one actor, many faces

I enjoyed the morsel of cinematic storytelling conveyed in Hillman Curtis short films. Despite the repeat appearance of many of the actors, each individual film did a good job of setting its own unique tone. It was almost like seeing a different face of the actors as each new film began. From the opening scene there was a clearly defined tone and character.

The beauty was in the simplicity. With just two characters, one setting, simple but thought-provoking plots, and artistic yet straightforward cinematography – the films were able to convey rich stories in three to seven minutes. The films started right away, which drew you in from the start. With only a few minutes to tell a story there is no need for setup and most of the videos seemed to jump in mid conversation, which left enough to the imagination without completely loosing the narrative.

Bridge was the tale of blossoming love, and I like how the frequent back and forth shift of the camera angle and focus, it seemed to be paralleling the videos shift in tone and added to the “will they or won’t they” vibe that ended in a tension-filled non-kiss.

I thought the films that stuck to a simple plot line were generally more successful. Embrace was just confusing with the couple in a panicked embrace as air sirens sound over head. It raised too many questions that took me out of the moment of the film. With Roof I was too focused on the fact that they were talking about the water rising but nothing was wet, it just felt too unbelievable. American Spirit was simple, but didn’t seem to have a strong enough message, or maybe it just went over my head.

Soldiers, while fairly obvious from the start, was very powerful in its lingering shots during the  soldier’s one-way conversation with his Mom at his grave.

I’m a sucker for a musical, and I though powerHouse Books was actually pretty successful. The fade to color during musical moments was effective and setting a different tone, and the organic presence of the band helped the video from seeing cartoonish. I really liked the ending when the music cutout and all that was left was the sound of the girl’s footsteps. She was the one who got away, walking away.

The endings was also strong for Table -when the wife’s little smile appears after she sips the wine and immediately it cuts to black. Effective on giving the viewer just enough without over-explaining. Spinal Tap was also successful in ending with a solid punchline that brought back the reoccurring joke. I also like how the camera shots in Spinal Tap got more and more intense with the close ups as the conversation became more personal and emotional between the two characters. It really created that awkward sense of trying to express uncomfortable feelings.