August 22-24, 2007

by Jay Blodgett

Last night (August 22) was the opening night of the 4th Atlanta Underground Film Festival. I was not aware of, nor much less prepared to find film geeks of the like that hang out at San Francisco's Roxie for the SF IndieFests!

Brett Thompson was the co-curator of the opening night program, "Animation Attack!", which screened at the Eastside Lounge, a cozy little mini-metro-plex of a club that is in the lower east side of Atlanta. In the tradition of ANY opening night, there were a few house management screw ups, i.e., WE were there before the bar manager had opened the place up! However, the crowd and film fest management was so laid back that this was nearly a non-issue. Except for the HEAT.

Once inside with a glass of chardonnay and a short welcome from Thompson, "Animation Attack! - Part One" began to spin away on the screen in the mezzanine of the club. "Animation Attack!" was a two-part program of a teasingly unknown quantity of shorts. (Part Two screened on Saturday.) Friday's portion included no less than 11 pieces. (There was no 'official' program with an updated list of shorts or print sources, so I am recapping from the anticipated schedule listed on the AUFF website, and from memory and IMDB.)

 Animation Attack! - Part One

With only a couple of exceptions, each short displayed a cool visual style and, most importantly to me, wit and pace! There was a virtual lack of 'animated navel gazing' in the name of art, which usually produces 10 minutes of self indulgent Rorschach tests. That's not to say that there wasn't some self indulgence in this program of shorts, but at least the volume of violence and humor made it easier to digest.

In alphabetical order...

APE SH!T (Dir. Bob Ray - 5 min.) "The original monkey-naut Albert shoplifts a four pack of wine coolers from the local convenient store and all hell breaks loose." It's what he uses to shoplift with that was just a hoot! This is part of a series and this particular episode can be seen here on Super Deluxe.

Bar Fight (Dir. Christy Karacas - 4 min.) It's just a biker bar, where a fight breaks out. And gets bigger. And BIGGER! A delightfully wacky and surreal explosion of violence in a tiny setting. AND it had a great twist at the end!

Dimension X (Dir. Nick Kunin - 7 min.) This was one of only a couple of shorts that I just didn't get. Apparently, it is part of a series, which would explain the exceptionally spotty plot involving vampires and a NASA scientist. I think. Visually, it was fine. I just think that this episode was taken so far out of context that I was confused.

Death of a Matriarch (Dir. Takuro Masuda - 3 min.) This is so unique, both visually and narratively, that although I can't say I completely understood it, I was never bored. Actually, I think it deserves repeated viewings to fully appreciate it.

Getgot (Dir. Bryan Fordney - 6 min.) Well, this sort of baby obsessively chases a can of soda through a Wonderland. Of sorts. Looks COOL, though! OH! And this is on YouTube, as well!

Kill John Wayne (Dir. Vivian Wong - NY - 7 min.) Though this might be a bit out of date, Wong does a no-holds-barred visceration of masculinity, politics and war, by using the image of John Wayne in outrageously violent and sexual ways. Though her animation technique is a bit rough at the edges, her visuals are gasp inducing!

One Dog Walking (Dir. Sara Spink - 4 min.) This was pure navel gazing. Sara Spink is a sculptress who has decided to animate her sculpture, but to no visual or dramatic effect.

Pirate Baby's Cabana Street Fight 2006 (Dir. Paul Robertson - 12 min.) This opened the evening and what a BLAST!! Literally! It is a computer game gone completely out of control as our 'players' run through scenarios littered (and I mean 'littered' as in TRASHED) with mutant babies and aliens! It is horrifically, yet hysterically violent! This, too is viewable at the film's site.

Sinking of the Hunley (Dir. Drew Christie - 7 min.) What most visually set this apart from being a 'fractured tales' version of the sinking of the Civil War submarine, The Hunley, is that Drew Christie used pages from old books as animation cel paper. This simple device gave the short a really cool look, that added to the satire of the piece. There is a video of the short being performed with live music on YouTube. (What is NOT on YouTube, it seems?!)

Space War (Dir. Christy Karacas - 3 min.) At first, I thought this was going to be a Don Herzfeldt rip-off. But it became so much more! Simply drawn, yet artistically captivating, it was joyfully pointless and wonderfully violent, just like the other Karacas short earlier, BAR FIGHT! AND, yes, this too, is on YouTube.

The unAmericans (Darwin Berman, Micah Stansell, Kevin Diggleman - 7 min. GA) I LIKED the script, as it is concerning a PTA's censorship and control of a teacher, the theme is fittingly progressive. However, the claymation is relatively crude and the editing does not present the voice talent at its best. The pacing is a bit sluggish for the parody it wants to be. However, it does earn some chuckles. It just could be tightened up.

"Animation Attack! Part Two" promised to have the latest from Jim Trainor.... ooooo....

Read on for more about the 2007 AUFF! >>

Jay "Life With Movies and Maxxxxx"

http://jaycbird.blogspot.com