Film Devour Short film festival August Reviews

Film Devour Short Film Festival took place in the Black Box, Belfast and was presented by filmmaker Brian Mulholland. There was a great turn out for the 21 films shown.

One of my favourites of the night was My Dark Side directed by Keith Kopp. I'm a real sucker for sensitive films and this one was really good. Filmmaking itself is used as a part of the story. Throughout the film we enter dreams and memories, as we're shown the personal problems of the projectionist protagonist. In particular, the part of the mime was very effective in delivering a sober theme on suicide. Very smart, very moving film.

Another hit at the festival was 3 Minutes written, directed, and edited by Marie Claire Cushinan. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've watched this and the part with the 'muppet' still makes me laugh. It's best not to know the story. It's extremely simple and yet very effective, and when the film comes full circle its a satisfying conclusion that answers the odd behaviour of the female protagonist.

Hard to choose between my favourites but here's another one - The Dizzle Diaries directed by Aaron Bulter and Ryan Ralph. This mockumentary is in the vein of Spinal Tap and is a real good display of Belfast humour. Aaron Butler plays the lead with a good sense of sarcasm, and throughout the laughs are pretty constant and the timing is spot on - a credit to both the writing and the editing. It's very school boy type humour, reminds me of secondary school.

There's a some non-PC jokes and it works because the protagonist is established as an idiot. Much like how Cartman from South Park can get away with so much. Even though the sound could benefit from some post-production work and the lighting is over-exposed in places, the sharp writing, directing, and the performances from the leads make the film work.

Next to be reviewed is Aye, Dead On! by Andrew Burns, a short horror comedy about two metallers retrieving their guitars in zombie populated Belfast. Some imaginative effects and cuts in this film. Their conversation about needing weed in the zombie apocalypse was amusing though I'd say the film ends too quickly, I'd have liked to see more zombies get fucked up.

Angelica by Ronnie McQuillan is a real showcase of stunning cinematography. The shallow focus and excellent lighting make this a very cinematic experience. The story is simply about Angelica, a young woman in a foreign place, cut off from family. Very good composition in the bus, it really emphasises her loneliness. There is a whole backstory here that is left hidden to the audience and it leaves me with an uncertain suspense as to the fate of the protagonist. Really beautiful film and certainly one of the best of the night.

The winner of the Audience Choice award was comedy film The Young Person's Succesful Guide To... directed by David Fleming and written by Johnathan McCoy. A lot of people turned up to vote for this one. Timmy and Douglas play two losers who show up to the popular guy's house party hoping to change their luck with women. Ross Chambers playing the part of Chad is the best thing in this film, insulting everyone in his path. He plays an 80's cliché that reminded me of Ben Stiller's performance in Dodgeball.

The Beast directed by Ryan Ralph is a short horror comedy about a hunter and a tv host searching for a Werewolf in the woods. I think the fight scene is the funniest moment and the performances are suitably hammy. I think the film would be better without the opening scene, as the better jokes come later on.

Filmmaker Aiden Largey had a number of films on show. The first, No Getaways, is a bank robbery gone wrong story. Or is it? The film displays what can be done with a low budget, showing off a full SWAT team and a shootout. It's not a Heat level production but nevertheless

its impressive to see what young filmmakers can pull off. I can't wait to see more of Aiden's work in the future. I wanna see a Largey film with millions in the budget. There's a large film feel throughout No Getaways.

Aaron Corry shot from behind the scenes on No Getaways to create The Unmaking Of, which gives us a taste of the ambitiousness of filmmaker Aiden Largey. It's good to see how much work went into this, we see the kind of problems that the audience would never be aware of, like the difficulty in getting the right location. The documentary also shows the great buzz that can take place during a shoot.

In Aiden Gault's The Five Stages (up online in two parts - 1 - 2) , a young man is informed that he is going to die - by none other than Death himself. There's some decent laughs in the film but its a little long and somewhat difficult to hear during certain scenes. The plot was clever though and I'm encouraged by this flick to see more work from Aiden Gault in the future.

Buck Fury is co-directed by Ally McKenzie and Darragh Haddock. The title character is something of a legend, perhaps only in his own mind, and seems to be a master of exaggeration in his story of confronting car thieves. It's partially filmed in documentary style, with Buck Fury recounting his tale to a camera crew. The editing of the action reminded me of scenes from Kung Pow: Enter The Fist. There are several funny 'tough guy' clichés which Robert Render as Buck delivers convincingly and overall the film was good fun, a real crowd pleaser. Another of the top films of the night.

Pill Popping directed by Brian Mulholland features the characters of McKeever and Jones - two metal heads on a night in with some magical pills. Is it a drama about drug abuse? No, its a comedy. One is trying to convince the other to go hunting for beaver. Pretty light hearted and laid back.

Also shown at the festival was Birth of Rock by Big Gun, Slice Of The City: Get The Belfast Look by Amy Lewis, Fleeced by Roy McCadden, Evolution NI by Shane Murphy, Postman Pat and his Serial Killer Cat by Kerri Girvan, Sweet and Sour by Amy Lewis, a trailer for the feature film As The Earth Turned, and Child of Lore by yours truly.

