Late Night Shorts 1 reviews
Review by on 30 Sep 2008
HUSH Director: Fernando Cordero. USA. 18 mins.
A psychological thriller about Alice, a young woman dealing with the loss of her child and the growing apathy of her husband.
Well done, dramatic portrayal of a woman gone bonkers!
HUSH Director: Fernando Cordero. USA. 18 mins. A psychological thriller about Alice, a young woman dealing with the loss of her child and the growing apathy of her husband.
Well done, dramatic portrayal of a woman gone bonkers!
Review by on 26 Sep 2008
Short films are the spawning ground for great filmmaking talent. The first of two installments of LATE NIGHT SHORTS at the festival presented five well-made shorts aimed at an adult audience. All of the films were contemporary in nature, and each story, while individually differing from each other in many ways, was full of suspense and of an unsettling disposition.
Binding the stories together was a strong female presence in each film, although this was less immediately apparent in STROKING THE 8, a film about a rowing crew and the shortest film at only four minutes in length.
The remaining films were well over the ten-minute mark, being mini-features rather than in-and-out short films. Falling into this slightly longer category meant that interest in the plot had to be attained quickly and retained for longer; a certain amount of ambiguity was apparent to keep the viewer hooked until the plot was fully resolved. The horror elements of CARGO, HUSH and CAM TO CAM were especially amplified by drawing the viewer into the domain of the story early on. On the other hand, PERSON, PLACE OR THING could have twisted in any direction, but did not. The characters remained plausibly enigmatic throughout the piece.
In our present culture, with many television channels at our disposal and the search/watch/forget nature of Internet video, it is always impressive to see a more substantive work assembled. For those wanting to learn about filmmaking techniques, a good place to start is in the distilled world of shorts.
Graham Hughes, Festival Daily
Short films are the spawning ground for great filmmaking talent. The first of two installments of LATE NIGHT SHORTS at the festival presented five well-made shorts aimed at an adult audience. All of the films were contemporary in nature, and each story, while individually differing from each other in many ways, was full of suspense and of an unsettling disposition.Binding the stories together was a strong female presence in each film, although this was less immediately apparent in STROKING THE 8, a film about a rowing crew and the shortest film at only four minutes in length.
The remaining films were well over the ten-minute mark, being mini-features rather than in-and-out short films. Falling into this slightly longer category meant that interest in the plot had to be attained quickly and retained for longer; a certain amount of ambiguity was apparent to keep the viewer hooked until the plot was fully resolved. The horror elements of CARGO, HUSH and CAM TO CAM were especially amplified by drawing the viewer into the domain of the story early on. On the other hand, PERSON, PLACE OR THING could have twisted in any direction, but did not. The characters remained plausibly enigmatic throughout the piece.
In our present culture, with many television channels at our disposal and the search/watch/forget nature of Internet video, it is always impressive to see a more substantive work assembled. For those wanting to learn about filmmaking techniques, a good place to start is in the distilled world of shorts.
Graham Hughes, Festival Daily
Review by on 24 Sep 2008
Really interesting films, but sadly marred by DVD media corruption on 'CAM 2 CAM'. Full review submitted to Festival Daily.
Really interesting films, but sadly marred by DVD media corruption on 'CAM 2 CAM'. Full review submitted to Festival Daily.
Film details
Late Night Shorts 1
SHORTFUSION
Director: Jennifer Harrington
Director: Davy Sihali
Director: Fernando Cordero
Director: Jack Wareham
Director: Elle Martini
Director: Davy Sihali
Director: Fernando Cordero
Director: Jack Wareham
Director: Elle Martini
Various, 2008.
81 mins. Various with English subtitles.
Back to the film page
