Online Shorts: Drums West, Mute, Chocolate Bacon, Agamemnon Counterpart, Solipsist

I plan to highlight online short films as a regular feature, and here are five experimental and animated shorts that I've seen and enjoyed over the past few weeks.

Lately my two favorite resources for online shorts have been Mike Everleth's Underground Film Journal and Amid Amidi and Jerry Beck's Cartoon Brew.  I decided to avoid a Halloween-themed list, but if you're looking for one check out Everleth's "Great Underground Horror Films Streaming For Halloween." Yesterday, Cartoon Brew posted an article about the month-long National Film Board of Canada showcase, Get Animated! Both resources are worth following on their respective Twitter feeds and Facebook pages.

The final selection below, along with six other online experimental titles, can also be found in the Cultural Weekly article, "The New Innovators of Experimental Short Cinema" by Amy Cobb.

I prefer to watch online shorts on my television for a better viewing experience, and Plex and its myPlex media queue has become my go-to resource for collecting any online video for later viewing. I first discovered Plex as an app on my Samsung Blu-Ray Smart Hub, and I use it even more extensively with its channel on the Roku Streaming Device.

The procedure is very simple if you first install the myPlex bookmarklet in your bookmark bar, or add the Chrome myPlex Queue Extension. Simply find a video online, then click the bookmarklet to add it to your myPlex queue.  On pages with multiple videos, you might want to go to the video's source page first to make sure you're queueing the right video.  The videos in your myPlex queue are then available to watch on your television using your Samsung Smart Hub app or Roku Channel. Depending on the quality of the video source, the myPlex image and sound quality is very good (although it can take a little bit of time to access the video in your queue).

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"Drums West" cut-paper animation from Jim Henson. This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.

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MUTE from Job, Joris & Marieke on Vimeo.
MUTE is an animated short about a world populated by people born without a mouth. When a gory accident leads to the discovery they are able to create their own mouth by cutting themselves, this releases an enthusiastic chain reaction among the population…

This 4 minute cgi short has been created by Job, Joris & Marieke, a Dutch studio for animation, illustration, character design and music. In 2011 Job, Joris & Marieke made the music video 'I'll take you along' for Dutch rapper Gers Pardoel which has been viewed over 15 million times. The music was made by Happy Camper, and all voices were done by Fresku!

MUTE premiered at the Dutch Film Festival in the Golden Calf competition and was screened at the Anim'est festival in Bucarest. More festival news can be found on the MUTE website

http://jobjorisenmarieke.nl/mute

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Chocolate Bacon (2012) from asavari kumar on Vimeo.
SYNOPSIS
Chocolate bacon is a portrait of a young woman’s experiences in the first year of grad school, presented through a series of conversations re-contextualized by abstracted characters. The film is divided into 6 episodes showing slices of life from a 7 month time period and the voices are from real audio recordings. The vignettes are interspersed with pieces where the main character talks more specifically about her trials and tribulations in making the film.

WEB : http://asavarikumar.com/chocolate-bacon/

AWARDS AND SELECTIONS
(Innovation Award) No Budget Film Festival ’12 (CA,US)
(Official selection) Ottawa International Animation Festival ’12 (Ottawa, Canada)
(Official selection) Lone Star Film festival ’12 (TX, US)
(Official selection) BUtiful Film festival ’12 (Bournemouth, UK)
(Official selection) Dirt poor filmmakers festival ’12 (NC, US)
(Official selection) Victoria Film Festival ’13 (Victoria, Canada)
(Official selection) Pune International Film Festival ’13 (Pune,India)
(Official selection) Women and minorities in media Festival ’13 (MD, US)
(Official selection) Fort Myers Film Festival ’13 (FL, US)
(Official selection) Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (Canada, 2013)

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Agamemnon Counterpart from Michael Robinson on Vimeo.
Original Recipe (made in 2005):

"In 2571 in the heap of crushed stone among the ruins of that not determined turn blue planet it was found video cassette. The fact that you intend to see, has to it no relation. This is completely different record."

Music and character drawings by Jason Kovac aka Dave From 2001 (D2K1).

