Cinema 16: European Short Films
DVD
What: Sixteen European shorts, most with commentary.
Why: Tragedy, comedy, violence, madness, domestic drama--you get it all in 27 minutes in Martin McDonagh's Oscar-winning Six Shooter, one of the decade's most inventive shorts. In a swift half-hour McDonagh offers a whole philosophy of life, wrapped in memorable characters, startling twists and an insanely violent story. Other highlights include artsy student films from Lars von Trier and Christopher Nolan (Memento) and Mathieu Kassovitz's comic homage to Spike Lee.
On Demand: MTV
What: Reality show about rich white California teens.
Why: All these MTV shows are like Facebook in motion, with the flatness of Andy Warhol, the catty vulgarity of John Waters and the intricate social codes of Austen and Wharton. Here the extras have seized the spotlight--a parade of Keanu and Tara clones without a relatable breakout star like Laguna Beach's Lauren, or even dimensional villains like Heidi and Spencer. Their waxy blankness only heightens the show's anthropological allure--it's a mirror, an aspirational fantasy or a car-crash fascination, depending on where you stand.
DVD
What: Satire of Hollywood suits and sellouts.
Why: It's the year of Judd Apatow--the man behind Knocked Up and Superbad--and now he's even a (fictionalized) movie subject, incarnated by a bearded, back-aching David Duchovny. Jake Kasdan, who worked on Apatow's classic loser TV shows Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks, made this comedy about L.A. pilot season, in which a nobly idealistic writer suffers at the hands of the crass network. It's a blatantly one-sided vision, but it's enlivened by memorable characters, especially a pitch-perfect Sigourney Weaver as the monstrously "helpful" TV exec.
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