Bad Teacher (2011)

I had reservations about this but Sarah, Jack, and I laughed A LOT all the way through this slapstick comedy about a foul-mouthed, selfish, gold-digging woman who's a middle school teacher "for all the right reasons: shorter hours, summers off, no accountability." That line is in the trailer, so no spoiler. Cameron Diaz is really funny in the lead. My favorite line about her isn't an exact quote, nor can I find it, but I swear I heard Roger Ebert say on TV that her debut performance in The Mask (1994) could be attributed to her Wonderbra but he was pretty sure it was her talent and comic timing. I put that in my post about You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, coincidentally writing about Diaz' co-star here, Lucy Punch. What I didn't know until just now is that Diaz actually was a Wonderbra model before breaking into movies. I have liked her in most everything I've seen, notably the black comedy The Last Supper (1995), There's Something About Mary (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), the dramas Gangs of New York (2002) and My Sister's Keeper (2009) (I know I saw this and can't figure out why I didn't write about it). Punch is once again terrific (as in Being Julia (2004) and Dinner for Schmucks), this time with a flawless American accent (she's British)--so good at being the super-intense/crazy co-star. Also noteworthy are Jason Segal (I listed my faves in I Love You, Man) as the sane gym teacher, Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog (2006), The Social Network) as the dorky, bespectacled substitute who likes boy bands (wink wink), John Michael Higgins (Christopher Guest movie regular, e.g. Best in Show (2000) and For Your Consideration (2006), plus 77 other titles) as the beleaguered principal, and Phyllis Smith (Phyllis on The Office) as the sweet teacher. The blonde student Chase is played by Kathryn Newton, who played Jay Mohr's daughter in Gary Unmarried, now cancelled. And Eric Stonestreet, best known as the queenly Cameron on Modern Family, has a particularly butch cameo.

Second generation director Jake Kasdan (his dad Lawrence has been nominated for four Oscars, for The Big Chill (1983), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Grand Canyon (1991), the last of which he shared with his wife, Jake's mother, Meg Kasdan, among many credits) did a pretty good job on Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), five episodes of Freaks and Geeks, and one each of Undeclared and Californication, and we had no complaints about his work here, directing the script written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (co-wrote 15 episodes of The Office).

Composer Michael Andrews (I wrote about him in Bridesmaids), though talented, has once again scored a movie where few will notice his soundtrack because there are so many memorable songs. The list is available on imdb (right now tonight the page is down for maintenance and it says "try again in a few hours"), squidoo, and the reelsoundtrack blog (you can listen at the latter two).

The critics are hatin' on this one: 44% on rottentomatoes, though audiences gave it 69% and it scored 6.1 out of 10 on imdb. But we had a good time and I suspect, if you don't over-think it, you will, too.

The Double Hour (La doppia hora - 2009)

We liked this Italian movie which starts out with speed-dating in Turin, Italy, then becomes a love story, then morphs into a thriller. The directing debut of Giuseppe Capotondi, it is fast paced and satisfying. The movie won three awards at the 2009 Venice Film Festival: Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Italian Film. Kseniya (AKA Ksenia) Rappoport is Russian, but her character Sonia the chambermaid is Slovenian, and she gets more beautiful as the movie progresses.

The original score by Pasquale Catalano is great, as well as the use of songs (here's a list). We saw this after the baseball game yesterday on a road trip a couple of hours south. Because we had never before heard of the movie we decided to check it out. It was obviously a DVD (the little rectangle on the screen that said 1080p before the credits was the giveaway) but it was perfectly formatted and focused so we didn't mind.

Incendies (2010)

Beautiful and powerful, this story of grown twins searching for the father and brother they hadn't known existed evoked tears, gasps, and 1½ laughs from the audience tonight. DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU HOW IT ENDS! Don't search google or twitter, and don't reveal it yourself, please. It's not a spoiler to say that much of it takes place in a fictitious Arabic-speaking country (I thought we were supposed to know and felt really dumb when people referred to "the war") and the locations are Montréal, Amman, and another (undisclosed) location in Jordan. Director Denis Villeneuve adapted the screenplay from the stage play of the same name (translation: Scorched) by Wajdi Mouawad. The movie pretty much split the Genie Awards (Canadian Oscars) with Barney's Version and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Wonderful acting by Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin and Maxim Gaudette as the twins and Lubna Azabal as their mother, big red chapter headings, and time-specific details make this easier to follow.

