Local Movie Madness
from the 9.22.05 Birmingham Weekly (Sidewalk film festival)
Seven seals of the Apocalypse. Seven Deadly Sins. And now, in celebration of the seventh year of Sidewalk bringing us great independent films: Seven Local Films You Should See:
1.) MINDWALK (directed by David Whitson) Created as a part of a UAB music project (by students Beau Treadwell and Matthew McKinney), MINDWALK is exactly what a lot of people think of when they hear “Short Indie Film”: experimental, quirky, less linear story than exploration of the possibilities of the medium. It’s part music video, part avant-garde filmmaking.
2.) WE’RE THE GOVERNMENT, AND YOU’RE NOT (directed by David McElroy) Too many people will create parodies and take them too far over the top, or maybe not far enough; this one, however, is done just right, an excellent skewering of the prevailing currents in today’s America. Pro-government folk with no sense of humor should probably stay home and watch FOX News.
3.) THE GIRLFRIEND (directed by Adam Wingard) Wingard made this list a few years back with his debut feature, HOME SICK, and has continued to make a name for himself (along with Team Bloodjet!) producing fantastic looking horror shorts, both independently and as part of the Sidewalk Scrambles. This Body Snatchers-esque story captures the discomfort of bringing your girlfriend home to Mom and Dad dead on. Dead on, I say.
4.) THE FANCIFUL GENTLEMAN (directed by Sam McDavid) The perfect example of a short film: no filler, no tangential wanderings, no wasted time. It’s all economy of motion, to steal a term from music technique. And funny, too.
5.) WHO KILLED TANGERINE? (directed by Brent Davis) A highly polished production with great cinematography and lighting, WKT? goes a long way to erasing the idea of local shorts as beginners-only vehicles. There are times when Davis even makes it seem like Birmingham has a big-city feel (even though we all know better).
6.) SIDEWALK SCRAMBLE PARTICiPANTS (directed by various) This year, they’ve put together a best-of-the-Scramble block, and it’s worth seeing, if only because these films were put together, start-to-finish, in under 48 hours. It’s a testament to the craftsmanship and creativity of Birmingham-area filmmakers that such a wide variety of shorts can come together in such a short amount of time.
7.) GRATUITOUS (directed by Alex Justinger) The title says it all. Blood, naked breasts, more blood. All of it framed by a story that had to be created specifically for the purpose of filming blood and breasts. It’s good to see filmmakers improving their abilities while keeping their sense of humor about the whole thing.