2020 Shorts worth catching, from Bentonville Film Festival

When Oscar comes around, the shorts categories have ruined many a pundit’s prognostications. They’re the films that are hardest to track down until the nominees come out, as few get traditional theatrical distribution outside of the festival circuit. And there are always so many of them in theoretical contention, who can keep track of them all? With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the standout shorts among the dozens I watched at the Bentonville Film Fest. As with all the BFF films, these are inclusive, diverse works, on camera and off. And these stories are told exceptionally well. Where available, the full films are posted after the review.

Note I wrote about another favorite short from the festival, Tree #3 by Omer Ben Schacher here.

Stucco
Written and directed by Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling

Starring its co-writer and -director Janina Gavankar (The Morning Show, True Blood), Stucco wins my personal prizes for Greatest Mindtrip, Best Guillermo del Toro-Inspired Special Effects, and Least Expected Ending.

Unintentionally on point in this era of quarantines and self-isolation, Stucco follows an agoraphobic woman, J, freshly broken up with her boyfriend, as she settles into a new home. While hanging a piece of art, she hammers in a nail, where a round circle of wall promptly falls through into the unexpected hollow darkness on the other side. J’s agoraphobia (along with a developing cough) worsens as she worries over this secret hollow space in her home. Over the course of the film, the hole grows in size and strangeness, and J’s interactions with it become more and more physical, until heart-racing fear overwhelms her, and she takes decisive action to discover its secrets.

Stucco’s cinematography is beautifully dark, transitioning from the cool welcoming shadows of her hideout to a yellow-stained darkness as her peace disintegrates. The film’s robust supporting cast is full of Gavankar’s friends in the industry, including actors Debra Messing, Aisha Tyler, Bel Palsy (The Morning Show), Rutina Wesley (True Blood), Emmy Raver-Lampman (Umbrella Academy), and — in a bizarre performance you’ll never guess was him — Hamilton’s Leslie Odom, Jr. With a few exceptions, these supporting players are only heard through the door or phone; J is not someone who welcomes visitors from the outside world.

Stucco entertains, fascinates and horrifies. It’s an impressive, slick, professional piece of work with a twisted mind and riveting performance at its center, and features special effects that are beautifully disturbing. Definitely seek it out when you have a chance.

Sky West and Crooked
Written and directed by Heather Edwards

A school trip to the bowling alley transforms an eight-year-old girl’s understanding of her absent father. Child actor Vivienne Rutherford is the vivid focus of this narrative short. Her character, Annie, is a fierce but sad eight-year-old with an absent father who has “been away on business” for months, an explanation she has accepted without doubt until another child teases her about her dad, en route to a field trip at the bowling alley. It’s at that same bowling alley that moments later she runs into her father, day drinking at the bar with another woman hanging on his arm. The father, played brilliantly by Matt Jones (Badger, for Breaking Bad fans), happily scoops up and reunites with his little girl, much to the disgust of his lady friend, and proceeds to help with her bowling game. Such is the setup for an emotional transformation or two.

Much of this short plays as a crowdpleaser, the winsome Rutherford an easy heroine to root for, emotions splayed plainly without a filter across her young face. Jones shines as the deadbeat dad delighted to have his drinking routine interrupted by an unexpected chance at redemption. The bowling alley setting provides something of the structure of a sports film, the pins knocking down satisfyingly along with the emotional distance between father and daughter.

The direction by Edwards is sure, and the screenplay has few missteps — the only omission that distracted me was the complete absence of supervising adults on this trip, as no adult was in sight to be alarmed to see a third-grade girl cavorting with a grown man who’s been knocking back whiskeys. Jones is particularly strong, not wasting a moment of the film’s 15-minute run time, and providing achingly melancholy vocals to the film’s soundtrack. I could easily watch more of father and daughter, but the film is just the right length, giving us not nearly as much of their relationship as anyone wants. Sometimes keeping audiences wanting more is the most realistic choice to be made.

They Won’t Last
Written and directed by Portlynn Tagavi, with co-writer Brendan Gale

One of the few fully comedic shorts at Bentonville Film Festival, They Won’t Last is also one of the strongest. With assured direction by Portlynn Tagavi, a graduate of AFI’s Directing masters program, the film — were it only an hour longer — could be a mainstream hit comedy. Its script is clever and tight, and its lead performers, who occupy 99% of the screen time, are swift and sure-footed with the comedic material. It’s genuinely funny and a joy to watch.

