silvio-mitsubishi

Six shorts with a "coming out" theme but little else in common. A New York lesbian couple visit the rural Christian family but have to suppress their feelings as the parents are clearly resistant (almost to the point of hostility). The yearning and frustration is palpable, as is the wilful refusal to contemplate diversity.

Three terrific stories follow. A chaotic woman returns to her home village just as two of her ex-lovers, one male, one female, are about to wed. This was ctpring out for further exploration, and would expand into a solid full-length feature.

A young woman experiments with her masculine side. A trans youth is courted by another outsider, but neither seems able to speak openly. The two sit well alongside each other. Maria / 'Victor' perhaps wants too much, while Alma has a supportive mother but seems terrified of peer-group rejection. Her suitor hints that he knows, but both hold back from being open.

The last two tales are less convincing, but more experimental. 'Disco Inferno' is a pastiche of 70s sexploitation and devil-worship, but the effort to make it look dated simply distracts from an already garbled narrative. 'The Foreign Body' is speculative fiction about the evolution of the first man without nipples, but there is not enough material to sustain even its short runtime.

Only the first film is fully in English; the remainder in Spanish or Portuguese, and one in a mix. Engaging throughout, generally thoughtful and empathetic.

Seven shorts loosely themed around female sexuality. The strongest story is of an Asian teen relocated to a school in the US and struggling to adapt in the face of parental expectations. This is also the only story in English.

Elsewhere a traveller returns to their firmer home to stir up emotions on the eve of the wedding if two former lovers. We sense the tension but there isn't time to get to know the characters.

A young woman makes advances to another, under the influence of drugs, but settles for unfeeling sex with a man when rebuffed.

Two lesbian couples speak about their experiences in Cuba, where social acceotance is shifting. An odd fantasy of ex-lovers dying of illness left me baffled. The narrative was not coherent enough to support the ephemeral visuals.

A Danish coming-of-age story is touching but slow, and the protagonist seems to be sleepwalking to the extent that what should be a crowd-pleasing finish passes almost unnoticed.

Finally, a threesome involving sat least one stranger hints at a curfew outside but neither city nor country are identified. An actress is falling apart, but we don't know why.

Rarely boring but only intermittently engaging. Maybe the theme was interpreted too loosely but it didn't ring my bell.

Actor Diego kidnaps Sarah for company during strict lockdown, and a kind of relationship grows between them. He was an awkward child raised by his father, she an only child of separated parents.

The abduction theme makes for moral ambiguity. Diego is not really interested in anyone else - his screen and stage success has made him self-centred. We don't discover much about Sarah, but she is intelligent, insightful and compassionate.

Her attempts to escape are laughable. She enjoys his cooking and keeps his house clean. They act out scenes from his favourite films, and he interacts with his expatriate father in the US.

There are plot holes - neighbouring houses are too close for Covid to provide the necessary isolation; fresh food seems to appear from nowhere; post is being delivered; but the characters are likeable despite Diego's narcissism, and he has a Friends front door.

That's about it, but it is charming in a way.

Although listed as a US production, three of the first four of these stories (there are seven) are exclusively or predominantly in French - European, rather than Canadian as far as I could tell.

A variety of styles, taking in futuristic, medical nightmare, babysitter, non-human favourites, and revenge.

The weakest (but not weak) is a 1970s-style sexploitation, made to look vintage, with a flimsy narrative but a funny pay-off. Another story goes for humour, a knowing pastiche of many horror classics, while the tale about a future where 'reproduction' is strictly managed is subversively clever to the point of ingenuousness - it took a while for me to realise just how sly it was.

A sleep clinic is disturbing but not always coherent; a werewolf tale is a little slow and untidy, but a revenge story is very good indeed.

The anthology describes itself as 'feminist', but this does not come close. It is a collection of vignettes that would almost all warrant a feature-length treatment, and appeal to a wide and genre-savvy audience.

British gangster film that maybe tries too hard to tick every box but ends up like a teenage photo story - we see key points, but very little of the gradual slide we have to assume when someone's character is completely inverted. For one teenage girl not to notice that her best friend has become a drug-smuggling sex worker pulling in thousands of pounds stretches credibility.

