Musical Moments - Review
Music unites us, music saves us.
Musical Moments, short film directed by Erik Dreng Jacobsen is a varied collection of different musicalities and styles. A set of memories collected over time in the most disparate places.
A kaleidoscope of atmospheres that take us on a journey with the director to discover ethnic groups, cultures and sounds that give life to a single large world where notes are the protagonists.
Song publisher and record producer for more than forty years, Jacobsen explore with great humanity and devotion all the passion that people can dedicate to Music no matter where they come from.
A film that with simplicity intrigues and excites, but above let understand the importance of music in the life of human beings.
A universal language that does not require words or translation to be understood or convey emotions.
A great little journey to discover the world, people, and their love for Music.
Ellida - Review
The opening credits are enough to understand that we are in front a wonderful film based on the famous play 'The Lady from the sea' by Henrik Ibsen
Two bodies floating underwater, their clothes sinuously caressed by the current creating dancing fabric jellyfish.
Ellida directed by Leon Mitchell is a feature film about love, choice and self discovery.
Ellida - played by Katrina Syran, also producer of the film – is a woman divided between passion and rationality. She belongs to the sea where she can be herself and feel free, but just like the sea she lets herself be carried away by the flow of life.
The sea, symbolic representation of the infinite, of the absolute so difficult to reach. The sea... capable of swallowing you into its depths, or pushing you towards the surface and giving you back the breath you were looking for.
Ellida is a woman in search of herself, constantly at the mercy of currents and her thoughts. Tormented by the past, by what she would like, by what she can't have... but thirsty for life despite a marriage that doesn't fully satisfy her and the loss of a child that constantly hovers over her married life.
Misunderstandings, losts, doubts, choices to make, rebirth.
Well written by Birgit Syran Myaard, embellished with music by the Grammy award winner Mark Thomas and the splendid photography of Ian James Gray (Bafta nominated) Ellida is a perfect cinematographic transposition of an extremely timely introspective masterpiece where we discover that sometimes it is necessary to get lost to find ourselves and understand what really matters in our lives.
Universe Beyond Time - Review
Fasten your seatbelt and let's run away, dive ourselves in a new dimension!
Mission Statement:
Clear the Mind, Calm the emotions, Inspire the Intellect, Invigorate the imagination....and how the charming and brave Captain Kathryn Janeway would say from the seat of her starsheep Voyager: “Engage!”.
Tunnels, clouds, explosions of light and colors inebriate our eyes in this film where the music of Val Gaina and Eric Palmer transports us to unexplored and distant worlds. A universe apart where you can get lost, float or simply exist.
Universe Beyond Time directed by Joel Barkley give us 15 minutes where sound and vision take us by the hand, calming us down almost hypnotizing us to take control of our life, our imagination, our right to escape from the cruelty and the heaviness in which we are forced to live.
Created and produced by The Kranky Kitty Alarm Clock Co, this experimental animated film puts us in contact with a virtual, intriguing and infinite space.
So let's go and discover new Nebulae, mechanical galaxies, and incredible emotions!
MusArt - Review
“Take your broken heart and make it into Art”.
MusArt, directed by Kevin Hanzlik, suddenly remind me this beautiful and meaningful quote by the late Carrie Fisher because this is exactly what Randall Vemer – producer and artist\protagonist of the film – has done.
After twenty years as a professional player of Viola and violin, Vemer loses the ability to play due to the Focal Dystonia, a neurological disease that causes involuntary muscle contractions, and is therefore forced to retire.
A blow to the heart, a tragedy, a terrible twist of fate which tragically puts an end to a brilliant career as a musician but which incredibly opens the doors to a new beginning... as a painter!
In fact, Vemer begins to paint and soon discovers that Music and Art are very similar, they can walk hand in hand and even blend together.
A winning combination that allows him to return to sound and musical poetry, painting what he knows best: musicians and their beloved instruments.
MusArt is a wonderful example of resilience and courage. An example of will, dignity and how to reinvent yourself despite life's adversities.
Kira Zeeman Rugen's splendid music gently accompanies us in this short film full of nostalgia, passion, dedication and love. Love for Music and for life....with a beautiful surprise at the end!