Brain Wash Manchester 2 short film reviews

Here's a second round of short film reviews, from the second Brain Wash short film festival held in Manchester, back in January.

Most of these films are still making their way around festivals which would explain why all but one here are not online. I think once a short has got all the life it can from festivals and screenings it should be made easily available for the eager online audience. Some in the art community look down on the idea of placing your films online, but really it can be a great form of exposure. James Rolfe started on youtube and now he has almost 100 thousand grand raised from donations alone for his first feature film.

The event changed location to the Cord Bar and attracted hipsters from far and wide like moths to a flame.

Rikki Davis and Leopold Dewolf bring us the stop-motion animation Plastic, which takes place in a kind of totalitarian CCTV limbo. The film manages to give a very creepy vibe in the minimal setting and also has a subtle ambiguous nature that leaves a lasting impression. I couldn't say more without spoiling it, so if you have just under 3 minutes to spare - watch it!

We have Virgins, by Jack Turits. The trailer is online. Though I can't watch it again now, I remember it well enough. The story is about two virgins about to do the dirty for the first time with the awkwardness of such a scenario being the emphasis. It was very, very simple and I remember that the dialogue was fairly minimal. Through the performances of the actors there are several unspoken questions (as far as I remember they were unspoken) about whether or not these young individuals are ready, whether or not they're in love with each other or are they just carrying on with a sense of pressure and societal obligation. It was pretty decent but the film didn't leave a strong impression on me. The story didn't really go anywhere.

Also shown in the festival was Kate Shenton's Zumba, a Chaplin-esque romantic comedy featuring a clown and his inflatable sex doll. I'll comment more on it in the future, if it emerges online someday.

This was the first time that Brain Wash Manchester had an Audience Award, and it went to the film Worm from filmmaker Ryan Vernava. Worm is a somewhat noir style detective story revolving around a missing child, although the film soon plants both feet into surrealism. With UK Film Council funding behind it, its well produced, but overall I found the film a little dull.

For me, the best film of the night was The Furred Man, directed by Paul Williams. It's won 10 awards so far, so it ain't doing too shabby. The title, a clever pun on noir classic The Third Man (I guess, maybe there is no intended similarity), is an incredibly clever horror comedy, with a man dressed as a werewolf accused of murdering campers in the woods. Very well written and it features a great twist. You're lead to think one thing yet its something else and it ties together very well.

Brain Wash Manchester reviews from 2010

I haven't updated my blog in a long, long time so I've decided to go back in time, and review films from each short film festival I've been to since 2010.

Starting with the very first Brain Wash Manchester festival, back in Augest of last year. I shall continue to update the page as I track down the films shown.

Let's start with The Ghost Village Project, a short documentary on a never used village on the west coast of Scotland that has simply been empty for over 30 years. The film was made by a group of talented artists called Agents of Change who sought to take this space and remake it into an art gallery.

The composition of the shots are excellent and along with the ethereal music, and the pace of the film, give a sense of the character of this village as a desolate, ghostly ruin. Even before the artists got to work, I find there's a certain beauty in the emptiness, and my first inclination would be that the place should be used to film a horror. Luckily, the artists involved were more imaginative, and have turned a place that was an eyesore for locals into an effective urban space for art. Very enjoyable and informative.

Next up is Faden, directed by Martin Koddenberg with cinematography by Nandor Otvos. The story is a horror that deals with a theme seen in films like Pans Labyrinth in which a young girl escapes into fantasy and dreams to get away from her real life problems. It's a well produced film in that most of the effects look good and the standard of make-up, camera, and lighting are of a professional standard. But I find aspects of the film to be too obvious.

I'm pretty much going to go into full film student snob mode and incessantly nitpick from a film study perspective. But yes, for one thing, I think the music is too much. As soon as it begins, and the piano comes in, it sounds like stock horror film music. That along with the obvious creepy little girl is too much, too soon in the film, and the cut to a flashback is very cheesy, it isn't very smooth at all.

I think that a key element in a good short film, not ALL good short films, but certainly as a general rule subtilty is the key. These aren't feature films. Short films are a different creature. When a film is 3 minutes long, its probably not a good idea to have so many scene changes with different emotions behind them. The visuals are decent though, it would make for a good music video.

The best film of the night was Off Season, directed by Joe Randall-Cutler, nominated for Best Short Film in the BAFTA awards 2010. Everything in this film is on another level, the production is of a much higher standard. It stars Bill Sage, who has acted in American Psycho, and hit US shows such as Law and Order and Boardwalk Empire. Off Season features a lonely vagrant with a dog as his only companion, and a threat that awaits them in the barren snow.

This horror is reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Thing as both feature an isolated snow covered landscape. Bill Sage loots various abandoned cabins, and walks between them seemingly for miles. Each scene is gorgeous. As he sits with his oil lamp in the darkness, the word chiaroscuro comes to mind.

The pace is perfect, there is a genuine rise in tension and suspense. The threat is kept largely unseen throughout and I think the film is a great show case for the art of subtilty. This is evident in the shots chosen and the sound design. It's very nicely cut too, with the camera following the protagonist through the snow into pure white, which cuts to the next scene perfectly. Joe Randall-Cutler really gets it. Highly recommended for horror fans or any fans of good short films.