Dealing with the disaffection of being an artist of any kind today, Julian Sibal’s Jake, the failure is a 9-minute drama about a young struggling writer who goes from one rejection to another. His house is a shrine to his failures, the star of which is the English degree on his wall. As he contemplates… Continue reading Jake, the failure: The Experience of Despair in the Face of Devaluation
Tag: Private
The Spirit Became Flesh: Guilt and Decadence Take Shape and Take Over
In The Spirit Became Flesh, a rural community responds to its gradual disintegration by erecting a new god to worship. At 17 minutes long, director Jesse Parker Aultman packs in a narrative of desperation, the meanings of home, and the horror they are inherently capable of invoking. At the heart and the end of it,… Continue reading The Spirit Became Flesh: Guilt and Decadence Take Shape and Take Over
Double Zero: An Absent Protagonist and Three Contenders
Pat Bradley’s Double Zero, a proof of concept thriller, is brimming with uncertainty. A story about two criminals, the job they botched, and the boss ready to kill them for it, the film does not have any one reliable point of reference character. Other than an expositional story about its ruthless antagonist, nothing is certain,… Continue reading Double Zero: An Absent Protagonist and Three Contenders
Drifting Boat: In Perpetual Search of the Lost Home
Opening with a grandmother-granddaughter at a beach, Drifting Boat contends on the one hand with the unceasing desire to regain the childhood home and on the other, with the permanent disconnect in an alien land. To do this, the film brings the drama down to a domestic level: an old Chinese woman, whose family blends… Continue reading Drifting Boat: In Perpetual Search of the Lost Home
Love & Hunger: A Hilarious Recounting Of A Couple’s Tale Of Survival
Writer/director/editor Gabriel De Varona’s 14:22-minute-long Love & Hunger is a spicy tale of two estranged lovers and their star-crossed journey across oceans and scars. Quite literally. Funny, rebuking and convoluted in execution, the film is a thorough delight to revel in. Ex-lovers Olivia (Mireya Kilmon) and Hector (Roberto Marrero) meet three decades later, after migrating… Continue reading Love & Hunger: A Hilarious Recounting Of A Couple’s Tale Of Survival
Killing For A Living: A Hysterical Mockumentary On Assassins
Sherice Griffiths’ 09:20-minute long Killing For A Living is a laughathon through and through. Filled with puns, slapstick humour and a well-timed penchant for the woke, the short while exploring the lives of assassins lays out an interesting blueprint for a feature-length or even better, a web/TV-series. A documentary crew lands up at an unknown… Continue reading Killing For A Living: A Hysterical Mockumentary On Assassins
Vax: A Medical Drama That Makes You Re-examine The Pharmaceutical Industry
Writer-director Barak Shpiez’s 12:35-minute-long Vax manages to create the same suspense and brooding urgency that feature-length films on medical-conspiracy-thrillers do. Peppered with limited dialogues, blue-red hues for the film’s colour palette and cinematography that brings to screen the helpless, stifling sensation of its characters, Vax is a success through and through. TK Kellman narrates the… Continue reading Vax: A Medical Drama That Makes You Re-examine The Pharmaceutical Industry
Intern: A Dark Comedy That Offers An Amusing Take On The Corporate Management
At 16:04-minute length, writer-director Elena Viklova has enough time to showcase why a film like Intern matters or what it stands for. Twisted, dark and thought-provoking, the film is a departure from the usual dystopian shorts that dominate its genre. And, what sets it apart from its contemporaries is its brilliant screenplay, thoughtful choice in… Continue reading Intern: A Dark Comedy That Offers An Amusing Take On The Corporate Management
Curiosity: An Off-beat Comedy That Carries Several Subtexts Of Contemporary Social Issues
Directed by James Sunshine, Curiosity is a 14:36-long joyride, full of puns, one-liners and guffaws. Written by Tasha Hardy the film revolves around Bob Cooke (Bob Clendenin) whose lonesome existence borders on invisibility for the world and aching loneliness for himself. With only his best friend Dustin Baker (Eddie Steeples) for company and neighbour Holly… Continue reading Curiosity: An Off-beat Comedy That Carries Several Subtexts Of Contemporary Social Issues
Pine: A Drama That Tugs At Your Heart
Written and directed by Lauren Campi, Pine is a beautiful 14:15-minute long narrative that carries the fuzzy warmth of Christmas but well packaged into a dramatic short. While we may be well off the season, the short couldn’t have come at a better time, considering the chaos we are living in. Intuitive, reflective and poignantly… Continue reading Pine: A Drama That Tugs At Your Heart