Michelangelo and Me + Da Vinci and Me opener - Review
Colleen Shannon knows how to make people dream… and with this script she makes it once...and a half!
Yes because in addition to Michelangelo and me she gives us a sort of interlude to a new story called Da Vinci and me.
But let's go in order!
Michelangelo and me is a passionate story based on the novel Heaven's Rogue where everything becomes possible and romance and fantasy reign supreme.
The protagonist of the story is Honoria Fitzhugh - Honor - a young woman with a lovely and fragile appearance who has just brilliantly graduated in art history; the screenplay revolves around this gorgeous girl and her curiosity to find out if
Michelangelo's David – what she considers the living proof of miracles and the power of dreams – was just a work of art born from the imagination of a great artist, or the celebration of a real man that Michelangelo actually knew.
Curiosity will lead her to undertake a journey to Florence with the help "from above" of Michelangelo himself, of talking paintings, of talking statues ... and a very talking God who will accompany her in this fairy tale between the 21st and 16th centuries .
During her stay, Honor will find a perfect life-sized replica of David and she will bring it home to study every little detail… but the most incredible detail will be its human transformation into Dominico (Dom), the charming and charismatic best friend of Michelangelo who from the Italian 1500s will find himself catapulted among the crowded and modern streets of the big apple.
There is everything you can expect from a modern fairy tale: we have the beauty and stubbornness of Honor, the kindness and charm of Dom and the haughty rationality of Perry, the petty anti-hero of the story.
We have love and passion - obviously! - and we have enchantment.
The plot is absolutely intriguing but the real strength of the script is the smooth pace of the story and the well-written dialogues, especially those of the artistic world that comes to life giving us moments of fun and wonder.
Da Vinci and me - based on the second book of Shannon's Heaven Trilogy called Heaven's Hero - has all it takes to not disappoint expectations given thank to an amazing and exhilarant start: God wants to be a comic and who other than the late and adorable Robin Williams could be the best as a helper?
But Leonardo da Vinci cannot give a title to a story without being part of it... his presence will in fact be important in the relationship between Nick and Isabella and the "enemies" they will encounter on their path.
All we have to do is wait... and hope for a film... or two!
The Search - Review
What is this guy searching for so desperately?
This is the question that persists throughout the entire film.
The Search is the story of an escape and, for sure, the one of a big trouble too.
Alex Mahutte, writer and director of this short thriller where suspense reigns supreme, knows how to keep the audience glued to the screen.
A desperate escape in the middle of the woods, the fear in the eyes of the protagonist - a credible and empathetic Neal Gregory Mahutte - and the labored breathing, the crackling of the leaves under his sneakers.
We dig with the boy, we run away with him, we tremble with him and we get scared just like him.
Everything is extremely syncopated, the editing and the black and white contributes to making the atmosphere even colder and mysterious.
5 minutes and 24 seconds of pure anxiety and adrenaline!
AloneTogether - Review
AloneTogether is a short film directed, produced and choreographed by the talented Cherie Carson who with great delicacy and poetry allows us to retrace the emptiness that we felt during the tragic period of the C-19 Pandemic.
The sense of entrapment and the consequent need to be able to be free again, to be able to breathe, to walk, to fly, and to come back to life.
Helium Valentine – a name that brings us back to lightness and freedom – is the extraordinary dancer protagonist of this film who, aboard a stopped Porsche, expresses all her desire for rebirth and escape; her graceful and at the same time vigorous movements give body and voice to the images that follow one another.
David Worm's music - a great cover of a classic by The Police - resonates powerfully while the shots of the desert from above almost let us remember the Virus's aspect.
A solitude shared in black and white with the world, a cry shouted through the dance.
The pandemic has undoubtedly given people - and artists in particular - the opportunity to rediscover their identity, their inspiration, their path.
Flowers grow even in the driest and most endless deserts. And this film, born during an atrocious period, is a splendid proof of this.
Thus Spake Zarathustra - Review
Thus Spake Zarathustra directed by joanna&rubens is a short film but most of all an hypnotic voyage.
The directors define it as “a music visualization works supplemented by multimedia visual creation”. And it’s truly incredible what music is capable of during this 3 minutes film.
We see everything and nothing, exacly like Nietzsche’s book who was “für Alle und Keinen”; while the music plays, lines appear and disappear, creating shapes that only the spectator can define and capture.
