This is a great short New Zealand film about a brother and sister, who live in fear of their overly protective father. They mother is no longer in their lives for some unspecified reason, and as a result the father focuses all of his attention on making sure his children are the best they can be. He forces his daughter to play the piano, not allowing her to play her own thing as well as forcing both his children to run for quite a distance to ensure they keep healthy. His persistence turns to violence if they don’t play by his rules. This is a tale about two siblings who eventually team together, as brother and sister should, to overcome their fears and obstacles. Some of the acting in this film seemed a little bit suspect; although it’s hard to tell if that was due to bad acting, or whether the characters would actually be like that in a real world situation. The production values were fantastic – as is to be expected with these heavily funded short films. It had a good build up to a very satisfying, although slightly cliché conclusion.

I must have completely zoned out when I read the description of this film. If I had consciously known it was about an abortion, there is no way in hell I would have gone and seen it. I must have also tuned out when people were talking about this film they’ve seen with a drawn out abortion scene in it. For some reason, I was sure this title referred to a movie about a marriage – but I was completely wrong. Set in the Soviet block during the final days of communism, this is a gritty tale about two female students in Bucharest, one of whom is pregnant. Rather than give birth to the child, she has decided to ask her friend for help in organising an illegal termination. With an extremely limited budget, the girls are forced to call on the services of a dodgy backyard operator, in a hotel room. As I said, this is not the sort of film I’d normally go and see. I hate blood, and medical procedures. The thought of watching a poor and desperate young student go through a risky, prohibited and life threatening procedure in a dirty hotel room gives me the chills. However, this was a really good film. It still scared the hell out of me, and was seriously depressing, moving and hard to watch – but the characters and situations seemed so unfortunately real and the film had such well scripted dialogue, that it’s very hard not to appreciate how great a film this really is. It’s not a complex film – there are only a few key characters and a very simple plot, however it’s incredibly dramatic. Watching a dubious abortion take place was too much for a lot of people – there were several that left the theatre near the start of the movie; they obviously didn’t pay attention to the blurb either. But luckily, because I’m too stubborn, I stayed till the end. Although hard to watch, I felt it was an important movie to stick with for some reason. I think I just really cared about the characters (or at least just Otilia). I never want to watch it again – but I’m glad I made it to the end without fainting.

This is a beautiful and very well acted short film about two teenagers living in a small Mexican town. Sofia, a beautiful young lady, hates her life and the fact that her mother sleeps around, and doesn’t seem to care about her in the slightest. Jonas on the other hand, has a lovely mother, who really cares about him. Sofia and Jonas begin to form a relationship, but Sofia wants to leave the town for good. It’s a story about Jonas struggle to head off with this intriguing, yet unstable young lady, or stay at home with his loving mum. The acting in this short film is truly top class. I really loved this film. It was shot beautifully, and had good sound design. But what drew me in were the characters. They felt so real. This is not a happy film, but gives a great insight into the lives of two young lovers who have very different backgrounds, despite living in the same small town.

This is a very simple, very real, and very gritty tale about a woman who visits her grandson at his army base in war-torn Chechnya. There is no visible fighting or battles during this film, as it’s purely a point of view of the grandmother as she reunites with her grandson, and chats to the other young soldiers at the camp. Visually, the film is shot in stunning monochrome, with striking faded, dirty and rough production design. This is a very slow film. We just stick with the grandma as she slowly stumbles around the camp. Everyone in the film seems exhausted. It successfully portrays that war is far from exciting – it’s extremely tough work and essentially soul destroying. That said, it’s not strictly anti-war – it more of an observational piece. Take out of it what you will. Personally, although I respected the acting, directing, cinematography, production design and sound design, I found this film to be too humdrum and long-winded. I fell asleep a couple of times, and didn’t really pay that much attention when I was actually awake. It’s very sad – and makes you really hate war and what it does to all these young people; however it’s a very draining film. Beautifully crafted – but not my sort of film…

This is a very odd, yet surprisingly entertainment and perplexing film about a young American who barely makes a living as a Michael Jackson impersonator in Paris. He loves “being” Michael – but he’s obviously unhappy with his life as it currently stands. Things take a turn for the better when a fake Marilyn Monroe makes an appearance whilst he’s performing at a retirement village. He’s instantly attracted to her, and when she suggests that he should come back with her to a self-sufficient community far away, “where no one gets old” and she lives with her husband Charlie Chaplin, daughter Shirley Temple, plus a host of other phoney celebrities, he decides to pack up and come along for the ride. The film is primarily about a three way relationship between Michael, Marilyn and Charlie and their crazy lifestyle. However, it also follows a separate and completely unrelated story about nuns jumping out of planes and surviving. It’s almost like watching a feature film on the TV and having strange ads in between. This film is very bizarre, but as the characters are all so fascinating, the film really hooks you in. It’s not a comedy in the traditional sense – although there are some funny moments. There is a lot of drama and heartache, as we watch these unusual characters go about their strange existence. To be honest, I’m not sure if I understood “the bigger picture” of this film – or even if there was a common theme throughout the whole film. However, despite this, I was fascinated by what I was watching and some of the visual (especially the opening and closing shots) were beautifully shot. A very different film – but one well worth watching!