Szel (Wind) - Cannes Film Festival Winner

A film student was given this photograph by Lucien Herve of three old women looking out to something unknown. His professor told him "make a movie out of this picture". What came out of this exercise? The winner of the best short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. Made with only one shot, this six minute film directed by Marcell Iványi creates an amazing sense of suspense. Short, simple, but powerful.

Watch it now:

"Asshole"- Sundance Shortfilm Selection

We've all seen those deep ten-minute long movies that try too hard to to "get a message across". I'm here to talk about a different type of short film. "Asshole", written by Bryan Gaynor and directed by Chadd Harbold was on the list of Official Selections of the Sundance Festival in 2008. It's hard to believe that a short film with so much profanity-rich dialogue and so little action gets such recognition. However, this is probably on my personal list of favorite shorts. It relies solely on the witty, sarcastic dialogue and the detestable nature of its main character. Who is...(yes, you've guess it) a complete 'asshole'.

Watch it now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnGzJJ3LviA

"The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari".. A fun silent film? Really?

I know...very few people actually enjoy sitting through old silent movies. But "The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari", a German film produced in 1920, is one of those silent films that is worth watching. As I put the movie into my VHS (yes, you heard me, VHS) and saw the aged image shine through my Sony TV I said "Oh no...not again". I had recently seen the silent 3-hour long, 1915 G.W Griffith movie "Birth of a Nation" and wasn't very excited to go through similar torture. But I was pleasantly surprised. The eerie expressionist setting, and the creepy unease used throughout the movie made me really engage with the plot.

The movie is told as a flashback from the main character Frances. This, in and of itself, was a revolutionary mechanism of its time. The "framed narrative", or "the flash back" was a device unseen in the film world. Frances retells the 'terrifying' story of the mysterious murders that occurred in his hometown. We then accompany Frances through his investigation which is sparked by the murder of his best friend. The success of this horror film is that it creates fear out of unease rather than gore. It's not about the blood, or the violence; it's the mystery. Many subsequent directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock,were very much influenced by the way this movie created suspense through setting, camera angles and the overall mise-en-scene (definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_scène). I didn't expect to get freaked out. I've seen movies by M.Night.Shyamalan
and Stanley Kubrick...How could an old silent film scare me? Surprisingly enough, it really did.

I guess the most amazing part of this movie is the twist ending....I don't want to ruin it for you, so I'll stop there.