It's summer and everybody is trying to beat the heat. I live in Los Angeles where it's been excruciatingly hot recently. Wherever you live, hopefully this summer will make you appreciate the beauty that is air conditioning. During a recent heat wave, while most people went to the beach to escape the heat, I drove straight into it for the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival. That particular day, it was 91 degrees when I left my house and 115 degrees when I pulled up to the theater that afternoon. Fortunately, the theater was comfortable and air conditioned! I was only out there for one day, but attended two screening blocks, one called Around the World in 90 Minutes, and the other, The Things We do for Love. These were great experiences because the films shown were from all over the world. Both screening blocks were about 90 minutes long or a little more and I felt that I had experienced so much in those blocks. Each film was distinctly different from the others and stood out in various ways. So, here are some of my highlights:
Around the World in 90 Minutes
The first film in this block was a film from Cuba called House For Sale, a documentary that showcases the housing market in Cuba now that the ban on the sale and purchase of homes has been lifted after nearly 50 years of being in place. People are often their own real estate agents and are not totally sure how to sell their homes. Many of the people that are shown in this documentary have lived in their homes for much of their lives and even have family members who live there with them. Each scene shows a different person trying to sell their home, but not only do they try to pitch the home to the filmmaker, but we get a whole tour of their home and see all of the various trinkets they have. One instance that stood out to me particularly, was the first woman in the film who shows off her refrigerator that is something like over 60 years old and still works! It is a film that does not have much in the way of a story, but rather showcases a particular way of life now that things are so different in post-Fidel Castro Cuba.
Grandfather is the story of a young girl orphaned at an early age who lives with her aging grandparents in rural northeast India. The grandfather is told that he will die soon because of his terrible smoking habit and thus begins to collect all of his personal belongings and even digs his own grave. There is almost no emotion on the faces of any of these characters, and there is very little dialogue. Almost none in fact. Much of the sound in the film is just the ambient noise of the tiny village in which the characters live. I had a hard time with this movie because there's not much that's compelling about the story. It lacks emotion to the point where it's almost completely dry and hard to take seriously. But it is an interesting take on how we approach death. It is a clear statement that one cannot always prepare for another's departure from this world and in a way shows this confusion and distress quite interestingly.
Commodity City is a short documentary about the Yiwu Markets in China, which is the single largest wholesale consumer market in the entire world. It is mainly just a series of shots showing shopkeepers and their stalls at the market. Often these stalls are devoid of customers and we see what some of these shopkeepers do to pass the time. It seems like many of them are on their phones, on their computers, or even doing some book keeping. Some of them even bring their children to work with them. It is also interesting to see what these people sell. It appears that one can buy just about anything at the Yiwu Market. Similar to House For Sale, there is not much of a story, but the film simply serves as a window into a world unfamiliar to its viewers.
Green Screen Gringo is a somewhat edgy and a little bit avant-garde film in which a foreigner goes around Brazil with a person-sized green screen and puts it behind some seemingly random people and random things. The images that get superimposed on it are seemingly random as well. It creates for a film that again, has little in the way of story, but shows a turbulent country around the time of the ousting of president Dilma Rousseff in August 2016. This is a film that shows the turbulence in Brazil almost in real time. It gives viewers a look at the situation in Brazil from the point of view of a foreigner and real people, not the news media. It gives us an on the ground look at things. Green Screen Gringo also gives sense that things aren't right with all that is shown on the green screen. The placement of people and objects throughout scenes is often random and makes little sense. Some things show up more than once, such as that man on the lifeguard chair. He shows up once on a scene at the beach, and again inside somewhere that does not make sense. This is a film that will intrigue you, but make you scratch your head at the same time.
The Bliss of Being No One is a Saudi Arabian film about a man getting into another man's car after his car breaks down on the side of the road. The man who gets picked up has a patch over one of his eyes claiming he has had some various surgeries on that eye and wears the patch while it recovers. As the two men begin to talk, they begin to discuss similar stories, about loss. They have both lost a son; the driver's son got lost while their family was on Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) and they do not know if he is alive or not, nor about his whereabouts, and the other man's son died. As they drive, they get into a complex and emotional discussion about their experiences in life with many different things. It becomes a film that really reels you in and makes you pay attention to their stories, and the story tugs on the heart quite a bit. But the most surprising thing about the film happens at the end (spoiler alert). When the man with the eye patch gets out of the car and then the car drives off, he switches the patch to his other eye and hails another stranger's car. He then proceeds to tell the story of the driver who just drove him, but as if it is his own story. This is where I believe the title The Bliss of Being No One comes into play. This was my favorite film of the screening block; a film that is compelling and emotionally strong.
The Things We Do For Love
See You Yesterday is a film about trying to change the past. C.J. and Sebastian are two African American teenagers who have built a time machine in order to change an event from a few days before the film takes place. C.J.'s older brother is wrongfully shot by the police in Brooklyn, and C.J. believes that she and Sebastian have the power to change the past and prevent her brother's killing before it happens. After multiple attempts that yield the same results, one last attempt yields a result that has devastating consequences that will have potentially worse ramifications for C.J. This is a film whose message is that while we often wish we can change the events of the past, we might only make matters worse for ourselves and those around us. This is a film with a powerful message that also highlights tensions between the police and African Americans all around the United States; images that resonate all too clearly for so many.
Edith + Eddie is a documentary about a couple in Virginia who got married when they were both in their nineties. While both of them seem to be in perfectly good shape for their age and with no signs of slowing down, conflicts among Edith's daughters threatens to tear Edith and Eddie apart. While the couple lives alone in Edith's family home of many years, one daughter believes that is not the place she should be, even if it means taking her away from Eddie. One daughter believes Edith must live down in Florida with her and her family, where Edith complains about abuse and is clearly unhappy, while the other daughter thinks it is perfectly fine for Edith to live with Eddie in their home. This documentary showcases the legal issues around this situation as well as the intervention of a legal guardian who does not know Edith, yet is tasked with doing what is legally best for Edith, even if it is not what she or her family wants. This is a film that demonstrates serious family instability and shows the family dynamic quite well. It is an interesting film that is sure to tug on the hearts of audiences.
The Good Mother is a film about a family in Mexico in which the mother wants to make sure her son has the birthday party he truly wishes for. And what does he want? A piñata in the form of Donald Trump. The film takes audiences all across the country on this mother's journey to find her just the right piñata for her son's birthday. While only a few minutes long, this film is sure to make people think as well as laugh along the way. It gives us a little insight into the view of Trump in other parts of the world, in this case; Mexico. For a film that gives off the impression of having a strong and impactful message (which it does to an extent), it is surprisingly lighthearted.
How Far She Went is a short film about making an impossible choice. A rebellious teenager who now lives with her grandmother runs off to be with two men who can only be described as thugs. It is clear she is invested in one of them romantically. The grandmother does not know where she is or what she is doing so she frantically searches for her. When she finds that she is with these thugs, things begin to get heated and ugly, ultimately forcing the grandmother to make a difficult decision; one that will truly linger in the minds of the viewer. This is a high drama and high intensity film despite its rather slow pace. If any of the films in this block truly demonstrate the theme of this block (which all of them do, but this one I argue does it the best), it is this film. This is a film that shows that people are willing to do just about anything that is necessary for love of any kind.
Image Source: PSISF website
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