Short Film Movie Review

Film Review: BETWEEN SECONDS, USA, Romance/Music

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BETWEEN SECONDS is a 20 minute American romance coming to us from director Nora Jaenicke.  Two musically talented star-crossed lovers met when they are both stuck in a professional rut. Alicia loses her beautiful operatic singing voice after struggling to find a foothold in her industry and Adrian, a classical pianist is unable to play in sync after his ex breaks his heart. Yet the two manage to find each other and learn how to once again, make beautiful music.

A polished and gorgeous piece, with anachronistic aspects that give it a timeless feel, BETWEEN SECONDS pulls you in with a sense of romantic mystery- and keeps you wrapped up in the story with it’s symbology and clever use of visual motifs.

In a fast-paced world that so often leaves it’s Artist struggling and treading professional water rudderless, this is a film that can pluck the heartstrings of anyone with a poetic, sensitive or romantic soul. BETWEEN SECONDS will take you on a journey and leave you with a powerful message- between every second lives risk and opportunity, but regardless: love is music, music is love.

Review by Kierston Drier

BETWEEN SECONDS, 20min, USA, Romance/Music 
Directed by Nora Jaenicke“Between Seconds” is the story of two musicians who have grown out of sync with their music and ultimately themselves. Adrian, a classically trained pianist, loses the ability to play in sync with his music when thoughts of his ex-girlfriend flood his mind. Alicia, a struggling opera singer, loses her ability to sing in sync when she realizes she can’t really grasp her dreams. Both the musicians discover mysterious red envelopes which lead them inside of their clocks and into a surreal clock world. Here they must figure out how to synchronize themselves or they risk never being able to play their music again.

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

Film Review: FIRM WITH PURPOSE, USA, Comedy 

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This raucous five minute comedy is a sharp, witty romp through a devoted mother and an emotional human-resources specialists on a job interview. FIRM WITH PURPOSE is bright, sparkling with humor and dazzling with situational comedy that very well may have you thinking “I think I know someone just like this.” When a supportive mother goes to an interview in place of her daughter to interview in her stead, she locks into an emotional climb up a comical staircase with the employer, leading to some surprising twists and turns.

 

Directors Tia Ayers and Shannon Ayers Swanson have done an excellent job with this work. A simple story that packs a powerfully effective comic punch, FIRM WITH PURPOSE is sure to please baby-boomers and millennials alike.

Review by Kierston Drier

Film Review: THE BENEFACTION, USA, Drama

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THE BENEFACTION is a strong dramatic tale of an Indian Taxi driver, doing everything he can to eek out a living for himself, his wife and their young and ill daughter. While he treats his daughter to presents and promises of her bright future in dance, his relationship with his wife suffers- for his doting on their daughter is an expensive habit they can ill-afford while they fall behind on payments for his taxi cab. He thinks he may have found a turn of fortune when a patron leaves thousands of rupees in his cab- but his initial idea to gamble the money to try to raise more funds for his daughter’s’ health care needs backfires when his cab is repossessed before he can use the money. Soon after, his daughter collapses and is rushed to the hospital with a prognosis they can not afford. But our hero’s fate turns one more time.

 

Life is all about choices. THE BENEFACTION is a powerful and moving film that demonstrates this concept with excellence. Excellent performances and strong and engaging story elements keep this film gripping and meaningful. A multilayered story that ties in duty, fate, faith and karma, THE BENEFACTION leaves a powerful message that we all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.

Review by Kierston Drier

THE BENEFACTION, 27min, USA, Drama
Directed by Nikhat Powell

Protagonist Rishi, a young Indian taxi driver struggles to make his payments on his sole means of livelihood, his taxi. While under the threat of repossession, he finds his daughter falling prey to an unknown illness that could take her life. When his taxi is repossessed and his wife is ready to leave him, he must make choices that will affect his future, and the life of his daughter.

