Appetizers

Very brief synopses of the short films I saw at ELFF. Each of these played before one of the main features.

Even in My Dreams (Alves, 2008)
(played with The Edge of Heaven)
This short elicits your sympathy for an old widower who, after seeing (and purchasing) an erotic doll, struggles to regain the pleasure it initially brought him in a dream. Rating: 5/5

For A Few Marbles More(Hufen, 2006)
(played with My Winnipeg)
When a group of children are kicked out of their playground by two drunken adults, they recruit a local bully to help them get revenge. This short was funny and memorable, and I’d love to see more by Dutch director Jelmar Hufen. Rating: 5/5

Hungry God (Gokhale, 2008)
(played with The Pool)
A young Indian boy goes begging for food dressed as the god Shiva; he is dismayed to find that a statue of the god gets more offerings than he does. Simple and effective, with some beautifully composed shots. Rating: 4/5

Compact Only (Green, 2008)
(played with Trouble the Water)
The premise, which will sound familiar to Seinfeld fans, is that a man can’t get food delivered to his address, so he waits in his car in the parking lot of a shopping center across the street. While he eats, he witnesses a series of bizarre occurrences that seem both blatantly ridiculous and quite likely to occur in your average mall parking lot on any given day. Rating: 3.5/5

La Tuerca (Martinez, 2007)
(played with Treeless Mountain)
A bit reminiscent of Pan’s Labyrinth, but only because it’s a Spanish film about a little girl who, in the face of overwhelming discouragement from an adult, retreats into a world of magic. Rating: 3/5