2 posts tagged “movies”
You don’t have to brave the hype and cold of Sundance to spot the next generation of cinematic talent. The festival’s organizers have mounted a virtual film festival of unprecedented scope, with 46 dramatic, documentary, and animated short films that you can watch online free of charge.
The first batch got posted late yesterday (more will be added every day through January 21), including Happiness — not to be confused with the current Will Smith feature — which is about a spinster who visits a shop near her New York home and buys a mysterious sealed box that’s simply labeled Happiness.
It’s a beautifully shot film with precious little dialogue. And since it’s only 11 minutes long, we won’t say anything more about it other than that it’s sort of the anti–Sex and the City and that it captures the hopeful hollowness of contemporary consumer culture with the sweet, sad precision of Lost in Translation.
Complete list of short films and their online premiere dates.
Showing someone getting shot in the head is fine, but suggested oral sex? Nope (Boys Don’t Cry). A fully-clothed character admitting she masturbates twice a day? Not allowed (Jersey Girl). Doggie-style sex between puppets? Forget it (Team America).
In Kirby Dick’s wry documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated (out on DVD 1/23), you get to see not only the above supposedly naughty bits (which prompted, respectively, initial NC-17, R, and NC-17 ratings), but spy on some of the ultrasecretive Motion Picture Association of America censors themselves — Dick hired a private eye to hunt them down. (Spoiler: They’re a bunch of yahoos.)
Why does it matter? As various blindsided filmmakers explain in interviews, studios routinely force them to recut their work to get a “better” rating — because, for instance, NC-17 movies are harder to distribute.
Prepare to be offended by what the MPAA thinks is offensive (e.g., female sexual pleasure).
By the way, missionary-style puppet sex? That’s fine.
