Tribeca Film Festival – Shorts: Bats**t Crazy

By starrymag | June 21, 2023

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

“These shorts could use some therapy” was the theme of one of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival categories and, boy, could they ever! Some people would rather travel through time, raise the dead, stuff their deceased pets and whip the responsibility out of themselves rather than do battle with the bugs in their minds keeping them awake at night. In these five shorts and two music videos, we get a hilariously entertaining look at avoidance syndrome and how life itself can force you to grow up whether you want to or not. So, pop a squat on the therapist’s couch and get ready to have your mind expanded because these shorts are truly, “Bats**t Crazy.”

 

Daddy Issues – Directed by Matt Campanella and Stephanie Chloe Hepner

Opening up the category is the fun and shockingly twisted short film, Daddy Issues, from writer, co-director and star Matt Campanella. Ollie (Campanella) is a young gay dominatrix who has a surprising encounter with one of his clients. Thanks to a voicemail from Ollie’s mother (Maria Carrozza), we find out the leather-clad college grad is late for his father’s 50th birthday party and he is in charge of picking up the cannoli. The pastries are going to have to wait because today is the day the headmistress judges Ollie’s work performance. In preparation for the big test he’s putting on his lashes and glancing through his inventory of S&M tools and toys meant to please his newest client. The twist (which I won’t give away, but I implore film fans with a sense of humor to see it for themselves) gives Ollie a chance to unapologetically be himself – regardless of what anyone thinks of his career choice.

What makes this short fit into the theme is how both Ollie and his mystery client whip up a cringe-worthy discussion about queer career goals and mastering – pun intended – the sex work industry. Surprisingly, Ollie finds support (once the shock wears off) and is able to nail his exam, but thankfully not his client. Campanella puts a comedic queer face to an industry that so often is seen as straight focused and primarily run by women. The dialogue during the big reveal is layered and both actors seem to be chewing it up with pleasure. The dynamics between Ollie and his client felt realistic, even with the over-the-top scenario unfolding. The film is a much-needed lesson for anyone who loves their children even when they don’t agree with their choices, but it’s also a lesson in owning your own happiness and not letting anyone’s opinions get in the way of your seeking it.

With a gothic and almost tyrannical-sounding score driving the story long, we get a taste of the darker side of Ollie’s underground life, but also the dramatic and whimsical side of his personality which pours out of him in every second Campanella is on screen. He is a big helping of drama with a dash of sarcasm and a decent knowledge of Shonda Rhimes dramas, something he shares with his father even though the two men couldn’t be less similar. As shorts go, this was a fun slice of life I would recommend to anyone with an open mind who might be looking for queer content that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

 

They Grow Up So Fast – Directed by John F. Beach

In the second short of the category, we head to Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s the year 1999, and single Brian (played by director John F. Beach) meets the equally single Amy (Emily Althaus) for a night out at the bar. Things get exceedingly bizarre when their one-night stand turns into a time-jumping nightmare that puts a new spin on parenting. After receiving a top prize and praise at Louisiana’s Prize Fest for film, director and star, John F. Beach with his real-life-fiancé and Althaus made their way to Tribeca where we can assume it might contribute to a spike in Manhattan’s condom sales. They Grow Up Fast is a mind-bending, time-speeding rollercoaster through maturity that will either make you nostalgic for the wonders of parenting or remind you to get your birth control filled.

The pace of this film is what drives the story. Every time jump hits Brian like a panic attack; it’s overwhelming and he, along with the camera, can’t seem to catch their breath. It effectively draws the viewer in so you can’t help but feel Brian’s fear. On a deeper level, the short lands like a metaphor for any new parent crippled by the merry-go-round of parenting. One minute you’re changing diapers and the next, or in Brian’s case seconds, your teenage son is sneaking his girlfriend in through the bedroom window. Life moves fast and so do the scenes in this piece, which is perfect for the short film format.

