Paris Int’l Film Festival – Review: Shorts Programme (Part 2)

Following on from our first look at the Shorts programme at the Paris Int’l Film Festival, we’re now turning our eyes to the second two streams: ‘Comedy and Suspense’, and ‘Look Around’. 

Cold Call (Dir. Katherine Cronyn)

Starring the excellent Michael O’Neill (The West Wing, Council of Dads) this is a taut thriller that packs a massive punch into its short running time.  Faced with a father’s worst nightmare, Christian (O’Neill) has only moments to try and negotiate for his daughter’s life.  With a brilliant central performance and fantastic script, this is definitely one to track down!

Proxy (Dir. Sophia Banks)

This is an interesting sci-fi short that deals primarily with the loss of identity, self-esteem, and agency.  While helping others with their own problems by acting as a ‘proxy’ for someone in their lives, Victoria (Emma Booth) finds her own demons aren’t being silent either.  It has a lot of good points to make, and Booth is great as the chameleon like figure, destined to sink.  With the current situation we’re all facing, that loss of self, emotional pain, and emptiness is probably all understandable, and many of us would find Proxy a hard reflection.

Skitoz (Dir. Alexis Perrotte, Diego Perrotte)

A wonderfully shot horror, that is essentially man vs nature.  Lee Boek and Alice Bowden star as a couple living in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but mosquitoes for miles.  He is the grumpy curmudgeon, while she is long suffering and trying to keep him on the straight and narrow.  What she can’t save him from is the mosquitoes… 

The Overcoat (Dir. Justin ‘Juice’ Black)

Based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol (written in 1842), this follow’s a somewhat dull and junior office worker as his life is transformed by a new coat.  This particular story has been done many times, but with a fantastic central performance by Jeremy Stockwell, this version has lots of charm.  Stockwell imbues this with an almost Jacques Tati-esque physicality that delights all the way through.

A Piglet’s Tale (Dir. Fabrizio Gammardella)

This is obviously meant as an allegory for how carnivores live their lives and how that impacts the animal world.  It is cleverly done, and there is exceptional charm in the animation that has a twee Winnie the Pooh quality that belies the message underneath.  It’s probably unintentional, but this could also be interpreted to be a tale about parents that break and can’t live with their child anymore.  It’s dark either way.

Matty Boy (Dir. Shahid Kamal)

A morality tale and comedy wrapped up in one, Matty Boy (aka ‘His Wives’) stars Vincent De Paul as a playboy who takes another wife after his first wife is diagnosed with a terminal illness.  When it turns out that she isn’t dying, it becomes complicated and only spirals from there…  This actually felt like it was the first half of a two-part short, as it finished with a sort of hanging note.  It would be interesting to see how this would develop beyond this part, as there are definitely possibilities for it to travel to some intriguing places.

and an honourable mention…

Archibald’s Syndrome (Dir. Daniel Perez)

This one looked like it was quite interesting, but unfortunately it was in French and there were no subtitles… It had a Tarantino air about it and is probably worth tracking down later on!