What'a Wholphin, you may ask? That would be a whale crossed with a dolphin, of course. It's also the title of a groovy little DVD magazine put out by the literary minded folks at McSweeneys. Quarterly subscriptions are available at www.wholphindvd.com, for a very reasonable price. Each issue is packed with "rare and unseen short films" and comes in a handsome case like the one pictured above. Added bonuses include a booklet containing info about the films, as well as interviews with the filmmakers. So without further ado, some thoughts on selected contents of Wholphin No. 6:
PLEASE VOTE FOR ME
Running Time: 32 min. Excerpt from the Documentary. China/South Africa
Directed by Weijun Chen
A charming documentary about a group of Chinese grade schoolers who hold elections for class monitor as an exercise for studying Western Democracy. Not surprisingly, what starts as an academic exercise begins to develop a darker side, and before you know it, the kids and their parents are engaging in cutthroat politics to rival our recent Presidential election.
FORCE 1 TD
12 min. Short Film USA
Directed by Randy Krallman
A great idea for a film which features a very charming four legged subject. As the film opens, we meet our protagonist, a blind high school student in Jersey who's taking a stroll with his miniature seeing eye horse. That's right. Seeing eye horse. It turns out that miniature horses make excellent guide animals, and in this charming tale, our young hero and his friends borrow their brothers SUV in order to get the horse a new pair of miniature Nike kicks for the prom. For more information, go to www.guidehorse.org
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
15 min. Short Film UK
Directed by Chris Shepherd
A wild ride of a film about a working class British kid and his mum who are being driven crazy by the constant pounding of their loopy neighbor. While Mom has very little patience for this, the son allows the neighbor's eccentricities to fuel his passion for drawing. Good performances by the leads and some cool animation sequences give this short an unexpected depth.
SAFARI & SAFARI MENUS
An excerpt from the film SAFARI
17 min. USA
Directed by Catherine Chalmers
This excerpt from Chalmers' film SAFARI features some of the most amazing exotic insect footage since "Microcosmos". Featuring a lot of beautiful insects and frogs, including some non repulsive wild roaches! A extended sequence of a praying mantis eating a fly is either sublime or repulsive, depending on your tolerance for insect carnage, but the photography of the creatures throughout is exquisite.
NEW BOY
11 min. Short Adaptation, Ireland
Directed by Steph Green
A solid adaptation of the short story by Roddy Doyle, wherein an African transfer student has to try and blend in with his classmates at his new school in Ireland. Great naturalistic acting by all the kids, and features the hilarious use of "Live Aid" as a personal insult.
DARLING DARLING
12 min. Short Film USA
Directed by Matthew Lessner
A surreal exercise in which a young high schooler (played with the usual aplomb by Michael Cera of "Superbad") shows up to pick up his date for the dance only to find that her father has the head of a horse. Add to this the fact that the voice of Mr. Darling is provided by John Cleese and you're definitely in for something both hilarious and far from the beaten path. Credit is due both to Cera and Cleese for lending their celebrity and talent Lessner's independent short.
BIGFOOT: A BEAST ON THE RUN
16 min excerpt from the Documentary, USA
Directed by David Thayer
Reinforces the notion that there are many people who for whatever reason have a great deal of interest in proving the existence of Bigfoot. If you are one of them, by all means check this out. SPOILER ALERT: At the time this was posted, Bigfoot has not been captured, nor is there any scientific proof of his existence.
1 comment:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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