Tribeca Film Festival 2019 Short Films Report #2

When you can’t seem to satisfy your need for short films, plan to hit up the Tribeca Film Festival – there is never a shortage of content to satisfy the palette. Here is my second recap of some of the short films I had the opportunity to see this year!

Hook Up 2.0 – Dana Nachman

Is it bad that this concept is an intriguing one? So, what if you you could have the ultimate protection for consensual sex, all parties included, with additional incentives to encourage participation in the program? Well, Hookup 2.0 presents just that.

As two young adults are about to engage in a party hookup, the young sorority girl (Veronica Dunne) disengages, inviting the young gentleman to enrol in her app, filling him on the opportunity the she hopes will change the casual hook up forever. Her new program allows for both parties to not only guarantee consensual sex by signing an agreement and allowing video recording, but also provides info about the person they are about intimate relations with, as well as allowing for pornographic opportunities for financial gain in the future. Don’t worry, there are safeguards if you as a participant are against that.

It all seems too perfect to be true! That is until the sorority girl receives a notification that he is not worth the hook up based on his star rating system, unveiling the downside of the program – knowledge. Hookup 2.0 is an ingenuous look at solutions to the problems surrounding hookups, both consensual and nonconsensual. It also shows what may need to be sacrificed in the future by simply disrespecting your potential partner in the present, whether it be ignoring a “no” or falsely reporting for personal gain. The only way we can be 100% sure of mutual agreement is through video recording and agreements – all which will come with their own price.

Dana Nachman delivers this precisely executed short, utilizing the medium to its full potential. Her unique vision towards a common societal issue remains one of the more humorous and insightful attempts since the #Metoo movement began. While wholly unrealistic, it’s isn’t the craziest idea out there.

Westfalia – Haley Finnegan

This is a cry to the millennials, the groups of individuals whose lives are dictated by their social media accounts. Those who prefer to have others live their life, rather than truly live it themselves, as well as those who find the successes in incorporating it within their lives. While the former is the focal point of the short, the latter is just as potent, quietly intertwining in comparison.

While entertaining, there was a sadness to Westfalia (named for the camper our couple utilizes during their camping trip), a truth that speaks louder than film. As this young couple (Haley Finnegan and Brian Flynn) plans their entire life around their followers and quantity of likes, they begin to loose sight of each other, the spark between them fading to annoyance. While missing each other, they also miss the sights and sounds around then, the opportunities they have engulfed themselves in. They live for the 6 am photo shoot, but enjoy little around them when it is over.

They also miss out on the opportunities they could be having together. Mimicking the successes of others and leading lives dictated by likes, they miss out on the things they might truly enjoy together. They also miss out on creating their own experiences, ones whose truth and richness could translate more effectively through their social media applications. Westfalia, from director, writer and star Haley Finnegan, is a short film packed with perspective and caution, one that embraces the social media lifestyle, yet warns of what it could become.

I Think She Likes You – Bridey Elliott

Let me set the scene. You go to the bar alone with the hope tonight you get lucky, meeting the match of your dreams. Strangely enough, tonight seems to be the night, a young hot beautiful woman approaching you. But if that wasn’t enough, she also has a friend. Now, imagine this evening you have envisioned, take it in. But oops, you have been the bait in a revenge game between these two lovers. Oops!

As matters of the heart begin to resolve, other more physical aspects begin to arise as coping kicks into gear. I Think She Likes Me was definitely one of the funnier shorts I had the opportunity to see, one that speaks to our growing diversity and culture.

Peggy – Justin O’Neal Miller

I hate you Peggy!

Isn’t it unbelievably annoying when the person who gets under your skin seems to have everything go their way – every.single.time. Well that is Peggy (Sarah Blackman). In a successfully executed short utilizing the commonly mishandled voiceover, Peggy brings together a community of adults as they attend the birthday party of Peggy’s son.