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

Film Review: THE FOREST PRINCESS, USA, Fantasy/Family 

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A five minute fantasy by Gretchen Bayer this gorgeous, sumptuous film is a beautiful look at life, nature and human relationships through the eyes of a child. A young girl runs through the forest recounting the wisdom of the world she has heard through her mother. Her universe is small, achingly innocent and astonishingly detailed as she embodies the  warrior and wanderer archetypes within the natural world. Beautifully shot and boasting excellent casting, this piece shines because it perfectly marries simplicity and profundity.

 

THE FOREST PRINCESS has some deeper tones within it. On the surface, it is a simple piece about the world of a child. Look just a little deeper though and this is a piece with a metaphor for the transition of death. As our young protagonist looks for her mother in the forest, and recounts the transition of a caterpillar into a butterfly, a poignant parallel can be found.

Review by Kierston Drier

THE FOREST PRINCESS, 5min, USA, Fantasy/Family 
Directed by Gretchen BayerIn a world, where the unknown is feared and misunderstood, one girl begins the journey within… searching the path for direction, finding the beauty that connects us and uncovering what conquers fear. She emerges with a simple, yet powerful understanding….

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

 

Film Review: POST NO BILLS, Canada, Animation/Adventure 

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Bright, fun and full of eye-catching pop-culture, POST NO BILLS, a five minute Canadian animation adventure from director Robin Hays, details the heroic journey of a small anthropomorphized Noodle-Box who comes to life from his advertisement poster. Falling in love with with the beautiful humanoid-fortune cookie a few posters away, our hero must journey across several other poster-advertisements to meet his dream girl/cookie. His journey turns deadly though, went the Urban wall all the advertisement posters are stapled to begins to get painted over.

POST NO BILLS is bright, with action and adventure in every frame. Highly polished, with a clean glossy feel to it, this is a joyful romp that will leave the viewer smiling from first scene to last. What makes POST NO BILLS special though, is that it also packs in a deeper message for the viewer. The film alone is bright enough, colorful enough and action-packed enough to be enjoyable. It is the ‘Cherry on top” of this film that adds that extra jolt of satisfaction. It is a message found as our hero completes his journey- that the sweetest things in life are uncovered in the lengths we’ll go to for love.
 

Review by Kierston Drier

POST NO BILLS, 5min, Canada, Animation/Adventure 
Directed by Robin HaysOn an urban city wall plastered with posters Noodle Boy must make his way through a series of obstacles and challenges in order to save his crush, Miss Fortune from the city’s clean up crew.

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

Film Review: MY BODY, (Germany, Horror)

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Played at the HORROR FEEDBACK Film Festival in October 2017 to rave reviews.

Review by Kierston Drier

 

MY BODY is a six-minute short coming out of Germany. Uncanny in an almost unknowable way, this is a film that chronicles the breakdown of one mans’ mind as he deals with a body in his living room. It’s up to the audience to decide if the bizarre visions and terrifying world of our hero is his strange reality or the disintegration of his own mind. Haunted by shadows and spiders that weave their way through his home, our hero must make a twisted peace with his circumstances, including coming to terms with the body in a bag in his home.

 

The peace is simply shot, although it boasts excellent performances and editing. it is nevertheless a chilling and skin-crawling film to watch, as it slowly dissects one man’s struggle with reality. A chilling, thrilling short indeed.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Film Review: ANTICA, (Canada, Horror/Thriller)

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Played at the HORROR FEEDBACK Film Festival in October 2017 to rave reviews.

Review by Kierston Drier

A slow burn of a horror film that takes its time to build suspense and heart-racing panic. ANTICA follows the journey of one, solitary man working a night shift where everything is slowly going wrong. Minor workplace injuries and misfortunes build tension as our hero gradually realises something isn’t right. As he continues his shift in an otherwise empty warehouse he begins to realize he might not be alone. What ensues is a creeping, tantalizing and utterly uncomfortably series of events that bring our hero to the terrifying realization that he may not be the only one skulking around on the job.

