First Week of Short Films at the Henry Miller Library

From a kid who practices smooching on a pumpkin to a bloodthirsty barber, the first round of films featured at the Henry Miller Library's Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series were as just as fearless as they were though-provoking.

The selection provides a good overview of the diversity and quality of the films that are presented each week. 

Catch It

Sarah Menzies, USA/France/Norway

The short documentary Catch It touched on the importance of living live to the fullest. The charming French surfer Lea Brassy spends her time finding balance with nature and surfing in northern Norway.

The film provided a strong moral of solitude and balance of nature but failed in showing anything besides surfing and a van covered in snow.

In only 10 minutes, the film visuals were clean and smooth but the narration had little pulse and excitement. Menzies conviction was weak and didn’t capture the experience that Brassy’s experience.

Overall, the film was good but seemed more like a Patagonia or North Face commercial rather than a heart touching story about nature and the importance of experiencing it.

Razor

Rajko Ristanovic, Serbia

In Serbian, the title “Britva” meaning razor in Serbian, protagonist Vlada works at a barber shop.

The nine-minute film features recurring themes of “deformation” that appears multiple times in the story. When a businessman enters the shop for a shave, Vlada makes numerous presumptions about him in comparison to his father, who was a businessman also.

The film is efficient, solid and precise. The only problem with the film is unless you speak Serbian, you will be watching most of the film at the bottom of the screen with fast paced subtitles.

I noticed I was trying to keep up with the quick dialogue between the two, rather than watching Vlada nearly slit his customers throat.

Although the message can be unclear, the beautiful shots and thought provoking dialogue backed the ambiguity with concrete evidence of a great film that is worth watching twice.

What a Pool Believes

Ted Mills, USA

Director Ted Mills does a good job of what it means to keep it simple and not complicate things. The three-minute silent film was a quick flash of beautiful black and white shots, little dialogue and a short underwater scene of women and the worker that is simply gorgeous.

The moral was simply, “don’t go near the pool” but because of the alluring women inside of the pool, the boy working cannot resist. The film is obscene and poetic at the same time. It holds strange traits of corniness and originality also.

Aya

Oded Binnun and Mihal Breziz, Israel

Aya provided beautiful scenery of Israel and interesting dialogue between an Israelite and a classical music judge from Denmark, Mr. Overby.

The ambiguity is the key of this film but where is fails is when it solves the mystery with actual solutions throughout the 39 minutes. The plot is simple and backed with enough information to give the film depth and potential for a full-length movie.

The heart behind the film was the sexual tension between the two in the car. She asks him to play the piano on her thigh to the music that is being played through the recording he is supposed to judge.

It starts off seemingly cliché but as his fingers progressed and sped up to the tempo of the music, I was impressed. The film had opportunities to end, but continued to progress. Some of the mystery may have been better off unsolved.

The dazzling shots and creative story provided a strong foundation for a well-scripted, casted and filmed short piece.

Practice Makes Perfect

Devon Avery, U.K.

Twelve-year-old Clint faces the ultimate challenge of many people’s youth: the first kiss.

On his date with Sally, he struggles to find the perfect opportunity to seal the deal. The three-minute film provides heart-string-pulling music and no dialogue or monologues. The funny, innocent and somewhat disturbing compilation of Clint practicing his kissing is what makes this film unique.

He uses a pumpkin, balloon, himself (in the mirror) and after practice, attempts to make his dates face light up like a Christmas tree.

Out of all the films Practice had the least depth in story, but the most emotional impact.