with their land. The second viewpoint comes from the perspective of Yohana, who's somewhat reluctant to follow through with the plan. Though you understand why the villagers are upset, it's also apparent that the oil worker they captured isn't solely responsible for the impact the oil industry has on their village, nor will killing the man put a stop to the oil industry. The short also comes with some lovely cinematography, with the standout being the bird's eye shot of the funeral pyre. Lastly, the ending makes for a nice slice of suspense. As stated above though, I was ultimately left asking for more. For instance, I would've liked to know more about why the villagers and the oil workers were hostile towards each other. If the reason is because of pollutants released from the oil rigs, I would've liked to see how this was affecting the villagers as the pristine landscape shots we saw in the film didn't convey any such thing. It also would've been nice to see conversations with some other villagers and the oil worker himself to provide more viewpoints to Yohana's moral dilemma. As it stood, it's a fine short, but I imagine I'll forget about it pretty soon.

Last Up: Un Obus Partout

The Heart of the World

This is very dense so I've watched it twice now. Still not enough for me to 100% know what's happening. The one guy is a mortician (Science?) and the other guy is an actor (Art?). But he's also playing the role of Christ, so.....(Religion?). They're both passed over in favor of the rich dude (Commerce?) but then HE gets kicked to the metaphorical curb. Learning, afterward, that this was commissioned by a Film Festival (thanks @Torgo) makes the intent a little clearer. The ultimate message seems to be Yay Cinema!

But what an exhilarating ride. Has anyone counted the edits in this thing? Holy Jeez. This is my first Maddin film and it has definitely bumped him up several notches on my "directors I need to watch" list. His name has certainly been on my radar in the past but I was somehow completely in the dark as to what his "thing" was. Turns out his thing very much aligns with my thing. Definitely going to check out more from him, before the year is out.

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Ranking these things is going to give me headaches. I've watched 5 so far and liked them all.

Yeah, the last place on my list is still going to be something I enjoyed.

On the Maddin front, Brand Upon the Brain or Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary are both fun places to start that lean in the horror direction.

It's embarrassing to admit but I think my brain has often confused the Guys Maddin and Ritchie. I know, I know.


But after watching this I've looked up some trailers and realized I've been missing out on what could potentially be a new favorite director. I'm all about eye candy and it seems he delivers the goods.


I forgot to mention in my review the near perfect recreation of 20s films. The editing is not period accurate of course, but it did still remind me at times of the more intense moments from Gance's Napoleon, as well as the more obvious Russian influences. And whoever did the makeup for the lead actress deserves an Oscar. If I didn't know better I'd swear her scenes were actual vintage footage

One of my favorite all-time director's commentary lines comes from Maddin's commentary on Pages from a Virgin's Diary. He's talking about the character of Dracula and the threat he poses to the woman he is seducing, talking about how the danger he presents is bound to his sexuality. And he says, "I mean look at him. He's basically a penis in a vest." LOL.

Night and Fog

I enjoyed this Holocaust documentary for the way it treats the crime against humanity as just that and asks how, well...anyone - us, the planet Earth, God, what have you - could have allowed it to happen. After all, is there a question that stings in it more than "who is responsible, then?" Speaking of our planet, the most interesting thing about the short is how it makes it seem like an accomplice for how peaceful the concentration camps appear at the time it was filmed. If you somehow had no knowledge of the Holocaust and visited Auschwitz, you wouldn't be a bad person for assuming that the buildings belong to a failed factory. You also have to credit Resnais and company for how meticulous they are in their descriptions of what happened during each stage from the ghetto evacuation to the Final Solution, and every time the narration paused, I'm sure it's not just my imagination that there's the implied question of why nothing or nobody stepped in to end it. The photographs and footage from this part of the short would be all for naught - or at least heavily diluted - if they shied away from the hardest parts to watch in each stage. While I wouldn't rank this movie above Shoah, which I somehow subjected myself to the entirety of, I would rank it as the best short Holocaust documentary I've seen, so much so that I don't feel like I have to see any other ones. Another question the short asks that also gave me chills is how long humanity will remember this atrocity. Thanks to it, we haven't yet. Even so, and sorry for getting political, but since it's easier to spread misinformation than it ever has been before, how long will we?

Attachments

 

I don't think it's inappropriate to think about the cultural and political importance of remembering the Holocaust. There was a quote from some dude involved in basically neo-Nazi stuff who said something really chilling. The gist was that the generation that actually fought in WW2 was dying off, and you no longer have a grandfather there to tell you just how bad the Nazis were. And he was saying that this gives an "in" for neo-Nazi groups with younger people because there's no longer that first-hand account that's something they are growing up with. Likewise, the generation of people who survived concentration camps has mostly died off, so those first-hand accounts are also lost.

I think it's great that Night and Fog is a short, because it says so much in so little time. It makes itself incredibly accessible in ways that longer films aren't.

I agree with everything you said. I guess it's just ingrained with me to avoid political discussion here! For what it's worth, I was going to add InfoWars pretending that Sandy Hook never happened and Fox News not airing the January 6 hearings to my review as examples of the worst kind of misinformation lately.

Again, Shoah is long and difficult to watch, but it's worth it, as is The World at War documentary series from the 1970s. Oh, and some interesting trivia: Chris Marker (La Jetee, Sans Soleil) was an assistant on Night and Fog, which also explains why it stands up.

It's been on my list for ages, but 6 hours is intimidating along with the content.

That's a neat piece of trivia about Marker!

Un Obus Partout (2015) -

I found this to be a pretty good short film. I enjoyed the usage of black for the visual aesthetic, especially in the second half of the short which takes place at night as this caused the flashes of color to stick out more. I also enjoyed the sense of futility throughout the short as, even if Gabriel and Mokhatr would make it across the bridge, that's not going to make their political situation any better as they're still going to live in the same war-torn environment where civilians are killed each day. This knowledge gave the suspense set piece at the end an extra layer of resonance. I also appreciated how the short built tension by cutting back and forth between the snipers watching the World Cup premier and the drive across the bridge as, even though that sequence could've done more in the way of suspense, it was still a nice editing technique. Finally, that the snipers and many of the civilians were spending the night watching the World Cup premiere, there's a sense of futility to the conflict as, since both groups seemed to share some of the same interests, they could potentially get along with each other. Overall, it's a solid short film that I enjoyed watching. In terms of animated films about the Lebanon War though, I prefer Waltz With Bashir by a decent margin and highly recommend watching that film.

Just finished Brats!

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