 

What is truly fascinating about this horror-thriller work, is that creates fear, unease and anxiety with no words, and only one performer. The editing, sound, lighting, and setting create the uncanniness that drives the terror for the audience just as much as the excellent performance by our hero. Another fantastic element of this film is the inversion of the classic horror tropes. So often our horror film sets up a scenario with beautiful but naive youngster heading off on a misguided adventure with ill-thought-out plans and a failure to read the warning signs. ANTICA doesn’t take this route at all- our hero is a middle-aged everyman, in a familiar setting and going about a well-known routine. It is more horrifying when one is endangered in the place they know than when they wander into the unknown and discover danger there.

 

ANTICA takes its time to terrify you, but it is well worth the wait.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Film Review: GIRL #2 (USA, Horror/Comedy)

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Played at the HORROR FEEDBACK Film Festival in October 2017 to rave reviews.

Review by Kierston Drier

One of the hardest areas of genre blending is terror and delight. Unlike romance and comedy or science-fiction and mystery, comedic-horror has an incredibly tight margin for error. Slightly too much in one direction and you have an awkward or unbalanced film. GIRL #2, directed by David Jeffery, is an example of a perfectly orchestrated success of these two styles. GIRL #2 follows two girls trapped in their sorority house while a crazed murderer follows them. Several of their friends fall victim to him and when the girls barricade themselves in a room for safety, the debate who will be able to get away. The tables turn in the debate when the girls get into a fight over who will have time to escape the villain- because based on horror cliche, the most attractive girl will likely get killed first.

 

Hilarious in its absurdity, GIRL #2 hits a tone similar to known horror-satire CABIN IN THE WOODS, because it delivers the classic horror tropes while also making fun of its own genre. A rollercoaster blood-and-thrill start to the short makes the comic turn all the most delightful as the subversion of expectations is take to a raucous extreme. GIRL #2 will surely please comedy lovers and thrill seekers alike.

 

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Film Review: PROMETHEUS INDUSTRIES – 2017, Germany, Animation/Comedy

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Submit your STUDENT Film to the Festival Today: https://studentfeedbackfestival.com/

SHORT FILM played at the October 2017 STUDENT FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Review by Kierston Drier

A comical take on humanity and technology, PROMETHEUS INDUSTRIES is a quick and witty 7-minute animated feat coming out of Germany. The super-sleek technology company of the future enlists a hapless Joe-Everyman to try out some new products, but things inevitably go awry.

 

PROMETHEUS INDUSTRIES is a commentary on technology, hubris, and human stupidity, while still delivering laughter. The story has a charming simplicity to it that lends itself well to the comic tone the piece takes.

 

A special note must be made for these creators, as animation can be a laborious task. Yet this film is a strong example of fluid animation. Director Amr Kamel should be proud of this well executed comedic piece.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the Short Film:

Movie Review: DISNEY CARTOON CAMERA (USA, Documentary)

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Played at the August 2017 DOCUMENTARY Short Film Festival

by Kierston Drier

A fascinating look at the history of cartoon cinema, from the early 20th century to present, Disney Cartoon Camera breaks down the cartoons through the technical lenses- literally and metaphorically.

 

Following respected and often renown Disney animators, archivists and technicians, this 30 minute short doc takes us step by step through the detailed and highly nuanced breakdown of creating lush and realistic art. From Snow White to Chicken Little we see the elaborate and innovative technology that makes it all possible. Bright, colorful, nostalgic and beyond fascinating, there is something for everyone in this cartoon-classic doc.

 

Disney Cartoon Camera takes on a far more educational tone that a more story-driven or character-driven doc, but it is nevertheless engaging and captivating. For the movie buff, the young-at-heart or even the cartoon geek, this is a film to watch, savor, learn and enjoy.

DISNEY CARTOON CAMERA, 23min, USA, Documentary
Directed by David BosserDisney Cartoon Camera, hosted by acclaimed historian Leonard Maltin, tracks the history of animation cinematography – from the origins of crude “down shooters” to the first multi-plane camera fashioned out of old car parts, to the latest digital camera capture systems – through the eyes of the camera operators and technicians.

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