It's like being in deep space, in the darkness and suddenly catching a glimpse of beams of golden, comforting, delicate lights.
We can almost glimpse faces, symbols, constellations, instruments, notes, eyes, wild beasts, angels' wings... imagination is the master and takes over, projecting a cosmic and relaxing journey before us.
Distant worlds, the unknown, the infinite.
You find yourself immersed in a prophetic and unreal atmosphere that brings you back to Richard Strauss' iconic symphony, the undisputed protagonist of Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey.
We travel in the dark, then in the light, in nothingness and then in everything.
It's like a relaxation exercise, like an astral dream.
You get lost in the distant sounds, in the dripping of water that comes from who knows where...
Music as well as sound effects by Joanna are the main supporters of this mystical journey which has only one flaw: that of lasting just 180 seconds.
The Search - Review
The Search is a thriller 5-minute short film written, and directed by Alex Mahutte, who also stars in the film.
A boy is looking for a missing object in the woods and finds instead a menacing man, ready to fight him.
The film is shot in black and white, which sets a scary mood, especially being shot in a forest. However, the color grading is quite flat. The images are somewhat two-dimensional and don’t show any depth, which is a pity considering the shots of the forest and the overall cinematography are quite nicely done.
The theme is broad and the plot is a bit weak. A man looking for something in a seemingly quiet place who ends up in deep trouble doesn’t seem very inspired. It would have way been better if Mahutte had squared the circle, adding perhaps a real ending, instead of leaving an open end. That way he would have been able to polarise the audience towards a more specific concept and meaning. The overall morale of the film remains unclear.
There are also some technical difficulties in this film. The two actors break the fourth wall a few times, and the camera crosses the line during the only 30-second dialogue present in the film.
It is however commendable for Mahutte to have written, directed, shot, and acted in his film, especially being a young film student. It will be interesting to follow his growth and watch his future projects!
Cloak of Honors, The tale of the boy and the old men - Revie
Cloak of Honors, The Tale of the Boy and the Old Men is a 20-minute coming-of-age short film written and directed by Rui Falcão and produced by António Costa Valente, about the relationships between little Valentim and the adults in his life.
It’s the holiday season, and Valentim is eager to visit his father in Luxembourg for Christmas. However, things are a bit tight at home and a trip isn’t unfortunately in his future. After learning that 'pauliteiro' dancers are preparing for the biggest Christmas show ever, which takes place in Luxembourg, he’s made up his mind: he will make enough money to afford a pauliteiro costume and will perform at the Christmas show in Luxembourg.
The little boy then takes a job assisting an old mushroom picker and starts saving money for his costume. Things don’t go as great as he initially thought, but after a few obstacles — being this a Christmas feel-good film — the kid will be able to accomplish his dreams.
The writing of this film has plenty of heart. There is a lot of poetry in the setting, a small village where old people are considered wise and turned to for advice and help. And the little boy, who tries everything he can to reunite with his father, is as heartwarming as it sounds. The mushroom-picking old people and the Portuguese dancers are just the cherry on top of an evocative film full of history, traditions, and culture.
In this short, lots of space is left for the sound. The dialogues are simple and rather scarce, but beautiful music is enough to support the images. We are, after all, permeating the life of a boy who wants to become a dancer!
The photography is gorgeous, the shots in the forest with the flares of the dawn make the film look even more magical.
It is a simple story, yet full of soul and promises delivered.
Long Ago and Far Away - Review
Long Ago and Far Away is a 15-minute short documentary by renowned music producer Erik Jacobsen.
The title Long Ago and Far Away refers to two things: his relationship with his former girlfriend Cindy McCain during the 70s, and their trips together, all of it explored through photos taken all over the world during their relationship.
Jacobsen, who doubles here as a nostalgic and quite monotone narrator, elevates McCain’s gorgeous photography with interesting facts and anecdotes to create a sort of slideshow of a past love, lost in the mountains and rivers of the most remote places in the world.
Afghanistan, Bolivia, and Jamaica are only a few of the countries shown in this poetic short. The beautiful captures of landscapes, traditions, and cultures, the colorful clothing, the foods, and the villages all contribute to creating a moody, evocative film.
