Long Branch, by Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, is a short film about a potentially long relationship. The film opens with our lead characters making out in a tunnel with a car driving past. Our female lead (name still tba) bluntly asks the guy if he would like to have sex, in a much more crude fashion than we’ll touch on here, to which she receives a reply that is expected of any straight male; yes. Her roommate has people over so they have to go back to his place – as he checks his phone for the time, he asks how good her shoe’s arch support is and they start running to make the train, which they do. If they hadn’t the rest of the somewhat predictable plot would not be able to play out.
Once on the train, they make the few other people in the car uncomfortable and myself too a bit, to be honest. Finally, after their make out session goes on for a while and a station name is announced, our female (who’s name we still do not know) asks where this guy lives to which he finally admits he lives in Long Branch – nearly 2 hours away.
Cue to them now being on a city bus in the snow – at this point, quite unrealistic. Their down to awkward conversation when at least the girl lets us know why we don’t know character names “basic one night stand etiquette”. That cleared a little bit up at least. Finally, they make it back to his house where it is clear to the audience immediately that he lives with family. She stays and they end up cozy-ing up to sleep, no sex involved, and leave the viewer thinking they may actually go on a real date. Not original, but cute and relatively enjoyable.
After watching Detropia I immediately thought that this documentary can be considered as a continuing part to Michael Moore’s Roger and Me. Detropia follows the similar angle that Moore did in his film by exposing the town of Flint insufficient lack of income and government support. Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady bring the city Detroit to a modern halt by showing their viewers that what is happening in Detroit is not a tale of a mishap where a knight comes to save the day, but a reality of what was once a shining star town is now a town consumed in unseen flames.
Detropia follows Crystal Starr: a video blogger, Tommy Stevens: a local bar owner and George McGregor the president of a workers’ union. These individuals give their perspective on their everyday lives and struggles to make ends meet. Stevens, who is trying to make his business stay afloat and McGregor tries to keep a smile on the union workers who know they will soon either face a pay cut or a lay off. We see families lose their homes due to foreclosure and then eventually have the house they once called a home torn down by demolition; erasing the memories that once existed.
We can take this as a wake up call in the sense that Detroit is just the beginning piece to fall in this domino effect. The poor keeps getting poorer and the richer keeps getting richer.
One of the many young men from Detroit who make money out of retrieving old ore and copper from deteriorating buildings throughout the city.
The situation that is going on in Detroit in the last few years is frightening to say the least. With jobs and businesses going down the toilet left and right, the eye-opening documentary “Detropia“, by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, goes deeper into everything that has happened and is still happening in the once great city of Detroit, Michigan. The film is narrated by Detroitians who struggle in the crumbling motor city and talk about about the turning of Detroit from “fastest growing city in the world” to “fastest shrinking city in the world”, which is where the title “Detropia” comes from: the word “Detroit”, of course, mixed in with the suffix “tropia” which means “turning”.
The film follows three die-hard Detrotians who give their perspective on how the state of the city is affecting their everyday lives and the lives of Detroitians collectively: a video blogger, Crystal Starr, a local bar owner, Tommy Stevens and the president of a workers’ union, George McGregor. On a good note, a concerned history-enthusiast Starr, is enjoying the learning experience from the crisis. However, both Stevens and McGregor are finding it difficult to stay afloat amidst the disaster. McGregor pains through keeping his workers happy despite the various pay cuts and job losses, while Stevens is having to deal with a declining business.
With three different perspectives used to describe the overall mood of the people of Detroit, Ewing and Grady effectively tie them all together and make it look like a domino effect. Because of the state of businesses in Detroit, McGregor has to tirelessly negotiate to keep his workers happy. Through the painful negotiation process, jobs are lost in order to reduce pay cuts and because of this, Stevens’ business slowly goes downhill as well because what once was a booming locale for exhausted workers to go to after work, is now slowly vanishing without them. Eventually painting a bigger picture for the viewer that it is effecting every single one of us.
What makes “Detropia”, which was only the sixth film to be directed by these two very young and talented directors Ewing and Grady, compete with other great devastating documentaries such as the popular “Super Size Me” by Morgan Spurlock and “Home” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, is that it ingeniously takes one thing people overlook and ignore because they think it won’t happen to them and sequentially creates a visual for them, powerfully summarized by the line towards the end by Stevens: “it’s coming for you.”