Longtime couple Alex (Jack de Sena) and Christine (Brittany Renee Finemore) attend their friends’ wedding weekend, where much to commitment-phobic Christine’s dismay, Alex is determined to propose. The opening scene at the reception is an homage to silent film, all the emotions and dynamics playing out on their faces, especially Christine’s, without words. It’s back at their hotel room where the verbal antics and screwball comedy get started.

Finemore and de Sena have that deadly combination of chemistry and comic timing. They aren’t a couple who talks it out; they fight it out in only entertaining ways, following rules of engagement (pun intended) that they’ve established in their years of dating. As the dynamics of their odd fighting shift back and forth, it becomes clear they are well-matched couple, unlikely to find this same chemistry with anyone else. They Won’t Last has nothing but fun and love in its jacket pocket, and a kicker of an ending. See it if you can. Tagavi, de Sena and Finemore all deserve to be playing on a bigger stage before long.

Broken Bird — BEST NARRATIVE SHORT JURY WINNER
Written and directed by Rachel Harrison Gordon

A mixed race girl, Birdie (Indigo Hubbard-Salk) navigates the emotional terrain between life with her Jewish mother (Mel House) and scheduled visits with her Black dad (Chad L. Coleman, “Cutty” on The Wire) as her bat mitzvah approaches. Authenticity is the central theme of Broken Bird. Who does Birdie want to be? How can she balance the Black and Jewish influences in her life?

We first see her in her attic room, the wooden frame walls adorned with her pictures and mementos. After a day at the salon getting her unruly hair smoothed down to a sleekness she later hides by tying it back, she spends the day with her father. He’s hoping for a closer relationship with his girl, but seeks to impress her with Chinese food and some non-Kosher selections, then takes her to pick out a knock-off designer purse from the trunk of a friend’s car. It’s clear he loves her, without understanding her life.

By the end, music provides the crucial connection for her, as she grooves to her father’s favorite tunes on her record player. In a lovely final credits scene Birdie is symbolically freed through finding the rhythm to a dance all her own. The cinematography is a highlight here, as is Hubbard-Salk herself. Coleman’s outsize charisma comes across the screen in contrast to House’s relative reticence (a clear choice for the character), but young Hubbard-Salk shines throughout. This film’s doing quite well on the festival circuit.

An Occurrence at Averne
Written and directed by Robert Broadhurst

The implicit threat of violence is as apparent in An Occurrence at Averne as in its spiritual influence, Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Owl Creek Bridge is set in the South during the Civil War, the protagonist approaching execution with a noose around his neck, the story exploring the final moments of his life. In contrast, director Robert Broadhurst’s 7-minute short is set present day in a slowly gentrifying Queens neighborhood, Averne, where a young black man is seen peering into and entering a home that is not his own. A white woman from a neighboring house — a potential Karen, if you will — sees him trying to get in and takes note.

In the United States today, we know what that means for a young Black man, although the young Black man here, played with a matter-of-fact looseness by Curtis Cook, Jr. seems largely oblivious to the danger. After all, he is just doing a favor for another friend (established through the one-sided conversation we hear as he talks with his friend on his cell) who was supposed to be housesitting for the owners. In an unexpected light moment, upon entering the home through a basement door, he loudly announces himself: “Hello! Black man in the house!” When there’s no answer, he relaxes.

We understand within minutes that this Black man is no threat — he admires the owners’ “elevated design sense” and several times notes their “really nice ceramics,” and that they’re seriously into pottery. Yet as we, the audience, become comfortable with the subject on screen, we become aware of incipient danger awaiting him in the larger neighborhood, the tension building as we become more invested in this helpful kid’s outcome. It’s a small, tight seven minutes, but it makes full use of our captured attention. A meticulously-crafted, surprising mini-story full of nuance and ambiguity. Worth seeing.