Free downloadable video game based on Agamemnon Counterpart created by Jason Baum aka Giz/Gizmonicgamer (PC only)-

fileupyours.com/view/127688/Agamemnoncounterpart_gamezFINASH.rar

Another way to watch:

http://www.yooouuutuuube.com/v/?rows=16&cols=16&id=ZqzESY7SIqU&startZoom=1

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Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase 2012

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Lou Reed (1942-2013): Berlin, Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, Red Shirley

Lou Reed passed away yesterday, at age 71.  The ideal tribute would be to showcase his Warhol Screen Tests, but many of those posted online have unfortunate soundtracks added.  No longer streaming on Netflix, but still available on DVD, is 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, which features Reed as well as Paul America, Dennis Hopper, Nico, Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar and Mary Woronov among others (be sure to watch the tear roll down the cheek of the non-blinking Ann Buchanan).  If you look hard enough, you might even find a copy of Raro Video's DVD of Vinyl and The Velvet Underground and Nico.

There are many official and unofficial streams of Velvet Underground and Lou Reed performances, and one in particular worth pointing out is the Ronald Nameth film Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable with The Velvet Underground on UbuWeb.  And, of course, the first appearance of the Velvet Underground in January, 1966 at the Annual Dinner of the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry at the Delmonico Hotel is briefly featured in various manifestations of Jonas Mekas's diary films, including Walden: Diaries, Notes, and Sketches and Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol.

There was a stretch in the late 1990s where Reed's songs appeared in several memorable cinematic moments in narrative features, most notably Trainspotting and Velvet Goldmine, which are currently streaming on Netflix (see below). Perhaps there could have been one more if he had not objected to I Shot Andy Warhol in 1996. He appears as "himself" in at least five feature films: Permanent Record (1988), Faraway, So Close! (1993), Closure (1997), Prozac Nation (2001) and Palermo Shooting (2008). He's credited in Blue in the Face (1995) as "Man with Strange Glasses" and in Lulu on the Bridge (1998) as "Not Lou Reed." He also provides the singing voice for some of Mok's songs in the animated feature Rock and Rule (1983).

I did not realize until surfing the internet tributes to Reed that he directed a 27-minute documentary short, Red Shirley (2010), about his 99-year-old cousin. Red Shirley is currently streaming at SnagFilms.

Jim Healy and the UW-Cinematheque Facebook page posted a memorial link to this collection of Lou Reed's scenes from Get Crazy (1983), which they screened last year.

Posters and Synopses from The Movie Database

Lou Reed's Berlin (Julian Schnabel, USA, 2007, 85 minutes)

Lou Reed recorded the album Berlin in 1973. It was a commercial failure. Over the next 33 years, he never performed the album live. For five nights in December 2006 at St. Ann's Warehouse Brooklyn, Lou Reed performed his masterwork about love's dark sisters: jealousy, rage and loss.

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Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, UK, 1996, 93 minutes)

Renton is living the dream and that dream is Heroin. As Renton struggles with the agony and ecstasy of his life we follow him and his increasingly unstable mates. Drinking, fighting, drugs, sex and the most disgusting toilet in Scotland.

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Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, USA, 1998, 119 minutes)

In 1984, British newspaper reporter Arthur Stuart is investigating the career of 1970s glam rock star Brian Slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by American rock singer Curt Wild, whose show was quite crazy for his time.

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Asian Horror: Three Extremes, Thirst, Dumplings, Audition

Halloween is just around the corner, so over the next few weeks I'll try to add some horror-themed entries.  Today we start with the Asian horror omnibus film, Three...Extremes, and follow up with other films streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly by the same directors of that film, Chan-wook Park, Fruit Chan, and Takashi Miike.

Three...Extremes is a reasonably successful omnibus film, although you may want to check out other films by the directors if you're not familiar with them first.  In my opinion the strongest of the three is Park's audacious "Cut."  But the other two shorts have their memorable moments, and will appeal to fans of Chan and Miike.  I have not seen the follow-up film Three...Extremes II with three other directors (Nonzee Nimibutr, Ji-woon Kim, and Peter Chan) but it is also streaming on Netflix (as are other films by those directors)

Three...Extremes (Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park, Hong Kong/Japan/South Korea, 2005, 126 minutes)
Netflix: Three Asian masters of horror spin twisted tales in this terrifying trilogy that begins with "Dumplings" by Hong Kong's Fruit Chan, in which an aging actress's obsession with recapturing her youth leads to an unnatural diet. In Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park's "Cut," a movie extra with a grudge torments a successful director. Japan's Takashi Miike directs "Box," in which sibling rivalry and jealousy reach disturbing new heights.  Netflix link.

