ctownfilm

I very very rarely will write a short film review. Most of the time, I feel missteps in short films can be forgiven since they are often at the behest of budgetary constraints or 1st time filmmakers finding their voice. But with Habana looking like it was shot professionally on a budget of somewhere north of 100k(a ridiculous amount for a short), I'm going to throw that handicapping to the wind.

Yes, Habana is beautifully shot, and while the film sets itself up as an incredibly powerful social allegory in the first five minutes(as a matter of fact, the pre title-card opening is probably one of the best short film openings I've ever seen), it felt as though the filmmakers thought that was all the weight they needed to carry them through the next 15 minutes. It's a very skin-deep examination that provides temporary relevance, but one that very quickly gives way to the sense that the filmmakers were showing off. To put it simply, they fell in love with their super-contrasty b&w footage at the expense of making a film of any real depth or merit.

To wrap it up, the film jumps the shark in the last 3 minutes and adds a sci-fi element that feels cheap. I've never seen a more pointless, indulgent festival short in my life. This is a wasted opportunity and a frustrating movie-watching experience.

What could be a hilarious short, is undercut by awful acting. Protagonists so annoying I wanted to continuously punch them in the face. Every line sounded painstakingly scripted, which is made more embarrassing when I read that the script was custom tailored to the actors. On the flipside, the premise was good enough to hold my interest all the way through, and there were a few funny one-liners.

Another short that proves theme conquers technique. In this case its obvious that festival programmers championed the LGBT theme over the fact the film is badly shot(this is not cinema verite, just ugly and uncomposed) and horribly acted.

Today I received a short I requested from a fellow filmmaker. I had seen the trailer online, though I forget exactly how I came upon it. Anyways the film, titled LOSER, written and directed by film school grad Nicholas D. Feitel, follows the plight of a young man(Donnie, played by Zephyr Benson) on a slow jog towards adulthood. For him, growing up and escaping the gauntlet, known to most as high school, can't come any sooner. He is picked on, beaten up, and oh yeah, he's Jewish. His life is so bad, that we catch him in the opening moments of LOSER, hiding in a bathroom at his own Bar Mitzfah. Touches like that are nice. To that I have to applaud the writing, in which small strokes can be more telling than broad ones when painting character. Granted, the film feels rushed in the sense that too much ground tries to be covered within the 12 minute run time - this is one of the few short films that could benefit from being expanded to maybe 15 or 20. The look and tone of the film is great! I love the naturalism, and grainy beauty of the 16mm stock. Though not quite great, LOSER definitely labels Nicholas D. Feitel as a filmmaker to watch. He knows his stuff, now he just needs to fine tune his style and structure. I encourage you to check out his channel on vimeo(http://www.vimeo.com/channels/43565), where he has another short up that I highly recommend. It's called THE BIG NIGHT.

Grade: B