Far from the inconsistency and general disappointment of Shorts! Vol. 2, Shorts! Vol. 3 is chock-full of funny, beautiful and fascinating films that, in many cases, made me hungry for more.
The standout comedies are a pair of short films by different directors about Ninjas. I knew I was in for a treat with Steven Tsuchida's "A Ninja Pays Half My Rent," (His surreal comedic short "Spam-Ku" is a favorite of mine) and he didn't disappoint. Tsuchida is really great at weird, funny, punchy dialogue; and come on, who doesn't enjoy watching a good ninja smackdown?
"The Climactic Death of Dark Ninja" is an even more entertaining thirteen-minute piece about a group of aspiring filmmakers trying for the perfect re-shoot of the key scene of their kung-fu film. Think Wes Anderson meets "Son of Rambow." Anyone who's ever tried shooting an "epic masterpiece" on a home camcorder (or known someone who has) will find "Dark Ninja" hits painfully (and delightfully) close to home.
I also loved Eva Saks' "New York Trilogy" which contained the shorts "Confection," "Colorforms" and "Date." The first two are stories about upper-crust little girls rebelling in some small way against their straight-and-narrow parents with poignant and charming results. "Date" is a very different film, about a man and a woman and what I can only assume is a memorial for missing and dead victims of 9-11. It's pretty cryptic, and doesn't seem to fit in with the other two at all, but holds its own.
"My Name is Yu Ming" was another favorite that falls more into the drama category than comedy, although it has its funny moments. A young man from China decides on a whim to move to Ireland. Not realizing that most residents of the country speak English, he prepares for the big move by learning Gaelic.
The French short "L'Entretien" was a beautiful and thoroughly curious film that made me wish it had been longer. Accurately described as a "Kafkaesque tale," "L'Entretien" tells the story of a man whose new job seems to find him, bringing along with it a series of surreal and deeply creepy events. The look of the film is a blurry black-and-white that makes it seem a lot older than it really is, and adds a lot to the strangeness of the short.
Both of the animated offerings, "Clay Pride" and "Seventeen" are pretty solid. "Seventeen" is a beautifully animated and imaginative short from the Netherlands, showing a young man's early experiences working as a roofer. Director Hisko Hulsing provides us with glorious swirling colors and an emotive score that go hand in hand to create a dark yet playful feeling.
"Clay Pride" is really pretty silly, but the concept is funny. A very thinly-veiled metaphor for race and homosexuality, "Clay Pride" is a mockumentary on the life of Steve, a clay man in a world of plasticine characters (yes, there is a difference, although I'm not entirely sure what it is).
All in all, Shorts! Vol. 3 contains sixteen short films, not one of which is dull to watch. Some, like the musical "Pretty Dead Girl" or "Hyper" are too goofy to be taken seriously, and others, such as "Gowanus, Brooklyn" (the starting point for the acclaimed film Half Nelson) suffer from stylistic issues that make them seem lesser than they should, but for the most part, this is a volume of great short films to enjoy and share around. I know I'm going to be making people watch "Dark Ninja" every chance I get.