Luke, Tilly, and Bridie are headed out for a night of romance and intimacy. In this experimental and surreal dreamscape, there truly are no limits to everything they are about to experience, everything except perhaps the very thing they have set out to achieve - romance. 

The narrative introduces us to their misadventures in the most exorbitantly creative manner. A realm where unbridled creativity reigns free is conjured. The animation is not only seamless and expertly handled, but also unabashed and fearless. However, the world is without restraint only seemingly for it is very closely tempered with thought and control, ensuring that each image or the metaphor it carries, or even the lack of it, works wonderfully within this surrealistic, madly colorful space. 

As for our three characters, their encounters turn into the most unexpected circumstances one after the other. The viewer’s journey with them, down the path of the promise of love, would be equally adventurous and involving.

Single - Meat Cutes | Short Film of the Day

Right at the onset, with simply its title, the film sets the tone for several ideas pertaining to identity, beauty, and how we perceive ourselves, while also hinting at insecurities. 'Mirror' does not present a straightforward approach to these ideas, and instead, leaves it up to the viewer to make what they will of this tale which is marked by humor, unexpected moments of tension, and the plight of the protagonist amidst it all. 

Strange messages have been appearing on people’s mirrors all over the world, messages of encouragement, validation, and support. And yet, Dale’s message is far from that, it’s more of an attack on his personality. As he grapples with its meaning, the story takes the viewer down some very interesting paths. 

Is the film about Dale’s struggle with intimacy, and how he eventually overcomes it in an unexpected manner? Or is it a story of his deep unease with his own body, and its desires and wants, not without its undercurrents of homoeroticism, and is it only when he is able to make peace with all of it that a negative message finds a positive articulation in his life as well as the film? Or is it about none of this but an underlying threat of violence that takes him to a disconcerting corner, to an experience that he has sanitized for worldly consumption, giving people what they want to hear? 

The film raises all of these questions and answers none, and it is in these grey areas that it attains completion and becomes an entertaining, involving endeavor in storytelling.

Mirror | Short Film of the Month

The title of the show sets the premise - the misadventures of a bunch of adults trying to find their way in the world. From dating to religious inclinations to sexual fetishes to health problems, the show encompasses it all and more. For instance, the first episode is a hilarious and expert handling of a man’s mid-life crisis. However, it does not simply put its writing and script in the age-old category of humor and moves on. Instead it portrays what it means for a high school teacher to be unable to accept where he finds himself located at this particular stage of his life. Attempting to invoke and pique the interest of his students in Victor Frankenstein’s monster, perhaps a character who echoes his own isolation and inability to fit in, he instead finds himself trying to imitate them in a bid to perhaps add some colour to his life. From being in a band to buying the same clothing as his students, from looking to date younger women to turning up for the date distinctly dressed in a manner that can potentially turn out to be disastrous - he tries it all and fails at it most miserably. The narrative succeeds at generating humor at the expense of the character, while also garnering sympathy for him. In the process, it becomes a well-rounded portrayal of a man’s struggle to come to terms with what he perceives as a dull, mediocre life. Similarly, the other situations the series explores with its varied characters are sometimes relatable, sometimes plain absurd, using the freedom allowed to the genre of comedy, but never not entertaining and engaging. As different characters negotiate their location in society, there are overlaps and crisscrossing of paths. Essentially, what Fully Formed Adults does is provide brief and succinct capsules of amusement and laughter. The length is just right to stoke the viewer's curiosity, involve them in the narrative, eventually concluding with a satisfying tying of ends. The singularity of the concerns of each character is not unfamiliar, but delineated in a way that gives a fresh spin to the story. Its progression involves moving from one aspect of contemporary lifestyles to another, and includes a lighthearted commentary by its characters on social media, smartphones, Judaism, atheism, Woody Allen, the internet's fixation with other people's pets, to name a few. If you happen to stumble across the series, sit back and enjoy this bizarre ride of eccentricities that never has a dull moment.

Fully Formed Adults

Fully Formed Adults 1: Josh

Ep 01: Josh

Fully Formed Adults 2: Sean

Ep 02: Sean

Fully Formed Adults 3: Lindsay

Ep 03: Lindsay

Fully Formed Adults 4: Steph

Ep 04: Steph

Fully Formed Adults 5: Black Shabbat

Ep 05: Black Shabbat

Fully Formed Adults 6: #coolassboxerdog

Ep 06: #coolassboxerdog

Nicholas is a man who spends most of his time with his many gadgets. From VR games to smartphones to recording videos for the internet - his days are completely consumed by the many contraptions of technology, and related activities. However, he does indeed seek a connection with another person. Loneliness and the desire for love quietly nestle themselves within the plot. 

Once again, Nicholas turns to technology to solve this problem, signing up for a dating app that will set him up with a potential partner based on a questionnaire he is soon presented with. Humor is woven into the narrative with the absolute contrast between the life Nicholas leads and the one he pretends to lead when faced with these questions. 

In the process, a lighthearted story comes into being, sometimes a little endearing, sometimes heartwarming as Nicholas heads out to meet his date. A crucial message of the film, one about the absolute significance of connections in our lives, is thus presented through what unfolds next. The resultant screenplay, performances, and plot development keep the viewer engaged all along. It would be interesting to develop the film as a longer project in the future, allowing its ideas and intentions better elucidation.

Mimesis | Short Film of the Day

The many obstacles of dating in a realm defined by its explosion of colors become our first introduction to ‘Matinee Baby’. Unique and extremely entertaining in its storytelling and world-building, the film presents Robby and Noah-Lee, close friends and colleagues who work at Portland's historic Clinton Street Theater. As the narrative navigates modern-day dating, each potential suitor brings to life an experience more vivid and unexpected than the previous. 
The many complexities of all of these encounters are handled with effortless ease in this queer romantic comedy. The humor remains seamless, roping in campiness while eschewing its many dangers, supported by the performances and the screenplay, both of which exhibit control and skill. 
With the film’s heart in the right place, the story and characters stand firmly on their feet. At no point do the colors, the comedy or the overall end result of the world become overbearing enough to subdue the voices within, presenting to the viewer the film's true triumph.

Matinee Baby  | Short Film of the Month

David Crawford is a man on a mission - he is out to comprehend the dynamics of online dating in his investigative documentary. The small (and mostly indifferent) crew consists of a duo of two others - a cameraperson, and a pregnant woman who's simply glad to have received a professional gig despite the pandemic-stricken bleak reality of contemporary times. Now, Crawford a fan of the show Succession, has a vision marked by poetic grandeur, and lofty ambition to achieve it all - but on a budget. As the film progresses, the viewer finds their protagonist to be strange, but entertaining, along with being a combination of endearing and obnoxious at the same time. While he moves from one attempt to shoot his documentary to another, the dissonance between the images in his head and the truth of his lived reality offer the perfect contrast to amuse the viewer. All the punches land efficiently, generating laughter in the most unexpected ways at the expense of our fumbling protagonist. Soon enough the film becomes a conversation with his own aspirations and uncertainties, and less about the subject of online dating as a broader category, and deliberately so, further drawing the viewer's attention to how his idea of the self overwhelms any other understanding that he may have had of the world around him. Additionally, this world around him is also brought to life with ease and conviction, allowing the film to effortlessly achieve all that it has set out to.

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