| There's no scarier words to read when you pick your genre for the 48 Hour Film Project than MUSICAL. It's sunk many crews over the years, and lead to some truly awful. Awful. I mean, Species 2-level awful films. When they go well, it's a good thing, and when they're 100% awesome, that's flat-out rad! Beyond Forever Studios managed to make the most entertaining and balls-out funny film of San Jose's 2016 48 Hour Film Project with Making Magic, a fairly simple musical that features only 4 actors. The story is a classic: a woman's husband has left her for a younger woman (a Cheerleader!) and her best friend comes up with the idea of summoning a demon to deal with the bastard. Problem - two do not a summoning circle make, and thus they invite a third to complete it. She's not sure, but things go forward, and eventually, they summon a demon. You know, the demons you want, you can't get, and the ones you can get, you don't want. Same as it ever was... The songs are great, and delivered with absolute gusto, especially by Casey Semple. She's brilliant, and gives everything she has to just about every frame. She took fantastic material and turned it into something even better. Drew Campbell as our demon is pretty freakin' hilarious. His delivery is wonderful, and though I don't think we ever see Semple and Campbell in the same shot, but when they're 'interacting' it's the peak of the film. Overall, this is probably the most entertaining film I've ever seen come out of a 48 Hour Film Project. |
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If I ever put together a Best of Cinequest Shorts - 2002 to 2015, it'll be a fascinating program. From wild fantasies to science fiction marvels, to subtle dramas, and most important to me, Documentaries, it would be amazing. One film that would feature heavily on it is American Homes, one of those films that had an unknowing unfair advantage going into our selection process.
The best way to get me to back your film onto the program is to give us a film about one of my secret passions. Every year we get wrestling films, my most public passion, but send a movie about ghost towns, or Redwood trees, or smoked meat and your odds are much improved. Architecture is one of those passions. From the time I was a kid, I wanted to build houses, arenas, skyscrapers, and later, museums. I still do that. I tried making models, and drawings, but I have no talent in that arena, and thus it remained a hidden passion. When i first saw American Homes, an animated documentary that uses a book of the same name as the source work to present line drawings, simple animation, and the voices of prominent figures in the world of Architecture. It is simple, and that's not at all a knock; it is that simplicity that allows us to take in the two entirely disconnected streams and turn it into a single experience. The film isn't online, but you can see a trailer at http://americanhomesfilm.com/.
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Klaus at GunpointA Film Journal dedicated to all film.A segment of Office Supply Publishing. Archives
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