The beginning of the film is quite unusual, with the director showing us a glimpse of his personal life before the documentary actually starts. The editing is quite simple, a clean succession of beautiful photos. The music is very well curated, which is exactly what we would have expected from a music connoisseur such as Jacobsen.
A soft, gentle, and poetic short documentary that revisits Jacobsen’s life with his former girlfriend Cindy McCain through their trips around the world.
Don't Cry - Review
Don’t Cry is a 9-minute computer-animated short film by Palestinian director and animator Hisham Zreiq. The film is about a Palestinian man, a Palestinian girl, and an Israeli Woman, all meeting in a beautiful and peaceful place by a pond, the water filled with wild plants and birds.
The little girl is sitting on the dock waiting as the man arrives by boat, confused to see the girl. Later, a second boat arrives with the Israeli woman on it. The woman seems to be deeply disturbed to see the man. The man doesn’t want to speak to the woman, the woman refuses to speak to the man, and the little girl, in the middle, tries to reconcile the two.
The film speaks loudly about the ongoing Palestinian/Israeli conflict. A plot twist towards the end of the film shows how the three characters were in fact directly involved in two attacks: an Israeli attack on a Palestinian school, and one Palestinian attack on an Israeli bus.
The 5-minute short is of course a simplification of the dynamics of the conflict, which works thanks to the presence of the child. The conflict is almost filtered through the eyes of the little girl. As a matter of fact, for the victims implicated in the bloody conflict, it doesn’t matter who started what and who did what to whom. All that matters is that, if anger and vengeance don’t serve any purpose once we are all dead, why should they have a place while we’re still alive?
The film perfectly encapsulates the concept of an eye for an eye, and how the conflict as we see it today — especially in the wake of one of Hamas attacks on Isreal — is really a snowball effect, a desire for a never-ending retaliation. People and countries can keep reacting to violence with more violence, and peace will be achieved only once everyone is dead. “Don’t cry. Now, we’re all dead” says the little girl, almost as if finding solace in the eternal state where nothing can harm her anymore.
The animation is cold and mechanic, but the poignant plot and the intense voice-over work make up for it. The story is simple, yet extremely effective. The characters all have a fundamental role in this parallel world made of sadness and grief.
A film like this is now as important as ever, as it highlights how, in the conflict, the most vulnerable groups of people are the ones who suffer the most.
A moving short that definitely leaves you with a ton of questions and doubts about how much we really know about each country, after all.
Cancer/Evolution Episode 1- The Dustbin of History - Review
CANCER/EVOLUTION Episode 1- The Dustbin of History is the first episode of a 5-part docu-series directed by Maggie Jones and Brad Jones, focusing on the metabolic theory of cancer. The theory is told through the life and work of Nobel laureate scientist Otto Warburg.
The idea for this documentary starts from the research of director Maggie Jones about the metabolic theory after having been diagnosed with a 4th stage lung cancer — one of the most aggressive cancers, as well as most difficult to diagnose. Lung cancer is in fact the leading cause of cancer death in the US, with more people dying from lung cancer than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.
The theory is not well known, doctors and hospitals are skeptical to share information about it, and since — unlike conventional treatment — his theory is not based on actual pharmaceuticals, the lack of financial support behind it makes it a difficult theory to test and trial.
The first episode of this documentary is very informative, the direction is clear and the editing is fast-paced and rigorous. The information is abundant but never redundant.
Documentaries like these are supposed to challenge the system, to provide an alternative perspective to what is fed to us by the media and big corporations. And CANCER/EVOLUTION achieves that goal brilliantly and effectively.
Anyone who is interested in medical documentaries, as well as those who are actively seeking a complementary route to traditional medicine, will find this series highly resourceful and full of hope.
Maggie and Brad Jones saw a lack of information surrounding this oncological disease and decided they needed to fill that gap. The series succeeds in educating the audience about a possibly effective cure, far from the solutions offered by Big Pharma.
Two Point O - Review
Two Point O is a short film written by Aaron Joshua, who also stars in it and co-produces and co-directs it with David Anderson.
The film is about achieving an improved version of ourselves, a 2.0 version of Aaron Joshua’s self through the prospect of getting sober. Joshua is in fact portraying himself as trying to overcome his own addictions.
