This is the last part of the Cinema 16 European Shortfilms series. Considering the high price of the Cinema 16 DVDs, I suppose it’s rather unlikely that I will ever watch any of the other short film collections. However, if I ever decide to buy some DVDs, these short films will likely be one of the first I would buy.
After a dreadfully long search for the right screenshots, I managed to edit my older reviews to avoid them to look like a wall of text. Now, I only need pictures for this post, ahaha. Actually I’m really happy at how the screenshots turned out so far, please feel free to take a look! :3 Here’s a little rundown on the reviewed short films:
Part 1: Bara Prata Lite.
Part 2: Le Batteur du Bolero, Charlotte et Veronique ou Tous les garcons s’appellent Patrick, Copy Shop.
Part 3: Fridge, Il Giorno della Prima di Close-up, Gisèle Kérozène, Härlig är jorden, Koncert zyczen, L’Homme sans Tête, Nocturne.
Part 4: Jabberwocky, My Wrongs #8245-8249 and 117, El Secdleto de la Tlompeta, Election Night.
Part 5: Doodlebug, Fierrot le Pou, Wasp, Je t’aime John Wayne.
Part 6: Before Dawn, Rabbit, Boy and Bicycle, Gasman, Six Shooter.
Before Dawn by Balint Kenyeres
Something about this short film is intriguing. In fact, it looks like a Kieslowski at first, with its pace and atmosphere. I like the dark colours and the way how nobody speaks in this film a lot. Also, something about this film makes you find it suspenseful despite its slow pace. Of course, the constant worry about these people is there too since we have no idea what happens to them. But unfortunately, I was unable to understand the story until the end ^^;;;
Rabbit by Run Wrake
Err, what should I say. This is quite original and extremely weird, I suppose. It gave me a little bit the same feeling as Jabberwocky somehow, even though this is comparably less disgusting. It’s still full of pseudo-childish perversions though, especially the music.
Boy and Bicycle by Ridley Scott
Okay, I really did not understand a bit of the dialogue, or rather the monologue I should say. On a side note, I think now I understand why “Control” looked so incredibly good – it was because it’s shot in black & white, and this film looks so good too, somehow O.o I should watch this with subtitles one day. Maybe then I really can fully appreciate this film, as its atmosphere feels quite great already.
Gasman by Lynne Ramsay
This sounds like austrian to me, for real. I’m a horrible person, I know, and this is just a lame excuse for my crappy english, but really, I’m glad there was not all that much dialogue in this. However, I didn’t understand anything of the story, just like for “Boy and Bicycle”.
Six Shooter Martin McDonagh
This story is intriguing, really. I also am glad that I’m able to understand this dialogue, haha. Anyways, this young man reminds me a lot of quite many people in the anime blogosphere somehow – which means that his characterization is pretty good in my opinion.
Uh, but honestly… how the heck is this film supposed to be a comedy? Sure, the end is great and the whole story is so incredibly full of wit. Also, the music at the end hints that we are supposed to take this as a comedy, but it did not feel like that for me. Basically it felt too real. Nevertheless, this is a great film.
And here we have my final ranking of all the 25 films. * means that the film is on both versions, # means that the film is US version only, therefore no mark means that the film is european version only.
1. Charlotte, Véronique ou Tous les garcons s’appelent Patrick
2. Fridge
3. Bara Prada Lite
4. * Härlig är jorden
5. * L’Homme sans tête
6. Koncert zyczen
7. * Copy Shop
8. # Je t’aime John Wayne
9. * Election Night
10. # Six Shooter
11. # Doodlebug
12. Le Batteur du Bolero
13. # Wasp
14. # Boy and Bicycle
15. # Before Dawn
16. * Il giorno della prima di close-up
17. * Nocturne
18. Epilog
19. * Rabbit
20. My Wrongs#8245-8249 and 117
21. * Jabberwocky
22. * Gasman
23. # Fierrot le Pou
24. El Secdleto de la Tlompeta
25. Gisèle Kérozène
I suppose I prefer the european version over the US version overall. Basically, the US version lacks the early pearls of Godard and Kieslowski, and the great “Fridge”. However, the US version also doesn’t have all that much bullshit like Gisèle Kérozène. In the “middle field” and in average, both are somewhat similar to me. It’s just that the european version has more ‘bullshit’, but also more absolute highlights.