As what may be a harbinger of the 2015 edition of the Palm Springs International ShortFest, the best film of the opening night montage had its funny moments but stood far apart from its colleagues in almost every other aspect.
Love Is Blind
Dan Hodgson
7 min. 
As accessibility issues become more entrenched—and positively dealt with in the 21st century—what fun it mostly was to see Alice (Sophie Allen) and her recent fuck buddy (Will Best) have coitus most definitely interuptus with the early arrival of her main man (Ace Mahbaz) who—conveniently, at first—is deaf. The three-way, snappy dialogue that, apparently, only two can hear is the production’s most adept feature, but the payoff belies the predictability of any large body of mankind being able to stay silent for more than 10 seconds. JWR
The Man From the Council
Barnaby Southcombe
8 min. 
Bookended by perhaps a not so innocent ten-year-old boy, this mustachioed hit man saga—with the first of two appearances by the lower clarinet family in this set, this time hued in jazz—has one twist too many as the bodies pile up. Retitling it The Trouble With Harry would not be amiss. (Or more probably, Get Carter 2.)
JWR
De Smet
Wim Geudens, Thomas Baerten
10 min. 
The most humourous entry of the night, chronicled three brothers living in cookie cutter houses, driving red, white and blue same-model autos, rolling one another’s cigarettes en masse and winning every gambling trophy that the local pub had on offer.
But family matters were soon torn apart with the arrival of a busty neighbour (Jessica Zeylmaker) just across the way who most certainly wasn’t interested in a family foursome.
Once Nico (Tom Audenaert) had his way with her (no secrets, again, in a small town), it fell to his siblings to clear the decks with an explosive reaction most foul. But before you could say “Why is there a body builder’s magazine being, er, read with such enthusiasm?”—more subtlety here might have lifted the production to the highest level—a Hulk Hogan knockoff moves in to replace the buxom beauty, kindling an historical remake that could find its way back to Ireland (i.e., “We fight because we always have”) JWR
Mini Supreme
Michael Phillis
8 min.
After being unceremoniously fired by Corporate America, what’s a despondent man to do? Why step into his cupcake dress, apply makeup and become seven-year-old Jenni-Jo, hoping to mask the extra height (but perhaps not the five-o’clock stubble) as an extreme vagary of a rare growth disorder.
From there, Phillis (who also plays Jenni-Jo) develops a bit of a cautionary tale about beauty pageants and child exploitation that makes its points with style and innocence, employing the girl who didn’t have the resources to buy a new dress (and cruelly laughed at by one and all for that sartorial faux pas) to speak the mantra: “You only lose if you quit.”
Very little quit here. JWR
The Age of Insecurity: Little Men
Adriano Valentini
13 min.
What fun that the challenges of height also form the basis of Valentini’s ongoing study of insecurity. Just for laughs (and there are many), he conjures up a trio of little people (Carmine Di Benedetto, Ben Seaward, Paul Palmeri) who—via the ever-dangerous procedure of online dating—invite three hot looking women over for drinks (and more, who’s kidding whom?), only to discover these Internet beauties (Emily Kincaid, Sara Emami, Julia Reiss) towering so far above that their well-endowed chests preclude a view of their faces when looking up.
After one couple lies together on the rug (and finally able to have a more or less face-to-face conversation), getting shagged has never had a deeper meaning.
The short and long of Alex Field’s cinematography binds everything believably together. JWR
Warning Labels
Jennifer Morrison
14 min.
After serenading the ear with a few measures of Mozart’s subliminal Concerto for Clarinet (rendered on the basset horn, yum yum), neophyte director Morrison seems to have too much narrative scope and storyline device (people labelling themselves taken to the extreme; working in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into the metaphor) from Jenelle Riley ’s script to satisfactorily squeeze into a short.
Enjoy it for its many moments of fun, but let’s hope a feature will soon be in the works for this filmmaker of promise. JWR
Albertine
Alexis van Stratum
20 min.
How curious that this gem about the difficulties of old age (which are so lovingly captured both by the script—Stratum along with Grégory Lecoq—and the principals—Jacqueline Staup masterfully captures every nuance of the title role while Bernard Jouseet brings a playful elegance playing the helpful neighbour who singlehandedly reignites Albertine’s passion and joie de vivre) should be in the company of films designed to tickle the funny bone rather than using humour as just one small element of the larger whole which becomes a memorable love story of the first rank.
This, more accurately, belongs in the category of “Make ‘Em Cry, Make ‘Em Think.” JWR