Short Films from 2006 - a mixed bag

Best Live Action Short Film Winner and Nominees, 2006

It took me three days to finish the disk of live action and animated shorts. It was a very mixed bag, and after a few shorts, I needed a break before I sallied forth again. I'm glad I did watch them all, though.

The Mozart of Pickpockets was winner, and it was probably my favorite of all the shorts. It's a French film that features two down on their luck pickpockets masquerading as policemen. As one of their scams comes to a very bad end, Richard and Philippe find a little boy, around 5 or 6, who becomes very attached to them, and they grow fond of him, especially when they think he can be used in improving their pickpocket results. They try one scheme and it doesn't quite pan out the way they expected, so to make themselves feel better, they go to the cinema. Totally on his own, the little boy finds a new scam and things are looking up. But, and you knew there was a but coming, there is another twist and you'll have to watch it to see for yourself. I liked this short the best because compared with the others, it was fun to watch, not too depressing  (At Night) and not too frantically annoying (The Substitute). 

At Night is a Danish film set in the cancer ward of a hospital during the Christmas holiday. The three main characters have grown closer during their various stays at the hospital. It's a very somber forty minutes as we watch the girls coping with their diseases and dealing with their various family situations. It's not a bad film at all, just hard to watch sometimes. This was one where it would have been nice to see what this would be like as a full length film, to see how the relationships began and then watch them develop over time. The three actresses were really good, especially considering the demands of the roles.

The Substitute was the Italian entry, and I found it almost spastic in its presentation, and very annoying. The whole point of the film became 'clear' at the very end, and by that time, I was into another game of online solitaire and needed my first break in my viewing.

Tanghi Argentini is set in an office and Andre wants to tango so he can impress a woman he met online. His co-worker reluctantly begins teaching him (it is funny watching them practice moves in the office) and then it's the big night....It does not go quite as expected, but Andre is not deterred, he apparently meets another woman online who is into poetry. Lucky for him, he has a co-worker who writes poetry. It's kind of an interesting premise, and I haven't seen too many Belgian films, so it wasn't a total loss. This could have been an episode of The Office or something like that.

The Tonto Woman gave me pause and it took me about 10 minutes to get into the premise and the main characters. If you're watching a 90 minute movie, 10 minutes is great. When your movie is only 35 minutes, that's a long time to hook your audience. The woman of the title was held hostage by Indians for many years and tattooed across her face in the fashion of the tribe. She was rescued by her husband, but lives alone on the far end of her husband's property. A cattle rustler (I didn't quite catch his name) stops by her place and becomes interested in her and buys her a present. These attentions are not quite appreciated by her husband, but the rustler doesn't care, he is determined to bring the woman out of her shell and show her that she is attractive to him. That's where it started to get interesting, as the characters were allowed to develop and the rustler, played by Francesco Quinn (he looked a lot like Anthony Quinn, so I'm thinking there's a relationship) and he was really good, both convincing as a tough, cowboy, but also sensitive and caring. The ending was very good and had a nice little twist. Another one that could be expanded and flushed out.

Best Animated Short Film Winner and Nominees, 2006

Peter and the Wolf  won for best short for 2006. As you might infer, the film relied on the classical piece by Prokofiev. The animation was pretty cool and well synced to the music, which is timeless. As in many animated shorts, there was no dialog, just the music. Out of the three animated shorts I was able to watch, I did like this the most, but nothing really jumped out at me. I may have just been in a hurry to finish the disk by this point.

Madame Tutli-Putli used stop-motion animation and detailing work that gave the animation a lot of texture, making it seem like 3-D. Madame Tutli-Putli is on a night train and mysterious and creepy things happen. I have to be honest, it was only 17 minutes, and I probably only watched about 9. I didn't care.

Even Pigeons Go To Heaven is about a miserly old man and the local priest who is trying to help free him from his money buy selling him a place in heaven. The Grim Reaper comes in near the end; let's say there is a little 'misunderstanding' and the priest gets a first-class ticket to the pearly gates. It was a pretty clever concept.