Beyond Brian’s panic the film is full of laughs thanks to Beach’s reactions. What starts off as mild confusion hits peaks of chaos and gives way to apathy and, eventually, acceptance in what could be seen as a tornado of reveals. There are a few gross-out scenes that will leave you cringing, but anyone with kids knows you need a stomach of steel to deal with all that blood, vomit and dirty diapers and this short doesn’t shy away from that reality. In fact, it just adds to the cycle of confusion from which poor Brian is trying to break free. At least he gets to calm himself by stealing his six-minute-old son’s pot stash, of course. He does it armed with a pizza cutter as he shakes his mystery spawn down like an intruder.

If, like Brian, you’ve realized we don’t have a choice in growing up, and know it happens without our consent, you would get a kick out of They Grow Up So Fast. It’s worth watching before you head out on your next date.

 

The Black Keys – “Wild Child” Music Video Directed by Bryan Schlam

In the first of two music video entries of the category, The Black Keys head back to high school with a vengeance for their new album fittingly titled Dropout Boogie. Directed by Bryan Schlam and starring bandmates Patrick Carney (drummer) and Dan Auerbach (vocalist), the video for “Wild Child” is a cinematic exploration of generational divides while enforcing that infamous adage, “You can never go home again.” In this case, home is back to high school where the bandmates go undercover to get a taste of what blue-collar America is like today. Fame kept them out of touch with “the little people” and now they hope this experience will inspire them to write their next album.  After infiltrating the cafeteria and the custodial closets, both rockstars have the cool sucked right out of them by the hard work of cooking and cleaning for a pack of relentlessly ungrateful teens. While fame and selling out arenas gave Dan and Patrick a feeling of security, they weren’t ready for today’s Zoomer bullies and TikTok Queens. Respect takes a backseat to online influencing as the teens turn the musicians into props for likes and followers.

Things have changed since they ruled the hallways and there is a real comedic element to watching them get tossed around from one trend to the next. Both men are completely out of their element and holding on until they can escape when the bell rings. There is no “bat-s**t crazy: way to trap your youth in a bottle because, like sand, it is always meant to run the course of time. That’s a theme we continue to see pop up in this category– time manipulation and personal growth are a fate that’s unavoidable.

What stands out most in this video is the art direction working in tandem with the surprising acting chops of the two bandmates. Both add to the throwback aesthetic that hasn’t been seen since ’80s-era MTV kings like Van Halen shredding the guitar over their hot teacher and Motley Crue getting caught “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room.”

If you love the Black Keys and feel nostalgic for the days when your favorite song was accompanied by its own short film, then check out “Wild Child.” Get inspired, Gen Z, and reboot that trend next. If bell bottoms and mullet haircuts are back, The Black Keys can get the kids hyped up on vintage MTV.

 

Somewhere in Between – Directed by Kyle Vorbach

The lengths a man will go to in order to find love are out of this world. In director Kyle Vorbach’s ambitious twenty-minute short film we once again travel through time or do we? It all starts on the last day of the year when two will-they won’t-they friends agree to stay in and ring in the new year together. Everything is going great until a man from the future crash-lands into their garage with some earth-shaking news: The fate of the future lies in their hands. A kiss between platonic pals at midnight is supposedly the spark that determines the world’s fate, but as of now, these two are stuck in the friend zone.

Taking cues from sci-fi and rom-com films such as Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Crazy, Stupid, Love, writer John Horan and director Vorbach, do a considerable job at packing a full-length feature neatly into a short run time. It has it all; action, romance, special effects, and comedy, thanks to Christopher– the quantum time jumper, making this an enjoyable watch.

One of the many highlights of the short was the special effects, which typically do not factor into smaller-budget indie shorts. Vorbach and Horan managed to turn simple things like old refrigerators and bicycles into viable contraptions for traveling the space-time continuum, because who needs expensive CGI when the early days of Dr. Who scared us with villainous Dialeks made out of trash cans on wheels? Vorbach took that vibe and ran with it and the results are entertaining. Along with the props and effects, the score builds up the tension until it climaxes in a big reveal that helps to make this short feel grander in scope. The emotions of the characters are easily held up by the music that crescendos in moments of panic and lulls to a calmness in the film’s resolution. It’s those small-budget techniques that feel like big box office triumphs that ironically, points to the moral of this story: grand gestures to fix the past aren’t always as effective as simple acts of love in the present. The sweet spot, which both characters learn by the end of the night, is “just living somewhere in between.” If you love films that put an out-of-this-world spin on the rom-com genre, then check out Somewhere in Between. It might be the best short of the Tribeca 2023 entries.

