Kierston Drier

Film Review: CHARITY CASE, 3min, UK, Romance/Comedy

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Played at the February 2017 ROMANCE Film Festival

CHARITY CASE, 3min, UK, Romance/Comedy
Directed by Sam Tibi

A young man’s attempt to show a beautiful girl his charitable nature backfires…

Review by Kierston Drier

 This delightfully fresh and comic look at chivalry gone awry, Charity Case comes to us from the UK by director Sam Tibi. In this simple, short and hilarious tale, our male hero tries to impress a beautiful woman at a cafe by tipping the barista. His plan backfires when, trying and failing to get her attention, he gives too much in the jar and runs short for his coffee. While the barista’s back is turned, our hero attempts to get his coins back- an ill fated idea indeed.

A short, humorous film that makes us question- is generosity still generosity if the gesture is done for self-gain? Is there such a thing as true altruism? It should be noted how expertly this film is able to get it’s emotional point across. In under three minutes, and with only one set, three characters and minimal dialogue, we know exactly who everyone is, and exactly what their motives are.

A simple and inviting slice of life with a keen moral- that honesty really is the best policy when it comes to meeting the girl of your dreams, or tipping the barista.

 

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Film Review: RUN FREE, 8min, Netherlands, Romance/War

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Played at the February 2017 ROMANCE Film Festival

RUN FREE, 8min, Netherlands, Romance/War
Directed by Raynor Arkenbout

Escaping his execution at the hands of Nazi Soldiers, a rebelious Dutch teenager writes a brutally honest love letter to the girl who changed his life.

Review by Kierston Drier

The saying goes that all is fair in love and war. This is a film about both. RUN FREE is witty, charmingly comical and heartbreakingly innocent film about love that blossoms in the most unexpected places. Director Raynor Arkenbout tells the story of two Dutch teenagers who have fallen in love during the reign of the second world war. Naked and running for his life, our hero hides in a barn, where he composes a love letter to the young woman who made his life in the war worth living.

Touching and honest, this piece will strike chords with anyone who remembers the exhilaration and tragedy that often befalls young love. His letter outlines their meeting and the whirlwind romance that followed. Although our hero’s letter focuses strongly the sexual relationship the two of them have, he does not omit the emotional solace the two found in each other during the most trying times of their lives. The have both lost their families to war, and both had to learn fast how to make it on their own.

He ends the letter telling that if she can go on, and live in happiness, that’s worth it. To never feel bad for the way things ended. That knowing her made this war bearable. With that, he turns to face his pursuers.

A film of great simplicity yet packing maximum emotional punch, the most disarming and beautiful thing about Run Free is the way it captures the innocence of youth and recklessness of young love, the bravery it pushes us to, the sacrifice and compassion is breds in us. If there is something magical about Run Free it is knowing the love enables us see beauty in times of horror. It reminds us that a life filled with love is still worth living, even if it only allowed to live half as long.

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Film Review: 2BR02B: TO BE OR NAUGHT TO BE (2017)

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Played at the January 2017 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival

MOVIE POSTER2BR02B: TO BE OR NAUGHT TO BE, 18min, Canada, Sci-Fi/Fan Fiction
Directed by Marco Checa Garcia

Based on the short story “2 B R 0 2 B” by Kurt Vonnegut. Set in a dystopian future where population is strictly controlled, a Father waits for his children to be born. In a deserted hospital waiting room, one man must ask himself exactly what he is willing to do, to give his children a chance at life, any life at all.