Every tabloid horror story about teens drawn into crime is represented here: youngsters tempted by new trainers; recent recruits used to pull in new blood; grooming until victims are hooked, then brutality; money, flash cars, guns; abusive childhoods; vaguely middle-class targets; loan sharks; even a grifting bent copper.

It is not a bad film. There are some issues with sound recording; locations are a bit too genteel; the least convincing secondary school girls' toilet ever; but there are some good performances. The two leads, Myles and April, are convincing, with Kiera Lane (I think) outstanding in what appears to be her debut. The director features as a gang member whose role is unclear but whose malevolence is beyond doubt.

The last act is confused - perhaps deliberately - by the timeline jumping back and forwards. I understand why, but it didn't work for me. Overall, though, a solid effort that could be tweaked to make a genuinely good film.

International students at film school in Berlin (and possibly London) live, love and learn. Much of the runtime is filled with student films, and the overall feeling is of a draft dissertation, as if rather than a coherent story we are seeing a rough cut prior to editing.

The story revolves around a Japanese student with visa and cash flow difficulties, but none of the characters are particularly likeable so I found it hard to invest in them. The story opens with a perfunctory sex act offscreen, followed by a relationship breakdown, then has a disjointed, episodic trajectory until a second, more relatable sexual encounter signals a change in direction for two characters and an eventual (vaguely) happy ending.

It is not difficult to watch, but occasionally feels like background music - surely something more interesting is happening somewhere in this multinational group?

Although set in the US, in a town called Palpatine, most of the cast that I recognised are British or Irish (except the character described as 'British wife', played by a New Zealander). The plot revolves around room 508 in a hotel whose Reception doesn't look big enough (or efficient) enough to have five floors (or 508 rooms).

Action is episodic, and stories seem to start and stop almost at random. A lascivious receptionist, creepy handyman and downtrodden, possibly thieving, maid juggle unpleasant guests, while a glitchy TV adds extra characters for no useful purpose.except possibly to provide cameo roles for friends.

The creepy janitor is also the link to a mystery / supernatural theme that never quite takes off, appearing as a figure in a painting. Oh, and the decor is reminiscent of the Overlook Hotel.

I don't want to badmouth the whole thing, but it never quite equals the sum of its parts. Frustrating but watchable.

A story that only seems to come to life in the last few minutes, yet still remain unresolved.

A couple move from New York to Nevada for her job; he is an artist, so can work anywhere. He is an unconvincing military veteran; she an unconvincing lawyer. The new house is close to the home of her old friends, but his mental health degenerates and he becomes violently unstable.

The problem is that nothing is convincing. The script needs us to believe the couple love each other, despite what the obvious hatred in their actions. Intimate partner violence can make people do irrational things, but deliberately pressuring a mentally unstable person to drink wine still seems unlikely. A visitor to the house would have been able to announce his visit in advance, but turns up unexpectedly, excuses himself on the grounds he was told there would be someone home, then asks the male occupant to tell his partner of the visit, despite working in the same office as her.

I had the impression of incidents and dialogue being inserted to make the plot work, even when they jarred with other elements of story and characterisation. Themes - infidelity, 'bad energy', ghostly presence, PTSD - were picked up and dropped without going anywhere. The military history serves no purpose in the overall tale.

This kind of drama needs the audience to identify with, to root for, at least one character. With five to choose from, I could hardly care less about what happened to any of them. A mishit.

A neat short. A couple on their third date both seem to have things to address. He tells her he loves her; she tells him nobody can. At this stage in their relationship, they try to keep it light but we can see there is something not right; we just don't know what just yet.

Someone warns her about his other women; she doesn't want to hear it. Each seems ill-at-ease, but who is the risk?

A nice depiction of that early stage when both have a history they aren't quite sure how to broach. Two likeable people, but we know it is too good to be true.

Clever, quirky, engaging, doesn't outstay its welcome.

I never expected to see a film without faults, but if those involved can translate this twelve minutes of perfection into a feature-length piece, it will be an all-time great.

A family dinner slowly (well, slowly for a short) becomes something very different. The sense of unease builds as inexorably as watching the child in Spielberg's Poltergeist (1982) looking for the clown - we know it won't end well, but there is nothing we can do.

The cast are uniformly excellent, and must have had fun making it as they fully inhabit their characters. Tonal shifts are subtle but brutal; seemingly light, right up until they strike home.

