- guardian.co.uk,
- Wednesday June 01 2005 00:00 BST
Passengers
Like Iggy Pop's song says, our hero passenger rides, and rides and rides through the city's backside on a New York subway train, when a feather makes a surprise incursion into his carriage. Which transforms a host of hatchet-faced fellow travellers into a team of scrambling, smiling, keepy-upy addicts, all hellbent on huffing and puffing to keep it airborne. Director Joseph T Walker opts for classic black and white cinematography, and keeps the action plausibly dialogue-free, giving this comedy a sweet, streamlined feel. There's a glancing touch of romance in there too, but you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for it. If you can download this to your PDA, it would make the perfect distraction for a hellish commute.
Preggers: The Life of Britney Spears
Oops, I got married again! Wading through the acres of gossip mag gush devoted to Britney's bump, we stumbled on a thankful corrective in Dominic Tocci's impudent animated sing-along biopic. From Mickey Mouse to playing house, and booking big arenas to rival Christina's, it's all here in Tocci's trademark loose limbed cartooning and leg-pull lyrics ("They annulled it in no time/So I hooked up with Kevin Federline"). Delectably puerile, especially soundalike Diane De Riggi's heartfelt caterwauling impersonation of the perky princess of pop.
Carmen
There's a whiff of the Reduced Shakespeare company about animator Nestor Angeles' seductive two-minute version of Carmen, full of knockabout charm and street slang lyrics ("Holy crap! /He stabbed her in the back/Jealousy was behind the attack"). Angeles, who crams the entire plot into the famous Habanera tango, is responsible for both the funky, fluid, stick-figure animation whose scenes blow into one another like dandelion fluff, and the hilariously squeaky falsetto singing. It's all very home-made and lovable, right down to the credit listing which gives thanks to God, mum and dad, iTunes and of course, burritos.
Mercy
Before My Summer of Love swept her into the big time, the luminous Nathalie Press did a nice line in sink-estate single mums for short films. Here she's almost eclipsed by youngster Bradley Hall whose wary, watchful performance as the bullied kid of a junkie mother draws you in to this potent, understated drama. Being "kidnapped" by his mother's pimp to teach her a lesson is a terrifying ordeal, but can little Ben turn it to his advantage with his brutish schoolmates? Director Candida Scott-King stresses melancholy rather than melodrama throughout, which makes the matter-of-fact delivery of the final twist all the more chilling.
Lunch
We're not averse to a spot of pre-prandial perversion here at cyber cinema, and Matthew Ehler's comically obscene short hits our sweet spot. An ordinary lunch break is electrified by the antics of a gentleman wolfing down edible underwear, body butter and sexy cream with little regard for propriety. Michael Koldan hams it up marvellously as the slurping, groaning, packed-lunch Lothario, who makes a three course meal into an X-rated orgy experience. File this one under NSFW (not safe for work), because the spectacle of a man massaging cupcakes to a symphony of ecstatic shrieks may not be everyone's cup of chocolate body paint. I'll have whatever he's having.
Student Survivor
As the A-level season draws to a close, pimpled sixth formers praying for autumn admission can pass the summer honing their student-type skills with this witty little interactive simulation of undergraduate life. Like Tamagotchis, the idea is that you keep your customised scholar well-read and well-fed for a week of "in-game time" by typing in appropriate commands, or else he/she starts to wilt, moan and default on his loans.
Cyber cinema checked out the opportunities for abuse, and found them limited (typing "wank" rather than "work" will earn you a finger-wagging rebuke) but the little darlings dance, cook and twiddle their thumbs appealingly if you sniff out the right commands. Since it's sponsored by responsible types, HSBC and Uniaid, expect nothing about the dark side of higher education (online plagiarism, Bacardi Breezer binges, paying for a bag of chips with a post-dated cheque), but there's wholesome fun aplenty.
