2017 movies

Movie Review: GOLDEN LIGHT (Italy, Music Video)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

GOLDEN LIGHT, 3min, Italy, Music Video
Directed by Virgilio Villoresi

Music Video for Blonde Redhead’s latest single “Golden Light”

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Fantastical and deeply immersive, GOLDEN LIGHT asks you to simply go along with the symbolic wonderland it throws at you. A three minute Italian music video exploring metaphor, symbolism and vivid contrast, GOLDEN LIGHT employs colour and contrast to create dramatic emotional responses. We follow our hero as she explores a mystical Alice-In-Wonderland style universe, encountering her lover along the way.

Under the right light, dramatic patterns appears on the faces of our heroes, adding a literal secondary layer of meaning to our piece. Our lovers dance around each other, one holding a key, one revealing a key hole- but neither ever truly reaching the other.

A notably nod must be given to the stunning and unique art direction and design in this piece- as it has a sensual other-worldliness that is all at once engaging, intriguing and uncanny. This is a difficult but nevertheless effective tone to keep the viewers glued to the piece until the final frame. A lush visual piece with densely layered visuals, GOLDEN LIGHT is a beautiful film to see.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

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Movie Review: DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN (UK, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN, 4min, UK, Experimental
Directed by Michelle Bailey

A young girl girl searches for a safe haven in an urban landscape and finds solace in her own creative expression.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Terrifyingly authentic and yet beautifully abstract, DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN follows a young woman fleeing the endless cycle of her abusive partnership. She flees down a street while a cycle of his verbal abuse replays over and over in her head.

Once she reaches a rooftop overlooking a deadly drop to the street below, she defies the expectation by bursting into a passionate and emotionally charged dance piece.

Sharp, dramatic, cathartic and intense, DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN is a piece about finding your own freedom. Our heroine is an exceptional dancer and cinematic performer, and our story, though simply, is nevertheless incredibly emotive and effective.

A piece worth watching if you are a fan of dance cinema, an appreciator of strong dramatic pieces or a lover a fine cinema, you will find something to enjoy in this work. It’s movement will surely move you.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

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Movie Review: DIE YOUNG (USA, Music Video)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

DIE YOUNG, 3min, USA, Music Video
Directed by Mimi Cave

Music Video for Sylvan Esso.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

A stunning music video by Sylvan Esso and directed by Mimi Cave, DIE YOUNG is a grippingly and lavishly shot short. A beautiful film with sumptuous and glamorous images, this piece follows a trouble making woman on her quest to escape her circumstances by stealing a cop car to drive into the desert- only to find the backseat is holding an unexpected guest.

Flawless editing and seamlessly smooth cinematic choices make this already strong music video hit new emotional heights. DIE YOUNG is more than just a music video- it is a modern day Thelma and Louise- a story of a women escaping where she was, to figure out who she is, and trying not to get lost in the process.

It may be the musically adventurous song and infectiously catchy beat, or the beautiful visuals, but there is something incredibly emotionally satisfying about this short- something that calls the viewers to get completely immersed in the story arch.

It is the sum of its parts- the music, the story, the cinema- the combination of it all, the begs the viewer to jump into off the cliff with our main character- to fall into the unknown with reckless abandon, and pray the landing never comes.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video

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Movie Review: REQUEMBARREN (Spain, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

REQUEMBARREN, 16min, Spain, Experimental
Directed by Roman Rubert Bernat 

Beatrice is a young woman who leaves home to look for Requembarren. After listening to the sad man, to the profaner, and to the incestuous man, she reflects on what happens to her on the journey.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

This short, highly metaphorical experimental piece, coming to use from Spain and directed by Roman Rubert Bernat, follows the story of a young woman, given a map by her parents and sent out in the world. The world, however, is dangerous, horrifying and wildly unpredictable. Our heroine, much like any on an epic quest, battles feat after feat, meeting stranger after stranger in increasingly periciliary circumstances.

