Thursday, March 13, 2014

Heebie Jeebies at NYICFF 2014

This years Heebie Jeebies collection was a mixed bag. The highs were high, but a couple of the shorts had me scratching my head. Here's word  on the films.
The audience waves to director Jonathan Campo before the movies

The Duke
Jonathan Campo's very short film about the encounter between two people and a chicken parm sandwich is really disturbing. Its a perfect representation between an encounter between you and the skeevy guy who is trying to get your food in the lunch room.  Its a two minute slice of emotion that is hard to describe unless you see it. It's also a film that will have you asking questions, and had I not had to go to SVA I would have found Campo and asked them. A perfect example of the difficulty of writing on short films-I can't say more than see it lest I ruin it. And since the film is on line why not watch it?


The Duke from jonathan campo on Vimeo.

Director Jonathan Campo was in the house and the audience waved HI! (see the picture) Sorry if it isn't all that clear in the photo I was shooting from the hip. I spoke with him before the film and he was accommodating to a guy who thought he was someone else. I kind of wish I had met him after the screening so I could have asked him lots of questions.

Spellbreaker
Weakest film in the collection has two friends/brothers fighting over a gift. It just never amounts to anything despite having great visuals.

Collectors
The need to collect is taken to extremes in a short little confection about collecting everything. It turns very surreal. Its amusing but little more than a trifle.

The Big Beast
A town lives in fear of a beast that will attack if you don't think of it so the inhabitants go through strange twists to make sure everyone always is thinking of the beast..Funny film that mirrors our need to think about bad things so they don't happen.

Cornea
 Stéphane Blanquet's nightmare freaked the audience out- I mean it freaked them out with many kids noticeably shaken by the film. I think it has something to do with what someone sees after an eye transplant- but I don't know. I just know it's really f-ed up in a good way-hell several kids said they thought they were going to have nightmares as a result of seeing it.

On the Other Side
A hunter in a wood crosses over to an alternate world. Its visually gorgeous and kind of goes somewhere until it crashes with a WTF ending that makes me wonder what the directors were thinking.

Feral
Oscar nominee about a wild child taken in by a hunter. Outside of the look we've been here and done that from François Truffaut's Wild Child to Werner Herzog's Kasper Hauser. A big nothing.

Sleight Of Hand
Michael Cusack's stop motion film about a man who builds a life size model and animates it is a heady trip down the whats it all about and who is really in control road. Its a mini masterpiece that gets awell worn idea dead nuts perfect.

Jamón
The piggish son of a family is unhappy with his lot in life until he sees what happens to the guy living next to him. Messed up film that is disturbing and a kick in the ass. Its gory turns are well placed and one could hear the audience groan. Ghoulish fun.

Rootless Heart
Something in an abandoned house is stealing hearts. Dark nightmare from Japan is messed up. A wonderful little horror film this is the sort of thing that makes me want to see more Japanese animation that isn't typical anime.

The Fat Cat
Minute long film is the most pointless of any film at the festival. Its a minute I'll never get back

Bird Food
A man with his lunch and a park full of hungry pigeons. A pure joy with a nice double twist at the end. One of my favorites of the collection.

The Deep End
 Jake Fried's minute long  film needs to be expanded to about 4 hours and be married to really trippy music. On the other hand it's so complex in execution that I know why its only a minute. A visual joy

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