Oh Shorts...

The Heart of the World(dir. Guy Maddin)
The reason why I watched Cowards Bend the Knee was because this short was amazing. It was hilarious in it's melodramatic nature and it's spoof on old soviet propaganda films. Bitching.
***1/2 out of ****
Cashback(dir. Sean Ellis)
Seeing this short, you kind of wonder how this became a feature film. I'd imagine it's pretty awful because this was just OK and it only contains 17 minutes from that film. It's pretty ridiculous at the end when he is able to freeze time and uses this technique to undress all the women in the supermarket. I'm not complaining about the nudity, but this already shallow film just got even more shallower. It tries to justify this gratutious use of nudity by an explanation of how he's obsessed with the beauty of the female form and makes him an art-type. He undresses them to paint pictures of them. The whole thing felt kind of sleazy and misogynistic. I have no problems with gratutious nudity when it knows that it's gratutious nudity instead of trying to justify it as being for artistic reasons or some lame excuse like that. It bewilders me that this was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film, but most short films are shitty anyways so I guess it makes sense.
** out of ****