More Palm Springs Shorts...

I was totally planning to write something insightful and perhaps pithy about each of the short films I watched in Palm Springs. Then I looked at the list again. And again. And again. Now I am quite daunted. So I'm just going to take a quick pass through and see what I end up with. At the very least I want to keep a record of the list so when one of the ones below wins the Oscar I can recall how I didn't think enough of it this week to actually say anything significant about it. Well, at the very least I'll tell myself I was lazy and it was a long list...

Ok - here it goes. let's see for how many I can remember something at all about them 1 week+ later.

• French Roast (France) - Cute animated feature about mistaken identity and how that can almost get you arrested for bank robbery in France if and when you don't pay your bill at the local bistro. Life lesson - if you forget your wallet just fess up, don't keep ordering more and more coffee. Even if it seemed like a good idea in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
• The Incident at Tower 37 (USA) - Cute animated story about being tolerant of aliens who are sabotaging your plan to drain their planet of water.
  
• The Incredible Story of My Grandmother Olive (UK) - Cute animated story (that I can totally see being a feature film) about a wheelchair bound grandmother who falls for a wheelchair bound alien. His wheelchair is way cooler.
  
• Blossom (Netherlands) - Woman who can't leave the house deals with issues in life and love.
  
• Love and Roadkill (USA) - Something about wondering if you should get out of your car when a guy stops and offers you a ride while doing his job picking up roadkill.
  
• One of Those Days (UK) - A mistake on my part. This belongs on my favorites list from the festival. On judgement day a bureaucratic nightmare leaves a man who spent his whole life being good confused with someone named Vlad. And not Vlad the happy churchgoing guy down the street.
  
• Roadkill (US) - The first few minutes of a visually attractive but possibly morally bankrupt horror film. Other than the morally bankrupt part that's the description the director gave. It would make an interesting horror movie if nothing else.
  
• Conrad the Wise (Canada) - Cute kid, slightly dark story.
  
• The Curiosity of Penny Parker (Canada) - Some of them nursery rhymes can really hurt if taken too literally.
  
• The Fairy Princess (US) - Don't fuck with the fairy princess. Best of example of having kids in the film does not equal for kids. Sort of creepy to watch, but I sort of liked it by the end.
  
• The Macabre World of Lavender Williams (US) - Weird zombie animatronic dog with the voice of Christopher Lloyd - 'nuff said. Actually that description makes it sound more fun than it is. Just a bit weird.
  
• Playing House (South Korea) - Korean ghost story - I think. Like other Korean ghost stories I've seen (yes - I do think it's a specific genre) interesting to look at. But confusing and includes the murder of a goldfish.
  
• Chile & Cheese: A Continental Rift (Canada) - Events surrounding the mis-use of condiments at a 7/11 style store.
  
• Early Checkout (Australia) - A case study in how not to behave in a situation where you may have accidentally strangled your girlfriend while having sex (at her request - well not the to death part) while your buddy sleeps next to you. Better yet - here's a tip - skip the choking during sex part. Just a suggestion. Otherwise you might want to watch this short.
  
• Expiration (USA) - Cute idea about when does drinking expired milk truly become dangerous. Short enough to be OK.
  
• Greed (Sweden) - Animated thing about a guy and greed.
  
• The Last Supper (Australia) - Jesus's disciples having a grand old time at the last supper before he shows up.
  
• My Treat (USA) - Ladies fight over who pays the check. Literally. A bit much - but amusing ending.
  
• Stop Requested (France) - Apparently when the French do the walk of shame after an ill conceived hook up they can take it to a whole other level.
  
• Thick as Thieves (USA) - Not the greatest criminal recruits each successive victim to join in. A little hard to suspend disbelief - though at some level... Cute ending - that does make sense.
  
• Fish & Chip (USA) - One one hand I did not like this film. Mermaid violence in wrong. One the other hand I learned about the real life business mermaidrentals.com apparently run by a guy who calls himself "The Tailman" - insert your own joke here.
  
• Miracle Fish (Australia) - Parent's lame gift may have a dramatic outcome of a very dramatic day's events.
  
• My Four Inch Precious (USA) - Guy grows tiny little woman from magic flower. Falls in love. Complications ensue.
  
• Nutkin's Last Stand (USA) - Documentary I thought was a joke until halfway through about the assault by "American" gray squirrels on the peace loving "reds" of England. Interesting once I figured out it was for real. Possibly awesome if it hadn't been.
  
• Werewolf Trouble (USA) - Werewolf with overly accepting roommates has issues. Apparently him murdering people every month not a problem for his roommates. Social commentary I guess.
  
• The Casuarina Cove (Singapore) - Based on a true story of some entrapment of gay men soliciting sex with other gay men in Singapore.
  
• Diana (UK) - Didn't fully get this story of an Indian (I think) cross dresser in London around the time of Princess Diana's death.
  
• Feedback (USA) - Feedback can be hurtful when too direct. Mildly amusing. I wasn't quite the intended demographic.
  
• ADM for EVE (USA) - Had no idea what the story/point of this way. Seemed interesting - but I'm perhaps dumb. I saw it's available on IMDB so I may watch again.
  
• Bohemibot (USA) - Crazy professional grade sci-fi story. Not quite my thing but very impressive technically. Trailer is here.
  
• Light Years (USA) - multi view story of people who learn the world is ending in 8 minutes. One of the few times I think it might actually be worth it to have CNN on. Not entirely surprisingly the two French brothers who learn the news while drinking in a cafe deal with it exceedingly well.
  
• The Stars Don't Twinkle in Outer Space (UK) - Interesting take on a boy with an escapist fantasy inspired by old space travel serials in one of the worst places a young boy could be in history. Wouldn't be what I'd call "fun" - but interesting and well done.
  
• 40 Degrees in the Shade (Mexico) - Traveling through the desert? bring water and lots of it.
  
• Between Dreams (Finland) - Traveling on a train and sleeping is the theme of this short. Well it's probably something else - but that's what I took away from it. Plus I thought it was Russian for some reason.
  
• The Boarding Ticket (USA) - The life and times of a boarding ticket. Cute and fun.
  
• Hunger (UK) - Something involving women who pick you up might not be up to any good. You know nothing good is coming from the start - and you are not disappointed. OK as an exercise, but not a lot of story.
  
• Knife Point (USA) - Redefining your expectations as to who's who here - and also that of the phrase "Crazy Christians."
  
• Styx (Scotland) - Trying to cross the river Styx? Bring exact change.
  
• Transit (UK) - Boy has some kind of encounter in the men's room with a guy being escorted by toughs of some sort. Interesting reveal I guess - but not quite a favorite for me.

OK - still not done - but I'm losing interest for now. But I'm within striking distance of finishing the list - so stay tuned.

One thing I'm really wishing is that more of these shorts were available online somewhere. It's a shame - perhaps there's a market for these I'm missing but it seems that most folks would do better with broader distribution of their material online so if folks like it they could point it out to others. As usual, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about. :-)