Category: Short Film Spotlight

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2023/2024) | REVIEW

Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel in ‘Poison’ from THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR AND THREE MORE — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Wes Anderson — Screenplay by Wes Anderson.

In 2023, Wes Anderson teamed up with Netflix to release four short films, all of which were based on the works of Roald Dahl, in September of that year. Eventually, one of these features — The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — was the effort that finally earned Wes Anderson his first Oscar, though in the short film category, which I don’t think many would’ve seen coming just a few years ago. Then, in 2024, following the Oscar win, Netflix released an anthology film consisting of Wes Anderson’s four short films. All four shorts feature heavy but quirky narration and the heavy stylization that we’ve come to know and love Wes Anderson for, though with slight tweaks from short to short. In this review, I’ll share my initial reaction to each of the four shorts, as well as give a final score out of ten for the repackaged anthology feature.

Continue reading “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2023/2024) | REVIEW” →

The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story (2023) | Short Film Spotlight

Still image from Sony Pictures’ THE SPIDER WITHIN: A SPIDER-VERSE STORY, directed by Jarelle Dampier — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Directed by Jarelle Dampier — Screenplay by Khaila Amazan.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has today released Jarelle Dampier’s animated short film The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story on YouTube (click here to watch it). The animated short film, which originally premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June of 2023, is a part of Sony’s animated Spider-Verse trilogy, and it is set between the events of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse from 2018 and last year’s sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. In the animated short, we follow Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) as he returns home after a stressful day of crime-fighting and being a teenager and is approached by his father Jefferson Davis (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry), who wants to have a father-son night where they watch horror films on the TV and snack on popcorn. Miles, however, is unprepared for this, and he hides away in his room where all his fears manifest in the form of first a shadow and, later, spiders.

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Nimic (2019) | Short Film Spotlight

Matt Dillon (right) on his daily commute in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019) — PHOTO: MUBI

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things; The Favourite; The Killing of a Sacred Deeer) — Story / Screenplay by David Kolbusz (based on an idea by), Yorgos Lanthimos, and Ethymis Filippou.

Recently, I rewatched Yorgos Lanthimos’ short film Nimic starring Matt Dillon, in which we follow as his character leaves his family to go to work, but then, on his way back, a strange woman stalks him and mimics his every move in an attempt to prove that she is actually his wife’s husband and the father of his children. What follows below are my two first reactions to the film, which were originally posted via my Letterboxd profile.

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Ridder Lykke (2023) | Short Film Spotlight

(L-R) Jens Jørn Spottag and Leif Andrée in RIDDER LYKKE — PHOTO: Jalabert Productions

International Title: Knight of Fortune — Directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer — Screenplay by Lasse Lyskjær Noer.

Recently, the Academy Awards-shortlisted short film Ridder Lykke from Danish writer-director Lasse Lyskjær Noer was announced as one of the five nominated films in the competitive and coveted Live-Action Short Film category. In a field that included quite a few big-name efforts like Disney’s The Shepherd starring John Travolta and Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, it was quite the surprise that a tiny short film from Denmark made the cut while those other films did not. It’ll still have a steep hill to climb, if it is to ultimately win the Oscar, as it’ll be up against Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is, undoubtedly, the frontrunner in the category.

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Vertical Cinema: Damien Chazelle and Apple Team Up for Short Film

https://youtu.be/xqiPZBZgW9c

Odds are that you have probably, at some point in time, had to ask someone to tilt their telephone so that when they take a photo with their smartphone, then the picture will be nice and wide. For Damien Chazelle’s latest short film about a stunt double, the Oscar-winning director has opted against that piece of advice as he strives for Vertical Cinema. Steven Soderbergh, and other notable directors, have already toyed with shooting feature-length films with iPhones, but Chazelle’s film has been shot in portrait mode, thus producing vertical video, in an attempt to showcase the camera features on an iPhone 11 Pro. Continue reading “Vertical Cinema: Damien Chazelle and Apple Team Up for Short Film” →

Exploring an Auteur’s Short Films: Ari Aster – Special Features #53

I don’t normally write about short films unless it’s a special occasion. This is a special occasion. I recently watched and reviewed Ari Aster’s follow-up to Hereditary, the daytime horror fairy tale Midsommar. I have become a great admirer of Aster after having seen those two films, both of which I believe to be amazing works of cinema.

Since I saw Midsommar, I haven’t been able to get it off my mind. So, on Friday, I spent the entire day watching Ari Aster’s short films. Today, I want to talk about his flawed short films, some of which didn’t speak to me at all. In five separate sections, I want to describe the experience of watching Aster’s short films, as well as make some general observations as to what it is like to watch the raw material of a future auteur. Continue reading “Exploring an Auteur’s Short Films: Ari Aster – Special Features #53” →

Short Film Spotlight: The Follow-Up

Two years ago, a short film director contacted me with a comment on the blog. He hoped that I would find the time to have a look at his latest short film. And even though I didn’t — and still don’t — review short films, I did find the time to watch his short film. It was discussed in the first-ever ‘Short Film Spotlight,’ within which I also discussed another short film that I really enjoyed from a filmmaker who had approached me on Reddit. Now, in 2019, both filmmakers have reached out to me again, so, I thought I should give my readers an update on their careers by writing about their latest short films. Continue reading “Short Film Spotlight: The Follow-Up” →

Short Film Spotlight

I was recently contacted by a short film director who asked me to show his short to my readers, followers, and whatnot. This isn’t the first time that I’ve been contacted. I’ve previously reviewed films made by directors who had approached me online.

But, the thing is, I don’t really review short films on this site. So, instead of reviewing the aforementioned director’s short film, I am here going to recommend two short films made by directors who in some way, shape, or form approached me. Continue reading “Short Film Spotlight” →