When Nix reviewed the remnants of one of his own student films now put to music, he invited his fellow reviewers to take a stab at it themselves. Any creator even remotely worth any salt needs to start by being their own biggest critic, so it looks like Nix fits the bill in regards to being the first to call his own short film crap. With that out of the way, I thought I’d take a shot at it and see what I can say about Forest (not to be confused with the old H.O.P.E.L.E.S.S. “love to hate it” classic The Forest; a backwoods cannibalism ghost story that puts the “ass” in “classic”…) as an entity of judgment separate from the video and it’s cast and/or crew. As such, let’s take a trip through Forest and see what we can flush out!
First off, I dig the look and feel of raw footage like this. The tilted camera, the overexposed film, the grit & grain, and the general disorientation of being given no dialogue or narration to explain any part of the short, it all seems to work on a primal, amateur level. A friend exposed me to a “festival” of student short films at an NYC college not long ago and I remember it being an almost torturous experience because I wanted to so badly to make fun of the movies in question but couldn’t because the only other people in the small theater were the students themselves and the friends and/or family members who didn’t have the heart to tell said students that they had no interest in watching their stupid little short films. Each movie was shot with digital cameras or clean film and all looked too polished. If a short doesn’t look amateur enough, it’s hard to give ‘em a pass for having such amateur writing and shot composition. Yeah, I’m a dick and I’m excusing my dickitude, tough shit. Film school students are assholes as a general statement.
Anyway, I’m not sure what the original score was supposed to be for Forest, but the non-copywritten one that Nix supporter Spawn came up with works perfectly well. It’s a tad generic, but it gives the footage this uneven mood swing of almost unsettling drama and underlying horror that jumps to bizarre house techno and settles back into some strange, almost holy pathos before jumping back into another round of hip-hop electronica wackiness to end it all. Frighteningly groovy in its own sense and it helps makes the raw footage worth watching.
I was hoping Nix would provide me with something to tear apart and shit all over to prove that I don’t play pussy-ass little games for nobody, but again, this is a much better segment than I’d give most other film student short films credit for and Nix has thusly ruined my attempt at being an unforgivable bastard by doing the unthinkable: making a movie that doesn’t suck! Of course it’s not perfect, as I could’ve done without watching the same segments being shot repeatedly (though the random jumping appearance of the our clap board girl should be kept in, just followed by something other than said repeated takes), but other than this I really didn’t have any major problems with it. It avoided the biggest pitfall: running too damn long, and for that, I’m grateful.
Anyway, Nix’s friend (and fellow Tomb writer) NutJob and his sister (and part time Tomb contributor) Beena wanted to add in on the review. Take it away girls!
NutJob: "Usually, I don’t write reviews on movies made by friends. I have been known, however, to give a 2 hour critique of the piece if I felt it could be improved on, by phone. In this case, since Nix practically begged for a review, I’ve decided to watch it with an open mind and forgetting the story he told me behind it. So that way I can watch it as any of you would.
"My first reaction is confusion. A guy/girl/thing-a-ma-jig is skipping through the forest, with the camera at an odd angle, and just music. No reason established or plot evoked… only that skipping. That’s really the meat of the film, not to mention some weird special effects, as well as some shadow puppets at the very end. It is only a 3 something minute film, so I guess I can’t be that particular on the fact that there is no plot, or maybe the plot is too simple to see… it’s skipping.
"It’s a perplexing piece, one that looks like a strange homage of the Ring. It’s the music, angles, and concept of some strange guy Eskimo kissing a tree that gives it a creepy nature. I think if this was a feature film, with 90-120 minutes it would be a snooze fest, however since it’s 3 minutes, it leaves you wondering will there be more, and if there is, will it be a talky?"
Thank you Nut. And now B, what have you got to say?
"Okay! I've got a little sompin sompin to say about this!
"Nix - I absolutely love the fact that you're sharing your work with the world! Right on! Your movies rock! I've always said so.
"Here's my feedback: the music doesn't fit. The eggman should have a happy happy-go-lucky, “prancing through the woods” sound! What's up with the soundtrack? It doesn't fit. Hmmmmm, I seem to remember this film having just the perfect sound way back when.
"Love you as always,
Beena"
As for me, I don’t like to drop the ‘l’ word (or watch it for that matter…), so I’m gonna keep to a working relationship and say good job Nix. Maybe we’ll get to see more of our lupine associate’s work in the future…
