Bytowne Cinema was packed Sept. 19 for the screening of the 16 entries in the Short Film Competition Three. The longest short film was 22 minutes and the shortest only 32 seconds. Of these 16 films, two stood out as magnificent and one stood out as, quite simply, dull.
Marcel, King of Tervuren was a powerful story of a rooster who took up residence in a Belgian neighbourhood. The short is narrated by an elderly Belgian woman. The animation for this film was warm, filled with earth tones and fluid lines. Throughout the film when the narrator pauses, the animation would pause too. The screen would be left with sketch marks and unfinished lines. When her pace would accelerate so would the action on screen. The vividness of the story was reflected perfectly. The choice of music complemented the tone of the film, using string instruments to convey the mood.
The story of Marcel was the most powerful thing I’ve seen so far at the festival. The tale is heartwarming and deeply sad. It never told the viewer how to feel, but instead told its own story well and left you to pick up the pieces. This film was honest, uncomfortable, and captivating.
The next film that struck me for the collection of shorts was Ketsujiru Juke. This video, or at least gifs of it, will go viral. The film is doused in neon colours, set to dance music, and features a half nude woman yelling “sappy sappy sap’s coming out of the asshole.” The three-minute film is about a woman needing to take a poop but being unable to for some unexplained reason. There is no real plot. It is a surreal assault on your eyes and ears. There are a lot films that aim to shock and disorient, but Ketsujiru Juke hits the nail on the head. The animation is clean and the colours are strong. The insanity doesn’t overstay its welcome and it is impossible to know where the film is going next.
So that was the good, on to the bad.
The short film Vice and Project X: “Big Sean Tells Crazy Party Story,” in which rapper Big Sean tells a wild party story, is boring. On paper having a rapper tell a party story is amazing, but unfortunately Sean’s story isn’t very wild. He went to a big party and he had sex with a girl at said party after rummaging around in his car for a condom. He ended up in some sort of relationship with a woman after that. Sean adds a bit of colour but there isn’t much here to work with. No drugs, no violence, nothing out of the ordinary. People have sex at parties. It’s a thing that happens. There is nothing that makes Sean’s story unique to himself. The animators do the best they can to breathe life into Sean’s yarn but they just can’t do it. There is not enough action to make a video.
