THE SUN AND THE MOON

Directed By Ioana Uricaru

A meditative atmospheric portrait of a distant culture, shot in gorgeous black and white.

The only word of dialogue happens a little over halfway in this film.  It is a name.  It does not matter.  This film is like watching a master artist create on a canvas.  The framing and use of shadow and light in this film is breathtakingly beautiful. 

The story is simple and nice.  A couple shares a room but never see each other since one works day and the other works night.  Their time at home is spent in solitary.  One lives in sunlight and the other lives in the moonlight and you can feel the loneliness in this film like a third character.

A remarkable film that touched me deeply.

TANAREXIA

Directed By Jean-Pierre Caner

Some people go to church, Johnny goes to the tanning salon. When the only tanning salon in town closes Johnny is forced to look at what his life really is and decide whether it’s acceptable enough to let his dream slip away—his dream of laying on the beach and getting really really tan.

This was such an odd little film.  Odd, but in a good way.  The characters are satirically real.  Being from a small town in the Midwest, I know these people.  The story is simple and could have benefited from a little trimming in length.  But the end result is a fun and quirky film that is a joy to watch.

THE CLAY HEAD

Directed By Thomas Barndt

A curse in a jar.

This was such a bizarre film.  Full of trippy animation and an odd 60’s vibe.  The Clay Head is an experimental quandary that I have been thinking about for the last 8 hours.  I can’t get it out of my head.  It was very strange and fun.  The Clay Head was about 1 minute too long but still a fun ride through a messed up head.

FLOK

Directed By Andrew Mausert-Mooney

Twin brothers travel around their town in search of dead birds. Using science, art, and faith, they attempt resurrection.

This was a film that made me ask questions.  I saw the film before I read the logline and then made two of my friends watch it directly afterwards.  I asked them what the film was about and got answers completely different from mine and distinctly varied from each other.  This is why I love short film.  As a medium, short film seems to push many more boundaries than almost any other narrative form.  The truth of the short was very literall.  We were looking and reaching with our theories.  They worked with the literal narrative not against.  This is a great experimental narrative film that never says a word, but apparently says a lot.

Shane Morton