Film Festival Reviews ’02
PLUS: BAVO DEFURNE | 11'09"01 | SHORTS 2003
On this page - LLGFF DOC SHORTS: A DIFFERENT KIND OF BLACK MAN | ONE + ONE |
LLGFF EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS: ACHTUNG | THE BOYS NEXT DOOR | THE FINAL TOUCH | HAND JOB |
IN SEARCH OF MIKE | MON LAPIN BLEU | THE SLEEPING MAN | VICIOUS BEAUTY Back to the SHADOWS FILM FEST page • last update 17.Apr.02
LLGFF DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS
Any chance to see short films on a big screen should be siezed upon!
REVIEWS BY RICH CLINE
A DIFFERENT KIND OF BLACK MANdir Sheila J Wise • with Theo, Greg, Larry, Bryan, Kevin, Melvin, Dwayne o 01/US 15m
Director Wise made this as part of her doctoral dissertation, and it shows. It's a very straightforward doc featuring nothing but interview material with gay black men answering three questions: about being gay, about masculinity and about the black community. it's all straight-to-camera, no interviewer is seen or heard, no camera movement, only a bit of rather cheesy music to break it up. But what these guys say is astonishingly insightful, articulate and honest, and makes the film worth seeing ... and not just for the black community. 15.Apr.02 llgff
ONE + ONEdir S Leo Chiango with Noel Castaneda, John Rosenzweig, Joanne Silva, Robert Silva, William Owen Jr, Graciela Morales, Felicidad Castaneda, Helen Sparber, Sue Locker, Richard Wolitz, Art French o 01/US 27m
This half-hour doc examines two couples, one gay and one straight, in which only one member of the pair is HIV-positive. There are some interesting issues examined, but it stays very intimately connected to these two specific couples and their experience, getting increasingly emotional up to the overly sentimental finale. The experiences of these four central figures is remarkable--and remarkably moving--and there is a lot to learn not only for other couples in similar situations, but for anyone trying to maintain a relationship. These are all people who had not only triumphed over difficult pasts, but are dealing with ongoing issues of life and death most of us can't imagine. Strong stuff, a bit heavy handed but still worth getting out there. 12.Mar.02 llgff
LLGFF EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILMS
REVIEWS BY RICH CLINE
ACHTUNGdir Michael Brynntrup • with Mario Brendel, Ron Athey, Rene Broussard, Romilda Ritter, Straps Harry, Max, MB • 01/Ger 14m
This very odd art short has no sound at all and consists only of six men and one very pregnant woman sitting in or standing near a wire-mesh chair, showing us their tattoos, piercings and scars. All body types and ages are on display, mostly in extreme close-up, and some what we see is mildly shocking. Just when we begin to get bored, one of the guys actually pierces his chest with a long spike. Ouch! Then we're back to the quiet nothing again ... yawn ... and then another scene that's simply too grisly to describe here. Frankly, besides the gruesome action and a few witty edits, this is a strangely dull film. Maybe that's the point: Piercings and tattoos aren't as shocking as they once were. 12.Mar.02 llgff
THE BOYS NEXT DOOR
dir Kenneth Cole, Michael Cairns • 01/Can 13m
This collection of three very odd shorts is wrapped in images of a sailor drinking bourbon while flamenco music plays in the background. All of it is shot in a worn-out monochrome that looks like it's about a hundred years old, edited with scotch tape. The first segment uses jazz music to underscore images of a man being spanked; the second shows two cowboy types playing with each other accompanied by French music; the third is a comic short accompanied by Bolero-type music with guys dressed up like bulls and bulfighters. Some of the imagery is astonishingly vulgar, some is flat-out porn. But the grainy film is fairly intriguing anyway. 13.Apr.02 llgff
THE FINAL TOUCH
dir Pierre Yves Clouin • 01/France 2m
There's only ambient sound--and very little of that even--in this single shot in which a camera roams around a wall and then stops at a small mirror in which we can see the back of a man who's wearing only a T-shirt. Eventually we realise he's wanking. Absurd and pointless. 16.Apr.02 llgff
HAND JOB
dir Wrik Mead • 01/Can 3m
Shot in colour-washed black and white, it looks like this film was dragged down the street behind the filmmakers' car then washed with their laundry. It's a silent, sepia-toned glimpse of a man watching porn (even scratchier, reddish film) and fiddling with himself. It's not easy to see - it's so scratched that it looks animated, and to be honest I'm not sure what is supposed to have happened, besides the obvious. 13.Apr.02 llgff
IN SEARCH OF MIKEdir Andrew Lancaster • scr Brian Carbee • with Brian Carbee, Jack Priest, PJ Vanderboom, Antoly Frusin • 01/Australia 8m
With a bright visual style, a warped sense of humour and some very clever performances, this extremely brief short captures a tiny bit of childhood brilliantly as Brian (the American dancer Carbee) looks for his lost glow-in-the-dark Chatty Cathy doll and instead discovers the strange and wonderful relationship with his mother (played in drag and sometimes very heavy makeup by Carbee). For such a short film, there are a surprising number of rather touching scenes here, as well as some hilariously rude language and lots of Jeanet-like imagery. 12.Mar.02 llgff
MON LAPIN BLEU [My Blue Rabbit]dir Pierre Yves Clouin • 00/France 1m
Erm, like PY Clouin's other short here (The Final Touch), this is an absurd silent snippet. But unlike that other one, this is actually oddly funny as it features a naked man wrestling sexually with a big, blue stuffed bunny rabbit ... in front of a Christmas tree! Makes you worry. Hmmm. 16.Apr.02 llgff
THE SLEEPING MANdir Pietor Angell • with Tom Paris, Luciano Giancarlo • 01/Italy 6m
"A romantic comedy in five movements" - grainy black and white footage of five different scenes of a man (Paris) sleeping in a bed as we listen to an Italian voice (Giancarlo) admiring him and narrating their romance. (1) After the first night he can hardly believe his luck in landing such a beautiful man. (2) After one week he's obsessed and deliriously happy. (3) After a day out together, he's in love. (4) After a fight the night before, trouble is brewing. And (5) the whole thing concludes with a terrific punchline. Very, very clever. And funny too. 13.Apr.02 llgff
VICIOUS BEAUTYdir Ryan Rizzo, Neil Brock • with Pansy Division • 01/Can-US 5m
Gay American rock band Pansy Division used a Canadian porn website to make the video for this song about discovering that the school bully is now a porn star. Cross cutting the musicians' performance with pornography is a bit odd, especially when it's done as randomly as this. The explicit sex is fairly surprising--where else but festivals will this ever be seen? And if all their songs are as gimmicky as this it's no wonder the band has never hit the big time. The song is OK, in a kind of spoof 90s-rock sort of way ... but you get the feeling they're serious! 10.Apr.02 llgff
PLUS: BAVO DEFURNE | 11'09"01 | SHORTS 2003