Beautiful music by Grégoire Hetzel (some with vocals) is supplemented by two Radiohead songs, You and Whose Army? and Like Spinning Plates. There are a few lines of English but it's mostly in French and Arabic with subtitles. It's long (2:20) and emotional, but worth it! Jack didn't go with me but I spotted several friends sitting nearby.

The Art of Getting By (2011)

Despite our difficulty in finding a positive review, Jack and I sort of liked this story of George, a self-described "teflon slacker" high school senior in NYC (Freddie Highmore). This is director/writer Gavin Wiesen's feature debut, with only one short before it. There certainly are some holes in the screenplay but I don't really get why the critics have been so savage (see rottentomatoes if you like). Highmore (wonderful in Finding Neverland (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and August Rush (2007), and I wanted to see Toast (2010) last weekend but had a conflict) is now 19 and is finally playing his age. I believed him as the talented artist and compulsive homework-avoider (the previous title was Homework). Also a former child actor, Emma Roberts (I wrote about her in It's Kind of a Funny Story) is good as the pretty girl Sally who is still an outsider at this urban prep school. One of the screenplay holes is that Sally and George say that they are each other's only friends, yet they hang out at school with Zoe (Sasha Spielberg, who was in The Kids Are All Right--she looks more like her father Steven and not much like her mother Kate Capshaw) and Will (Marcus Carl Franklin, who was the young black "Bob Dylan" in I'm Not There (2007)). Michael Anganaro (Lords of Dogtown (2005), Snow Angels (2007)) is good as the slightly older artist Dustin who befriends both George and Sally. Rita Wilson (Mrs. Tom Hanks, she co-starred in Volunteers (1985), co-starred in Now and Then (1995), and I don't believe she's had any big roles since, but I always like her, e.g. in That Thing You Do (1996), The Chumscrubber (2005), It's Complicated, more) and Elizabeth Reaser (I liked her in Sweet Land and The Family Stone (both 2005), Puccini for Beginners (2006), Grey's Anatomy as the Jane Doe Alex fell in love with after she got her new face, and The Good Wife as Will's girlfriend) are George and Sally's dysfunctional mothers. Blair Underwood, Jarlath Conroy, and Alicia Silverstone, in descending order, have a little something to do as George's principal, art teacher, and English teacher. And George's stepfather is played by Sam Robards (played Scott Bakula's partner--Chris Cooper's neighbor--in American Beauty (1999) and Haley Joel Osment's dad in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), among others), the 49 year old son of Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall, but his is a small part, too. We enjoyed the location photography, as the whole thing was shot in New York City.

There are two soundtrack albums for sale on iTunes, one with all original score by Alec Puro and one with three Puro tracks and nine by various indie artists (none of which are available for individual download). This won't get any Oscar nominations but we found it diverting and I look forward to more Highmore in the future.

The Hangover Part II (2011)

Yes, it's a lot like the first but Jack and I laughed anyway at this raunchy, profane sequel to The Hangover. There's great location photography in Thailand, a kick-ass soundtrack, same leading men, same absent Doug, same monkey (read this), same director, Todd Phillips, and same cinematographer, Lawrence Sher. David Denby in The New Yorker's review (spoilers in the link, so read it later) says, "The two movies offer a comedy of types, a kind of Freudian allegory, with Bradley Cooper enacting the ego, Ed Helms the superego, and Zach Galifianakis the id. Or, to put it more simply, aggression, caution, and stupidity." I'm a big Ed Helms fan, and he is at the center of this one, even singing a funny parody of Allentown on a boat. This time it took me at least half the movie to let go and laugh at Galifianakis' mean spirited behavior, but eventually I did. And now that I'm so familiar with Ken Jeong from Community, I got him, too.

One reason to see this on the big screen is the possibility that Mike Tyson's tattoo artist wins his copyright infringement case. If you have seen the poster you know that Helms' character wakes up the morning after with a tribal tattoo on his face: the same one that Tyson sports in real life. The artist who designed it tried to hold up the movie's release last month. A judge ruled against it, but the case is still in court (read this). I read somewhere that if the studio loses, the tattoo will be digitally altered in the DVD (and at least one line will have to be changed as well). This is the top grossing movie in theatres now (here's the chart--you can sort by any of the words in the header line), having raked in $215,700,000 so far, and was #3 for last weekend alone, so the artist will undoubtedly keep at it, with some deep pockets to pick.  Despite those big piles of money, the critics have mostly hated it, certifying it rotten on rottentomatoes with 35%, although 62% of viewers weighed in with positive reviews.