Review by Kierston Drier

 A short story by Kurt Vonnegut turned short film by director Marco Checa Garcia, 2BRO2B: To Be Or Naught To Be is a beautifully balanced, heart wrenching and well composed piece of cinema. To open, anyone who has read the original by Vonnegut will be delighted by the amount of literary detail that the filmmaker attempts to keep in the cinematic adaptation.
Set in the dystopian future, where death is rare and birth strictly controlled with rigid population regulations, a young man must choose which one of his three new triplets will live just after their birth. To add extra tension, the birth of this new child will be accompanied by the requirement to take his own grandfather to an early grave. Distraught and emotionally unwell, our hero must dissect the cause of this turmoil by unraveling its’ necessity with one of his society’s founders. This seemingly perfect world so strictly controlled is thrown into chaos when our hero attempts to kill the antagonist- making one more space available for another one his children to be able to live. With elements similar to Children of Men, and The Giver, this is film that does not allow you to watch it passively. It demands to be engaged with.

2BRO2B: To Be Or Naught To Be is one of those rare gems of short cinema that will set your philosophical mind in motion, make you question the nature of choice, freedom and safety, spellbind you with its’ cinematic beauty, all while bringing you to your emotional knees. There is true craftsmanship in this piece. There is a level of polish and richness that any lover of science fiction and literature will appreciate and admire. Bravo Marco Checa Garcia, Bravo.

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Film Review: QUESTIONS (2017)

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Played at the January 2017 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival

MOVIE POSTERQUESTIONS, 6min, USA, Fan Fiction/Action
Directed by Zack Russell Bartlett

Based on “Question” DC Comics. Two faceless vigilantes search for answers as they take on a dangerous criminal.

Review by Kierston Drier

QUESTIONS is a unique fan-fiction, as it is based on a DC comic that has yet to be turned into a movie. This allows a considerable amount of directorial freedom, while still providing a rich world on which to draw from to establish characters, setting and tone. Thick with Noir elements, director Zack Russell Bartlett brings us a hard-boiled detective with a quick wit, and his tough female accomplish within a vigilante crime case. The unique element here? Our detective and his partner have no faces. At least, faces with no discernible eyes, noses or mouths.

A fascinating opening to a crime-fighting duo. A faceless hero gives a sense of the unknowable to our heroes. Philosophically speaking, this can be considered an asset, as many DC comics’ heroes have an unknowable or other-worldly quality. From a cinematic view, a special nod must be given to both the director and the actors, for being able to so clearly indicate their emotional motives without the ability to show facial expressions. Even with this hinderance, our characters’ feelings and struggles are clear.

An interesting piece with action, comedy and clarity, QUESTIONS will make you want to read to comics, and want to see these characters on the big screen.

 
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Film Review: ARKHAM’S JOURNAL (2017)

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Played at the January 2017 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival

MOVIE POSTERARKHAM’S JOURNAL, 7min, Canada, Fan Fiction/Mystery
Directed by Matthew P.H Rea

Based on “Batman” DC Comics. Filmed in and around Toronto, this short proof-of-concept film provides a small insight into the untold stories of Gotham’s darkest hour. With the timeline loosely based around the batman comic, “Knightfall”, Arkham’s Journal is told through the words of Dr. Arkham’s Journal, detailing the lives of all the Arkham Asylum patients.

Review by Kierston Drier

Director Matthew P.H Rea uses ARKHAM’S JOURNAL to explore the the question “where does evil come from?” in the DC Batman Comics. Told through doctors’ notes, this piece walks through the lives and backgrounds of those residing in the Arkham Asylum.

This vibrant short doesn’t give us the whole story, and this may be one of its’ stronger points. Instead of spelling out the complete and total backstory of each villain, it shows just enough to spike our emotional centres- our fear, our intrigue, our disgust and our sympathy.

Evocative and beautiful, with strong gothic visuals and the dramatic density that rings true to the series tone and makes the franchise proud, ARKHAM’S JOURNAL brings us right to the brink of wanting to know what comes next. A strong, engaging and visually riveting piece, that stands alone while still fitting within a rich and elaborate world.
 
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Film Review: MARIA FERNANDA IN TIME (2017)

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Played at the January 2017 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival

MARIA FERNANDA IN TIME, 9min, Spain, Sci-Fi/Comedy
Directed by Xavier Pijuan

An overprotective mother produces an accident with terrible consequences in the space-time continuum in the scientific laboratory where his son works.