The narrating voice is reading a poem, illustrated by Anderson’s alternated images of addicts and nature. At times ingenue, Joshua’s voice is filled with hope, friendship, and desire for a brighter future. By giving up on despair for a “joyful expression”, Joshua compares getting sober to “grow and mature” and finally being “the one wearing the crown”.
Joshua’s words are labile and scattered. It’s hard to follow the poetry flow because of its continued interruption and sound overlapping. At the same time, Anderson’s camera is casual, shaky, and unruly, and the editing is a bit rough.
The final production fails to convey the real and profound struggle of the main character and ends up keeping all images and metaphors on a superficial level.
All in all, an important and deep message, inattentively wrapped in a vague package.
The Eclipse: Recognized by the Sound - Review
The Eclipse: Recognized by the Sound is a 14-minute film by Elly Yae Li Cho. The first thing that strikes the eye is the screen, split into three mini screens. At the same time, the three mini-screens take up only a third of the entire screen, creating an ultra-wide effect.
The three images, next to each other, force the audience to use their imagination to combine the three shots and create the full picture in their heads.
What do these images represent? Maybe a thought, a memory? Or is it what the character is seeing? Or what they feel? We’re not sure, and that’s the real brilliance of this film! The director shows us that we don't need to know the story in order to understand it.
The cinematography is gorgeous and evocative. The contrast between the beautiful images and the raw sounds makes the scenes look surreal, almost dreamlike.
In fact, there are no dialogues in Cho’s short, only sounds of nature. Sounds of steps, of birds, of water. And the two characters, the young girl and the young boy, look like two animals in their natural habitat.
The underwater scenes are beautifully shot. With this film, Cho proves to have a very strong aesthetic and to work really well with it to create an image, and through it, a story.
An artistic and evocative film that will make the audience’s mind wonder and wander.
Call of The City - Review
Call of The City is a 13-minute thriller film written, directed, and produced by Owen Thomas Meinert.
Through a title card, the director clarifies at the very beginning that the film is only an excerpt from a feature-length script.
The story takes place in one room and shows two characters — a man and a woman — sitting on a bed and having a dialogue. We don’t know what happens before this scene, but the camera shows pretty soon some blood stains on the man’s shirt. However, the woman doesn’t seem to be bothered by them and is rather amused by the man, thinking he’s an unusual, introverted, and rather calm guy.
The suspenseful music and dark coloring of the film suggest that something is going to happen very soon to either one of the two characters.
The actress is good in her role, however, the overall energy of the film is very low. The action scene is poorly shot, there is no tension built up, no suspense, and no fighting-for-they-lives situation. The cinematography is average, the ending shot is crooked and it doesn’t seem to be made on purpose.
The film is surely interesting as we’re left wondering what kind of life led the man to become this way, and we’d love to know what would happen to him next.
An intriguing short thriller that could benefit from a more experienced crew.
Beginner's Luck - Review
Beginner’s Luck is a black and white thriller short directed by Thomas Peck.
The film opens with two men receiving a delivery. The two convince the delivery guy to join them for what looks like a casual night between the two friends.
It’s soon clear that the two men are rich and bored, and the only thing able to give them a thrill is betting big bucks. So the three start playing a game that will end in a life-and-death bet with the oblivious delivery guy.
The idea is original. The two guys bet that they can’t convince a random passer-by to kill one of the two by the end of the night. So they set up the unfortunate delivery guy, who will soon fall for their trap and will happily join them in their dangerous game.
The acting is bare and essential and works for the purpose of the film. The editing and the sound design are very good and the direction is sharp.
The choice of shooting in black and white mirrors the duality of life and death. There are no nuances in this film, and like the delivery guy — who lives to pay the bills — and the two hotshots — rich enough to play with other people’s lives — there is only black or white, life or death.
A good work that makes us reflect on the value of life, and on how the underprivileged are often used as commodities to increase the power of the wealthy.
Twin Cities Pride 2020 - Review
Twin Cities Pride 2020 is a short documentary directed by David Anderson. The film explores the city of Minneapolis after the announcement that the Twin Cities Pride was canceled in 2020 due to the surge of the pandemic.
