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last update 9.Apr.12
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R E V I E W S B Y R I C H C L I N E
26th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film FestivalShorts shown as part of the festival in March-April 2012 • (2 of 2)
Also at the 26th LLGFF: I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK ALONE | BALDGUY
with Mario Casas, Ales Furundarena, Cristian Mulas
11/Spain 15m
A comedy of misunderstandings, this short takes an oddly serious twist along the way. At the centre is Jaime (Casas) a young guy trying to make a bit of extra cash as an escort. He travels to an out-of-town hotel and nervously meets his older client Roberto (Furundarena) at ease, but it's clear that these two men have very different reasons for meeting up. Clearly, Roberto thinks Jaime is a hitman here to get information to murder his wife. And when the real Jaime (Mulas) arrives, the three get into a very awkward standoff. Filmmaker Montero directs this like a tense thriller, which becomes genuinely horrific even as he maintains a blackly comical edge as young Jaime struggles to catch up with that's really going on. When things turn violent, we are fairly sure that another twist is coming. And what happens is startling and very clever. 24.Mar.12 llgff
with Stephen Guarino, Mike Rose, Chase Winton, Jonathan Lisecki, Whitney Avalon, Dawn Cody, Nick Triplett
11/US 8m
This short is very nicely played by the entire cast, who create sharp and bitchy characters who are hilarious. At the centre are Vince and Daniel (Guarino and Rose), a couple trying to stay together even though everything about each other bugs them. So they see a therapist (Winton) who simply doesn't get any of their jokes. As they vent about their petty issues, these men begin to appear rather pathetic, but the actors add a layer of understanding beneath the surface that wins us over. They're also simply too cute to hate for long, which kind of gives us a hint as to where this is going. But the continual banter about Facebook and Twitter give the film a snappy edge, and it ends on a simply brilliant punchline. 24.Mar.12 llgff
scr Scott Thompson
with Scott Thompson, Mike Takacs, Stuart Hughes, Anup Mohar, Inessa Frantowski
11/Canada 4m
A surreally hilarious odyssey about getting old, this short throws Thompson into a series of dreams within dreams within nightmares as he confronts the fact that he's no longer a spring chicken. Each time he wakes up, things seem to get even worse, until he awakens to his own 50th birthday party. Or maybe all of this is someone else's nightmare? There's a mind-boggling number of jokes packed into this short film, which gets funnier and funnier as it goes along. It's fairly simple, really, and very silly. But it's so cleverly written, directed and acted that it leaves us in fits of laughter. And perhaps thinking that getting older might not be such a horrific thing after all? 24.Mar.12 llgff
with Bailey Maughan, Gharrett Patrick Paon, Denis Theriault, Max Humphreys, Ian MacLeod, Whitney Illsley, Matt Tolton, Connor Leif Charron
11/Canada 8m
Dane (Maughan) is struggling after something his friend Ian (Paon) said. We're not sure what that is, but he's angry and reactive, and eventually we suspect that Ian has just told Dane that he's gay. But Dane's inner turmoil is softened when he realises how much he hurt Ian with his reaction, and when he sees some kids spraying abusive language on the walls, Dane feels the need to stand up to them. The film is extremely vague (Ian could also be seen as Dane's big brother), even though it becomes clear what the topic is. And it's also slightly over-egged and almost unbearably intense. But in its brief running time it depicts a tiny step someone can take to engaging with this kind of revelation from a close friend. 25.Mar.12 llgff
with Charlie Gustafsson, Deirdre Ross, Anders Danielsson
11/Sweden 5m
"I have to tell them today!" So begins the monolog inside the head of Joel (Gustafsson), a teen who is in a state of internal panic over what he knows he has to do. He feels like he's lying to his parents, and wishes he had said something earlier. And he's terrified that they'll cry, or worse, be resentful or even hateful toward him. The film really catches Joel's inner battle, as his mind is filled with conflicting thoughts and fears that are both real and imagined. It's an incredibly realistic portrayal of this kind of situation, and the way he argues with himself is hugely sympathetic because everyone has been there before, regardless of the secret we knew it was time to reveal. And as it builds to the end, we root for him to just say it and stop thinking. It's a simple idea for a film, and perhaps not terribly original. But it's also very effective. 25.Mar.12 llgff
with Dreama Walker, Rachel Smith, Lily Burd, Drew Moerlein, Colton Haynes, Caitlin Burke, Kenneth Fantry, Libby Winters
10/US 9m
As we watch a series of 1980s students sit for their yearbook portraits, each of them recalls their high school experiences. All the usual types are here, including some rather more extreme variations: musician, cheerleader, nerd, druggie, nymphomaniac. And as they reminisce, things begin to take a dark turn, discussing losing their virginity and passing a sexually transmitted disease around between them. None of them is quite sure what this bug is, but its symptoms are very nasty. The script is darkly realistic, although it's played out in a broad black-comedy style that starts out hilariously and gets increasingly serious. "Sex changes it all," one says, tilting the whole film into moralistic territory. Even so, this is a wonderfully strange, hugely inventive short, and filmmaker Smith proves adept at thoroughly creeping us out. 25.Mar.12 llgff
with Kevin DeCarli, Kyle Mac, Carlyn Burchell
10/Canada 17m
A quiet drama with a sharp script, this short starts with two guys, Balthazar and Christian (DeCarli and Mac), wearing hockey gear as they leave a match after being badly battered. There's no real plot here, and no real sense of the relationship between these young men, so the film feels rather vague as it follows them home, where Christian's dad just stares at the TV while his sister (Burchell) tries to get everyone's attention. This is intercut with old home movies and telling moments, such as when Balthazar reaches out to touch the sleeping Christian put stops short. In these short blackout scenes, we learn that Balthazar has strict religious parents, we see them get high and lose their inhibitions until they kiss, which scares Balthazar so badly that he grabs the first girl he sees. The film feels random and aimless, but finds some real emotions along the way. 25.Mar.12 llgff
with Tom Gramenz, Swen Gippa
12/Switzerland 23m
Gorgeously shot and edited like a feature film, this contained drama doesn't need much dialog to tell us everything we need to know. It's about two teen pals, Jan and Matthieu (Gramenz and Gippa), who spend a day hanging out at Prora, an abandoned Nazi complex on the Baltic Sea near where their families are vacationing. They're just having fun, swaggering around drinking beer and messing around. And then Jan starts making it clear that he's attracted to his friend. Matthieu's reaction is sudden and surprising, but also very complex. And as the film gets increasingly intense, writer-director Reithauser and his cast keep the tone raw and natural, with a strongly introspective approach that puts us in these guys' minds. It's a seriously accomplished bit of filmmaking that's thoroughly haunting. 25.Mar.12 llgff
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