Shot in black and white with keen attention to detail and style, this is a piece with truly admirable cinematic qualities. Thickly laced with fairy tale elements REQUEMBARREN asks its’ audience to examine its meaning from multiple angles; it may be a piece about the passage between life and death, or the link between heaven and hell, or between fairy reality and fantasy.

Regardless of the meaning intended by the creator, there is something lush and gorgeous behind this work of art- with special acknowledgment going to the various rich locations of shooting and the filters used to give brightness to the piece. A worthy watch indeed.

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Movie Review: STRANGE BEASTS (UK, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

STRANGE BEASTS, 5min, UK, Experimental
Directed by Magali Barbe

‘Strange Beasts’ is an augmented reality game. It allows you to create and grow your own ‘pet’. How far can it go?

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

A bright, authentic and chillingly vibrant piece of speculative fiction, STRANGE BEASTS follows a software and game developer on his new groundbreaking game. One where you create and care for a digital pet. The catch? The game exists in a device embedded in your eye.

Our hero is loveable, bright, energetic and trusting. The game looks authentic, dazzling and instantly addictive. As a film the colors, graphics and visuals are flawless. The film is a master of attention to detail.

But what sets this film apart is its believability, and its gut wrenching twist. Without spoiling this remarkable ending- this film hits frighteningly close to home.

With this only a five-minutes-in-the-future kind of science fiction, the audience is hit with the sudden realization that this type of technology already exists, and the we are not watching a film about what could be, but what will be.

STRANGE BEASTS will haunt you, with its disarmingly charming approach to the future, and send a chill up your spine when it ends.

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Movie Review: 65.5 WOMEN (Norway, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

65.5 WOMEN, 6min, Norway, Experimental
Directed by Liv Mari Mortensen

To understand a recent failure, a young man writes a statistic of all the women he ever slept with. As he tries to simplify all of his affairs into simple characteristics the memories start to take over, leaving him to face the only one he truly wanted.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Dramatic, collaborative and unbarred, 65.5 WOMEN is the story of one man recounting his sexual exploits to the woman he might bed next. But his descriptions of his conquests are not told from his voice- but from the women he speaks of. Subtle and often humorous, 65.5 WOMEN has an unmistakable charm in it, and an interesting dissection of genre and sexual politics.

Our narrator is never seen, in fact, other than his opening lines and closing lines he is rarely even heard. The focus, instead, is on the statistically way he recounts his sexual partners- the actual lines said by those very women while they break the fourth wall in a nonchalant and unassuming way. It is open for dense discussion as to who has the power in this piece- our male hero, the woman the hero is speaking to, or the women he is recounting.

Perhaps the depth in this piece comes from its subversion of gender power. The man, who is recounting his conquests with an almost unemotional air, has his very voice removed. The piece follows the women, and the descriptive factors that define them (“This one had a drug problem…this one had red hair.”) are said instead by the women who own the descriptors. The woman take agency, by using their own voices, and owning their descriptions.

A piece worthy of discussion on an academic level, but no less enjoyable to anyone simply looking for an introspective short film, 65.5 WOMEN is a deep and intellectual piece that packs an emotional punch.

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Movie Review: ICARO (Brazil, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

ICARO, 11min, Brazil, Experimental
Directed by Carla Jay Shah Laroche

Based on the Greek tragedy, Icaro is a Brazilian modern adaptation of the iconic struggle; a man who seeks liberation from an environment in which he feels caged and powerless. Where myths tell us that our fate is determined by a greater force than our own, Icaro is a poetic film which illustrates how our fate is also determined by choice. Icaro must reach his own decisions on how his profession as an elevator operator will ultimately affect him, a profession which is still widely in use in Brazil. The film touches multiple aspects of Brazil’s complex society.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

An experimental Brazilian short following one man’s journey into the sky, ICARO is a reimagined work of art inspired by the tales of Icarus, who flew to close to the sun. ICARO, our hero, is a highly intelligent man working as a lift operator, when he is transported into a world where he has no socially structured limits.

