2001 NYUFF–Day 7

I had never heard of Vanessa Renwick, but she’s quite the prolific filmmaker and it was interesting seeing a bunch of her films in a row. While each one was uniquely different, whether they were documentaries, autobiographical and/or experimental, they were all stylistically similar in an ethereal way. They all had a nice “Renwick” quality to them.

2001 NYUFF–Day 6

Oddly enough, this was followed by an Oscar nominated short, REJECTED by Don Hertzfeldt. It didn’t win. Is there anything the Academy Awards don’t suck at? This was one of my favorite types of animation, starting out deceptively simple and then slowly turning ever more technically complex. The film is actually a collection of shorts, mock “bumpers” for a fictitious cable network, the Family Learning Channel, and phony advertising cartoons that grow more surreal as each piece is supposedly rejected by Don’s clients and the animator descends into a massive depression. Very ingenious little flick.

2001 NYUFF–Day 5

What this world needs more of are good punk rock zombie movies. That void is filled up partially by the enormously entertaining HOT TRASH by Rick Spears. Two slackers eking out a meager existence in a dingy basement apartment, their chaotic existence crosses paths with a bitter girlfriend, an irate landlord and a brain-eating zombie one of them brought home from a wild party the night before. Filled with great writing and brilliant characters, HOT TRASH almost feels like the first quarter of a feature, tho’ if the joke were to be dragged out too much it probably would get tiresome.

2001 NYUFF–Day 4

BACK AGAINST THE WALL is more ambitious in scope than MIGRATING FORMS, in storytelling and with more characters & locations, but it’s arguable which is more ambitious thematically. While MIGRATING FORMS was more of an expressive exercise in structure and the mundanity of interpersonal relationships, BACK AGAINST THE WALL develops the characters less and includes several jarring plot turns that violently whip the film into whole other directions It’s almost as if the movie is three interconnected shorts, all of which with no discernable beginnings or endings. I found that at each radical turn taken, it threw me out of the film for a few beats until I could once again get my bearings.

2001 NYUFF–Day 3

As if Vin wasn’t annoying enough before the film, during all through SATAN WAS A LADY, his leg would start pounding on the floor like a jackhammer. The whole fucking row was shaking. I was ready to rip his goddamn leg right out of his ass. Let’s see if his woman wants to do acrobatics with a one-legged gimp.

Doris Wishman is an 80-year-old Florida resident whose SATAN is the first film she’s made in almost 20 years.

2001 NYUFF–Day 2

PLASTER CASTER was one of my least anticipated films of the festival, but it quickly became my most beloved. It didn’t take me long to fall absolutely, positively, head-over-heels in love with Cynthia. Impossibly cute, sweet and personable, I started beating myself up for never having learned to play guitar or sing.

2001 NYUFF–Day 1

Next up was the opening night feature, HEY, HAPPY!, the title named after one of the main characters, Happy, a borderline retard who brushes his teeth with toxic waste, gets high on gasoline fumes and gets advice from aliens who talk to him through a large radio strapped across his chest. The aliens tell Happy he should fuck the male cashier, Sabu, of an outdoor porn store. Sabu has set a goal to have sex with 2,000 men before the world ends. He’s made it through 1,999 and intends to make Happy his final conquest.