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Chan-wook Park's Thirst is an appropriately gory vampire film, and perhaps a proper corrective to the recent trend in teen/romance vampires.  It is certainly far more cynical and bleak than the recent pop vampire films, perhaps a bit too bleak by the end.  It's tone may wear you down in part due to it's length, but overall it provides an interesting twist on the genre.  Unfortunately Park's Oldboy is no longer streaming on Netflix, but a few other of his films remain: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Lady Vengeance (2005), and the romantic comedy, I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay (2006)

Thirst (Chan-wook Park, South Korea, 2009, 133 minutes)
Netflix: When the smoke clears from a failed experiment to find a cure for a fatal disease, a devout priest finds himself forever changed. Specifically, he's a vampire -- but that isn't the only thing that's different. Now he's also willing to commit adultery with the wife of his childhood friend, a sin he never would have considered before. Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin and Ok-bin Kim co-star in this horror offering from Korean director Chan-Wook Park.  Netflix link.

Fruit Chan's Dumplings is the full-length version of the story told in short form in Three...Extremes.  I have put it in my queue along with Chan's remake of Don't Look Up (2009) which seems to have divided critics and audiences alike into love/hate camps.

Dumplings (Fruit Chan, Hong Kong, 2004, 90 minutes)
Netflix: Hoping to hang onto her unfaithful husband (Tony Leung Ka Fai) by looking younger, retired television star Mrs. Lee (Miriam Yeung Chin Wah) eagerly begins eating Aunt Mei's (Ling Bai) famous rejuvenation dumplings, but her increasing appetite for these rare delicacies leads to unsavory complications. Fruit Chan directs this disturbing horror film that features a gruesome look into the dumplings' secret ingredient: human fetuses.  Netflix link.

I mentioned Miike's most recent film, 13 Assassins, in a recent post, and a few of his other films are currently streaming on Netflix Watch instantly: the infamous Ichi the Killer (2001); his contribution to Masters of Horror, Imprint (2005), and his recent spaghetti western-inspired Sukiyaki Western Django (2007).  But instead I'll include another film that I need to catch up with and have put in my queue, Audition from 1999.  If you're not familiar with Miike's films, be warned, they are not for the squeamish.


Audition (Takashi Miike, Japan, 1999, 115 minutes)
Netflix: Director Takashi Miike fashions an explosive drama in Audition. Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) has lived as a widower for too long and decides it's time to marry again. But how will he find a wife? When a friend suggests he hold a fake audition to pick the right woman, he takes him up on it -- only to realize that his choice may be a better actress than he bargained for.  Netflix link.  Note: Expires 10/20/11.

Short Films: National Film Board of Canada's 7th Short Film Contest

I usually dedicate Wednesdays to animation, which brought me to one of the great resources for animation, the National Film Board of Canada.  I discovered on their You Tube channel that they are currently running their 7th NFB Short Films Online Contest.  Most of these are not animation, as it turns out, but still worth your time.  The contest continues through May 18.

Below I've embedded one of the animated shorts Choke by Michelle Latimer, but go to the NFB You Tube page to watch the other films and vote for your favorites.

Documentary: Diary (Tim Hetherington, 2010, 19 minutes)

This week I'll focus on Documentaries available on-line outside of Netflix Watch Instantly and Hulu.  The quality (and legality) of these sources vary, but they are worth looking at.

Last week I posted a brief news update about the passing of photojournalist Tim Hetherington, the co-director of Restrepo.  I have since discovered that his short experimental essay, Diary, is still available on his Vimeo page.  After Hetherington's death, Dana Stevens wrote a short essay about the film at Slate.


Diary (2010) from Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

I also recently mentioned previously that I've started a Google Reader Shared Items page, which will feature news and links to resources I might not have time to elaborate upon in the blog itself.  You can see the most recent additions on the right margin of this blog.

Here are some documentaries that I've added to the Shared Items page, many of which were first highlighted on websites such as Dangerous Minds, io9, and Short of the Week.

