Cinefile

Any instance where excitement brews over an animated tale that is not stemming from Pixar is always worth sharing. Such is the case for Tor Fruergaard's oddly touching claymation short film Venus (Denmark), which played in one of the shorts programs at this year's fest.

Venus follows Rasmus (Johan Philip Asbaek) and Caroline (Laura Bach) as they attempt to reignite the sexual flame in their relationship by going to a local swingers club (against Caroline's quiet reluctance). Of course, right from the start, many of the laughs come from watching these curvaceous clay figures perform all sorts of sexual positions/fetishes; a highlight includes a gent standing in front of a faux house window as his partner performs fellatio on him through the window frame opening.

To Fruergaard's advantage, Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen's script is lean and unexpectedly insightful. In a strange way, Venus is an apt companion piece to Hagar Ben-Asher's The Slut (another buzzed about entry at this year's fest), because its lacerations come in the form of brutally honest punchlines on human sexuality. It's funny how simple we all are at the end of the day.

Another highlight in the shorts program comes in Rider and Shiloh Strong's live-action comedy Method (USA). Alexandra Barreto stars as an aspiring actress in California. This "actress" is vying for what seems to be a substantial role (she keeps alluding to Meryl Streep for inspiration) and thus undergoes some substantial method acting preparation.

Of course, once we see her dressed like a hooker walking down the streets of Hollywood, we kind of cringe at what may follow. Luckily, the Strongs handle this serious subject matter with open-eyed-sincerity and because Barreto is so likable as the plucky heroine, we forgive the film's surface cynicism. In the end, Method is a breezy and winning micro-parable that many aspiring actors will laugh at--if only to remedy their own anxieties.

Outside of Thomas Imbach's experimental film Day Is Done, Braden King's feature length film Here (USA) is the 47th Chicago International Film Festival's other great non-documentary entry. Much like Imbach, King is deeply concerned with steering away from literal storytelling in order to achieve a transcendental sharing of one's view of the world. It's a bold (and I feel necessary) move in today's by-the-numbers mainstream cinema rhetoric.

The straightforward sections of Here observe a cartographer played by Ben Foster, as he navigates the undefined terrains of Armenia. Many of these scenes evoke the screen language of Michelangelo Antonioni; the camera is unusually patient with "finding" the scene. As an audience member, you play a game of pick up clues. Cinematographer Lol Crawley steers his camera toward peripheral objects, seemingly innocuous vistas and altogether striking compositions. When an on-the-rise photographer (played by Lubna Azabal) enters the cartographer's life, Here takes the shape of a road movie but beats to a different drum. Nothing is spelled out and for once, we're free to actually share the experiences with a film's protagonists.

My favorite sections of Here, however, come in the abstract video art compositions (narrated by Peter Coyote) which explode on the screen at unexpected turns. King collaborated with several artists on arranging these visual pieces and their existence with Boxhead Ensemble's enigmatic score creates an indescribable feeling of wonderment. Imagine if Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas were left in the editing room with Antonioni's The Passenger. Appropriately, these abstract sections make cartographers of the viewers, allowing them search for their own sense of personal demarcation.

Note: King is taking the storytelling 2.0 model to exciting new levels with Here. There is a live event companion work (Here: The Story Dreams) that is also on tour.