We may be looking through his day dream or his minds’ eye, but our hero is transported to an empty warehouse where his story, dream, struggle, his breaking free of social stagnation is able to be expressed through dance.

His is covered in paint (or possibly wax) and is able to act out his dreams of reaching far beyond the shackles of the modern world.

Ircaro is exquisitely shot, beautifully performed and exceptionally well composed. Balanced and perfectly cast, this is a work of experimental art that will have any film-goer looking to watch again. Well done, Carla Jay Shah Laroche, very well done.

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Movie Review: HOPE (Iceland, Experimental)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

HOPE, 4min, Iceland, Experimental
Directed by Knutur Haukstein Olafsson

The apocalypse is coming. A lonely and bitter nun seeks for help to let go of her past and finally be free. The lights go out. The lights are turned on. And suddenly there is a change.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

 HOPE is a four minute Icelandic experimental, heavy with religious symbology and musicality. It boasts an apocalyptic setting with a young nun faced with the prospect of eating a live head on a plate.

On a purely experience-only basis, this film is ripe with colors, dramatic imagery and memorably catchy music. Symbolically it is full of elaborate layers to be peeled back one by one.

Our young religious hero bitterly seeks some sort of solace for the end of the world and finds it in a singing head presented to her, yet the work ends with her defrocking and leaving the church in a bright red dress. She may be embodying the death and renewal of religion, or the passage of childhood to adulthood, or a bloody and metaphorical look at the ending of a romantic tryst.

We may never know, or the goal may be for us to form our own opinions. You’ll have to watch HOPE to find out.

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Movie Review: NOVEMBER UNDER ASHES (France, Music Video)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

NOVEMBER UNDER ASHES, 3min, France, Music Video
Directed by Camille Laloux

November under ashes is a cri du coeur, a song, an hymn in which personal and national mournings are melted, a heartbeat of fear, of strength and an ode to life. Under the ashes of a dear person and of scores of innocent people killed in Paris attacks, on the 13th of November, a young woman retraces her subway route and thoughts details which leads her to see the death by singing the life.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film

 A music video packing a strong experimental punch, NOVEMBER UNDER ASHES is a three minute French piece by Camille Laloux. With specific use of color and fantastically simple yet effective artistic style, what stands out most about this piece is the contrast between the bright upbeat tone of the song and the more darker lyrics.

A piece about life, death and mortality, the images of young adults and children in the piece soften the more ominous undertones hidden within the lyrics. Musically, this piece is Instantly catchy and visually, it jumps off the screen with color and symbology. Like any great experimental, it doesn’t spoon feed the motives of the art to the viewer.

Instead, it presents itself and leaves itself vulnerable to interpretations. Whether viewed as a music video, a musical animation, or an avant-garde short, NOVEMBER UNDER ASHES will always be an enjoyable watch.

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Movie Review: BODY WITHOUT ORGANS (Experimental, USA)

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Played at the July 2017 Experimental Short Film Festival

BODY WITHOUT ORGANS, 2min, USA, Experimental
Directed by Mark Franz

Explores the mystical singularity of the body in terms of its separate functioning parts. Philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari use this term to refer to the “cosmic egg” of life.

CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

This two minute experimental hailing from the USA is a study is abstraction, art and simplicity. Set against a neutral background, animated images of body parts, from organs to nervous systems, is built together- assembled almost, to an abstract beat. Surrealist and highly experimental, this piece does not tell you it’s intent, but asks you to project your own emotion on it.

BODY WITHOUT ORGANS will remind us that we are so much more than the sum of our parts, while still showing us that those parts alone, are incredibly complex, intricate and marvelous. A special nod must be given to the detailed design put into the concept and animation. A strong piece, with even stronger style.

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