​A look at science fiction comedy, science fiction sequels, and an outlandish statement about how this farce relates to 2001, A Space Odyssey. I also completely misremember the courtroom scene after having watched it less than 48 hours ago...

I can't tell you haw many times I've sat down with folks to watch a few art films with friends and about a minute in had them go "Are they serious?" It's a problem, because when you're working within a vein of art that rejects traditional perspective and narraitve, it is easy to lose the thread and misunderstand what the attempt is, and the easiest explanation for most is to think that the filmmaker is being funny. A lot of Avant Garde film is deadly serious, though some humorous filmmakers have dome remarkable works.

While up bright and early with my Twins, I came across a film that had me going back and forth. Art Film - Enter the Mind Museum. Watching it, I was torn between considering it as an art film, all legit and stuff, and looking at it through the lens of a Zucker-Abrams-Zucker film using the art films of the 1960s and 70s as the target. There's a lot of Stan Brakhage in the film, with touches on the works of everyone from Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, and even Un Chien Andalou. The comedy comes not with mockery, but with respectful jibing, it seems. There's a lot to play with in the ideals of American Avant Garde filmmaking, and here, there is a joy and strange interplay between the comedy and the source material. If not for a bit of hyper-exaggeration, this could find a place in the collections of Canyon Cinema. 

This brought to mind two CInequest films from early in my term programming. The first was a gentle mocking of French Art Films, or at least the American Film Student idea of what a French Art Film is. The film, Battleship Contempkin by Chris Brown, is two people, alone, in a room, playing the board game Battleship. There is the interaction between the both which is sly and over-the-top. At no point can you take this as a serious art film, it's too ridiculous, and at the same time, there are markers from the art film tradition that make you go "hmmmmmmm..." 

The second, from about the same period, was La Puppe. Taking the legendary film La Jette by Chris Marker, director Timothy Greenberg plays with the concept, the still images and post-apocolyptic setting, and applies it to the story of a dog puppet. You have to know La Jette to get the most out of it, but even for the uninitiated, there's a lot of perfectly timed comedy. 

Though these films run in the field of the Avant Garde as their setting, they are decidedly comedies, even when the line is blurred. 

The most important Science Fiction Film ever made? We'll see about that!

Devotees will recall that The Drink Tank, which was my Hugo-winning fanzine which ran from 2005-2015, ran a series called 52 Weeks to Science Fiction Film Literacy which came out semi-regularly from 2010 to 2011. I was gonna try and turn it into a book, but instead, I realised it's much easier to speak than to re-type!

And then I went and changed things up! 

So, new films (About 1/3 of the previous edition will be back) and new takes on each. I'll also be doing a few interviews and including them as well. 

Registry - A Podcast will be slightly on hiatus (until the new National Film Registry list comes out in Dec) and which Three Minute Modernist will still be regular, this is gonna take a lot of my attention. 

The first episode, which will also start with A Trip to the Moon, will be out... shortly. 

I had the honor of Judging the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project again this year. I love the energy these teams being to creating films over the course of a weekend, and while the films tended towards the weak in the days when folks were submitting them en masse to Cinequest (2004 or so), the quality now rivals a lot of what we see in festival short programs. This year, we got a set of films that were phenomenal, and I'm going to be writing a few of them up. 

The winner of Best Film was Stonewood. It's one of those films that is genre, but in a way that you only slowly wake up to. It's a horror film. Or maybe a science fiction film. Or perhaps a party film. Or maybe it's a drama. From the first first frame, there's a disquieting sense of off-ness about it, something is strange, even in the rather simple party that's going on. When I watched it for the 5 time, I started to note the way the camera lingers, maybe only an inch off of center, producing shots that are weighted to one side or another. That is such a simple trick, and one that gives the film a heft. 

And then there's Dana Morgan. 

The winner of Best Actress, she drives this film by going from being Mrs. Dalloway to Jamie Leigh Curtis in Halloween in the blink of an eye. It's amazing how she portrays her fear, terror, and perhaps her revoltion of being trapped. You'll understand when you watch what I mean. She powers this film into the meat, and her performance is genre excellence!

There are inherent dangers in 48 Hour films. Sometimes, to fit in the required elements, there's a crowbarring that happens. Some filmmakers make this work for them (mostly in the comedies), and if I have to look up what the elements are afterwards because they were so seamlessly integrated, that's a great sign, and that's what happened here. There's the length, for one thing. Short by both necessity and rule, these films sometimes have to rush through material to make it happen. Luckily, here the turn happens quickly, hitting hard, though leaving less time for impact. It barely matters because what we get is a combination of precise editing, intelligent shooting, great acting, a smart script, and just a good, simple, genre storytelling. The perfect 48 Film Project project!

