The Movies on a Shoestring festival is underway for 2004. Last year I wrote reviews for all the films after only reading the descriptions from the official website. This year, I thought I'd do something similar but reduce the burden on the reader by boiling down the reviews to their essential single word. Just like last year, I haven't yet seen the movies—I just took a guess based on the description and on previous short films I've seen.
Remember that the opinions expressed in the "Jayce's summary" column in the tables below are based entirely on the summaries printed in the Movies on a Shoestring website and on past experience with the festival. The opinions in no way reflect the actual content of the films. The original movie synopses are available at the Movies on a Shoestring website at http://www.rochesterfilmfest.org. Jayce's reviews were created as part of the weekly events listings at http://JayceLand.com.
| Title | Summary |
|---|---|
Thursday, 8:00 p.m. |
|
| Skateboarding In Sarajevo (11 min., Carol Lafayette, Bryan, TX) | stoned |
| In Their Absence (9 min., Tina Cesa Ward, Astoria, NY) | coincidental |
| An Assignment (23 min., John A. Rangel, Chicago, IL) | self-absorbed |
| Jill (21 min., Xavier Janghoon Lee, Santa Monica, CA) | ocular |
| I Cannot Understand You (6 min., David Baeumler, Buffalo, NY) | silly |
| Echo (6 min., Tom Oesch, Los Angeles, CA) | loopy |
| Black Gulch (15 min., Michael Strode, Los Angeles, CA) | haunted |
| Derf The Viking In: The Search For The Great White Ale (17 min., Dave Puls, and Fredrick Armstrong, Rochester, NY) | juvenile |
| Mojave Green (16 min., Miles Duffy, Pasadena, CA) | postmortem |
| How To Eat A Banana (3 min., Mary Szmagaj, Mountain View, CA) | funny |
Friday, 8:00 p.m. |
|
| Teddy's End (5 min., Jan Philip Cramer, San Francisco, CA) | exploitive |
| Seaside Trilogy (28 min., Melissa Berman, New York, NY) | plodding |
| Lights And Darks (6 min., Eric Kallevig, Los Angeles, CA) | unlikely |
| The Dashing Diner (17 min., Gregg Watt, Capetown, South Africa) | diametrical |
| Free Spectra (5 min., Seokhan Ryu, Daly City, CA) | narcissistic |
| Lint Trapped (6 min., Caleb Johnson, Philadelphia, PA) | amusing |
| Maree (Tides) (15 min., James Pellerito, New York, NY) | weepy |
| Overpass (7 min., Alan Price, Ellicott City, MD) | demonstrative |
| Spaceman Dan's 243rd Flight (30 min., John Mossman, Brookfield, IL) | parallel |
Saturday Matinee, 4:00 p.m. |
|
| Alter Egos (9 min., Jon Karafin, Ambler, PA) | autobiographical |
| Tango Octogenario (7 min., David Licata, New York, NY) | absurd |
| Matsutake (23 min., Todd Dayton, New York, NY) | expensive |
| One By Two (6 min., Hardeep Kharbanda, and Suruchi Pahwa, Rochester, NY) | Americanism |
| The Black Cowboys (14 min., Aaron Brookner, New York, NY) | corny |
| Autobiography Of An Insect (22 min., Chris Trebilcock, Toronto, Canada) | whiney |
| 800 Can Man (13 min., Mark Levy, Rochester, NY) | sympathetic |
| Undertow (12 min., Dominic Hilton, Philadelphia, PA) | horniness |
| Westless American (6 min., Erik Nelson, Nijmegen, Netherlands) | envious |
Saturday Evening, 8:00 p.m. |
|
| Beat Box Philly (5 min., Warren Bass, and Liz Goldberg, Melrose, PA) | oversimplified |
| Day Of Independence (27 min., Chris Tashima, Los Angeles, CA) | applicable |
| Inventing: Music (10 min., Matt Stratton, and Dallas Trinkle, Chicago, IL) | phony |
| Prayers From Kawthoolei (30 min., Joe Hill White, Los Angeles, CA) | homesick |
| Time Streams (6 min., Stephanie Maxwell, and Allan Schindler, Fairport, NY) | pretentious |
| Bracia (7 min., John C. Brookins, Matt Rosen, and Steve Edell, Rochester, NY) | despondent |
| Hand Job (7 min., Hafeez M. Saheed, West Caldwell, NJ) | stereotypical |
| Stuff That Bear! (19 min., Bruno Coppola, London, England) | unbelievable |
| Zamboni Man (14 min., Seth Henrikson, and John Cafaro, Chicago, IL) | contrived |
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Copyright © 2004 Jason Olshefsky. All rights reserved.