'Exposures' film festival review
Article published: Sunday, February 8th 2009
Now in its 15th year, exposures is a festival dedicated to nurturing young cinematic talent and giving students of film the chance to network their way into the biz with parties, workshops and ideas pitches.
Pretty exciting, thought I, a lowly first time film reviewer hoping to put my analytical prowess to the test and write a moving and passionate exposé on these fledgeling talents. Unfortunately the first batch of short films I watched were Surreal Screen, part of the underexposed, the films specially focusing on young peoples filmmaking. The gaping chasm between technical cinematic ability and writing/acting talent was extraordinary. All but one of the films were genre clichés and, to be honest, quite painful to watch. The exception, however, was "W.I.L.D.", the story of a scientist kept in a constant dream world being chased by faceless thugs in dark hoods. In a Matrix-esque fashion, once he realises he is in a dream some stunning fight scenes and stunts ensue. You almost believe its a professional film, until you see a character drinking coffee from a Tiki café mug. The critical eye miss nothing.
Luckily the next set of films I watched seemed to be made by actual real-life film students as opposed to AS level media students. Entitled Metamorphosis, they were generally regarded to be the favourite among the judges. They were an odd mixture of moving realism, like Lillie, the story of an elderly women who relives her happy youth within the confines of her silent flat, and bizarre animation such as Haircut, where a little girl is the only person to notice that the new hairdresser in town is in fact a lobster who keeps giving everybody hairstyles resembling coral reefs.
Feeling uplifted by this point, with my faith restored in the future of British cinema, I tried to ignore the fact that the majority of the audience appeared to be there simply in support of friends or family members. I had chosen which films box I was going to tick on the wee voting form Id been given an animation short called Attraction in which a bearded woman finds love with a bald man whose respective abundance and lack of hair compliment each other in a heart-warming hairy union. Then the last film came and blew me away. What Lies Behind Smiling Eyes, was about a young piano prodigy who worries his mother because he never smiles; initially I assumed it would be some delightful tale of inner happiness despite outward awkwardness. Not so. His mother takes him to a professional photographer to get some pleasant pictures full of smiles. Eventually he smiles a smile so evil and twisted that I shudder to even think of it now. The film then turns horribly surreal; the photographer and his assistant throw up and have epileptic fits from the unadulterated malevolence; and abruptly the whole thing ended, the lights came up and I found myself perturbed in the comfortable velvet seats of The Cornerhouse. In the end Attraction received my vote even though it wasn’t the best.
The reason? I couldnt bring myself to give my approval to such unbridled evil, if only out of fear of that menacing smile marauding in my dreams
But enough of that. Some of the shorts can be viewed at www.exposuresfestival.co.uk so why not take a look for yourself.
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