The soundtrack for purchase (click Listen to all on this link) has 12 songs on it. But there's more music in the movie, as detailed by my fellow blogger monteluz (and annotated by his/her readers) on the reelsoundtrack blog. The wonderful composer Christophe Beck (I wrote about him in Cedar Rapids) worked on this, and, although none of these tracks are available for purchase, he has once again posted clips on his own website.

Oh, and Jack says to tell you that, unlike The Tree of Life, he is smart enough to understand this one. I will add that one should be old enough and relaxed enough not to be put off by some extreme sexual situations and nudity played for laughs, including (just like the last one) in the final photo essay.

In a Better World (Hævnen - 2010)

What a masterpiece! This story of two interconnected families dealing with bullies and retribution (hævnen means vengeance in Danish) on two continents has great acting, a top-notch screenplay, and magnificent visuals, and Jack, Judy, and I didn't even mind the absence of laughs. Oscar and Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Film, it delivers on all levels. Director Susanne Bier (I haven't seen any of her work, which includes Brothers (Brødre - 2004) on which the American remake Brothers was based) is quoted in imdb, "My first job as a filmmaker is not to make a boring film." With her regular collaborator, writer Anders Thomas Jensen, she has succeeded. Mikael Persbrandt (many credits, none that I've seen) plays Anton, a Swedish doctor who lives in Denmark (Bier often has one Swede in her Danish movies) but works for weeks at a time at a refugee camp in Kenya. His wife, also a doctor, played by Trine Dyrholm (Celebration (Festen - 1998), more), and two boys Elias (newcomer Markus Rygaard) and Morten (11 year old Toke Lars Bjarke has 13 titles to his credit) have their own issues at home. Claus, played by Ulrich Thomsen (was also in Celebration, Brødre, lots more) and his son Christian (newcomer William Jøhnk Nielsen) have moved from London after the death of their respective wife/mother, and Elias and Christian, about 12 years old, become friends. The boys Rygaard and especially Nielsen are outstanding.

As I said above, the cinematography by Morten Søborg is by itself worth the price of admission. The lighting, whether in Kenya or Denmark, has extremes of light and dark, sun and shade, and I was particularly gratified that the focus Wednesday afternoon was as crisp and sharp as I've seen in months in any of our local theatres. Even the subtitles were perfectly legible. Moody music by Johan Söderqvist (previous work with Bier and others) complements the images beautifully. Clips are available on youtube. I suggest pausing until the clip has loaded so you can listen all the way through.

Sad to say, this closed today in our town (we were alone in the room yesterday), but I hope it returns on a big screen for your maximum enjoyment. If not, put it in your netflix queue and watch it in the best home theatre you can buy or borrow.

The Tree of Life (2011)

"I'm not smart enough to understand it," said Jack. He's definitely smart, but not always patient. I, too, grew impatient during this patchwork of dreamy, beautifully photographed vignettes of 1950s small town life, modern day skyscrapers, celestial and terrestrial cataclysms, whispered voiceovers, and barely a whisper of plot. If not being awed by what is supposed to be director/writer Terrence Malick's masterpiece makes us philistines, so be it (my favorite explanation of philistine is at 1:04 in the trailer for The Squid and the Whale (2005)). My faithful readers know I like to concentrate on the good parts and say nice things, but these two and a quarter hours just rubbed us both a bit the wrong way. I suspect I'll hear from Archie about this (he took exception to my negative posting on How Do You Know, and has posted on his own facebook page a video of directors David Fincher and Christopher Nolan rhapsodizing about this one). Someone else who felt as we did is Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel, who wrote "This challenging time-skipping rumination is the big screen equivalent of watching that 'Tree' grow." To read his entire review see this link. As Craig Ferguson likes to say, I look forward to your letters.

