- « Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts, Vol. 1. On DVD May 17th. (*******7/10)
- Bhutto. On DVD May 10th. (********8/10) »
Years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2007
Genre: Short film, Gay
Countries: United States, Sweden
Language: English
Run time: 104 minutes
DVD distributor: First Run Features
First Run Features is releasing Best Gay Shorts and Best Lesbian Shorts on DVD May 17th. I think there should be more DVDs like this, that gather up the best short films and present them so film buffs can check them out. Here are the movies on the Best Lesbian Shorts disc:
25 Random Things I Did During My Big Fat Lesbian Depression (****4/10)
Starring: Chris Russo
Director: Chris Russo
Run time: 11 minutes
Long, self-indulgent…just like the title! Chris Russo basically does a one-woman show that just isn’t terribly funny. Or gripping. Or…anything, really. Poor way to start the set.
At The End Of The Street (*******7/10)
Director: Jennifer Malmqvist
Run time: 14 minutes
After a breakup, a confrontation between estranged lovers lead to a fight over a table. Which is really, it seems, just an excuse to show up at the ex-girlfriend’s house. Then an encounter with a man that also deals with the table is eye-opening. Polish, with English subtitles.
Birthday (*********9/10)
Starring: Asa Karlin, Lotten Roos, August Lindmark
Director: Jennifer Malmqvist
Run time: 18 minutes
The best film on the disc. Swedish with English subtitles. A lesbian couple comes apart at the seams on Katrina’s 40th birthday, as she reveals to her partner Sara that she is pregnant with the baby of a mutual friend. Their daughter becomes involved, and a canoe. Poignant and heartfelt.
Parental Guidance (******6/10)
Starring: Rachel Nicole Hamilton, Ryan Ochoa
Director: Meredith Scott Lynn
Run time: 4 minutes
Two little kids have grown-up words stuffed in their mouths as they discuss their parents’ marital woes. The little girl has two moms, the little boy has two dads, and they are all on a camping weekend. The parents are fighting, the kids are precocious, and it all ends very quickly.
Public Relations (********8/10)
Starring: Summer Bishil, Sienna Farall, Jessica Tuck, Wendi McLendon-Covey
Director: Gianna Sobol
Run time: 17 minutes
A wonderful little movie starring two beautiful young women. Both women work as assistants to horrible women (cleaning their houses, booking their appointments, getting birthday gifts for their rotten spoiled children), and have talked only over the phone from LA and New York. Now their bosses are moving to the same city, and the girls can finally meet and fall in love.
Swimming (*****5/10)
Starring: Dominique Dibbell, Jamie Tolbert
Director: P. David Ebersole
Run time: 7 minutes
Meh. A lifeguard obsesses over a woman taking swimming lessons in the pool where she works. Dreams and fantasies and so forth. But no one in the movie compels me to more than a passing interest – and at 7 minutes, a film shouldn’t feel “long”.
Tech Support (*******7/10)
Starring: Carrie Barrett, Marla Caceres
Director: Erik Gernand
Run time: 9 minutes
A sweet short about two women who connect over the phone when one of them calls for tech support and the other one answers. Some pretty weak “acting” in this one, considering it’s all dialogue, but it works and has a sweet ending. Nice. Included above in this review.
Tools 4 Fools (***3/10)
Starring: Julie Goldman
Director: Kate A. Brandt
Run time: 8 minutes
Even at 8 minutes, this self-indulgent, not-funny dildo infomercial is way too long.
You Move Me (******6/10)
Starring: Drae Campbell, Rebecca Drysdale, Lena Bouton
Director: Gina Hirsch
Run time: 13 minutes
A woman helps her friend move out of her old house after she breaks up with her girlfriend. Apparently they need a massive U-Haul truck for one little trunk full of stuff…and there is some really odd (and possibly offensive) native American role-playing lesbian stuff going on. But it works!