It's Just Movies

— by FIANNA MacGREGOR —

Since this is my first review for It’s Just Movies, you aren’t aware that I love shorts. I mean, I really, really LOVE shorts. They are usually the most innovative and amazing films around.

Granted, some are terrible, but that’s to be expected in everything. But the wonderful thing about shorts is that filmmakers can tell a funny or amazing or disgusting or sad story without trying to figure out how to fill two hours of screen time. So they’re usually excellent. I am so addicted to shorts that I search them out on the internet, I scour YouTube regularly and I get all excited waiting for the Oscar Nominated Shorts reels to come to theaters in January.

And while many pooh-pooh the short film as a waste of time, I applaud them, knowing the amount of skill it takes to pack an entire story into a film less than 30 minutes long. If you’ve never seen Black Rider, find it on YouTube. Watch it to the end. It will make you angry but the payoff is so fantastic, you won’t be able to keep from telling everyone about it. Also search out Toyland and The New Boy. You won’t be sorry.

Tumbleweed! is another film that has made my list of good shorts. Shot in the style of an old Nickelodeon Western, it’s grainy, washed-out tones are a little odd at first and the narrator’s style seems strange until you figure out what’s going on, then it’s perfect.

The film chronicles the discovery of tumbleweeds and explains their raison d’etre. Then it focuses on a specific tumbleweed, who is apparently refusing to do his job: namely, to tumble.

This film is about having big plans and still being able to stop and smell the roses … or tumbleweeds, in this case. At 7:07 in length, it isn’t too taxing to watch and is pretty dang funny in the end. Beautiful cinematography by Damián Acevedo and score by Tim Rutili make this Varava Brothers production a must see.

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