Not one to rush anything, 68 year old Malick has directed five features in thirty-eight years (he wrote them all, plus a few more) (I saw and enjoyed Days of Heaven (1978), which won him Best Director at Cannes, and The New World (2005) and can't remember if I saw Badlands (1973)--but it was The Thin Red Line (1998) that was most acclaimed) and this one won the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2011. The critics are mostly agreeing with the Cannes jury (apparently the reception at the actual screening was mixed and the link also reveals something about Malick's style on the set, which may explain our reactions), as do many who have posted on the imdb message boards. Contrary to current popular practice, most of those posting have good things to say, except for their snide reactions to people like us and the more extreme people who walked out during the long creation/destruction sections. On rottentomatoes the critics have given this 86% while audiences clock in at 67%.

Here are some things we liked about it: the photography, as noted above, the magnificent sets (the 1950s house and its furnishings, though the family is supposed to be of modest means, are new for the time and, by my standards, fabulous), the skyscrapers, the metal walkways, the locations, the songs (a Malick devotee has provided a complete list on his blog and another fan has made a set of some of it available for download until September 2 here), the original score by Alexandre Desplat which you can hear here (after I wrote about him in The Ghost Writer and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button he was Oscar nominated for scoring The King's Speech), newcomer Hunter McCracken's performance as brooding young Jack O'Brien, Brad Pitt's (I wrote about him in Inglourious Basterds) as the unfulfilled and angry Mr. O'Brien (well, it made me uncomfortable but I recognize it as good acting) with his jutting lower jaw, the baby and toddler scenes, and the other two sons, played by Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan, the former of whom really looks like he could be Pitt's son (thanks, Judy, for suggesting that).

Here's something else I didn't like: quick camera movements (in the 1950s sequences) sent me back several rows and reaching for my motion sickness remedies--ginger candy this week. This is going on the Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS) list.

Although Sean Penn is listed as a star, he is in perhaps 20 minutes, as the 21st century Jack O'Brien, who is still troubled--we know that from his face and body language. But he doesn't talk. Jessica Chastain (soon to be seen in The Help (2011)), as Mrs. O'Brien, with her ethereal porcelain skin and pale copper hair, has more to do.

We saw two movies Monday: first this, then Midnight in Paris, as we suspected we would need some comic relief. Did we ever! The good news: it made the latter all the more enjoyable.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Jack and I expected to love it. [singsong voice] Loved it! Woody Allen's tale of an aspiring novelist traveling back in time to meet his idols is romantic, with great production values, high brow references, and plenty of laughs. Owen Wilson shines as the insecure Woody character Gil, as do Rachel McAdams as the impatient girlfriend Inez (pronounced the French way, EE-nez, though her character is American), Marion Cotillard as the enticing other woman Adriana and all the others. Gil was going to be a New Yorker but Allen rewrote the part for Wilson (my favorites are Meet the Parents (2000), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007)), basing him in California. 

I waited for the trademark Woody stutter to come out of Wilson's and McAdams' mouths, and it did eventually. McAdams (I wrote about her in Morning Glory after seeing her in State of Play and Sherlock Holmes) starts out sweet but slowly morphs into one of Woody's usual mean girls (ha!). Cotillard (I mentioned her in Public Enemies, Nine, Inception) is lovely as always, and Adriana's being mistress to more than one gifted artist reminded me that Mia Farrow was married to Frank Sinatra and André Previn as well as Allen (and, rumor has it, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was attracted to her, too). 

The supporting cast is superb, including Michael Sheen (The Queen (2006), Frost/Nixon, The Damned United) as a pompous American professor (doesn't Woody always have one of those in each movie as well?), Mimi Kennedy (Dharma & Greg, In the Loop) and Kurt Fuller (Woody the coroner in Psych, among many small parts) as Inez' parents, Alison Pill (after I wrote about her in Milk she was in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki in Thor) as Zelda and Scott (one blogger referred to Zelda as Scott's mother. They'll let just anyone write a blog. Hmph) (and if you don't get that, perhaps you should either skip the movie or do some research first), Kathy Bates (I listed my favorites in Chéri and liked her small part in Revolutionary Road) as Gertrude, Corey Stoll (I don't remember him in Salt but he's outstanding here as Ernest), and, much publicized, Carla Bruni, the first lady of France, as a tour guide at the Rodin museum. This movie bears some similarity to Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), in which Farrow's character Cecilia travels into a glamorous movie starring Jeff Daniels. For more on my love for Allen's work, though not his lifestyle, read Whatever Works, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Some trivia: Allen apparently abandoned the project five years ago because shooting in Paris was too expensive. But this sure looked like Paris, including landmarks such as l'Orangerie (home of the huge water lilies murals), Moulin Rouge, Montmartre, etc. Also, according to imdb: "This is the first Woody Allen film to go through a digital intermediate, instead of being color timed in the traditional photochemical way. According to Allen, its use here is a test to see if he likes it enough to use on his future films." That may explain some of the bright colors in some of the establishing shots.