Honestly, I never expected to see a perfect film but this is the closest I have ever come. Truly harrowing.

A terrific little short that keeps you guessing until the end. A young woman brings her boyfriend home to meet the family, but her sister makes some horrendous allegations about family relationships. Is she telling the truth, or seriously mentally unwell?

The atmosphere is chilling, helped by brilliant use of a ticking clock, creaking floorboards and ... silence. The poor guest feels like he has walked into a war zone, as claims and counterclaims challenge his own judgment.

First impressions can be right, but can equally be wrong. This had my mind racing ahead to try to preempt the denouement.

The only name I recognised was Iain de Caestecker, usually reliable but his character is the weak link in this, written as a psychology student but pitched as a utility psychiatrist / social worker / pharmacist / police officer.

Well worth a watch, and only a few minutes wasted if you disagree.

Siblings crossing rural Australia experience a vehicle breakdown in the middle of nowhere and seek help from an isolated farmstead.

Nothing original or new, but reasonably competent. Characters take liberties as uninvited guests in someone else's home, but where would the genre be without such recklessness?

The brother and sister are played with a believable degree of sibling rivalry and banter, and there is an attempt to explain the odd choice of route for a long journey (although not why they took the less capable car).

Could have benefited from some innovation, but watchable for what it is.

Shorts, in film or literature, rarely have a beginning and end; the focus is on the middle. This Rashomon-like story tells a tale from two perspectives, but still leaves out too much to feel complete even as a short.

The first part builds a genuinely creepy atmosphere, setting itself up as horror, before veering into fantasy / comedy. The second chapter also begins as horror and effectively answers most of the questions raised by the first, but ends unsatisfactorily.

Overall, an excellent eerie short, with unnecessary comedy distractions, and one too many unanswered questions - even for a short.

A two-hander in a confined space, with both actors having appeared together in previous shorts and one being responsible for writing and directing this not-quite feature-length piece, the signs of a tiny budget are everywhere.

The script is highly theatrical and does not suit tye naturalistic delivery. At times it feels as if the actors are not familiar with the script, or do not understand what the characters mean, although they developed it.

There are continuity failings and some jarring edits, lighting in particular causing difficulties, but we identify with the likeable characters - one staid, one light as a butterfly - and want the best for them.

There is a twist which I won't reveal, but you will see it coming a mile off. The story is not subtle but it is enjoyable, entertaining, and well worth a watch. I suspect this will not be the partnership's last collaboration, and I will be looking out.

A young woman is unjustly turfed out by her sister and finds herself sleeping in her car, then is seduced by a hustler DJ. Despite the efforts of friends and family, she becomes isolated and alone through his coercive control.

The story develops at a slow pace but in fits and starts; nothing happens, then plenty does, then routine returns. Each time he transgresses, she forgives him.

Her relationship with her mother and sister is fragile, both seeming to treat her as an inconvenience, although the sister comes good. A slightly creepy stepfather hints at other family vulnerabilities.

The film does not shy away from drugs, prostitution, intimate partner abuse ... but does not glorify them either. It is a gut-wrenching warning of how good things can go bad, slowly but inexorably.

Sadly, it is just too slow. Maybe intentional, but I found myself losing patience with Cassie, in a trap but still trying to rescue others. An updated Greek tragedy for those with the patience.

A film with some interesting threads but too many plot holes to work. I have no idea why Danish performers chose to make the film in English, but it was their first mistake. It is too difficult to read motivation and sincerity when actors don't fully understand nuances in the script.

There is a strong streak of Scream in the knowing, meta dialogue, and broad parallels to An Inspector Calls, with revelations changing the direction of the plot repeatedly.

The LGBT story works in parts but overall feels more like it was the only way for the characters to work than the world in which they naturally exist.

Unfortunately there is little effort to explain why characters change personality as the tale develops, or why a suburban home seems to be totally cut off from its community. Two people are subject to detailed character analysis - are they a convincing liar? Would they know what to do in this situation? - despite not actually appearing at any point. There is no reason to concoct personalities for them, and certainly not when the main protagonists are left as ciphers.

Although they can be frustratingly inconsistent, the three central characters all undergo epiphanies of a kind, and we come to like them eventually. Close to good; just never quite better than high-average.

