Melbourne International Film Festival 2023: Shorts

The best film festival in Australia is back onsite and online. As usual, it’s a fantastic mix of local and foreign talent spread across every conceivable genre and format. This year I’ve chosen a mix of features, documentaries and some incredible shorts. 

The short film selection at MIFF is never less than stellar and this year’s selection didn’t buck the trend. Here are some of my favorites from the festival.

Linda 4 Eva (Sophie Somerville)

An incredibly creative short in which 14-year-old Linda asks “Why am I a piece of shit?” 

There’s no greater movie villain than adolescence and puberty, and Linda 4 Eva shows the battle one girl is fighting to deal with mothers, boys, other girls, and her own intrusive and unhelpful thoughts. 

Linda 4 Eva is staged like a school play with homemade props and little stage decorations. After all, we’re in a schoolgirl’s head and we see her thoughts as straight-to-camera monologues, lectures, and talk show appearances. 

The awkwardness of first dates, beach trips, kisses, and oversharing mothers is depicted with teeth-gritting cringe and by the end you can’t help but hope Linda grows up alright.    

Development (Rebecca Metcalf)

There’s something inherently dangerous about suburban living that we all know about but don’t talk about. Every true crime story seems to be set in a quiet street in a lovely neighborhood where no one expects violence and yet, it always finds its way in.

Development is about that violence and the boredom and flatness of living in a house surrounded by other half-built houses on some soulless suburban development out in the middle of nowhere. 

It’s a love story of sorts between teens breaking the rules and working out how to be young and in love while remaining cool and detached. It’s a slow burn that culminates in something horrible anchored by incredibly realistic performances by Jennifer Elliott and Finn Woodlock as the young lovers. Both loving the other but still not fluent in the language needed to express it.

Generations of Men (Joanna Joy)

The first film to ever feature the Barada and Darumbal languages, Generations of Men is about the price women pay for a man’s search for a place in the world. It depicts a family traveling into the unknown in colonial Australia before having to stop when the mother of the family goes into labor. 

The scenes of the mother giving birth dominate the piece and are unflinching and realistic. This is no push twice, have a scream, then give birth to a perfect-looking child while you’ve got no hairs out of place. This is the long, painful, deadly slog of giving birth in the middle of nowhere and hoping for the best. 

A gorgeous, sad short, Generations of Men puts women – white and black – center stage in a cruel and harsh environment.

Earthlings (Jamie Lawrence)

Earthlings has the feel of something from The Brothers Grimm or Neil Gaiman. A fairy tale happening in the suburbs with strange people making a brief connection. And while nothing hugely cinematic or mind-blowing happens, every frame feels doused in the fantastic.

A teenager seemingly living alone in the back of beyond stumbles upon a hairy man whom she takes care of. Light on dialogue and heavy on atmosphere, this is a simple story of unexpected connection and magic in a modern world that often leans towards the predictable and cynical. 

Driven by excellent performances from Chloe Parker and Elliot Lloyd-Bell, Earthlings is a lovely little story that leaves you wanting more from these characters and their connection. It also leaves you craving more from the filmmakers who created them. 

Jia (Vee Shi)

This one will knock you to the floor. It is undiluted grief in the wake of a young man’s sudden death. A mother travels from China to Australia to meet the roommate of her deceased son and to travel with him, reenacting a road trip the son had taken. Along the way, she deposits soil from his village at spots where he stopped.

Complicating matters for her is the discovery that the roommate was her son’s boyfriend and his grief is as palpable as hers, even if she does not like the discovery she has made.

Filmed with an intimacy and warmth that puts you right next to the characters, you can’t help but feel the depths of their pain. Beautiful throughout, it reaches a wonderfully cathartic crescendo that never feels close to melodrama.

Fuck Me, Richard (Lucy McKendrick and Charlie Polinger)

While recovering from a broken leg, lovelorn loner, Sally turns to the dating apps for connection. There she finds the wonderful Richard and begins a long-distance relationship with him through their phones. Eventually, however, Richard begins to ask her for money for an operation his mother needs and gradually the lines blur between who is possibly scamming who.

In the wake of Covid lockdowns, Fuck Me, Richard gives us an all-too-familiar premise: loneliness, living online, and trifling loser-ass f*ck boys who think women are stupid. 

Lucy McKendrick and Charlie Polinger’s movie turns that on its head, creating a dreamy, painkiller-infused cat-and-mouse story between a possible scammer and a bored, horny woman.

Witty, sexy, unpredictable, Fuck Me, Richard is a very fun story about seeking connection and then having some fun with that connection when it reveals itself to maybe be scamming you out of money. 

Grain of Truth (Marcus Gale)

This one came out of nowhere and was a favorite of the festival for me. A short, wonderfully made piece of found footage sci-fi, Grain of Truth is an investigation into the disappearance of Francis Wright, a woman known for having filmed UAP/UFO encounters on her Super 8 camera.

The dedication to verisimilitude is done so well, that it is only towards the end of the piece that it is more obvious what we’re watching is fictional. For a short that shows a lot of footage of flying lights and UFOs that is no small task as we’re shown the incredible straightaway but in such a way that it feels absolutely real.

Director Marcus Gale is a talent to watch as the blending of genres and forms, gorgeous scenery, and excellent effects work found in Grain of Truth as predictions of a talent we’re going to see much more of in the coming years. 

Crushing Season (James Ivor)

A short, gut punch of a crime movie about the cost of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and how you survive that kind of thing. Tim is a former NRL player who happens to witness a violent crime and finds himself being interviewed by a hostile police officer.

At the same time, we flash back to him walking with a mate before he’s summoned to talk to a local gang who proceed to intimidate and mock him under the guise of “just having a laugh”. 

Tension and fear drip off every frame as we wait for a hammer, any hammer, to drop as poor Tim is stuck in the talons of his bleak surroundings, an athletic failure, and a gang who may or

may not be involved in the violent crime that kicks things off.

Writer/Director/Star James Ivor lingers on shots to keep us uncomfortable and lets the soundtrack build and build until it’s almost unbearable. I can imagine seeing Crushing Season again adapted into a feature-length somewhere down the line as it exudes talent and feels like the beginning (or ending) of a richer story.