Another Allen convention is no composer but a long list of songs, some performed by Cole (Yves Heck). I found a list on the iTunes France site, but it's not available here yet, and does not include any of the Heck performances, if, in fact, he performed them. Here are some other comments on the music.

Speaking of comments, here's some reading for after you see the movie, due to spoilers: production notes from the movie's website, a historical deconstruction from the New York Times, and David Denby's review in The New Yorker (I hope you can connect to those sites). Lastly, the winner of the Midnight in Paris 10 word review contest: Woody rebounds with Back to the Future for literature majors. She (the winner) used the word "rebound" because some feel Allen has been off his game. Whether or not you agree, you should definitely make your way to your local theatre and see this one.

Oh, and my Rule #2 for movies is strongly observed, start to finish.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Catching up after almost two movie-less weeks, Jack and I liked the fourth of this series better than we expected, enjoying the jokes and fancy words between battles, Erroll Flynn-like rope swinging, and Johnny Depp's now trademark mincing walk (every time he runs with his wrists in the air, we laugh). Although 2:18 is too long by about a half hour (why won't they ask us to approve the final cut? We easily could have snipped minutes from each action sequence) we didn't yearn to leave early because there was usually something funny or a special effect coming right up. I had read that the mermaid effects would be spectacular and they are (it's a good thing, because they are discussed at much length before they finally appear). These are not mermaids such as Daryl Hannah in Splash (1982), except for one detail, but to say more would be a spoiler.

Despite the walk, Depp (after I covered him in some detail in Public Enemies, he starred in Alice in Wonderland and co-starred in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) has a slightly more dramatic role this time, as I recall the last three (POTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), POTC: Dead Man's Chest (2006), POTC: At World's End (2007)). In fact, he sounds less drunk than in the others, which makes his words easier to understand (way easier than in Alice). Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones reprises his role of Captain Teague from World's End in just a cameo this time, and I won't reveal his punch line, just in case you haven't seen it in the trailer. Kevin McNally and Geoffrey Rush (I wrote about Rush in Bran Neu Dae) return as Gibbs and Barbossa, respectively, from all three preceding POTC movies. Then we have Penelope Cruz (I wrote about her in Broken Embraces and Elegy, then saw her in Nine, though I didn't mention her) who is luscious as always (in fact she was pregnant during the shoot and her sister Mónica Cruz doubled for her in some long shots when it was difficult to hide the "bump." Leo was born in January and his father is Javier Bardem) as Blackbeard's daughter Angelica. The chemistry between her and Depp is nice. Ian McShane (perhaps best known as Al Swearingen on Deadwood) joins the cast as Blackbeard, and a scary villain he is. Stephen Graham's (after I wrote about him in The Damned United, he played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire) guitar-playing character Scrum brought out one aspect of the soundtrack (more on that later). There are some jokes at the expense of religion, Bill Maher would be glad to note.

This is the first of the POTC movies not directed by Gore Verbinski. This time it's Rob Marshall (former Broadway choreographer who directed the movies Chicago (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), and Nine) and the theatricality is much appreciated. From the choreographed fights to the animatronic ropes it's well put together.

And now the music. In addition to one of my heroes, Hans Zimmer (with 139 titles in his composer section I'm hard pressed to pick my favorites, so I'll list his Oscar win The Lion King (1994) and nominations Rain Man (1988), The Preacher's Wife (1996), As Good as It Gets (1997), The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), Gladiator (2000), Sherlock Holmes, and Inception, plus others from babetteflix, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Angels & Demons, and It's Complicated) composing as he did in 2006-07, the Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela play quite a bit, sometimes attributed to Scrum. About five years ago I heard a DJ on our local NPR music station playing their Stairway to Heaven and I bought their self-named CD. You can listen to the whole soundtrack online by going to this link and advancing one track at a time (my favorite is #9). I love it, and if you do, too, buy it. You can listen to Rodrigo y Gabriela playing a track from the soundtrack live on The Tonight Show here, and playing Stairway to Heaven here.

