November 5, 2024

Reviews: Short Film Programs at Sundance Cinemas (Through Nov 6)

Ben Schwartz in I'M A MITZVAH (Ben Berman, 2014)
Ben Schwartz in I’M A MITZVAH (Ben Berman, 2014)

Reviews: Limited Runs

Sundance 2014 Live Action Shorts Program (100 min.)

Sundance 2014 Animated Shorts Program (89 min.)

Sundance Cinemas through Thursday, November 6»

Invariably I find short film programs rewarding, oftentimes regardless of their content. When it comes to narrative variety, there is usually something for everyone in any given program. What I find more appealing are the shifts in tone and style that I encounter as the program progresses. I know I won’t have much time with these films, so I feel the need to savor them all the more, while getting as much pleasure from the screen going black and gearing up my mind for whatever may come next. With eight films per program, I am happy to report that Sundance’s live action and animated programs offer up a great deal of enjoyment in terms of both story and style.

One of the most unusual and heartbreaking reenactments you will ever see, from I THINK THIS IS THE CLOSEST TO HOW THE FOOTAGE LOOKED (Yuval Hameiri, 2012)
One of the most unusual and heartbreaking reenactments you will ever see, from I THINK THIS IS THE CLOSEST TO HOW THE FOOTAGE LOOKED (Yuval Hameiri, 2012)

This year’s live action program is especially strong, with a healthy mix of fiction and documentary, and one film that is, if not expressly avant-garde, certainly relentlessly esoteric. The live action films seem to be wrestling in large part with questions of relationships, be they romances, friendships, or otherwise. The centerpiece of the program is the strongest of the lot, the Israeli documentary I Think This Is the Closest to How the Footage Looked. Director Yuval Hameiri stages a sort of puppet show with household objects, like a doorknob and a tube of paint, while narrating the events of his mother’s last day before she died. It is a surprisingly powerful film that speaks to what lengths we will go in order to preserve memories of the people we love, and how aching a tragedy it is when when we lose those memories.

Also of note are the comedy Verbatim, which also has a documentary component and takes us down the linguistic rabbit hole of a deposition, and La Coupe (The Cut), which brilliantly shows how quickly the everyday joy between a child and her parent can turn to sadness, all within the span of a single haircut. Of the live action films, the only one that isn’t as strong as the rest is the one directed by Rose McGowan (of Charmed and Grindhouse fame). Not necessarily a bad film, her film Dawn does nevertheless feel like an exercise in foregone irony. And for you fans of the hilariously exasperating Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation, Ben Schwartz stars in the last film in the program, I’m a Mitzvah. He demonstrates some genuine dramatic chops as well as comedic skills that are more muted than those he displays on television.

The discreet archivist of YEARBOOK (Bernardo Britto, 2014)
The discreet archivist of YEARBOOK (Bernardo Britto, 2014)

Whereas relationships serve as a link between the live action shorts, the animated shorts turn toward creativity, destructiveness (there is an unusual amount of bloody dismemberment in these films), and ultimately the nature of life itself, particularly finding beauty in the mundane. Whereas I found the middle portion of the live action program quite engaging, the animated program is stronger at the beginning and end. I found the variety of animation styles compelling, but some of the films (Oh Willy… and Subconscious Password) were a little too unnecessarily obscure for me. On the more positive side, I loved Yearbook, which tells the story of a schlub who is thorough and discreet, and recognized for these qualities, he is enlisted by the government to distill all of human history in 17 years onto a hard drive that will be launched into space before an alien missile destroys the planet. While the premise may sound silly, through its simple line work, it ends up being a remarkably effective meditation on the pull between all of history and the importance of one simple person.

IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY (Don Hertzfeldt, 2011), the third installment of the Bill trilogy.
IT’S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY (Don Hertzfeldt, 2011), the third installment of the Bill trilogy.

I also enjoyed the opener, Marilyn Myller, a stop-motion claymation film reminiscent of Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s work by way of Jack Kirby and Chuck Jones. The film’s end, with all its captivating destructive force, reminded me of a Don Hertzfeldt film, which was serendipitous, as a Hertzfeldt film ends up closing the program. It’s Such a Beautiful Day is the third part in Don Hertzfeldt’s trilogy about a fellow named Bill, who is combating mental illness. Hertzfeldt’s merging of his stick figure drawings with flicker and collage effects are evidence of a filmmaker who has pushed far beyond the clever brilliance of films like Rejected and Billy’s Balloon into territory that is at once funny and profound. You don’t need to have seen the first two parts to understand what’s going on here, but if you get the chance, I would recommend seeking them out and watching all three.

This is an especially rich week for moviegoers in Madison, with Sundance in particular offering a great microcosm of what filmgoing should be like on any given week in this town, i.e. a healthy mix between the mainstream and the rare, with all styles of filmmaking represented, and in numerous languages. If you have the opportunity and are looking to experience all of these things within a short span of time, I would encourage you to give either or both of these programs a chance.

For your reference, here is a comprehensive list of the films each program has to offer:

Live Action:

Afronauts (Frances Bodomo, USA, 2014, 14 min.)
The Cut (Geneviève Dulude-Decelles, Canada, 2014, 15 min.)
Dawn (Rose McGowan, USA, 2014, 17 min.)
I Think This Is the Closest to How the Footage Looked (Yuval Hameiri, Israel, 2012, 10 min.)
Love. Love. Love. (Sandhya Sundaram, Russia, 2013, 11 min.)
MeTube: August Sings Carmen ‘Habanera’ (Daniel Moshel, Austria, 2013, 4 min.)
Verbatim (Brett Weiner, USA, 2014, 7 min.)
I’m a Mitzvah (Ben Berman, USA, 2014, 19 min.)

Animation:

Marilyn Myller (Michael Please, UK, 2013, 6 min.)
Belly (Julia Pott, UK, 2011, 8 min.)
Yearbook (Bernardo Britto, USA, 2014, 5 min.)
Voice on the Line (Kelly Sears, USA, 2010, 5 min.)
The Obvious Child (Stephen Irwin, UK, 2014, 12 min.)
Oh Willy… (Emma De Swaef & Marc Roels, Belgium, 2012, 17 min.)
Subconscious Password (Chris Landreth, Canada, 2013, 11 min.)
It’s Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt, USA, 2011, 23 min.)