The selection of short films at the New York Film Festival was one of its undoubted highlights, showing a verve and wit that was oddly lacking in its choice of films for the main marquees. Unlike with most film festivals, each main film was preceded by a short one.
Easily my favourite was David Moreno’s Socarrat, a lightning quick tale of an extremely dysfunctional family that continually shocked and surprised you throughout its 10-minute duration. Witty and original, this Spanish short drew a bigger round of applause at the critics’ screening than almost every other film at the festival, short or long. Someone, please, make it into a full length feature. Ramin Bahrani’s Plastic Bag was another gem. A variation on the old ‘Life of a 50p Coin’ idea beloved of short story competitions, this American film told the tale of a plastic bag given “life” by a supermarket shopper. Voiced with deadpan gravity by Werner Herzog, the bag is eventually discarded and finds a new life as a piece of rubbish, floating on the breeze. It is then that Bahrani’s film takes a different direction, ending up as a philosophical piece on the environment. “I wish that you created me so that I could die,” signs off a mournful Herzog.
From Sweden, Daniel Wirtberg’s Love Child was, like Plastic Bag, powered by a strong central idea. Unfortunately, it didn’t add up to much. An adorable little girl is all but ignored by her parents in favour of their cat, whom they lavish with gifts and special meals. A metaphor for sibling rivalry, or just a cheap joke? I suspect the latter. Meanwhile Chicken Heads was a charming Palestinian film that provided further proof, if it were needed, that an enormous budget and swish directorial style is no competition for a decent story. The youngest son of a dirt poor farmer befriends a baby gazelle, but is forced into a spiral of lies after it kills the farmer’s prize goat. Humble and simply told, it was a pleasure to watch.
Final Cut Template 2 was something of an oddity, but entertaining enough. Taking a cue from the avant-garde filmmaker Hollis Frampton, whose shorts drew attention to the artificiality of the medium, the film took the form of a magic trick. Viewers were asked by a magician to think of a number, then perform some rudimentary mathematics that would allow us to identify the card that he then held up. So far, so meta-cinematic. It was a neat trick, but not one that warrants much attention. Finally, Paolo Sorrentino presented La Partita Lenta, an enigmatic sliver of a film that was nominally about rugby, but left the viewer with only the germ of an idea as to what was going on. Somewhere between a Hemingway short story and (visually, at least) Raging Bull, the film was as much of a treat as you might expect from the director of Il Divo and The Consequences of Love. It was made for the banking group Intesa San Paolo, which has kindly put it online in all its high-definition black-and-white glory. Enjoy.
The striking thing about the selection of all these films was how well they complemented the main feature they preceded. For example, Socarrat was shown before Life During Wartime, another film about dysfunctional families. Love Child’s theme of sibling rivalry foreshadowed the accompanying Bluebeard. Final Cut Template 2 was shown before Ne Change Rien, another film drawing attention to the artifice of cinema. The NYFF selection panel should be very pleased with itself, as this season of shorts was a resounding success.
