I'm not the biggest fan of short films, but when I like a director a lot I tend to search out their early work. Alexandre Aja, (The Hills Have Eyes, Haute Tension,) is an up-and-coming horror filmmaker that pushes extremes and all the right scary buttons along the way. Knowing that and having seen his work after this, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
This is one strange little film. The grainy black and white look is used to interesting effect with very solid camera work and art direction by Aja's constantly used and very consistent Grégory Levasseur.
The opening scene is that of a rather obese woman being attacked from the POV of the attacker. Nothing graphic, but immediately after the scene is over with we see somebody preparing a meal. They take a big bite out of a slab of meat, chew, pause, and remove a woman's wedding ring from their mouth.
There's a mordant sense of humor here that, although I wouldn't consider this really a comedy, is obvious. After that we are introduced to an aging man, (Jean Benguigui,) who if you passed on the street, wouldn't stand out in the least.
His neighbors, a group of raucous older women, are passing around a petition to evict him because they believe he has kidnapped the woman from the opening scene.
A young woman, (Carine Yvart,) lives in the same apartment building. On her way up to her apartment after buying a piece of cake, the cannibal upstairs offers her a bouquet of fresh flowers purchased from a blind man on the street. She flees after remembering what her neighbors have told her, and the man, crushed, leaves the flowers on her doorstep and steps on a toy heart he has found outside.
What happens next I won't spoil, but this was an entertaining little short worth watching. Considering the fact that it's free to view on the internet, I highly recommend it.
"Over the Rainbow" is available to view here, and is in French with English subtitles: http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=148239
This is one strange little film. The grainy black and white look is used to interesting effect with very solid camera work and art direction by Aja's constantly used and very consistent Grégory Levasseur.
The opening scene is that of a rather obese woman being attacked from the POV of the attacker. Nothing graphic, but immediately after the scene is over with we see somebody preparing a meal. They take a big bite out of a slab of meat, chew, pause, and remove a woman's wedding ring from their mouth.
There's a mordant sense of humor here that, although I wouldn't consider this really a comedy, is obvious. After that we are introduced to an aging man, (Jean Benguigui,) who if you passed on the street, wouldn't stand out in the least.
His neighbors, a group of raucous older women, are passing around a petition to evict him because they believe he has kidnapped the woman from the opening scene.
A young woman, (Carine Yvart,) lives in the same apartment building. On her way up to her apartment after buying a piece of cake, the cannibal upstairs offers her a bouquet of fresh flowers purchased from a blind man on the street. She flees after remembering what her neighbors have told her, and the man, crushed, leaves the flowers on her doorstep and steps on a toy heart he has found outside.
What happens next I won't spoil, but this was an entertaining little short worth watching. Considering the fact that it's free to view on the internet, I highly recommend it.
"Over the Rainbow" is available to view here, and is in French with English subtitles: http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=148239
