Shorts Program 1 - AFI Dallas Film Festival

The AFI Dallas Film Festival kicked off Thursday night, so I convinced Appraiser to join me for Shorts Program 1 Friday night at the Magnolia. We walked in just behind Josh Brolin (at right, during the Q & A) and his daughter, Eden, as they prepared to watch the shorts with the audience, including X, which was written and directed by Josh Brolin and features Eden in a prominent role. After waiting 30 minutes in a stairwell to get in, we finally settled into our seats, just in front of Robert Musgrave (Bottle Rocket - "I'm a risk taker") and Bill Paxton. I really wanted to meet Musgrave, but he ducked out early before we could get out. Click below for more sightings and my ballot from the Shorts Program.


In the lobby was Alex Gibney (at right), recent Oscar winner for Best Documentary, Taxi Dark to the Dark Side. He was here to present his new documentary, Gonzo, chronicling the life of the fabled Hunter S. Thompson.

Below are my quick hits on 3 of the 7 short films from the program:

1. The Schoolyard - This Canadian film, directed by Chloé Leriche, tells the story of 3 geeky middle schoolers dealing with a bully named Tanguay. At first they lay down to him, but after they rescue him from attack by a high school bully, they are angered when he continues to try and dominate them. Parts of this are funny and there is probably an anti-US allegory in there somewhere, but it just didn't work for me.

2. Heartbeats - This was a disjointed story of a Belgian girl revisting key moments from her childhood the night before she leaves home. The sentimental pieces about her father got to me, but the rest of it was just randomly put together facts without any theme.

3. X - Brolin's directorial effort tells the story of a rough and tumble father/daughter combo going to dig up the body of the daughter's mother in the desert. They end up at a mortuary and dad ends up going out in an (unseen) hail of bullets. The story was perfect for a short film, and Brolin's choppy cuts inside the car fit with the mood of the story. Decent, but not great, with a good performance from the two leads. Some clear Coen influence throughout.

The rest were good, here is my ballot: