Instalment 12 of the Short Film Review - keep those recommendations coming and I promise I will get round to them all eventually, I've a fair few to work through ;-)
Bride of Vernon
A rather playful take on the Frankenstein story, The Bride of Vernon is a stop-motion
animation in the mould of Wallace and Gromit which was written, animated and
directed by Calvin Dyson and ended up winning the Best UK Short Film Award at
the 2012 Manchester International Film Festival. Vernon Van Dyke, the
appealingly voiced Dan Clark, is the lonely young scientist who is battling
against the repeated failures of his experiment to create himself a bride and
even the faithful Fritz (David Schofield as the Igor-style assistant) is
rebelling and demanding better pay and conditions due to his recent
unionisation.
Things brighten up though with the arrival of Mary Mae, a real life woman who
offers a whole new world of possibility to Vernon as they start dating and
here, Katherine Parkinson is excellent casting, her richly expressive voice is
beautifully suited to the hesitant goodness of this character and they are so
sweet together. Of course, things go wrong over dinner with an accidental
poisoning and it is up to Vernon to see if he can save Mary Mae by hook or by
crook. The film is really well put together, it looks a high quality product
and Michael Slevin Uttley’s score fits over it like a glove to make this what
seems to be a well-deserving prize winner.
Standing Room Only
With a cast including the likes of Michael Gambon, Hugh Jackman, Maureen Lipman
and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, you’d be forgiven that thinking that Standing
Room Only is no common-or-garden short film and you’d be right. It undoubtedly owes
its star-studded nature to the marital connections of its writer/director
Deborra-Lee Furness, otherwise known as Mrs Hugh Jackman, but it makes a rather
amusing study of the politics of day seating for a sold out show. Mostly silent
(although this version of the clip is dubbed in Russian – translating the signs
I think…), we see a queue of people slowly build up outside the New Ambassadors
Theatre to see the hugely popular Man of a Thousand Faces.
I’ve not done a huge amount of day-seating myself but I know people who have
and so there is a wry amusement of much of the little details here which seem
authentically familiar. And it is a pleasure to see the likes of Gambon, Jackman
and Joanna Lumley cutting loose on
something comedic and light – Furness includes a flirtatiously delicious moment
from her husband at 5.27 – and it is all
a breezy bit of fun, even if I wasn’t mad keen on the way that it ends.
The Rules of the Game
This film is directed by Tom Daley but lest you think it is connected with
anything misguidedly-orange and publicity-hunting, it ain’t anything to do with
diving… No, it’s a 2009 short written by Sam Michell, a monologue written about
a groom-to-be who is preparing for a stag night to remember in a smart country
house. Christopher Harper plays Henry and over the 7 or so minutes of film, he
fills us in on all the gory details of his last few months and the revelations
that have raised the stake of this occasion just ever so slightly.
Harper is excellent as the narrator, his direct address to the camera is always
playful rather than too intense, Michell’s writing dancing with the lightness
of stream-of-consciousness and imagined actions as well as putting across the
story itself. And Daley directs with a smooth fluidity as we constantly move
throughout the stately home, Max McGill’s cinematography making everything look
delicious and usefully reminding me of how much I like Harper as an actor.
3-minute 4-play
At a brief 3 minutes (and change), Johnny O’Reilly’s 3-Minute 4-Play is
a cracking little Irish battle of the sexes thing. Set in a dreamlike white
space where things can be wished into reality, Ristéard Cooper’s man conjures
up the girl of his dreams – Ruth Negga – but as always, one has to be careful
about what one wishes for as it turns out that he can’t control her, and her
own desires don’t necessarily match up with his. It’s simply done but very
effective and highly watchable – Cooper is always charismatic and I loved
seeing and hearing Negga working in her natural accent. Lots of fun.
Labels: Christopher Harper, Film, Hugh Jackman, Imogen Stubbs, Joanna Lumley, Katherine Parkinson, Lyndsey Marshal, Maureen Lipman, Risteárd Cooper, Ruth Negga, William Ash