Check Please: awkward romantic situation comedy with unattractive characters
Daniel Sorochkin, “Check Please” (2015) A man, Ben (Bryan Manley Davis), takes his girlfriend Laura (Amelia Brain) to evening dinner at a swish restaurant, planning to…
Short films
Fill Your Heart with French Fries: dark comedy about grief, social media celebrity and exploitation
Tamar Glezerman, “Fill Your Heart with French Fries” (2016) Based on an actual incident in China, in which a woman jilted by her boyfriend ended up…
Trunk Space: familiar and predictable story and plot elements redeemed by good performances
Max Silver, “Trunk Space” (2016) As surely as the sun rises in the east, birds fly in the sky and fish swim in the oceans, so…
Last Requests: quiet naturalistic character study gives insight into US prison culture and the people it exploits
Courtenay Johnson, “Last Requests” (2017) A sombre character study of a prison worker on her last day in a program that supplies last-request meals to death…
Azarkant: a good-looking sci-fi piece short on plot and character
Andrey Klimov, “Azarkant” (2013) Made as a proof-of-concept piece for a film, “Azarkant” understandably is short on plot and character to the extent that it plays…
End of Decay: pulpy body-horror adaptation of Frankenstein story
Christopher Todd, “End of Decay” (2017) A pulpy body-horror update on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” novel, this short film has the sketchy and…
Lucid: horror sci-fi dealing with cyber-addiction, escapism and technology shaping human psychology
Jamie Monahan, “Lucid” (2018) The film’s title refers to so-called lucid dreams in which the dreamer is aware that s/he is dreaming, that the action in…
Outpost: a skimpy plot redeemed by skillful acting, good sets and an uplifting theme of hope and love
Justin Giddings, Ryan Welsh, “Outpost” (2020) On the very edge of the known universe, the last survivor of Earth’s Interplanetary Diplomatic Service, a fellow known as…
Laws of the Universe: justice working out in mysterious ways
Chris Mangano, “Laws of the Universe” (2019) As is usually the case with sci-fi film shorts uploaded to Youtube by DUST, this film makes up for…
North American Films, Southeast Asian Films
The American Military Retreat from Vietnam: a general history of the prolonged end of the Vietnam War
Carlton Meyer, “The American Military Retreat from Vietnam” (Tales of the American Empire, 19 June 2020) This video serves mainly as a retelling of the significant…