DVD Review: Cinema 16 - European Short Films

For a few years now, Cinema 16 has been packaging great short films on Region 2 DVDs for European release, but as far as I can tell, this new "European Short Films" collection, with 16 short films on two discs, is the first to get the Region 1 treatment. This new set culls shorts from various previous collections; I'm not sure why they just didn't re-transfer the European DVDs for American release, but no matter. What we have here is a wide selection of shorts from many decades, by filmmakers both famous and unknown. Probably not too surprisingly, the best shorts come from folks you've never heard of. Most of these folks provide commentary tracks for their work (almost all of it in English).

Like many authors, filmmakers sometimes try the short form in order to "practice," which ultimately shows a kind of lack of respect for the medium; it's seen as a stepping stone to features rather than a form in itself. But it also sorts those filmmakers that are good at the short form from those that aren't. Ridley Scott's first film, Boy and Bicycle (1965), starring his little brother Tony as a young boy, is a particular example of a failed attempt. Scott admits a fascination with John Schlesinger (Billy Liar) at the time, and his endless attempts at arty realism are painfully dull. This film was also released on Paramount's The Duellists DVD, and both times I sat down to watch it, I couldn't make it through. It's a pretty long 27 minutes.

Likewise, Christopher Nolan's short film Doodlebug (1997), which runs only three minutes, is more special effects than anything else. Thankfully, both Scott and Nolan had much better luck at longer features. Another heavyweight that turns up is Lars von Trier, who conjures up an early student film, Nocturne (1980) for the collection. Watched straight, Nocturne doesn't make much sense, but viewed with the commentary track, it's hilarious. Von Trier deconstructs and ridicules the film at the same time, dismissing his early, highly pretentious work in a must-see manner.

A couple of short film wizards are included as well. Although Jan Svankmajer's short work is collected elsewhere, this set includes his Jabberwocky (1971), a bizarre, sadomasochist version of the Lewis Carroll poem made almost entirely with toys. It includes a commentary track by Svankmajer expert Peter Hames. Along the same lines, I fell in love with the work of Virgil Widrich a few years back; his most celebrated short film Copyshop (2001) was shot on video and transferred entirely to sheets of paper, where it was turned into animation, with rips and crumples included. A man working in a copy shop accidentally copies himself several times over. (It's too bad the set couldn't have included Widrich's even better follow-up, Fast Film.)

Also here is the Oscar-winner Wasp (2003), from director Andrea Arnold, who went on to make this year's excellent Red Road. Wasp is an ultra-realistic look at a single mom living in squalor with four kids. When an old flame asks her out on a date, she pretends not to have any kids so that she can go; unfortunately, she is unable to feed her brood before departing. It's heartbreaking, but lacks the preachy quality a feature film on the same topic would have had. (Incidentally, Wasp is also included on the new Red Road DVD.) Lynn Ramsay's similar but equally superb Gasman (1997) about a man who takes his children to a Christmas party, accompanied by two other, mysterious children is also included. Unfortunately, both films are from Glasgow, and even though they're in English, subtitles would have been helpful for us accent-challenged Americans.

I'm very fond of Nanni Moretti's The Opening Day of Close-Up (1996), which I originally saw on an old VHS tape of Abbas Kiraostami's Close-Up. In the film, Moretti works at a cinema, and eagerly, nervously prepares to show Kiarostami's masterpiece. However, despite all his preparations, The Lion King earns the majority of the day's box office take. As the program notes astutely point out, the film sums up the current state of cinema in 7 minutes. However, the most amazing short on the entire DVD has to be Hungarian filmmaker Balint Kenyeres' Before Dawn (2005), an absolute mini-masterpiece of mood and wordless storytelling, done in one continuous, 13-minute, panning shot. It tells the story of a group of refugees hiding in the grass and attempting to board a truck. Kenyeres uses the tall grass and vehicles approaching in the distance for surprising, dramatic effect. It even has a perfect ending.