Before heading off to see FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer (then turning around the review on deadline), I wanted to pass along some thoughts on the 48-Hour Film Project entires that contest producer Bill Rogers asked me to judge.
Sorry it's delayed, but Rogers gave the contestants a two-day deadline to make their short movies -- then took a week to hand over a screener DVD to me.
Remember that filmmaking teams drew random genres to work in; comedy, drama, cop/detective, fantasy, etc. They were given one line of dialogue ("I don't know what his deal is.") one set of props (salt and pepper shakers) and two character names that were obliged to be used. Other than that, imagination is the limit.
Want to peek over my shoulder at my ballot?
My choice for the best work produced among the 15 films that beat the deadline to qualify is Unspeakable, a cop mini-drama from a team called Viva La VHS. Terrific directing and editing added tension to a fairly predictable story. Unspeakable was my pick in those categories, too. Whichever movie wins the Tampa competition advances to the national contest then maybe to a way-marginal slot at the Cannes Film Festival, as last year's finalists did recently.
Unspeakable would represent our film and video community quite nicely.
The best writing -- remember, starting from scratch -- in my opinion was displayed by No Thanks, a comedy about a dysfunctional family's Thanksgiving dinner and the dad coping with everyone's quirks.
No Thanks almost earned my best acting vote, too. But that went to Some Things Change, mainly for the woman playing a near-bride discovering her fiance's continued drug habit and nasty intentions before turning the tables on him. Some Things Change also got my nod for best musical score, perfectly setting a menacing tone.
The other two major categories -- cinematography and sound design -- were easy choices for the same movie: Welcome Home Pete, creating a monochromatic and over-exposed fantasy world for a bored husband. Certainly the wildest sensory experience of the 15 entries.
Other, minor categories were on the judge's ballot but won't necessarily be rewarded. Costumes were only a big deal in the self-explanatory NecroZombie Robot Marriage, and who cares which movie had the best graphics or used its salt and pepper shakers better? I didn't mind voting for Tough Beat in the special effects category, though. Any actor willing to set himself on fire for a laugh deserves something besides gauze wrapping.
I'm off now to see a richly paid actor fake doing the same thing, playing The Human Torch in Rise of the Silver Surfer. As Ben (Thing) Grimm says: "It's clobbering time."
Steve Persall is the movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times. He was conceived behind a drive-in movie theater his father operated and raised in projection booths and concession stands. He doesn't care how you did it up north.
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