 

Dead Cat – Directed by Annie-Claude Carom and Danick Audet

“You know your cat is dead, right?” is a question Catherine (Léane Labrèche-Dor) and Louis (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) struggle to ask when their young daughter, Sophia (Lilas-Rose Cantin), is faced with the death of her beloved pet. In the 13-minute French speaking dark comedy short from French Canadian directors and screenwriters Annie-Claude Carom and Danick Audet, we watch Sophia’s parents go to great lengths to shield their daughter from the truth after they find her attempting to nurse her bloody cat back to life.

Instead of explaining the realities of mortality and properly dealing with their child’s emotional response in a healthy way, the two decide that Sophia isn’t ready for that talk and instead embark on a series of macabre fixes that end in a taxidermized pet. Poor stuffed Courgette becomes a constant fixture in all of their family activities. She never stops being a part of their everyday lives and the only one who finds that odd is Sophia – the girl they thought was so fragile she would crack. Courgette is in the family photos, at parties and nightly tuck into Sophia’s bed no matter how many times she tosses the ratty corpse onto the floor. That dead cat gets around. She even has her own spot on the couch as Sophia’s father pets her ears off, literally, while calmly watching TV. It’s clear that what started out as an attempt to keep their child happy quickly turns into their daughter keeping them happy by playing along with their Weekend at Kitty-Bernie’s farce. If only they had adopted an all-white cat instead of a distinctively spotted one, then maybe they could’ve slipped an imposter in and Sophia wouldn’t have known. Something tells us this precocious child would catch on quickly.

Sophia spends most of the short smiling and nodding through every cringe encounter with Courgette just to keep her mom and dad from having that uncomfortable discussion they obviously aren’t ready to have. Explaining the complexes of life and death can be a daunting moment for any parent, but especially for ones who trap their children in a time freeze and refuse to recognize their growth. Maturity happens without anyone’s permission and often in times of tragedy whether you think you’re ready for it or not.

The stand-out performance from Lilas-Rose Cantin offers up a dose of comedy in this little dark satire. She manages to amuse us while dealing with a deeply emotional topic. Making light of death is not an easy task, but thanks to the execution of the script along with the direction from Carom and Audet, this quirky little short film effectively handles a universal topic with enough humor and interesting visuals to resonate with most film fans. If you enjoy tongue-in-cheek dark comedies, Dead Cat is a must-watch.

 

The Vindys: “Bugs” (Music Video) Directed by Peter-John Campbell

In the second music video of the category and one of eight showcased at the festival, Ohio’s favorite rockers deliver a buggy video to accompany their 2021 album release, aptly named “Bugs.” This inception-like dream within a dream world was created by director Peter-John Campbell and acts as the perfect backdrop for the intensely addictive vocals from singer Jackie Popovec. Chocked full of insect imagery and costumes made to resemble bees, The Vindys jump between characters in Popovec’s mind to perform a backup to her vintage vocals that kick this song into overdrive.

Filmed in a private home in Canfield, Ohio, the song and video are inspired by the real-life experience of Popovec and the ten thousand yellowjackets that invaded the walls of her home. The catchy riff “In my walls, in my head” burrows and buzzes its way into your brain like an earworm you’ll be embracing instead of exterminating. Spiraling from one dream to the next, the camera work feels cinematic in scope and at times feels like it takes its cues from Alice in not-so-Wonderful land. Popovec, the star of this video, injects a level of power into her vocals that draw the viewer and listener into her downward spiral and helps to set the mood of this unseen threat.