Two young, artists of Detroit doing what they do
Regardless of the many downsides that come from the receding motor city, the film does try to display some upsides to the entire situation. As gloomy as things maybe in Detroit, a young couple of artists are able to afford a home and live comfortably. It also included a very interesting stat that although population is decreasing rapidly, the population of youth in central Detroit has increased by 59%. Even with all the pessimistic visions of the future in Detroit, Ewing and Grady attempt to integrate some assurance to it that Detroit is not just a run-down, has-been city whose reputation will remain down in the dumps but there is some optimism.
With Detroit turning into what is is now, “Detropia” serves as a forceful wake-up call for the rest of us. Using The United States as a larger scale to Detroit in the 50’s and 60’s, Ewing and Grady subtly integrate their message that we, as a whole, are heading in the same direction and it’s time to wake up.
Do you remember “The Butterfly Effect” staring Ashton Kutcher? I do, vaguely. At the time I thought it was entertaining, but I was also only 15 years old. 15 year olds make for terrible film critics. I do remember it being about about a young man and his feelings (yawn), and every time a butterfly beat its wings he would time travel. Or something like that. This short film, by the same title is nothing like that.
To me, dystopian science fiction movies must be the Film God’s version of the Babel Tower, a way of smacking down an audience for having the gall to possess an imagination. Something about the lost promise of technology and the future just seems to resonate with the bleak atmosphere and hopelessness of the dystopian theme apparently. While I can appreciate the irony, there are some instances where I find it grating in the extreme, especially in post-apocalyptic versions where science often revert backwards. The reason is they take away the one thing I have always loved about the science fiction genre, the ability to push the boundaries on what we think is possible. Yet I’m happy to say there is reason to rejoice in the form of the short film, Portal: No Escape by Dan Trachtenberg.
Portal: No Escape, based on the videogame with the same title by Valve Software, begins with our protagonist waking up in a cell with absolutely no idea where she is. Time passes as she acclimates herself to confinement, probing the walls every so often in search of a way out. Finally, she discovers a very interesting device that, with the right amount of creativity, may hold the key to her prison, and perhaps to everything else as well!
What I love about Portal: No Escape is the fact that it’s an example of what you can do when you put the science back in dystopian science fiction. The device, the technological possibilities it offers, is a central asset to the story. The doors it can open up, literally in some instances, challenge both the protagonist and the audience to think laterally in order to make the best use of it, pushing ones preconceived notions while still making logical sense.
Photo taken from telegraph.co.uk
I compare this to some of the latest futuristic dystopian films out there like the Hunger Games, which I did enjoy, but left me a more then a little tenuous on the necessity of science fiction elements being there at all. Whereas Portal is dependent on its technology to move the story forward, Hunger Games is all about tapping into something primitive and decadent, often having to make do with what little the characters have on hand in order to survive. I could easily picture Katniss and the other tributes story in a period piece doing a show in the Colosseum of Rome or some surreal drama taking place on a television show set in the present day, like a less funny and more bloody version of Jim Carrey’s The Truman Show.
If you’re looking for a thrilling experience that makes you do a different take on how you’re looking at things and opens up new possibilities for a seasoned genre then I highly recommend checking out Portal: No Escape. Oh, and The game’s not too bad either.
Flawed is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age film about a woman who is uncomfortable starting a relationship with a plastic surgeon. This 12-minute short film directed by Canadian artist and filmmaker Andrea Dorfman tackles the issues of identity and challenges the notions of the ideal beauty.
This film is the raison d’être of coming-of-age films. In 12 minutes Dorfman manages to capture what takes most directors 90 minutes. Flawed is a personal story that conjures one of the primary issues that many face during their adolescent years, self-acceptance. It is also sprinkled with elements of childhood insecurities, obstacles of a blossoming relationship and personal growth. The voice-over narrative is accompanied with watermarked drawings and light melodies that compliment the actions of the scene. This creates a storybook like tale of events.
I enjoyed watching Flawed I was continuously engaged. Dorfman deftly packaged adult like complexities with childlike illustrations. The film was well written. You were not bombarded with loads of information that it would ideally take to develop a character in a film. It didn’t give too much but also didn’t give too little, a perfect balance of material.
Moving Takahashi is a romance based short film, well written and directed by Josh Soskin. It is an 11 minutes short cinematography about a mover and a suicidal daughter of the house, who takes some overdose pills to suicide and she has only twenty minutes left to survive. After a conflicting debate of whether to involve in such situation or not, the mover saves the daughter’s life and inspires her to live for life. The short dramatically elevated at the end when the mover reveals that his actual intent was to rob furniture in the house.