Rated PG-13, it seemed a bit risqué to me for two young girls down the row from us. I wondered if they understood all the big words or the sexual innuendo and what did their dad think of the violence? As usual in these parts, except for the Gen-X audience in Thor, everyone cleared out at the beginning of the lo-ooo-ng credits. But we didn't and were rewarded with the expected bonus, promising a fifth chapter at a later date not yet determined. We saw the movie in 3-D, and recommend you do, too. It's too dark (in color) to appreciate on all but the most professional of home theatres.

Just Go With It (2011)

Saw this on a plane last week. Predictably dumb and sexist, its best part is the little girl Bailee Madison (Brothers, more) hamming it up as Jennifer Aniston's daughter. Loosely based on Cactus Flower (1969), which won Goldie Hawn an Oscar for playing the ditzy girlfriend, this one tries too hard by, among other things, making the ditzy girlfriend a smart and caring teacher instead of just going with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model they hired (Brooklyn Decker) to play the part. A few more laughs are found with the antics of Aniston and Nick Swardson, who play star Adam Sandler's best friends. Enough laughs for a plane ride, but not for an afternoon at the movies when there are many good choices out there.

Nine Nation Animation (2010)

Judy and I saw this program of award-winning short animated films two and a half weeks ago and we liked it quite a bit. I'll go in order. 1. "Deconstruction Workers" by Kajsa Naess (6 min.) is in Norwegian with subtitles. It features two construction workers talking about mundane topics while everything around them is going to hell. They are photos superimposed on chaos which is mostly photo collages. Funny. 2. "Average 40 Matches" by Burkay Doğan and M. Şakir Arslan (3 min.) is from Turkey but there is no dialogue. Anthropomorphic matches are drawn to a cigarette, which eventually extinguishes them (oops! spoiler!). 3. "Bâmiyân" by Patrick Pleutin (14 min.) is from France but the dialogue is Persian and Chinese with English subtitles. It is by far the most beautiful of the lot with gorgeous brush strokes and collages. You can see it in its entirety here with German subtitles or here with an ad first and with French subtitles. If you are fluent in any or all of these languages go for it or just watch it for the visuals. 4. Our favorite, "Please Say Something" by David O’Reilly (10 min.) is officially from both Ireland and Germany. It's about a dysfunctional relationship between a workaholic mouse and his lover, who is a cat, set in the future, possibly 2106. The "dialogue" is in squeaks and meows with English subtitles. I particularly liked how each time the mouse takes a step it's a little click and the cat's steps are low and echoing. You're in luck because the whole thing is now online here. 5. "Flatlife" by Jonas Geirnaert from Belgium (11 min.) is also quite funny. There's no dialogue but plenty of sound effects in this story of 4 people in adjoining apartments. The whole thing is here. 6. "She Who Measures" by Veljko Popoviç from Croatia (7 min.) was our least favorite, consisting of strange humanoids walking through a desert picking up trash and putting it in their shopping carts and another humanoid trying to stop them. Judge for yourself here. Some have commented that it's an attack on consumerism. There's a little dialogue in English and some that's hard to make out. We thought it was American until we saw the credits. 7. "Home Road Movies" by Robert Bradbrook (12 min.) is from the United Kingdom and features in its stop motion photographs British actor Bill Paterson (lots of UK TV roles, small parts in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People and Creation, and more). It's set in the 1950s and charming. 8. "The Tale of How" by The Blackheart Gang (4 min.) is in English from South Africa. It's sort of Monty Python-esque with faux dramatic operatic singing, serpents, gadgets, three-headed birds, and inventive images of the Indian Ocean. See for yourself. 9. "Never Like the First Time!" by Jonas Odell (15 min.) is in Swedish with English subtitles and is taken from first-person narratives about losings one's virginity. Can't say we loved it. It's not funny, not sexy, and at times it's disturbing. Though it's all animated by Odell, each segment has a different style of drawing. I've found it online with Russian subtitles and here are three of its segments with English subtitles.

From the group World According to Shorts, it's an impressive work, with some reservations, in limited release (go to the website and click Viewing to see if it's coming to a theatre near you). I believe there will be a DVD at some point.