Review by Kierston Drier

A mixture of slapstick, bawdy, comic timing and recapitulation humor make MARIA FERNANDA IN TIME a hilariously enjoyable piece. Coming to us from Xavier Pijuan, this film explores the classic comic relationship between a loving but overbearing mother and her struggling-for-independence adult son. This classic comic duo is overlaid with the sci-fi twist of time travel, when our hero tells his mother not to touch the time-loop machine, and of course, she does.

Playing off the comedy found in the technology generation-gap lends itself well to this type of tale, as our hero realizes the only way to save himself, his colleagues and the world, is to get his mother to fix whatever she has done to mess up the machine. Thus our plot is complicated by both escalating tension and steaks, and our characters’ being doomed to repeat all the misfortunes of the last few moments.

What delightful about this piece, is that it’s plot is complication, but its’ humor is effectively simple. You love every character, despite their conflicts, you root for everyone regardless of their tragic flaws. You understand each character’s motives, and the humor is palpable, strong and engaging. A wonderful, short, brilliant piece of comedy that goes out with bang.

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Film Review: IM PERFEKT (2017)

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Played at the January 2017 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival

IM PERFEKT, 7min, Hungray, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Directed by Zsuzsanna Koszti

The short film aims to show a date in 2046. How the technology can shape our lives in an everyday situation. What if someone else controls your senses.

Review by Kierston Drier

What happens when we can no longer create distinction between where we end and technology begins? How does create us? Define us? Reshape our views of the world and of each other? IM PERFEKT coming to us via director Zsuzsananna Koszti explores the world in the-not-too-distant future, when humanity can seamlessly move between the human/techno gap, and what joys and concerns come from that.

Our two young heroes have met for coffee after meeting digitally. Each of them has a perfectly designed prosthetic hand. Sexual and romantic tension runs overtly between them and the casual seductive flirtations create an instantly engaging dynamic between our characters. Yet, when the female’s hand loses power, her date suggests they switch hands to charge. Once they do however, they can still experience the physical sensations of their own hand, even while it’s in the power of the other. It’s titillating, although somewhat invasive, when our male protagonists puts the fingers of his counterparts’ hand in his own mouth, and rubs her hand up his own leg. And the flirtatious mood turns somewhat embarrassed and awkward, when she tells him to stop. A date turned busy by jumping in too fast might be a theme that rings as current no matter how far in the future it is. A refreshingly modern take on the online dating hookup scene, with the comic twist that hooking up might just as easily mean plugging into power. Despite the clearly inappropriately liberal use our male hero takes with his female counterparts’ hand, we still feel empathic towards him, that his flirtations went one step too far and ruined an otherwise lovely coffee. Which is why you have to smile when the twist comes. Technology gets a bad rap in this day and age for dividing us all, but in IM PERFEKT we get to see it bring us closer together and unite us all, despite our differences. With the slight moral of remembering to ask permission before you take your dates’ hand.

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Film Review: I AM DYSLEXIC (Norway) Animation/Music Video

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Played at the December 2016 Best of Family/Animation FEEDBACK Film Festival.

I AM DYSLEXIC, 6min. UK, Animation/Music Video

The animated short film I AM DYSLEXIC expresses what it feels like to have a learning difference in our current school system. Those with learning differences should be proud of who they are and should never be made to feel alone.

REVIEW by Kierston Drier: 

A masterful piece of short cinema is a rare gem. To be truly spectacular a short must do three things exceptionally well: It must tell a compelling and engaging story, it must establish, build and deliver an emotional goal (Comedic or Dramatic) and it must be visually breathtaking. Enter I AM DYSLEXIC, directed by Mads Johan Ogaard and Katie Wyman. Majestic in its visual metaphors and brave in it’s delivery, I AM DYSLEXIC is a powerful cinematic short that provides all three of these elements. The story is remarkably simple- following the metaphorical journey of two school age children desperately trying to learn literacy through the conventional education model. Instead of following their actual progress, we see them climbing an unfathomable high mountain of books, scattered pages, text and block letters. A vibrant and powerful metaphor, strengthen in part by its simplicity. To anyone who has ever struggled with conventional education, the metaphor is disarmingly accurate. Perhaps this is what elevates the film- the abstract approach to explaining what learning can be like, for those of us who learn differently.

