Typically, shorts are a difficult thing to watch and even harder to review as how much can you really say about something that's typically between 4-12 min. long? Where most suffer is in their ability to get their story told in that short amount of time. That wasn't much of the case in these two that I've reviewed.
Director Andrew J.D. Robinson (of Run Rabbit Run Films) gave me the opportunity recently to review two of his shorts: Beauty Sleep and Contact.
Beauty Sleep
Written and directed by Robinson, Beauty Sleep is mostly shot in black and white (save for a scene at the end) and lacks dialogue but has no problem getting it's points across. The short gives us a glimpse into the life of a woman (Maura Stephens) dealing with her loss of identity in a world run by faceless, nameless people that's eerily reminiscent of John Carpenter's They Live. It's weird and artsy but it works. The imagery and music (by Airplanes over Johannesburg) lend itself to the bizarre vibe of Beauty Sleep.
Clocking in at just under 13 min., Beauty Sleep was an official selection at 2014's Toronto Independent Film Festival and 2014's Cellar Door Film Festival where it garnered some pretty good buzz at both.
Beauty Sleep has a message but doesn't try too hard and I can respect that. Going back to John Carpenter, though, Robinson makes sure to dedicate his short to legendary directors like him, Roman Polanski, and David Lynch to name a few. Their influences are definitely noted and appreciated.
3/5
Contact
I love me a good film about space and Robinson wrote and directed another short with a pretty cool storyline involving just that. Starring Angela Parent as "Gale", Contact is about a rare virus that seems to have "invaded" Gale's body. Without spoiling much, it's another short of Robinson's that has a message not unlike Beauty Sleep but is a little more subtle in its intent which makes it that much more meaningful and hard-hitting.
Part of a 72 hour film challenge that required the filmmakers to include a DIFD (a charity dealing with youth mental health) charity band and a quote from another movie, Contact did a pretty good job of including this and having a really good story all in just about 5 min. I'll be honest, it might go over some heads at first (maybe I was one of those heads..) so it might take a second viewing, but it's well worth it.
Robinson mentioned to me that he wanted to make a short film that felt like a movie and he was definitely successful in that. It feels like there was more story to be told and we were only allowed a peek at something really cool and original. With music by Curtis Berndt, Nova Spire, Christopher Xiao, and Sacha Gabriel and animation by AA VFX, Contact is definitely worth checking out if you have a few minutes to spare.
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