Anderson’s handheld camera is following a man walking around the LGBT destinations in Minneapolis, only to find them closed and empty. The shots are accompanied by evocative, quite sentimental music, which suits the film very well.
The editing is good, with shots of the city subtly alternating with close-ups of the man, as well as archive photos of what we can assume were Minneapolis’ past prides. So now, instead of the colorful and joyous images of the Pride, the actual reality is grey, the venues are closed and the city is empty.
And the sounds of the street, alternating with the score of the film, help the director to achieve a duality. The duality between the Twin Cities Pride happening in 2020, and the actual reality of the man’s lives.
But apart from the suggestive shots of the man walking in the city, nothing more is revealed throughout the film. There isn’t a true arc in this film, which might leave the audience a bit puzzled by the exact message of the director.
However, the director succeeds in making us feel the desolation of the LGBT community. Which leaves us to think: without events like the Pride, what happens to the LGBT community in one of the most LGBT-friendly states in the Midwest?
L Section - Review
L Section is a 114-page script written by Matthew Forbes that narrates the journey of a sergeant who visits the five soldiers of her former section after their homecoming.
The script starts with sergeant Vivian Kolt, called The Sarge, and her five elite soldiers — who together form the L section — taking a break from climbing a mountain in Afghanistan and sharing their meal packs. The reader can already appreciate two things here: not often is the main character in a war movie a woman, and very rarely do war films open with light scenes of soldiers poking fun at each other.
Through this initial scene we understand that this film won’t be about the war, but rather, about the close relationships between the six characters.
Following a brutal fight scene, where an ambush leaves one soldier, Dud, injured to both his legs, the 6 soldiers are now able to fly back to their respective homes, scattered all around Canada.
Now home and safe, The Sarge is tormented by nightmares and, incited by her sister, she embarks on a road trip to go check on her section. The Sarge's road trip is punctuated with five stops, one for each of her soldiers. Soon enough, the script will reveal that The Sarge’s concerns were, in fact, founded.
Vivian’s character is a tough one, but shows great empathy and vulnerability. There have been many scenes before where male sergeants check on their soldiers, take care of them, but to have a woman is so important: the fact that woman is actually the strongest fighter of them all gives a fresh perspective to what is usually considered a male-dominated organization. This also creates a very protective and nurturing relationship between the six, with The Sarge being like an older sister to the five men, almost maternal, and this adds some beautiful and profound nuances to the story.
What we find out towards the end of the script, is that the reason all 6 characters had troubles recovering from their time in war was actually not related to what happened during the war itself, but rather, the war allowed the traumas from the past to resurface.
This script shows a striking paradox: here the war and the real world swap places, with the real world being the one creating the psychological damages and the war being the one that’s able to fix those damages. All this, thanks to a close camaraderie and a complete and total acceptance of each other.
A beautifully written and engaging script about a powerful healing journey.
Yes, Darling! - Review
Yes, Darling! is a short film written and directed by Stanislav Shelestov and produced by Alexandra Tomilina. The film stars Vladimir Galimov as Gosha, a mild-mannered and average-looking photographer, and Olga Listratova as Galya, his beautiful and intimidating wife.
One evening, after a series of verbal abuses, Gosha gathers all of his strength and finally decides to end his toxic marriage.
After a series of unfortunate accidents, Gosha's wife turns out dead, much to his dismay. Gosha is initially reluctant to conceal the accidental death, but when a now-dead Galya ridicules and criticizes his every action, he decides that his only chance not to end up in prison is to cover up what looks like a cold-blooded murder.
A phone call with Gosha’s mother glues the pieces of the film together. In a flashback, we see that everything that happened so far was a creation of Gosha’s deluded and twisted mind and that, in reality, the couple had been divorced for two days, with Galya being the one to actually end the relationship.
The split narrative is a great way of showing the events from the eyes of the killer, which is what makes this psychological film so scary. What looks to us like a brutal murder might be, from the murderer’s perspective, a mere “accident”, something that happened in spite of him and not because of him.
It's distressing how the film shows that monsters can really present themselves as normal and average people, on the outside as well as on the inside of their minds — so much so that even the perpetrator can’t see himself as a criminal — and only reveal their true selves to just one person.
A brilliantly directed and well-acted short film — thought-provoking enough — that will get the audience glued to the screen for 25 minutes.