 

Our heroes’ deal with road block after road block, and stumble constantly. There is no easy path, and no well marked trail for their journey. And although there is no dialogue at all, there is a dramatic original musical score “I’m Not Stupid” which aids in epic atmospheric elements to this piece.

 

I AM DYSLEXIC is an emotional powerhouse of a film. Stunningly effective in its representation and utterly unique and transformative in its symbology, this is a film everyone should see. It reminds all the viewers that  unconventional learning is not a crime, and that, pun intended, there are many paths up the same mountain. Despite the difficulty, they all will lead to the top. This reviewer, (a dyslexic, as it happens) gives this film a 10.

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Film Review: SISTERS (USA) Animation/Music Video

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Played at the December 2016 Best of Family/Animation FEEDBACK Film Festival.

SISTERS, 4min, USA, Animation/Music Video
Directed by David Chontos

A fragment of some lost, tragic opera. Trapped in the ruins of their former glory, a pair of performers bound together and abandoned by time rise up to sing once more. Conjured up by the song to which it’s set, the film represents a sincere vision of inspiration derived from the music of Karin Dreijer Andersson (Fever Ray).

REVIEW by Kierston Drier: 

David Chontos, the writer, director and designer of Sisters, uses If I had a Heart by Fever Ray, to backdrop his stunningly beautiful animated short. Spellingbindingly gorgeous, this piece deals with the reanimation of two robotic marionette sisters, come to life on their rundown vaudevillian stage. Delicately laced with details in every shot and frame, Sisters is a masterful work of animated cinema. Not a single detail is lost in the vivid animation.

 

The tone of the film feels dark, perhaps because of the overtly decadent nature of the setting. Perhaps also, the irony of the song plays a part, as our characters appear closely connected and yet their motives are never completely clear. They come to life very slowly, and them seem to struggle to stay animated. The result is a haunting but graceful dance that is entrancing, although unknowable.  The world of the sisters, as machines, is unfathomable to the audience. There is an undeniable sense of similarity between Sisters and the opening of the recent smash-hit Television show, West World, and not without good reason. In both, the visuals are gorgeous, and in both, you want to see more. An expertly executed piece of musical animated cinema.

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Film Review: CACOPHONY (USA) Animation/Drama

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Played at the December 2016 Best of Family/Animation FEEDBACK Film Festival.

CACOPHONY, 2min, USA, Animation/Drama

Directed by AiHsuan Shih

Through the eyes and ears of a young girl, the viewer can escape the harsh sounds of the urban environment and find solace in a serene inner world.

REVIEW by Kierston Drier: 

Coming to us by Melody Shih, Cacophony is hard to look away from. Filled with bright colors, high contrast, rich textures and expertly crafted blend of artistic styles, this is a movie to capture the soul of an artist.

 

Our hero, an introvert in a crowded metropolis, deals with the high-octane, high-stimulus noise and visual clutter around her. Sounds pop, honk and tweet incessantly and synesthetically in every direction. Somehow, despite the vibrancy and high-color world outside her, we find our way inside her. Whether we are seeing her mind’s eye, or her metaphorical spirit it is left for the viewer to decide. Regardless, the effect is masterful. The internal world of our hero is serenely still, with contrasting dark undertones against brilliant, effervescently bright simple designs. Like music made visual, like liquid made light, our hero reverts into themselves before the hum of the outside world draws her out to real life.

 

If you appreciate art or experimental cinema, find a way to see Melody Shih’s Cacophony, a beautiful tribute to the people who may see the world differently- as energy, as sound and light and texture. And if you do not love experimental film, see this anyway, as it may change your mind.

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