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| From top: "Life Through a Lens," "Shoot the Moon," "Douglas," "HowardCantour.com" |
The two dozen shorts I saw at the Rome International Film Festival was a mixed bag. Overall, the quality was pretty good. Many of the blocks were grouped together very appropriately, and the shorts attached to features were usually there for a reason, whether it was for quality or thematic purposes. These are hardly astute, scientific observations; just thoughts on what I saw.
"The Winking Boy" - A clever Australian short. Funny, well cast. Homemade feel to it, but with skill.
"Waking Up" - One of the most affecting shorts at RIFF. A lively film about death. Moving, smooth flow. Great music by Gareth Coker.
"In Our Hands" - Very professionally shot. Dense atmosphere, thick like smoke in a tunnel. Time-lapse shots of train aren't in keeping with other aesthetics, but aren't prominent enough to detract. Good score by Sigur Rós.
"Ready to Talk" - Light where it needs to be, heavy where it needs to be. Two great leads in Andres Faucher and Tamara Arias.
"Douglas" - Filmmaker Brandon Vedder does a great job conveying the frantic anxiety of our central character and ultimately his rise above it. Andrew Makishima is a giant Joseph Gordon-Levitt (which is awesome). Received the most whispers out of any short I was in the audience for.