GraceLand
Directed by Bonnie Ryan

This quirky and thoroughly delightful film stars Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) as the conventional-minded mother of a middle school girl, Grace, who firmly believes she is the reincarnation of Elvis Presley. Newcomer Katie Beth West has the charisma and screen presence of The King in her first film role. The story is a clever, accessible approach to timely concepts like gender identity, acceptance, conformity, parenting, and true to its title, no small measure of grace.
And in comic-earnest scenes with Grace’s teacher, Monique Coleman, Ryan isn’t afraid to skewer a morsel of progressive virtue-signaling along the way. GraceLand is a well-crafted look at gender issues through the lens of a fable. Whether or not you’re an Elvis Presley fan, you’ll be won over by the young Elvis who fills these blue suede shoes .

Human Terrain
Directed by Parisa Barani

I did not love this narrative short as much as I feel most viewers will. It’s a beautiful tale of ethics and relationship-building based on a real mission. The Human Terrain System embedded civilian social scientists with U.S. Armed Forces in the Iraq War to learn about the local culture and people. This short film explores an afternoon during which trust gradually extends between a Jewish-American anthropologist and a Muslim-Iraqui woman she seeks to understand.

The film’s production values are considerable — scenes would not look out of place in a major budget feature set in the Middle East. The takes are long, featuring middle shots and close-ups of the women’s conversation primarily within the apartment of the Muslim woman, a widow with her young son. In the beginning, the widow is in full face-covered hijab. As trust grows between the two women, both left asunder in this military world forcefully controlled by men, her face is gradually revealed. Her agenda, if she has one, is another matter.

The conflict of the film begins with the communication and trust barriers between the women, but once they have developed mutual respect and understanding, the film shifts suddenly to tension between the anthropologist and her assigned Army command, with issues of trust thrown back into the air, once again at risk among all parties.

My impatience with Human Terrain was for its immersive earnestness without ample space to breathe or laugh. I found its tone heavy, with a touch of self-importance; the film could have used some humanizing moments of levity or capriciousness. I cannot fault the acting, and the cinematography was terrific, but some contrasting emotional resonance would have been welcome.

Long Ride Home
Directed by Dame Pierre II

An affluent Black professional reluctantly takes an Uber to his nephew’s graduation party back in the hood where he grew up. What happens during and after that Uber ride between him and his driver dramatically alters his perspective on his own success.

Anyone who has taken an Uber or Lyft likely has had an experience with a chatty driver who seeks to make a connection with their rider, however short and superficial. This is one such experience.

At just over 7 minutes, Long Ride Home wastes no time establishing its characters. The film begins with an extended scene between Brandon (Charles Andrew Gardner) and his lawyer wife, Tiffany (Ambria Sylvain) in their upscale home’s sleek kitchen discussing how much he doesn’t want to go to his nephew’s graduation. “I always stick out there,” he tells his wife, who agrees.

But he goes, getting into an Uber driven by Malcolm (Byron Coolie), who is taken aback at how far into the hood they’re driving from this part of town, and comments admirably on his rider’s clear success making something more of himself than most men from his old neighborhood. The unexpected conversation and Malcolm’s personal disclosures Brandon discomfort. How he reacts to this driver, who’s struggling to work his way up in the world, is the meat and crux of the film, even though most of it takes place in the bottom third of those 7 minutes.

The short explores the stories we tell ourselves and others about ourselves, and how easily we compartmentalize and diminish the struggles of those not as far along the journey to success. It’s short and tight, and whacks a wallop of a gut-punch by the end. There’s an irony in Long Ride Home being such a short film, yet the distance it covers is not necessarily physical.

Marie Celeste
Written and directed by Tori Larsen

An acclaimed artist takes a young gallery employee working with her for the day under her spiritual tutelage, using rune stones to interpret her guest’s angst and intentions, imparting the wisdom of experience to her companion. Or so she thinks. Laden with meaningful, lingering looks, pregnant pauses, and sexual tension, this short excels at misdirection.

The acting is strong, the script clever, but the art direction and cinematography are the stars. Marie Celeste (Amanda Brugel), the older artist with the exotic accent and sensually slow demeanor, dwells in a lavishly appointed studio that literally glows with beauty. Candles provide ambient light, while plants and draping fabric and paintings and flowers that feel heavy with scent adorn every surface. Wine is poured into crystal glasses that catch the candlelight.