In my rookie year as a Short Film Programmer for Cinequest, I had three favorite films. One, not a great movie, Bleach, was one that moved me because it featured a few great actors known from 90210 and Night Court. There was a Seymour Cassel short short comedy that I loved (Custody?) which was one I went back and forth on over and over as to whether it was brilliant or thoroughly flawed. 

Then, there was Copy Shop. 

Copy Shop is the story of a guy who ends up making photocopies of himself. That's the basic, but it's well more than that. The real impressive stuff is the use of the setting. No dialogue, in black-and-white, the film tells its story on paper. Literally. The paper is a presence in the film, and not only as the setting, full of wrinkles, creases, and smudges, but as the venue. We're brought into Copy Shop in a way that isn't how you would normally present a film. Not unlike Don Herzfeld's Rejected (and various Chuck Jones cartoons) the paper on which the 'drawing' occurs is an important avenue. The different, of course, is that the 'drawing' in Widrich's case is footage, and brilliantly fun footage as well.  

The film is great, and the Making of... is also wonderful!

The Red Umbrella Diaries - David Kornfield
The only ting I can say is wow. This is a project documenting a project that is amazing, important, and beautiful. It's basically the Sex Workers' version of the The Moth, where they would take over a venue and tell stories, and in some cases confessions. The event was important, and powerful, and the documentary is so perfectly constructed, telling the stories of both the Red Umbrella Diaries and the storytellers themselves using the night of performances as a framing device, but also giving us the performance, which is where we see the reality of the individuals away from the stage and the stage persona.. The camera is precise, the editing wise, the hand of director David Kornfield deft at every corner. It is a magnificent movie, and you should find out more at http://redumbrellaproject.org about the project and the documentary. 

Bridgebuilders - Jordan Blazak & Alan Dembek
There is a kind of story that I have found myself a part of many, many times. I will whole-heartedly believe something, and then be presented with the appearance of something so completely contrary to that belief that I have no measured reaction. Bridgebuilders presents that scenario fairly well, with exceptional cinematography, and simple choices made to heighten the story of a barkeep living in remarkably strange times. These kinds of stories are made on the backs of actors, and while the reactions of our lead come off as fairly stiff, the setting of that flawed stone is strong. The editing, camerawork, set directions, and especially on-set lighting effects, all make an impression. A fun, well-paced film that will certainly appeal to the Conspiracy Theorists among us. And they are among us...

Help! - Mahnaz Yazdazi
There are few films that better criticize my life than Help!. The story is simple: a guy hangs off the ledge of his apartment building, but instead of helping him, folks take pictures, which leads to a funny situation. This Iranian minute-long comedy really hits home. It's easy to watch and claim you're "documenting" a scenario, but more often than not, what's needed is action, and in Help!, no one wants to miss out on what's going on, but also, no one is impelled towards taking what could be hugely significant, life-saving action. This recent journey of reviewing shorts has brought me a much greater appreciation for films coming out of Iran these days, and this tiny miracle is a really fun short. 

The Last Line - Beverly Tan
​Poetry. It is difficult, I believe, to tell a story poetically, though poetry, without relying on the experimentation that comes with the exploration of extremity. The bigger problem, of course, is how to keep from being pretentious when your main character is a poet, and the entire structure of your short relies on her delivering her poem. Last Line does this so well, being almost entirely a film where a poem is read in voice-over across images of a bartender's relationship with a woman, a talented woman. Every aspect of production, with the exception of one hiccup in the sound mix, is phenomenal, and it all heightens the impact of the poem, the performance, the passion. When we come to the eponymous last line of the poem, and we are greeted with a beautifully ambiguous (though strongly hinted at) truth, it both stings and draws you into yourself. In this short, as in love, as in faith, as in loss, as in memory, things are not what they say they are.

