Film Review: Future Shorts, Thursday 17 January

I’ve already mentioned that short films are something of an enigma to me: while I’m happy to sit through two hours of the latest Coen Brothers film, five minutes spent on something less well-known can seem a chore.

So, in the name of itsonitsgone.com, I attended the Future Shorts screening at the GRV, just off Chambers Street, on Thursday night with just a little trepidation. Around 40 of us sat down to watch a selection of world short films hosted by Eva and Karolina.

First up was Joyriders, telling of two young Irish girls who’d rather steal a car and take it for a spin than play with their dollhouse. Starting out as a straightforward tale of misspent youth, the film takes a different turn in the last few moments, leaving the viewer pondering on everything that went before.

Mic Jean Louis from Kathy Sebbah also plays with the audience, starting out as documentary set in rural France and following Jean-Louis as he carries out odd-jobs for the locals and looks forward to playing in the bowls tournament. It’s a sweet, almost romantic short that draws you into its quiet world before, like the preceding short, taking a swerve in the last few moments.

Two other films follow, both of which more traditional in their telling. At the End of the Sentence is a Scottish story of two brothers, Sue (Stephen McCole) and Kylie (Jamie Quinn) awaiting the release of their father from prison while The Suburban Train is set on a commuter train somewhere in Russia and watches the passengers as they go from A to B.

Both films satisfy in different ways: genuinely funny humour comes from the situations in Sentence… while the documentary-style of Train… is oddly refreshing, a lack of plot replaced by fly-on-the-wall honesty.

Also on show were Lost Utopia, an animated look at the story of Adam and Eve, and Pound, a mickey-take of the bizarre greeting rituals that seem to have replaced the handshake in today’s culture.

As the night went on my views of the short film format did alter. The twist endings involved in the first few films initially made me wonder if this was a common trait, if the only way they could be remembered was to surprise. By the end of the night I realised this wasn’t the case, that the short film is a way to tell a stripped down story without extraneous material or padding.

I enjoyed the variety of stories on offer and my only criticism would be that I’d like to have known a bit more about the films beforehand, though there is something to be said for going into these things blind.

All-in-all it was a fun night out. I overdosed on free popcorn, saw some fine films and met some fellow film fans…and all for four quid.