There is such a relate ability  to Peggy, the voice overs of the parents almost as if they are the children, their thoughts, anxieties and reactions reflecting what is happening before them. Many of these we have felt and expressed ourselves. And as the events at the birthday party escalate, so too does the understanding that Peggy is literally unbeatable, a constant force to be tolerated – and no one will ever live up to her level.

Justin O’Neal Miller brings this perfect short film to audiences with precise execution, leaving viewers with thoughts of last year’s successful film Tag. While this perfectly fits with in the constrains of a short film, there is potential that this could be built into a larger concept, potentially providing the comedy of childhood in adult form. Based off this short alone, I would give that idea a shot.

Hard-ish Bodies – Mike Carreon

This was a hard one to write, though not because the short was bad, rather it was too funny not to keep chuckling as I type. With it’s Reno 911 feel, Hard-ish Bodies from writer and director Mike Carreon is a short film I would definitely love to see expanded upon in the future. There is potential for a TV Series or feature film here, one that I think will translate to variety of audiences. For now, we will have to cherish what we already have.

Hard-ish Bodies is an interesting take on the concept of mistaken identity. A stripper, whose body is “hard-ish”, knocks on the wrong door. Expecting to “arrest” the bachelorette, he is instead mistaken initially for a cop, and thrown into a criminal underworld – presently in a “kidnap-torture for information” kind of situation. As he pleads his way out, trying all he can to convince them he is not a cop, he finds his talent is his only salvation, dancing and hypnotizing his captors in letting their guard down. The payoff, his freedom and more money than he had ever earned in a single night, saving his life and his strip club.

This was the biggest surprise of the festival, when it started there was no way of knowing where this short was going to go, and the ride along was thoroughly enjoyable. There is a plethora of short films that have me screaming for more, but I need more Hard-ish Bodies, STAT!

Lady Hater – Alexandra Barreto

All she wanted was a yoga lesson. What was suppose to be a relaxing meditative exercise quickly turns into a downward spiral of hate and judgement – all led by the classes leading Goddess. As the young “guy’s girl” (Allyn Rachel) tries to depart the class, this womanly godlike environment where any one can unleash the goddess within, her lack of comfort with the class is questioned by all in the room.

Why does she not like the same things as all the other women? In an instant, her own individuality and perspective on the world is thrown into question, picked apart and deemed unworthy. She does not fight for women’s rights, instead encompassing someone who prevents the goddess from within from flourishing. She is a bad egg in a sea of divinity.

Though, as awkward as the situation maybe, the young woman begins to question the goddess leading the class, reversing the downward spiral on herself, instead unleashing it on the room. A woman may be fickle, but they find truths in ridicule and acceptance. There is a unity that comes from the vulnerability in the room, an airing of truth and a break down of a presumed way of life and being. The beauty is not in the goddess within, or exhibiting what we think others want, but instead being ourselves and finding the confidence to own it.

Storm – Will Kindrick

Storm from writer and director Will Kindrick felt like it could be the start of a Black Mirror episode, while at the same time had me recalling another film premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this year called Leftover Woman – where marriage is strongly encouraged early and the government actually funds dating events t meet your match. There is a fear that radiates from Storm, the fear of being alone. From this fear comes the need for control, a need that is swiftly and effectively put into place by the government.

In a time when the government has regulated dating throughout the country, you are given an app to find you perfect match, one you can not meet unless the program determines there is a 100% compatibility. If after a year you re unable to find your match, the government will help transition you to a permanent single life. Doesn’t sound daunting or anything right? On his final night, time running out, one user (John Bubniak) desperately tries to find his match. Just as it seems he has not run out of time, he drops the device in the tub. Retrieving it, he finds himself lunging through a splash of worlds, until he comes across a woman who has been experiencing the same malfunction. though before they connect they are ripped apart, destined to be alone.

Storm is a cute and interesting short, the flood of emotions in finding your person, only to be met with the fear that they may not be the right one or that you might loose them, the words and opinions and judgements of others weighing down on you. Storm will be hit many audiences, a relate ability transcending screen and finding a home in the minds and hearts of its audience.