Fresh from the Festivals: April 2002's Film Reviews

Jon Hofferman reviews five short films fresh from the festival circuit: Boobie Girl by Brooke Keesling, Bill Plympton's Eat, FUV by Marv Newland, (it was . . .) Nothing at All, directed by Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli, and Mona Mon Amour, directed by Michael Sporn. Includes QuickTime movie clips!

By Jon Hofferman | Friday, April 19, 2002 at 12:00 am

If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view a clip from each film by simply clicking the image.

This Month:

Boobie Girl (2001), 5 min., directed by Brooke Keesling, USA. Info: Brooke Keesling, 12400 Ventura Blvd. #189, Studio City, CA 91604. Email: brooke@boobiegirl.com.

Eat (2001), 9 min., directed by Bill Plympton, USA. Info: Bill Plympton, 119 W. 23rd St. #206, New York, NY 10011. Tel: 212-675-7643.

FUV (1999), 11 min., directed by Marv Newland, Canada. Info: Marv Newland, International Rocketship Limited, 204-1338 W. 6th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 1A7, Canada. Tel: 604-738-1778. Fax: 604 738-0009.

(it was . . .) Nothing at All (2000), 5 min., directed by Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli, USA. Info: Candy Kugel, Buzzco Associates, 33 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10012. Tel: 21-473-8800. Fax: 212-473-8891. Email: info@buzzzco.com.

Mona Mon Amour (2001), 8.5 min., directed by Michael Sporn, USA. Info: Michael Sporn Animation, Inc., 632 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10012. Tel/Fax: 212-228-3372. Email: MSAnimation@aol.com.

Boobie Girl. © Brooke Keesling, 2001.

Boobie Girl
This sweet-tempered moral tale explores the old caveat about being careful what you wish for, in this case, large breasts. Director Brooke Keesling uses simple line drawings and straightforward exposition to present her quasi-autobiographical story of a little girl who discovers the many disadvantages -- from unwanted attention to poor balance -- of being well-endowed. It's clearly a contrarian point of view in these days of mammary-fixation, but, aside from presenting an unusual subject from an alternative angle -- and despite the talents of narrator June ("Rocky the Flying Squirrel") Foray -- Boobie Girl is too generic and its message too pat for it to rise much above the level of the mundane.

Boobie Girl is Brooke Keesling's Cal Arts thesis film, as well as her first attempt at drawn animation. Funded by a Kodak Film Grant, it won a Student Academy Award and a College Television Award, and has screened at Sundance, the HBO Comedy Film Festival, the Ottawa Animation Festival, and many other venues. Among her influences, Keesling lists John and Faith Hubley, Jules Engel, and Ray and Charles Eames.