God of Love – Certainly a competent film, and the resolution is cute (though the actual 3 month frame seems unnecessary), but there’s no real substance here. While there’s opening for serious discussion (or visual meditation at least) on the idea of love, this really just plays with a very simple idea—cupid’s darts as a reality—and, well, doesn’t go much further than that. This is all surface, though it’s a nice enough surface… black and white when it doesn’t have to be, but looking nice in the execution.
Na Wewe – A nice idea (assuming I took from it what the filmmakers wanted me to), a potentially violent situation, armed men dividing Hutus from Tutsis, clearly intent on executing one group. But, then it’s played almost for laughs for a bit as it turns out each person is actually neither Hutu nor Tutsi… even their potential executioner can’t tell them apart. And, when one of them turns out to be a Tutsi, it comes to a long past connection between his father and the head of the armed men, and U2 music, to give him the chance to escape. There’s potential here, if it was taken even more for laughs, but inevitably it has to come back to drama in the end—afterall, life and death are on the line—and I think it would have been better served making the situation, racial distinctions that most the world couldn’t even recognize let alone care about, to absurd levels.
The Crush – Pleasant from the start, The Crush gives us a boy in love with his teacher, and drops us into the middle of the action, as he gives her a ring and understands that might just mean they are now engaged… until he meets her fiancé and wants to prove himself the better man. The movie’s available on itunes, and I would recommend watching it, so I won’t get into much detail further in, as it will spoil the film. Instead, I’ll mention a challenge to duel to the death, laughingly accepted until a gun’s involved… and still the film remains cute and upbeat.
The Confession – With his first confession coming, a boy realizes he doesn’t know what he’s done that is worth confessing. So, he and his friend set out to commit a small prank that abruptly turns into something far worse… I’m simplifying it, but I’m trying not to give much away. It’s a great little film, with two young boys as the leads. But, I don’t know if it can win. The Crush is more pleasant, and Wish 143 is more… encompassing (if that makes any sense).
Wish 143 – A teenage boy dying from cancer gets a visit from a make-a-wish-foundation-ish guy and his big wish is to lose his virginity. His story makes the paper, which gets him a few visits from his minister and one from an old girlfriend. There’s prostitutes involved, and even one of the minister’s friends… but again, I’d rather people watch this one than I go through the plot (all of the nominated shorts are on itunes). There isn’t any great style to the filmmaking here, but like The Crush, like The Confession, this is a good little film. I’ve seen better, but I’ve seen far worse. In the end, this isn’t a movie about a teenager seeking sex; it’s far from being that shallow. It’s worth your time, and, probably, worth the Oscar I think it might get tomorrow.
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