I went to the Cork International Film Festival 2022! Here are one-line thoughts on the shorts I saw:
Cinecocnert shorts
The Astronomer’s Dream: Directed by a magician, still have that bit of magic a century or two later. 9
Steamboat Willie: Can never get over watching this that Mickey Mouse can actually be funny, even with the animal abuse. 8
The Skeleton Dance: This is cute and I love this style of animation so sold on this adorable little slice o’ spook. 7
Cops: Buster Keaton didn’t try to murder himself onscreen this time, still good for a larf. 7
A Trip to the Moon: Come for the film history, stay for the impeccable new score orchestrated live while we watched. 10
Family Friendly Shorts
Laika & Nemo: Cute little story of finding common grounds across from peers, even if it’s a little slow in parts. 6
Don’t Blow it Up: Cute premise, charming animation, does the trick. 7
The Most Boring Granny in the World: Melancholic and charming, I think we can all relate to this no matter our relationship with our grandparents. 8
Colour!: I loved the mundanity combined with the spectacle. A really cool way to depict embracing differences and what makes you special can be passed on and made anew. 9
Fundamentals of Art: Really charming and quaint, the ending really hooked me. 8
Mortimer and the Vanishings: Animation here stood out to me more than the story. It’s imaginative in the least and presentation goes far for a short. 7
Irish Shorts 1: In Competition
Make Up: I liked the no-cut style of this but the story was kind of dry to me. Nothing amazing. 5
Thicker Than Water: The atmosphere and tension here is great and the sisters are super relatable, great depiction of grief. 9
Bean Feasa/Wise Woman: This starts off interesting enough but I drifted pretty fast. I really didn’t gel with whatever it was going for. 4
The Comet: This one is just dumb and weird and I didn’t grasp it at all. Trying way too hard to be more shocking and provocative than it is. 3
Irish Shorts 2: In Competition
Woof Woof: Strange little short but not terribly memorably so-as in I’m struggling to recall it even now. 4
Atali’o Le Cezent/Sons of the Crezent: Cool little spoken word poem with a lot of reflection on contemporary Ireland, dug it. 7
Lure: Decent reflection on alcoholism, though not anything I haven’t seen before. 6
Poulaphouca: Solid visuals and well paced but I’d be lying if I said it really stuck with me. 5
Tar Anseo/Come Here: I enjoyed the difficult and wirey narrative of this one but it didn’t entirely stick the landing. Still worth a gander. 6
Lowland: Visual poetry kind of films either click with me or they do not. This did not. 4
The Rewilding: Visual poetry kind of films either click with me or they don’t. This one did! Had a pure folklorique vibe that really stuck with me. 7
Irish Shorts 3: Pure Cork
Scatterbrains: Twist was clever but it was a lot of set up for not a massive amount of payoff. 6
A Boated Roof: This was charming and a nice look at the visual architecture of our city we’d take for granted. 7
The Town Still Talks About You: Powerful and strikingly honest. I really dug the way they presented such a personal story of loss and anger. 8
A City Under Quiet Lights: Some decent music but is better suited just playing the performances independently than making them a movie. 4
Do-Gooders: Cute and doesn’t take itself remotely seriously I just didn’t think it was as funny or smart as it thought it was. 6
International Shorts: Online Selection
Ghosts: Fun little art installation with a spooky theme if not anything utterly groundbreaking in thought or form. 6
Tria: Anxiety inducing and tragic-has a tinge of portentousness that really sits badly with me. 8
The Calling: Another cool trippy anxiety-inducing piece with the grounding of chronic illness and perpetual fear hanging over it. 7
Haulout: A bit long in the tooth for the premise but charming in its own way and some really good blocking for the…amount that’s on the frame. 6
Raticide: Crazy quirky and genuinely engaging in how offbeat it is-lots of shorts I’ve seen try what this is going for but it really works here. 9
Blue Has No Dimensions: This was depressing and a bit too relatable-likely what they were going for it didn’t make this an easy watch. 8
The Spiral: Kind of got what this was going for but it didn’t do a lot for me in presentation sadly. 4
Peace Off: Funny and deliberately odd but kind left me a bit cold. Puns. 5
Not My Home: Gets that frantic feeling and is handsomely shot but did little for me otherwise. 6
The Fence: Enjoyed the paranoia and gallows humour here, decently made little short. 7
Exterior Day: This will probably be more up your alley if you have a greater fondness for Italian movies than I. It’s…fine. 6
We Love Life: This was really fascinating and gave an interesting look at a strange time in history, kudos to how uniquely they framed what is essentially slicing together footage. 9
Not Today: Very foreboding in places but a bit too all over the place for me to gel with. 5
The Debutante: I really tried to get this one but I just didn’t-the animation is decent but I didn’t care for it otherwise. 4
For my thoughts on the features I saw at Cork International Film Festival click here
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