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We're All in the Dance
I've received a good share of mail asking if there are short films that I can recommend to you. It appears you'd like to be more familiar with the story format, and I can't blame you. Music video (which are essentially commercials for the most part) and actual commercials are the only exposure we have to short subject with high-production quality, with the exception of SNL Digital Shorts and the rare, well-done funny short posted to the web every now and again.
Paris Je T'aime would be my strongest recommendation: 5-minute cinema stories about love and Paris make this collection unique for having an overarching theme. The DVD is available on Netflix.
Please don't watch the trailer: it gives way too much away.
While typically I prefer long form storytelling; a feature, a novel, a trilogy (especially compared to episodic television, which I usually do not like at all); while I feel that way, it must be said:
Short film is incredible, wonderful and underutilized.
Just like the power short story can have when well executed, so is short film. Many shorts tend to suck because they are the tool of the new filmmaker, the student and the amateur. Plus, it can be challenging to be concise and tell a compelling story in a shorter amount of time, and most filmmakers can't write in the first place. Add a lack of high production quality to the list and you get loads of shorts that are not very interesting bombarding festival submissions each cycle. I do not doubt, however, that there are numerous shorts out there that are astonishing. To have them retired to, and viewed on, a YouTube or the Internets or not at all over DVD or the large screen doesn't do them justice.
If you have suggestions for shorts and collections of shorts, then comment and over time I'll find them/view them in the best possible quality in attempts to come up with a list of the best and how you can access each one. I don't think I need to again suggest Hotel Chevalier; most of you have seen it already.
So for now, Paris Je T'aime.
And”¦ music”¦
Update:
Watching Kurosawa's DREAMS collection. The mastering is fuckity (especially for a WB release), but it's really only noticeable during the second short. This is unfortunate as it's one of the best. You can get this via Netflix. I ran upon the poster accidentally while doing some reference research for a screenplay. I put the film in my queue without knowing it was a series of shorts. Thank the universe for small surprises and delights!
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