Axiom - Geoffrey Crete
This is a lovely, painful, paranoid, and dark science fiction film that envisions a future not entirely unlike our present. He has a mangled leg, but more importantly, there is a strange symbol scratched onto his eye. This symbol is actually the crux to the story, and part of why I connected to it so thoroughly. You may want to hold on, I'm going to do some strange mental gymnastics. You see, a film is an image scratched on to the eye. It opens up our vision to new possibilities, and we so often reject them until the absolute moment we must reject them, remove them, attempt to destroy them before they destroy us. This is an apt metaphor, and I can say that it is one of those films that made me think, and worry a little, because there was a little of myself in the main character. It maybe ran a touch long for the material, but there was no weak aspect in the production or acting. You can learn more at http://geoffreycrete.com/

If Robots Were Programmed By The Internet - Molly Brown
Fun fun fun!!! LOL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OK, now that that's done with, this is a series of four short segments that look at robots and internet cuolture, focusing on the impact of memes. That's the meta view, I guess. It's a fun animation, and it reminded me of those great early computer animation collages done in the early and mid-1990s. I really think this one is a ton of fun, and there's some thought to it too!

Kill, My Lovely - 
Noir's hard to do in color. I've always felt that without the black-and-white, without the stark shadows, there's no feeling that something is lurking beneath. In a way, a traditional Noir is more akin to a horror film than a police procedural. This film jumps around a bit, at least in my eyes, and I actually had a bit of trouble following at points. The acting is great, as the conflict comes through not only in the plot, but in the way our lead (played with a combination of reserve and reposte by Ross D. Seymour) and the love interest interact and react to the situation. I found this to be a very enjoyable view, even if it lost me a couple of times. By the way, I could problably write a helluva article about the poster design here. The elements of classic Noir posters are all there, but the updated feel is fresh, and the composition really striking. You can find out more at http://justinseibel.com/film/Kill,_My_Lovely.html

The Micro-Budget SciFi film is a tradition dating back decades. On one hand, you have films like Plan 9 from Outer Space and The Milpitas Monster, and on the other you classics like Pi. I'm happy to report that the wonderful short Kaalchakra is much closer to Pi than Plan 9. 

Professor Bakshi is dying, and he's single-mindedly rushing towards developing time-travel. His assistant, Veena, has just gotten accepted to a NASA internship. Knowing his time is exceptionally short, the Prof puts together a party for Time-Travelers, which will only be announced after it has happened. 

Of course, someone shows up, and that's where the fun begins. 

There is a movement today to create films, not just YouTube videos but Festival-worthy shorts, that are created on the easiest, most accessible cameras in the world today: smartphones. This new Cinema du iPhone has led to some exceptionally fun movies, and real dogs, but ultimately it is a promise that was made when the first consumer cameras hit the market - anyone can make a movie; anyone can be a filmmaker. Kaalchakra was made for about 100 US dollars, and it does not show at all. In fact, I'd say they made some pretty ballsy moves considering the budget. Professor Bakshi is old, and instead of finding an older actor, they made-up a younger guy, and maybe it's the black-and-white cinematography, but I had trouble telling. The cast doubled as the crew, and while you'd never mistake it for Star Wars, it delivered with competence in all the technical aspects. 

The story was strong, and though a couple of scenes ran a touch long, it never felt as if it was lagging. When a potential time-traveller shows up at the party, things get funny, and after that, it gets dramatic, and after that, it gets heart-warming, and then funny again. It plays with the emotional tone, and that was my favorite part. 

Taken as a whole, there are few filmmakers in the world who could pull off such a great film with so little in the way of equipment and money, and even those with access to all their heart desired, few could make a science fiction film that felt so breath-takingly in love with the world. 

Native Immigration - Eric Romero
There is a concept called "Punching Down" that basically equates to mocking those of a disadvantaged class if you are of an advantaged class. It's a tough idea, actually, but it also makes sense. Native Immigration is an interesting piece, funny, and very detailed, but I worried at times that the filmmakers were punching down. At the same time, I was laughing at the finely crafted gags. Presented as a BBC-style expose of Britons who were only now discovering that they were, in fact, immigrants, it's got all sorts of things to enjoy, from posters in the background, to humorous sub-titles and graphics. There are a few points where I looked side-ways at a gag, wondering if that was offensive in the UK, and realising that there is a significant difference between our countries when it comes to race, and especially class, issues. The film's funny, and a lot of fun. The 'interviews' in the mockumentary are strong, and funny, especially the Kenyan who is a devout racist (and it works on so many levels right now, what with the frequent calls of 'Reverse Racism' leveled at various groups) and the Spaniard who thought he was Scottish. There were various points that if I heard that joke on the streets of San Jose, I would be uncomfortable. Well-made, maybe a couple of minutes longer than the material it presented warranted, and while it made me question my own attitudes, it also presented a powerful form of satire, a near-perfect send-up of the television issue documentary. You can see it at ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZNP7L-brT8

Elsewhere - Misan Akuya
This story of a racer who broke both his legs and now has to deal with his regular life is a pretty picture, one that understands the goal of the film, but also takes a bit of a round-about way to get there. There's a lot to like, from the well-seasoned cinematography to the well-considered sound design. The acting is solid, and the characters and the script work hard. The problem is it doesn't hold you all the way through, and lost me at least twice, though both times managed to bring me back. The thing that brought me back - Dianna Cruz. Her magnetic performance and charm is contagious, and when she comes on screen, you really can't help but dial back in. 