A rollicking adventure which is sure to offend many but delight others. Jesus returns to Earth, gets caught up in a terrorist incident, is sentenced to death but rescued by the Catholic Church. He enjoys an adventure in the company of two thieves, falls in love, and causes upheaval wherever He goes.

Many elements of the story mirror the Bible - watch out for betrayal with a kiss, sadness at commerce in the temple, stigmata - doubters and disbelievers denounce Him, but He builds up core support among the poor, prostitutes and thieves, and the common people.

Often looks low-budget, maybe even shot guerrilla-style, but the film has ambition and there are enormous crowd scenes and much of the action takes place either in the Vatican or an elaborate simulation.

Could maybe have lost ten minutes from the mid-section as Jesus and the thieves roam Western Europe causing a ruckus, but never drags. Rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but has its moments and is audaciously risky fun. Only three years after Life of Brian but, despite being more traditionally blasphemous (Brian was clearly NOT Jesus), I don't remember this work copping half the Flak that Monty Python did, perhaps simply because it was a Danish production.

A contemplative post-apocalyptic zombie drama from Mexico. We follow two survivors as they meet and travel together, although they do not go far.

There is a fairly strong eco-message. One character is a vegetarian, who berates the other for eating meat, and for suggesting a human virus could be the 'end of everything', pointing out that Earth predates humans and will be around after we are gone.

The pace is very slow - in real life they might not encounter zombies for hours at a time, but an audience needs more. The characters don't seem interested in arming themselves for defence, or even finding food. The survivor count drops very quickly.

A good-looking film, but with minimal character development and little action. Sound is absent or overwhelming. Not enough to hold my attention, even for its short runtime.

An anthology of post-apocalyptic tales based around an annual gathering of a dozen or so survivors where stories are shared, but the selection is disjointed and not particularly rational - the setting seems to be the US (although several motorcycles seem to have side stands for left-hand drive areas), but one story is clearly Australian - the implication that civilisation has been destroyed, but a story has still managed to travel between isolated continents.

The gathering seems to have been edited in from somewhere else - the 'storyteller' is seen speaking without sound, while a voiceover narrates. The first story has the feel of a 1980s synthpop music video to scenes of a teenager training alone in martial arts before rescuing a gi4l from bullies. At around fifteen minutes, this is too long for nothing to happen.

A zombie story has the big names, possibly a well-funded short that inspired the anthology, and is followed by a blatant Mad Max segment, then a Book of Eli one, then a Mad Max 3 copy with a "four men enter; one man lives" Murderland.

Finally a mix of 1980s console game graphics (yes, the film is dated 2023) and a live action character fighting drones, before we return to the storyteller to sign off.

The film / sound quality and standard of acting / pacing / direction varies widely but the overall effect is disappointing. It's as if there was no overarching structure; someone just took a bunch of short films and cobbled together a backstory.

Sorry, not great.

I recognised nobody in this story of a student production of Strindberg's Miss Julie, and a check on cast members revealed that not only was this the film debut for all the major players, but the two leads also wrote and directed, and the credits suggest they called in a few family and friends to help too.

At no point did it feel like an amateur project. Direction, editing and photography were up to industry standard, nothing seemed rushed or trimmed to fit a budget, and it had the gloss of a more experienced crew.

It has its faults. The characters of the three student actors, the director and many bit parts were highly stereotypical; some of the dialogue was over-stylised (ironic for a film about theatrical naturalism) and a little too arch; and the plot seemed to go from 0-60 very quickly. Anyone not familiar with the play might have struggled to see the joins between the scripts of the play and the film. A sub-plot about a board game was an awkward diversion, possibly as a treat for minor cast members, and bought into a US trope that everything has to be taken incredibly seriously, even fun.

Overall, though, the team show talent and ambition. I see no reason that this should not be a springboard to better things and viable long-term careers. Well done!

A French film based on David Lynch's student years. I don't know if it is taken from an auto/biography or completely fabricated, but it covers a period at art college after leaving law school.

The location is a mixture of spacious and airy stone buildings, with some winding, narrow corridors and stone staircases, with a beautiful sweeping oval staircase of several stories in the main building.