Marie Celeste’s would-be protege is Lucy (Madeline Brewer), an almost-mousy, almost-sexy young woman with giant eyes in an angular, peaked and worried face. The power dynamics are obvious, until they aren’t. At times it feels like the momentum drags, but by the climax the film has earned its slow build. Some things, we discover, take time to do right.

Long Time Listener, First Time Caller
Written and directed by Nora Kirkpatrick

Pleasantly quirky, Long Time Listener, First Time Caller introduces us to bored 1950s housewife Nan dancing with wild abandon … with her broom. In the next scene, she is sitting in what we learn is her recently deceased mother-in-law’s room, listening to the radio, when a bizarre show by a Mr. Mars comes on, seeming to speak directly to her and inviting her to call in with any question. Later, she’s meekly serving dinner to her working class husband, who is entirely consumed with the nightly game show playing on their little black and white TV perched on the counter. Within these three establishing scenes we understand our protagonist is a spirited woman with a sad and underwhelming life, unappreciated for her vivacity, creativity and humor, who suddenly finds herself with a strange and unprecedented outlet to ask her existential questions.

The narrative from writer-director Nora Kirkpatrick (better known for her acting work on episodic television like The Office) proceeds with unlikely humor and offers a much-needed touch of magical realism in Nan’s life. The developments aren’t entirely sensical, but that’s part of Long Time Listener, First Time Caller’s considerable charm. And while we think we understand the dynamics between the married couple, Kirkpatrick gives her characters more credit for being complex individuals than the bright and splashy palette of the film might have led us to assume. This film is playful and paints with a broad brush — or perhaps a broom — until it doesn’t. Then it takes a finer brush and fills in some details.

As Nan, Breeda Wool’s energy is highly reminiscent of Sound of Music-era Julie Andrews, I suspect, by design. She has that short red hair, combined with Maria’s vivacity and innocence and readiness to embrace life … if only her late mother-in-law’s magic radio will show her how. Entertaining and bold, a well-executed endeavor.

Single
Written and Directed by Ashley Eakin

The thing you remember about Single, described as an anti-romantic comedy, is the edgy defiance of its lead character. Kim (Delaney Feener) is a young single with a glam style, blonde bombshell good looks, and a suffer-no-fools, adversarial approach to the world. Also, she only has a single arm, her right arm amputated at the elbow. Why isn’t important.

Kim lives by a code. She treats people with at least civility until they cross the line. And that line is doing anything to treat her differently, especially pity her or treat her as compromised, just because she’s navigating life without both arms. Once they’ve made that mistake, they receive the full force of her considerable anger, usually to their utter shock. Does she come across as a bitch? Yes. Does she prefer that to being seen as a cripple? Absolutely.

Going on a blind date, Kim carefully drapes her faux leopard coat over her shoulders, masking her missing appendage. She removes it only when, with disgust, she realizes that she’s been set up on a blind date with another amputee. Jake (Jordan Wiseley) is missing one hand. He’s also missing Kim’s anger at the world. Jake takes her attitude in stride, gamely determined to see where this date takes them, even when she tries to skip out on it by calling an Uber to pick her up in the alley.

It’s a combative date, but as the night unfolds, so does a grudging respect. She’s confronted with someone who deals with his disability in an entirely different way. Writer-director Ashley Eakin is careful to draw no conclusions about whose approach is right or wrong, or tie everything up with a bow. Life’s messy, this film says, but people are complex and interesting.

It’s startling and refreshing to see amputees in lead roles. Feener’s and Wiseley’s acting is superb, conveying their opposite personalities while balancing something between them that’s not quite chemistry, but becomes closer to rapport. And Kim’s righteous anger underscores that even well-meaning attitudes towards the disabled can cause harm when they are tinged with pity. What people wan — all people, no matter how many limbs they do or don’t have — is equal respect and parity in their interactions. Kim wants people to respect her ability to navigate the world without all the advantages others have, and Jake wants Kim to respect that he has a different, but equally valid, way of interacting with the world.

There’s only one false note in the film to me, and it comes in the opening scene. After that, the script takes off and the performances sell it. Single is an entertaining, eye-opening film with more than a singular point of view.