The theme of the short Moving Takahashi portrays the importance of life and love, which is fairly matched with its genre, romance. The cinematography has also couple of important messages to deliver to the viewers. Firstly, suicide is not the ultimate solution of any problem. It can only destroy your life. Secondly, everyone needs love in life and that can be happen any moment and anywhere. Finally, there are so many good reasons for living your life, so do not waste it.
Glowing acting of the main two leads, Robert Boyd Holbrook and Kristin Malko, make the film more pulsating and motivating in 11 minutes. Compare to other shorts of the same genre, the film goes quite along with another short film, Adelaide, where a girl is lonely and desperately looking for love and attention, and finally finds the man of her life.
The last scene is the soul of the film Moving Takahashi which is stunningly scripted and inspired to live for free will and life. And a girl chooses to go away with an unknown, but the saver of her life.
This eight-minute gem of a short by Canadian producer/writer/director Jason Reitman, tells the story of how two young people carefully negotiate the terms of their first sexual encounter.
Consent brilliantly encapsulates the best comedic aspects and plays up the ‘worst’ exaggerations of the full length rom com, using the hilarious ‘sex contract’ bedroom scene as a microcosm of the compromise couples go through in all budding relationships.
By concentrating on a simple sex scene, Reitman is able to very quickly portray what is often stretched out and over indulged in a standard romantic feature.
At their most annoying, the courtship phase in an ordinary rom com can become tiresome and clichéd. In Consent it has essentially already happened. Hollywood rom coms are also not known for their subtle and intelligent humor. In this film, the marriage of a concise and witty script, and a group of skilled actors, means that the humor and the ending twist, really get a chance to take center stage. It’s funny, sweet, enjoyable, light, and has bite. All the things I enjoy most about the best in the genre.
In just eight minutes there is nowhere to hide corny, and Consent is a masterful illustration of a romantic comedy at its most succinct.
American Juggalo by director Sean Dunne gives a shocking and entertaining look at the life of a “Juggalo.”
But what is a “Juggalo?” According to Wikipedia, the FBI classified Juggalos as a “loosely organized gang,” with a small segment that commits violent or drug related crimes. The name Juggalo originated with the band “Insane Clown Posse” as a name to describe their fans. Female Juggalos are called “Juggalettes.”
The short-film takes place at the annual “Gathering of the Juggalos.” Inspired by “Insane Clown Posse” the music festival features acts from the Posse’s record label and various other forms of “entertainment”.
Members of the Juggalo “family” describe themselves and their lifestyle in their own profanity laced vocabulary.
As you will see, Juggalos come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and stages of motherhood. Often riddled with piercings and tattoos, one of their proudest characteristics is that despite the violent lyrics, they love everyone. A Juggalette who calls herself “Maniac” most elegantly described Juggalos as a puzzle where everyone is a piece of the picture.
Although there are some “straight-edge” members, drug use, drinking, nudity and erratic behavior are completely acceptable and highly encouraged. After seeing this film the viewer must decide if Juggalos are misfits, criminals, or as one Juggalette calls it; just into “really weird-shit.”
School Ghost Stories G or Gakkô no kaidan G is a Japanese anthology movie created by Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu is better known his role as the director of “The Grudge” both 1 and 2. “In the Corner” is Shimizu’s first film production.
“In the Corner” starts off with 2 girls cleaning out the class pet rabbit’s cage. One girl cuts her finger and her friend goes off to get her a bandage. Good samaritans never last long in horror films. She returns to find her friend missing and the cages all broken up. Unfortunately, the cause of all this has stayed for her return as well.
Its been a long time since I saw something that made it hard for me to go to sleep. I guess it didnt help I was searching through shortoftheweek at 3 in the morning. It should be said that I think the grudge girl is probably one, if not THE, most horrific creations ever.
Shimizu captured the best moments of any horror movie in a 3 minute clip. The setup is perfect. He starts off with just an average routine and it quickly picks up from there. No ambient music is played and the quality of the clip isn’t great but it doesnt stop the horror from shining through. The moment of terror where the girl realizes she is not alone is pure GOLD. This is what I believe makes “In a corner” such a good horror piece. Shimizu captures that true breath stopping moment in such a short period. No frills, no beating around the bush, just heart pounding terror!
I was so intrigued by this one clip I even youtube’d Shimizu’s other works which you can find here. Shimizu has certainly gained the right to be named with other top notch horror directors.
