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Editor's note: This is the first in a series of four, reviewing films in the 9th Nevada City Film Festival, running Aug. 20-23.
One signature potential with short films is funny creativity. A filmmaker gets in, gets out, boom. In 10 minutes more or less, savvy moviegoers find a cinematic treat that typically flies past everyone's notice.
Consider the following couple of peculiar ha-ha films on tap at the upcoming Nevada City Film Festival.
“Fact Checkers Unit”:
It's a coup to get a big name star to appear in a short film. It certainly ain't about that star making money or fanfare. The scrappy independent filmmakers of “Fact Checkers Unit” probably are friends of Bill Murray, enough to plead that he do them a favor.
Or maybe, having been cajoled into reading this script, which was written for him playing himself, Murray thought it was too much fun to turn down.
Two crackerjack verifiers of the facts in magazine articles break into Bill Murray's home to see if he really does drink warm milk before going to bed. It's a small kick before the Bill Murray gambit and a downplayed big kick once they factor him into the script.
“Ctrl Z”:
On a personal computer, pressing the “z” while holding down the “control” key undoes the last thing you did. Doing “Ctrl Z” several times undoes several successive actions.
What if some mysterious short circuit altered the Ctrl z function on some office nerd's computer? Suddenly, he can undo the last thing that happened in his office and another “Ctrl Z” can undo the last thing he said to someone.
This ripe premise for comedy is right-sized fun. Its mild finishing twist lets you know the filmmakers were attuned to how far they should take their cute contemporary foray.
As you'll find with many short films at the Nevada City Film Festival, you get in, you get out. You multiply that by six to 10 little movies in a program, and you're bound to find untypical satisfactions in more than half of them.
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Chuck Jaffee of Nevada City likes to plug people into the spirit of independent filmmakers. Find his other articles for The Union at www.startlets.com.
Consider the following couple of peculiar ha-ha films on tap at the upcoming Nevada City Film Festival.
“Fact Checkers Unit”:
It's a coup to get a big name star to appear in a short film. It certainly ain't about that star making money or fanfare. The scrappy independent filmmakers of “Fact Checkers Unit” probably are friends of Bill Murray, enough to plead that he do them a favor.
Or maybe, having been cajoled into reading this script, which was written for him playing himself, Murray thought it was too much fun to turn down.
Two crackerjack verifiers of the facts in magazine articles break into Bill Murray's home to see if he really does drink warm milk before going to bed. It's a small kick before the Bill Murray gambit and a downplayed big kick once they factor him into the script.
“Ctrl Z”:
On a personal computer, pressing the “z” while holding down the “control” key undoes the last thing you did. Doing “Ctrl Z” several times undoes several successive actions.
What if some mysterious short circuit altered the Ctrl z function on some office nerd's computer? Suddenly, he can undo the last thing that happened in his office and another “Ctrl Z” can undo the last thing he said to someone.
This ripe premise for comedy is right-sized fun. Its mild finishing twist lets you know the filmmakers were attuned to how far they should take their cute contemporary foray.
As you'll find with many short films at the Nevada City Film Festival, you get in, you get out. You multiply that by six to 10 little movies in a program, and you're bound to find untypical satisfactions in more than half of them.
---
Chuck Jaffee of Nevada City likes to plug people into the spirit of independent filmmakers. Find his other articles for The Union at www.startlets.com.
