This collection of short films was memorable for the last one, but let
me cover the first four before I wax eloquent about "
Walking the Dogs."
- "Premature":
An extremely clever comedy filmed by a single camera fixed on the
dashboard of a four-passenger car. An older Norwegian couple meets their
son and his pregnant (Spanish) bride at an airport and "make nice" on
their drive home. We see bigotries, tensions, misunderstandings and
potential deal breakers quietly surface during this brief ride.
- "Kiruna-Kigali":
We see parallel stories that are thousands of miles and many months
apart. One is a young Rwandan woman in the throes of a difficult
(breech) birth, the other is the female doctor who comes to her aid,
herself later isolated in a wintry Swedish countryside as she too, goes
into labor.
- "HowardCantour.com": A film critic allows us
to hear his internal monologue about other film critics. He says a film
critic will give any film three-and-a-half stars if it flatters his own
self-image. I say this is an exercise in Intellectual Masturbation. 'nuff said....
- "Boneshaker":
This Louisiana bayou based story shows us a Ugandan immigrant family
seeking a tent revival in hopes the evangelist can exorcise the devils
that make their little girl so unruly. This one featured Quvenzhané
Wallis right after she filmed "Beasts of the Southern Wild."
Now we get to the heart of the matter! This next short film had all of us raving as we exited the auditorium.
- "Walking the Dogs":
This brilliant piece was inspired by the security breach of the
century when a young man broke into the Queen of
England's bedroom at Buckingham Palace and stayed there for ten minutes; her footman/guard was walking her Corgis. Eddie Marsan plays intruder Michael Fagen; Emma Thompson is brilliant as a cautious, but ever-gracious Queen Elizabeth. Their conversation is at first tentative, then it warms up (as warm as a
"royal" allows), until HRM offers him a dog biscuit (there is nothing
else to eat her bedroom). When the
maid finally DOES bring her morning tea, she is simply told to fetch another cup
and saucer. This is a 30-minute episode in a BBC series. No trailer,
sorry.
I will go on a quest to find a DVD of this
Playhouse Presents series!
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