COLUMN: ‘Astrological Whipping Boy’ not among festival’s best shorts
Shorts allow filmmakers to illustrate a point in a relatively small period of time – generally one to 30 minutes.
The collection of shorts from this year’s Logan Film Festival included many from USU students, and they all did a good job.
Having crews from USU may have helped to build the size of the audiences as well.
The first short I viewed was “The Astrological Whipping Boy.” Thomas is a seemingly ordinary, although annoyingly innocent guy who is injured after falling out of a tree. He seeks physical therapy, and in the process, discovers an attractive young woman.
Misunderstandings follow, especially when his friend gets involved. There’s a theme of homosexual inquiry throughout that got stale quickly.
The script is simple. The acting was poor. It’s simply not worth your time.
Another short, “Summer Housing,” was a quick insightful look into the various shelters and dwellings of college age men and women living and working in Jackson Hole, Wyo., during the summer months.
The film kept a good pace, not spending too much time on a particular method of living for too long, but it made sure that each type was fully covered in its description.
As silly as it was, “Dork Knight” was my favorite short because I laughed a lot. After getting fired from one job after another, Kate’s friend decides to set Kate up as a “paid friend.” As can be expected, all sorts of nerdy guys sign up for Kate’s services.
As can be guessed by this predictable story, Kate ends up falling for one of the dorks, and chaos ensues at the proper time.
It was a cute tale overall.
The variety of activities the geeks forced Kate through kept me laughing. The funniest one for me was the fantasy date in which Darth Vader hit on Princess Leia, which is wrong on so many levels.
Funny, educational, or pathetic, shorts should be taken with a grain of salt.
– Spencer Palmer is a graduate student working toward an MBA with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He’s a movie fanatic. Email him at spencer.palmer@aggiemail.usu.edu