It’s a bit of panic, a dash of rage and a feeling of desperation that these bugs inside her walls and in Popvec’s mind are clawing their way out and that imagery is thanks to her acting choices and the world Campbell created for her to play in. If hypnotic visions and sweltering hot vocals are what get you buzzing, pick up The Vindy’s album Bugs and don’t sleep on (you couldn’t if you tried) their video for the title track. Just make sure you keep a can of bug spray handy as there is no telling how many are lurking behind your bedroom walls and inside your mind.

 

Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) – Directed by David Solomon

In this 14-minute horror comedy from Dave Solomon, a Brooklynite at the height of the pandemic whose house plants have become the stand-ins for human interaction has a mishap with her mother and needs her brother’s help to fix it. Being cooped up in an apartment for two years can make anyone lose their mind; it’s why the underappreciated and overly exhausted Brenda (Sarah Stiles) can’t take it when she sees her mother (Catherine Curtin) disregarding her watering schedule for their house plants. Should a pothos plant be watered daily or once a week? It’s a debate setting off a series of events that brings Billy (Santino Fontana) home to find a bloody nightmare waiting for him. Mom’s crazy-nagging about everything from Brenda’s career to her relationships on top of her complete lack of faith in her daughter’s work as a botanist (which she claims isn’t really a thing) comes to a head in a shockingly brutal way and Brenda can’t take it back. Now it’s up to her gothic sun-hating Vegas-living magician brother Billy to help her clean up the mess before their nosey neighbor can sic the cops on her.  Unfortunately, it’s too late as friendly Officer Carl (Beethovan Oden) has requested a wellness check on Mom and now Brenda and Billy only have two options: jail or raising the dead. It’s a good thing Billy is a magician, but too bad he’s no David Blaine – who winds up as a running joke throughout the film. Brenda reminds her brother of how the famous magician resurrected a pigeon, but Billy isn’t there yet. All he can summon up is the witchy neighbor, Mama Lemmons (Julie Halston), for a comedic stroll down grifter lane. Billy is better at magicking fixes for the mob than pulling rabbits out of hats and that’s a good thing because it’s going to take a certain type of magic to save Brenda from Officer Carl.

With gross-out vomit scenes and neck-cracking hilarity, Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) deal with self-doubt and toxic family dynamics in an over-the-top entertaining way. The film feels like a snippet into the lives of very full and fleshed-out characters with enough backstory to fill an entire series, not just the run-time of a short. The acting and dialogue stand out the most in scenes when the siblings banter back and forth about how they arrived at this place. Sibling rivalry and family insults come tumbling out of their mouths in a natural way that anyone familiar with family dynamics could recognize. The chemistry between Fontana and Stiles feels natural and seamless – the unhinged and maniacal sister plays well off the cold and task-oriented brother. If Brenda is the accidental assassin, then her brother is the fixer swooping in to do the dirty work of a cover-up. His even toned and emotionless attitude is the calm to Brenda’s uncontrollable storm and watching them gnaw on the dialogue together while batting it back and forth is one of the many highlights of the piece. The scene that most stands out is Brenda welding a frying pan like a Wimbledon champ – so much so that Solomon repeats it to the point the horror of the images turns campy and hysterical and leaves the viewer wanting more. Besides the comedy Stiles imbues in her murderous meltdown, the editing of flashbacks tucked into the much calmer present adds to Brenda’s regret and sets a pleasing pace for the story to develop.

Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) is a quirky delight with likable characters and enough physical comedy to keep you gasping and laughing for the entire run time. Solomon wisely refuses to shy away from the stomach-turning over-the-top visual effects, which are so often in limited supply in budget-restricted shorts. It makes the simplicity of the story feel layered without digging deeply into the characters’ backstories. We know who these people are, they never have to tell us, and that’s what makes a war over something as simple as a houseplant an enjoyable watch. Just like all of these topics “Bats**t Crazy Shorts” covered, Brenda and Billy remind us that growth happens when you take responsibility for your life and if that doesn’t work it can also come from a skillet to the face.

 

 

Each of these films is worthy of its place at Tribeca’s celebrated film festival, so grab a seat on the couch – hopefully not the one next to your dead cat – and stream these shorts on Tribeca at Home. You won’t regret it.