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| The Big Tree |
Guy Maddin
fans unite! The Worldwide Short Film Festival Official Selection “Who’s Your
Dada?” opens with the black and white acid trip The Big Tree (Canada, 5
min.), which clearly owes a debt of inspiration to the eccentric Winnipeg
formalist. Directors Andrew Struthers and Pasheabel Hart craft a tale from the
lunatic fringe about a lumberjack, a fair maiden, a cast of singing woodland
creatures. Don’t expect the “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted: this is Bambi
gone bananas. With its clever use of tone and style, The Big Tree proves that The
Artist is as original as a bologna sandwich. Bologna sandwiches, though,
might provide the kind of manly fuel for the cast of the next film, Men
of the Earth (Australia, 10 min.). Directed by Andrew Kavanagh, Men of the Earth shows what’s actually
going on in those busy construction sites filled with the men in the bright
orange shirts. Men of the Earth
boasts some showy and precisely orchestrated direction and cinematography – not
to mention some truly impressive Steadicam work – and it offers a nice homage
to the men on the road.
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| Errol Morris's The Umbrella Man |
While
“Who’s Your Dada?” offers some strange and surreal tales of the imagination for
moviegoers, it also proves the only thing stranger than fiction is the truth. The
truth is artfully toyed with in the experimental short Woodcarver (Canada, 6
min.), which take footage from the dashboard cam on a police cruiser and plays
it on a loop. By revisiting a fateful shooting over and over again, but with a
slight manipulation each time, Woodcarver
provocatively asks why one man’s murder at the hands of the police has gone
unresolved. The film will certainly leave viewers thinking, as will the conspiracy
theory posed in the next film, The Umbrella Man (USA, 6 min.).
Academy-Award winner Errol Morris (The
Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line)
directs this intriguing documentary that revisits the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy. The film has scholar Josiah “Tink” Thompson explain
an intriguing conclusion he drew while examining the famed Zapruder footage in
the aftermath of the President’s death. Thompson explains that it had rained in
Dallas the night before the fateful parade; however, he notes that all the
bystanders are dry and coatless since the weather was agreeable during the
parade. Closer inspection of the footage, though, reveals one man sporting an
open umbrella. As Thompson notes, the President’s car passed “The Umbrella Man”
at the exact moment of the shooting. “The Umbrella Man” must therefore be the
second shooter, Thompson explains, since his presence is too sinister to
ignore. Thompson’s one idea spawned a range of theories that bordered upon
insanity, yet Morris uses the story to show that every wild idea can never be
as strange as the truth itself. This riveting short is as wild as any feature
length doc that Morris has ever done.
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| Nothing Else (Plus rien ne vouloir) |
One hopes that the next film is not based on a true story. Edmond
was a Donkey (Edmond était un âne)
(Canada/France, 14 min.) is a quirky animated short by Franck Dion. Edmond was a Donkey gives a retrospective
look a quiet man named Edmond who was teased and tormented by his co-workers.
Edmond takes their prank to heart one day when they place a paper hat upon his
head and he imagines the hat as a magical pair of ears. Edmond realizes that he
must be a donkey. Although he makes an ass of himself in the eyes of others,
Edmond finds freedom by escaping the world of humans. Edmond was a Donkey is an imaginatively rendered fable. Moving from
dreamy animation to a live-action story about a man who cannot dream, “Who’s
Your Dada?” continues with a short by Canadian newbie Anne Émond. Émond became
the next big thing in Canada’s film scene when her Nuit #1 opened to raves at last year’s Toronto International Film
Festival and then won her the Claude Jutra Award for breakthrough filmmaker at
the Genies. I caught Nuit #1 at the
festival and, I’ll admit, I hated it. After seeing Nothing Else (Plus rien ne
vouloir) (Canada, 14 min.), however, I’ll have to agree that Mlle. Émond
really has talent. Like Nuit #1, Nothing Else is a sparse realist film
that is driven by character and lots of dialogue. Émond gets good work from her
lead performer once again, too, with Pierre-Luc Brillant (C.R.A.Z.Y.) offering a fine turn as Maxime who celebrates his
birthday by fretting over his inability to dream. Fingers crossed that Émond’s
next feature continues to prove me wrong.
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| Kali the Little Vampire |
The best short of “Who’s Your Dada?” is the animated film Kali
the Little Vampire (Canada/France/Portugal/Switzerland, 9 min.). I
pleaded that the vampire genre was in much need of an overhaul when I conclude
my review of Dark Shadows, and it
looks like this little NFB film (one of two in the series: the other is Edmond was a Donkey) has done it.
Proving that vampire movies still have lots of blood in them, Kali the Little Vampire is a moving
story of a young vampire who just wants to make some friends. Told in gothic
and evocative hand-drawings that recall the art of Edvard Munch, Regina Pessoa crafts a truly magical film. In addition to the
beautiful animation, Kali stands out
thanks to an excellent performance by Christopher Plummer who narrates this sad
yet inspired tale of a child’s need to fit in. Morgan Freeman and his penguins
are no match for Christopher Plummer and his little vampire.
“Who’s Your Dada?” ends with another story of odd personal
ties. In The Twin (Tvillingen) (Sweden, 29 min.) Gustav visits the
doctor to investigate an uncomfortable lump in his throat. It turns out that
Gustav has a tumour. It’s not any ordinary tumour, though. The lump in Gustav’s
throat is actually a twelve-inch twin that has been living within him since the
womb. The twin forces Gustav to re-evaluate his life when it starts to grow on
him. Strange and droll, The Twin caps
off many of the themes and stories of “Who’s Your Dada?” by asking if someone
can give birth to themself, and what happens when that self is a monster. One
of the stronger programmes in the WSFF Official Selections, “Who’s Your Dada?”
shows that life is but a dream. Or, more likely, a nightmare.
“Who’s Your Dada?”
screens:
Isabel Bader Theatre, Wednesday, June 6 at 1:30 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre,
Saturday, June 9 at 7:45 p.m.
Please visit www.shorterisbetter.com for tickets,
program/film info, and show times.
And check the label
WSFF for more reviews of festival programs.
Want to see "Who's Your Dada"? Well, you're in luck! We have 5
pairs of tickets up for grabs for the screening on Wednesday June 6
courtesy of WSFF and the Canadian Film Centre. To enter, please email
pat@cinemablographer.com with the subject "Dada" and provide your
name and email address. And since this programme boasts some great shorts, please tell us the name of the short that won the Audience Award at last year's WSFF. (Hint: the answer is in the review for one of this year's programmes!) Bonus entries go out to anyone who shares
this link on Twitter with the phrase "Win tickets to see ‘Who's Your Dada’
at #wsff12 from @cinemablogrpher"
Contest closes Tuesday June 5 at 9 am.
Contest closes Tuesday June 5 at 9 am.