Idiot With a Tripod

Idiot with a Tripod from The Mutiny Company on Vimeo.


1991: The Year Punk Broke with Sonic Youth


Take This Hammer with James Baldwin

Take This Hammer from Brendan Nee on Vimeo.

Malcolm McLaren


J.R.R. Tolkien

Luis Buñuel: Un Chien Andalou, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie

Netflix Watch Instantly has films that bookend the career of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, who worked in Spain, Mexico, and France for most of his filmmaking career.  The first film listed below is possibly the most famous surrealist short ever made, Un Chien Andalou, his first collaboration with Salvador Dali which caused a scandal when it was premiered in 1929.  Part of the inspiration for this entry was watching Gregg Araki's Kaboom the other night (not that great, but I digress) which featured a 19-year old film major protagonist.  As he explains his interest in film studies, we see a clip from Un Chien Andalou that almost everyone sees in a film studies course at some point, namely the eyeball sequence (don't want to be a spoiler, but the image is so iconic and it is featured in the cover image that I've pasted below).  I was genuinely surprised by the response to the clip within the film that night, as one audience member was genuinely shocked by an image that I've now seen so many times that I've forgotten its power.  With that in mind, it occurred to me that not everyone is as familiar with Un Chien Andalou as they should be (even though it is often cited in clips in films like Kaboom).  It is kind of an odd choice for Netflix Watch Instantly, as I'm not sure if there are many 15 minute films available on the service.  But if you've never seen it, you now have no excuse, since it is as easy as clicking it into your queue.

That said, I also realized that I now have no excuse for not seeing the late Buñuel films that are currently available in Netflix Watch Instantly, namely The Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire.  I'm not sure how I've managed not to see them at this point (I guess the latest Buñuel that I've seen is Belle de Jour with Catherine Denuve).  So the other day I dutifully added them to the "In My Queue" section on the top of the website, and I will report back to you when I've finally caught up with them.

Un Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dali, France, 1929, 15 minutes)
Netflix: Artist Salvador Dali and novice (at the time) director Luis Buñuel came together to craft this unique film consisting of a jarring collage of absurd and deplorable images aimed at raising more than a few eyebrows. Images include a razor slicing a woman's eye, a man hauling a giant piano, ants circling a hole in a man's hand and more, including assorted detached body parts and futile murders. Originally a silent film, a score was later added. Netflix link.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie (Luis Buñuel, France, 1972, 101 minutes)
Netflix: In Luis Buñuel's deliciously satiric, Oscar-winning masterpiece, an upper-class sextet (Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Stéphane Audran, Bulle Ogier and Jean-Pierre Cassel) sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts repeatedly thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined. Perhaps his greatest film, Buñuel's absurdist view of the upper class is a timeless satire about consumerism and class privilege. Netflix link.

That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Buñuel, France, 1977, 103 minutes)
Netflix: Adapted from the novel La Femme et le Pantin by Pierre Louys, this Oscar-nominated erotic dark comedy was Luis Buñuel's final film. The story follows, in flashback, middle-aged Mathieu (Fernando Rey) and his obsession for the much younger, moody Conchita (played by both Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina). The two play a continuous tug-of-war with each other's desires, each trying to outlast the other at their own game. Netflix link.

Animation: The Thomas Beale Cipher and Other Animated Shorts Online

Here's a quick survey of some animated shorts that I've come across, often with the aid of Cartoon Brew and The Short of the Week.

First up is The Thomas Beale Cipher by Andrew S. Allen, who in addition to being a filmmaker is also the co-founder of The Short of the Week.  There are two reasons to look at the film, beyond the quality of the film itself.  First, in their initial entry on the film, The Short of the Week provides some information about their new series, The Short of the Week Presents, which will debut films online and help coordinate their digital launch.  In their second entry on the film, they detail their own digital launch plan, and explain how it related to their more conventional film festival distribution and exhibition plan.  The later entry is particularly useful to filmmakers eager to learn how to maximize their presence and impact on the web.


The Thomas Beale Cipher from Andrew S Allen on Vimeo.


Here's a survey of other shorts I've seen and enjoyed over the past few weeks.





Thursday from Matthias Hoegg on Vimeo.





Old Fangs from adrien merigeau on Vimeo.