At the Hen and Chicken Theatre, Highbury and Islington, James Wren hosted a movie night showing four short films produced by his company, Four Mad Weeks, which consists of himself, Alan Freestone and Fergus March.
The Monster
Monster is a classic monster-is-being-judged-for-his-appearanc-but-is-actually-the-most-human type story.
There are some deliberate stylistic choices, especially when filming the shots inside the film studio, it plays with old school horror conventions and has fun with them.
It is revealed right at the start that the man who plays the monster in the horror film isn’t in costume but is actually a monster who’s career has gone downhill and now plays in low budget movies. The lead actress, Madeline, acknowledges how he’s been acting for long before she was in the industry (and probably alive) giving us the exposition we need to understand how he got there without it feeling forced.
Everyone, apart from the lead actress, has adverse reactions to him, a group of boys taking it as far as literally stabbing him like he’s a prop. His normally sweet nature fades as he looks like he might kill the boy who stabbed him but Madeline emerges and restores his demeanour. The lack of humanity he is treated with honestly makes me sad and is reminiscent how how people who deformities beyond their control were treated like “freaks” and exhibited for the public’s enjoyment in the Victorian era.
Though kissing the monster on the cheek Madeline never makes it explicit whether she is romantically inclined towards him and when teased about their relation she doesn't clarify, which upsets the monster who overhears.
After the director, who has previously made fun of the monster, yells at him he goes batshit and ends up killing the whole crew. It escalates pretty fast but it doesn't feel inappropriate. The sfx are pretty good for a short film, and the team bypass hardcore gore scenes by changing the perspective to the camera which the film crew were using to film the horror movie.
Overall a decent short film, not horror per say but I enjoyed it more than most shorts I've seen.
Godless
Godless is based of another film under the same name which had a irate reaction from religious people who gave their opinion before seeing the film itself, which never actually tried to disprove the existence of God explained James Wren.
There are two subplots in this short: the crew who made the film and a man who can disprove the existence of God.
The crew (Julian, Jane, Marcus and Gareth) are cornered inside a building by a rioting crowd. There are clips reviewing the film throughout the short, most negative. A news report which the crew watch (a cool short where we can see through the translucent monitor and see the outline of a new anchor as well as the crew's reaction) explains how people from every religion are coming together to fight the blasphemous film.
Julian starts to explain to the others the power they hold, they have united religions which have been in conflict for years.
"We've touched a nerve in the very core of existence"
The rest of the crew, but Marcus, believe him. They believe they are invincible: "we are God". Like prophets they exit the building to speak to their follower... who attack them. They were in fact not invincible.
The other subplot is about a man who has proof that God doesn't exist. He wants to release the information regardless of the risk.
He is engulfed by a black mist and taken into void where he monologues about the creation of the universe and believes he is God... I don't really understand what this means or its relevance.
The film was visually interesting, with the different media used for the review displays, the disrupted shots that build tension and good effects - even if they don't entirely make sense to me.
It's a decent watch but not something I would write home about
Final Curtain
This short focuses on a young upcoming actor, Reece, and a washed up writer/director, Olly, who's accepting his career is coming to an end.
The film skips between time, from a few weeks before the premier to a few hours before the show where they argue about a line in the script and how it should be delivered. The shots from the earlier timeline are recorded on Reece's iphone as vlogs which we can tell from the change in quality and typical turn-on-camera-and-reposition shots. The short keeps switching between them practicing and talking where Olly confesses his suicidal intentions to Reece which go right over his head as he encourages him.
They finally perform their show to empty seats, the slow pan up the seats painfully emphasizing how badly Olly's career has ended up. There is a montage of light hearted unrelated scenes, some mentioning dinosaurs and other's about a love interest which makes the audience understand just why no one wanted to take on the script as mentioned earlier on in the short.
After they finish performing Greyscale photos of London slowly flash on the screen as Olly records himself saying goodbye. The footage pulls on your heart strings. The silence is so loud after his final words, especially because you are forced to imagine what he is going to do next.
A really touching and relatable piece for many artists out there.
Silent Country
Probably my favourite of the bunch, silent Country follows two men escaping something through a heavily wooded area.
The short Is filled with beautiful panoramic shots of their surroundings accompanied by apt acoustic music.
The audience is forced to question everything the characters are talking about, getting bits and pieces of the story but never enough to fully illustrate what happened.
Both men end up dead. In spite of the 7 minute run, I was attached to the pair and the sudden change of pace as we let our guard down and decode what they are saying feels like the ultimate portrayal.
Absolutely obsessed with this one.
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