You can find more at https://misanakuya.wordpress.com/

The Device - George Wroe
Science fiction has markers. From the very get-go, you know The Device is going to be a science fiction film, and a time-travel short as well. It's the story of a father and son who develop a device that allows them to go back in time. The Father has a plan, but doesn't share it with his son, not fully at least. They manage to go back, but face a minor set-back. The film has a couple of effects, which is nice, but the most important part has to be the fact that they manage to create a family dynamic that I bought into. If you can accomplish that, the science fiction elements become far less important, and the language of the characters is precise, and that part of the script is strong and ultimately is what pushes the film into its best presence. The production values are strong, and the set and prop work isn't flashy, which adds a layer of believability; if a father-son super-science team was working without a government research grants, everything would be kinda slap-dash! That's a really nice touch. 

All The Better - Rebecca & Thomas Haffey 
This is a tiny, one minute take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. It's a microshort, just one minute, and it doesn't really show too much, just a girl walking, a smash to black, a scream, and a return. That's it, with a lovely and original score from Debbie Allen that I found to be the most memorable portion of the film. At one minute, you can't really do much, but I think what they gave was well-done and I really wanted a little more of this, as I think they could easily handle the material and give us the same story, over two minutes, and be clearer, with a stronger hit. The cinematography is solid, and the forest, and young Ella Haffey, both take to the camera well, and made me want more. Still, that soundtrack alone makes All the Better ​worth it, as it's still running through my head. Also, and I rarely do this, but the design of the poster is incredible. I mean, look at it! You can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8-NqaaPN58 

Fruit of the Fungus - Josh Mitchell
The "Un-understood Map" is a wonderful trope of the Adventure genre. Fruit of the Fungus isn't an adventure film, but it uses it to great effect. The script is smart and funny, though things move a bit jumpily, and the delivery of lines ain't quite there, but there is so much fun to be had, you won't hardly notice. I loved the concept, and the way it unfolded was nice, though the pacing seemed a bit off at points, which was a touch frustrating because when it picked up, it was really good, but it would slow again, and so on. The technical aspects were all clean, especially the editing, and it was funny, which was enough for me to give it every chance. The ending was patently ridiculous, but it actually fit in with the oddness of the rest of the short. I don't feel like it failed in doing what it set out to do, not at all, but I do feel like it could have been tightened up a touch. 

Hope - Fabio Ballisco
This short has little to it. A woman, left at the base of a set of mysterious pillars, follows the sound of a hammer contacting an anvil to watch appears to be a forge house in the woods. 

After that, it gets weird. 

This is such a simple story (and we're told that it's a trilogy) that I wondered where things were going. It wrapped up so quickly, with little given to us but a base hint. That's important as we're assuming that this is a linear narrative, that the things shown are connected, but at the same time, we have no certain hook for hanging that assumption on, which leaves us guessing. While it may be easy to see where our minds SHOULD be going, it is also not 100% certain that that is where our minds MUST go, and that sort of thing will drive some crazy. Me? I like ambiguity, and though there wasn't enough to this film for my tastes, I have to say it got me thinking by the end. You can find out more at https://www.facebook.com/JaborandiMovies/timeline

Nightfall of Eden - Daina Papadaki
This is a highly allegorical film dealing with the descent of humanity into war and hatred. We are presented Eden, populated by nymphs wearing only  leaves, who frolic about being all sweet and adorable. The scenario then changes to one where projections of war and death occupy what was once an idyllic garden. We are then taken to Heaven, and then things get metaphysical. The production is beautiful, stunningly so, and the joy of those first shots is improbably effective. The metaphysical portion of the film is beautifully done, though it had a strong scent of Lord of the Rings visually. I enjoyed the message, and particularly the beauty of much of the short, and while I can certainly understand those who might say the message beats out everything else, I do not agree. Still, I am anxious to see more from Daina Papadaki, as her eyes is certainly well-trained. You can find more at https://dainapapadaki.wordpress.com