Short Fuse (Shorts set)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Shorts: C+
In another set of short dramatic pieces, Short Fuse
offers eight recent projects that have even received critical acclaim. They are:
Bullet In The Brain (1.78 X 1/ directed by David
Von Ancken) – A college professor (Tom Noonan) is incredibly philosophical as a
dangerous group of men headed by a gun-toting Wildman (Dean Winters) holds up
his local bank. Is the professor trying
to talk the gunman out of killing or does he have a death wish, sick of his
life, or is that philosophy causing him to consider his life is a failure or
success? This is one of the DVD’s
best. George Plimpton narrates this
exceptionally well.
Cliché (1.78 X 1/Karl Horstmann) – The first and lesser of
two convenience store holdup stories, this one more quirky and brief, as a hold
up is eventually foiled by unexpected intervention. Though somewhat amusing, this is too pat for its own good.
Shoot! (1.85 X 1/Tiffany McLinn Lore) – Blind
poet/playwright Lynn Manning is a man in conflict with his streetwise
environment, sick of being tormented and ready to kill, unless he is killed
first. Not totally thought out and it
relies too much on its star personality, but it is at least gritty.
Crank Calls (1.85 X 1/Terry Rieta) – Loser
gets happy by doing the title action, even getting the victims to kill each
other, but this is too smug for its own good, not really exploring why people
enjoy this kind of thing. David Fincher
did better briefly in Fight Club with the group therapy equivalent. The subject has yet to be explored properly.
Upheaval (1.78 X 1/Itamar Kubovy) –
Francis McDormand is not bad in this average piece on a missing piece of
jewelry that sets off dysfunctional family conflict long lingering. Almost Dogme-styled in its look and
approach, which sabotages it somewhat.
Fueling The Fire (1.66 X 1/Jorg Ihle & Tanja
Mairitsch) – The best work on the DVD here involves two panicked points of view
of a violent robbery at a gas station convenience store, then we see what they
may have missed. This is a very well
thought out, savvy work that is remarkable.
Inside (2.35 X 1/Trevor Sands) – Jeremy Sisto is a victim
of multiple personality disorder in this smart, important short that goes into
the territory that is still sadly being ignored by the mainstream media and
cinema. If you are laughing, you missed
the point.
The Quality of Mercy (1.66 X 1/Stephen Marro)
– Mary-Louise Parker saves this revenge tale of an actress killing a critic for
being arrogant and giving out bad reviews.
This is often the revenge fantasy of many artists, but there is a point
where the school of thought emerges that there should not be critics at all,
which is a big mistake in a free society, but is the wet dream of a politically
correct one. This is not developed
enough to tell where it stands, which is another problem with a short that
relishes revenge and murder.
Despite the fact that this is the first such set we have
seen where every short was widescreen, the DVD is not anamorphically enhanced,
which is still possible to do, even when the aspect ratios vary. Upheaval looks the poorest, shot on
faded-upon-arrival digital video. All
have been remixed for Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3, but none of them are truly 5.1,
including the Dolby theatrical Fueling The Fire. Crank Calls, Inside and The
Quality of Mercy have better sound.
There are no extras, but there are just enough good shorts to check out Short
Fuse, another interesting such set from Vanguard.
- Nicholas Sheffo
