Hello, Thanks, at Sundance
I enjoyed a number of shorts shown at this year's Sundance Film Festival that I haven't managed to review yet. They include Andy Blubaugh's eight-minute color documentary about his year as a "GWM, scruffy, 5'7"..." in the personal ads.
It's called "Hello, Thanks." (Click on the link to watch)
Andy discovers that the writing the ads turns him on in a way none of the resulting relationships seem to, not unusual, as he says, for someone who's spent a lot more time with words than with people.
This film is well shot from an often unique point of view and I mean that on several levels. The camerawork, while never self-consciously arty, conveys a slightly off-center attitude reflected in Blubaugh, which you see primarily in the personal ads.
If you can read them. One good thing about seeing this on the Internet is that you can watch it a second time and read the bottom half of his longer messages. They're outrageous and hilarious and revealing. But I read pretty fast and I couldn't catch all of those longer ads the first time through. But they're worth reading all the way through. I bet this film got some hearty laughs during its Sundance run, because even the shorter readable ads grow increasingly hysterical - and hysterically funny, maybe a little sad too sometimes.
I think that must be Andy's sister Amber --she's billed as Amber Blubaugh-- he's chatting with in the film. She's a high verbal like he is and they have that sibling resemblance, although I could be wrong. She has some of the best lines, which I won't give away here. Not that I necessarily agree with her, but they are good lines, poetic even.
Andy's relationships may not have a lot of closure, but in a way, those words in his ads are a path to self-discovery for him that gives this film a sense of closure. If I wanted to get into the spirit of this film, I'd play around with the word "climax" here.
Another film I enjoyed and will review later is "Exoticore," not to mention numerous others I have more mixed feelings toward. You can catch them all here: Sundance Shorts
These films are generously made available on the Internet by the filmmakers and Sundance people so that we can all watch them, and in case you haven't noticed previously, in this blog the title is a link that takes you to the film where you can watch it too. I saw a blog recently with a "Watch Now" button I may steal. But anyway, I hope more film festivals adopt this policy of making their short films availalbe online for a time. It will greatly enhance their exposure and impact.
It's called "Hello, Thanks." (Click on the link to watch)
Andy discovers that the writing the ads turns him on in a way none of the resulting relationships seem to, not unusual, as he says, for someone who's spent a lot more time with words than with people.
This film is well shot from an often unique point of view and I mean that on several levels. The camerawork, while never self-consciously arty, conveys a slightly off-center attitude reflected in Blubaugh, which you see primarily in the personal ads.
If you can read them. One good thing about seeing this on the Internet is that you can watch it a second time and read the bottom half of his longer messages. They're outrageous and hilarious and revealing. But I read pretty fast and I couldn't catch all of those longer ads the first time through. But they're worth reading all the way through. I bet this film got some hearty laughs during its Sundance run, because even the shorter readable ads grow increasingly hysterical - and hysterically funny, maybe a little sad too sometimes.
I think that must be Andy's sister Amber --she's billed as Amber Blubaugh-- he's chatting with in the film. She's a high verbal like he is and they have that sibling resemblance, although I could be wrong. She has some of the best lines, which I won't give away here. Not that I necessarily agree with her, but they are good lines, poetic even.
Andy's relationships may not have a lot of closure, but in a way, those words in his ads are a path to self-discovery for him that gives this film a sense of closure. If I wanted to get into the spirit of this film, I'd play around with the word "climax" here.
Another film I enjoyed and will review later is "Exoticore," not to mention numerous others I have more mixed feelings toward. You can catch them all here: Sundance Shorts
These films are generously made available on the Internet by the filmmakers and Sundance people so that we can all watch them, and in case you haven't noticed previously, in this blog the title is a link that takes you to the film where you can watch it too. I saw a blog recently with a "Watch Now" button I may steal. But anyway, I hope more film festivals adopt this policy of making their short films availalbe online for a time. It will greatly enhance their exposure and impact.
posted by Allan Maurer @ Tuesday, February 14, 2006
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