I expect we will see more and more well-made short films like this. The economics of the market pull worked against this sort of product in the past, but as viewing shifts from theaters, physical media and broadcast monopolies I think we can see a resurgence of the short form.
It is a peculiar thing, differing from the long form where we expect some shift in the world, however defined.
Why this interests me is that short form has been creeping into long movies for decades. This is especially true in comedies where you can simply have a sequence of episodes, each relatively self contained. The first big experiment in this was "Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," the repeated adjective denoting sequential unrelated jokes.
Here, I think the influence has flown the other way. This little twelve minutes or so is standard short form, with one story stroke and simple context. But it also has elements from our ordinary film world. There are three (human) characters, one being a second-rate actress, but one that has been in a "real" movie — a movie that has been seen by the other character, a repressed guy. Presumably he fantasized about the actress before seeing her in real life.
A second character is her boyfriend, a failed actor, who wants to break into "real" movies as well. "Real" means long form here.
The third character is our captivated viewer of long form. He has seen the movie in question 500 times. He is the dog walker of the title. The story involves him offering to walk her dog, accidentally killing it, blaming it on the boyfriend and subsequently getting discovered.
It is a very well executed piece if you just want to be amused for a few moments. But it is much better if you see this promising short form, as a character itself making fun of the limits of long form. Fun. Try it.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
It is a peculiar thing, differing from the long form where we expect some shift in the world, however defined.
Why this interests me is that short form has been creeping into long movies for decades. This is especially true in comedies where you can simply have a sequence of episodes, each relatively self contained. The first big experiment in this was "Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," the repeated adjective denoting sequential unrelated jokes.
Here, I think the influence has flown the other way. This little twelve minutes or so is standard short form, with one story stroke and simple context. But it also has elements from our ordinary film world. There are three (human) characters, one being a second-rate actress, but one that has been in a "real" movie — a movie that has been seen by the other character, a repressed guy. Presumably he fantasized about the actress before seeing her in real life.
A second character is her boyfriend, a failed actor, who wants to break into "real" movies as well. "Real" means long form here.
The third character is our captivated viewer of long form. He has seen the movie in question 500 times. He is the dog walker of the title. The story involves him offering to walk her dog, accidentally killing it, blaming it on the boyfriend and subsequently getting discovered.
It is a very well executed piece if you just want to be amused for a few moments. But it is much better if you see this promising short form, as a character itself making fun of the limits of long form. Fun. Try it.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