This setting allows for some Lynchian tropes: vintage iron radiators, moisture dripping into puddles, a wheelchair user, a character who only appears to make short gnomic comments before receding into the shadows, and a final coda to please fans.

Lynch is portrayed as a prodigiously talented artist but a slightly scuzzy human being, almost parasitic in his relationships, and a terrible timekeeper. Although the script involves people scheming against him, his own trajectory is self-destructive without help.

While not without flaws, the pacing is good and the characters a fair mix of narcissists, schemers and saints. Enjoyable, but I cannot comment on its accuracy.

The third, predictably, in a series of low budget anthologies set in Oxfordshire, with many stories featuring the same actors, locations and props.

In this sequence, an Airbnb is used for unwholesome purposes, a character reminisces about a love affair, a character is told their spouse has been killed, a character seems to be romancing identical twins, a man is shown to have honourable and decent intentions, and a young person is seen from different perspectives.

Photography is not consistent. The stories of the Airbnb and the heartbroken spouse have the colour almost completely washed, while the memories of lost live is richly filmed to the point of slightly irritating 'glamour' effects. The three-way love felt half-realised, as if a great idea never actually translated onto film. The most complete, well-rounded story is rightly saved for almost the end, a tale of Gypsy lineage and lore, attractively filmed and with better sound than most of the segments. The final coda is less a short story, more a plea for understanding, and almost provides a moral for all that has gone before.

More rounded and coherent than Vol. II, although still marred by a studio-bound feel to some sections, with multiple shadows and echoing voices. Where this is good it holds promise for a terrific Vol VII.

An adventure sport vlogger has a dull job and lives for escape, posting videos online of her weekend activities and talking about them with her followers.

She sets out to climb a sea cliff solo, but sadly it becomes clear very quickly that there is not enough material for a full-length film, and production has been rushed. Continuity errors abound and the sense of purpose evaporates. Hope, the vlogger, seems to take hours walking to the start of the climb, despite pointing it out immediately behind her early in the morning. Although the timer on her camera indicates it is late morning when she stops at a lighthouse and a ruined building, shadows and low sun suggest late afternoon. Equipment comes and goes - ropes appear and disappear; even an entire rucksack. Her camera is in 24-hour clock mode at 17:00, but shows 12:31 in the middle of the night. If the action was involving, we might not notice (or care), but not enough happens to distract us.

It is no spoiler to say the climb doesn't go to plan and from that point onwards the pace becomes even more glacial. There are several "with one mighty leap our hero was free" moments as Hope plunges further into adversity.

An odd tonal shift at the end adds a few minutes to the story but cannot salvage the film, unfortunately. Covid must have caused some logistic difficulties in filming, but not enough to wipe away the flaws. A 45-minute story, stretched to 97.

A simple plot - gay conversion therapy goes wrong - occasionally feels like comedy was included but removed. What remains is incongruous, childish slapstick in a film with strong horror themes.

There are no heroes; all the main characters have flaws. Having teen leads is always a limitation, as filmmakers often hold back from visiting the worst hardships on the young. Not so here. Even infant children are clearly harmed; nobody is safe. Age, innocence and loyalty are no protection.

There are character errors and inconsistencies, possibly to stretch the runtime, and we are expected to believe a gated community for the wealthy would be kept waiting several hours for a police response, but the strengths easily outweigh the weaknesses and removing less than ten minutes of silliness would leave a cracking good, adult-oriented film, with few punches pulled.

Short tales from UK, France, US and Ireland that do exactly what they promise - creepiness and genuinely unsettling stories. No jump scares or outright gore, but the scenarios will get under your skin and leave you feeling uneasy.

A parent has to live with a nightmare child while all around claim it is normal development; a spouse who wants to be remembered ('myosotis' = the 'forget-me-not' flower); a teenager with some dodgy plumbing; and a preacher with ungodly intentions.

Some stories feel familiar - We Need to Talk About Kevin; When a Stranger Calls - but these are classics of their kind and the tributes are deserved.

The four segments are uniformly strong, so there is no sense of anticlimax, and none outstays their welcome. They treat the audience as knowing adults - we are left to draw our own conclusions about the absentee parent, and to notice the missing phone for ourselves.

It is rare for four completely independent films to come together so effectively. Whoever curated the collection did an outstanding job. Excellent short-story filmmaking.