Nomads and No-Zones

This DVD compilation features short films from a pair of indie directors, Greta Snider and Vanessa Renwick, who seem to be in a mini-contest to determine which one can create the least-interesting production (it appears to be a tie). Snider opts for the talking head approach, aiming her camera at a variety of uninteresting people who babble endlessly on subjects of great concern to them and far less interest to the rest of the planet's occupants: inarticulate punk rock fanatics singing the praises of their beloved music, Snider and her dopey pals recalling a disastrous trip involving train-hopping and brushes with the law, and a look at a grimy derelict called the Urine Man who needs medical assistance much more than an interview. Renwick prefers cheap shocks, including a nude woman riding a bicycle through the streets, a video montage on rodeo which abruptly ends with a lewd simulation of gay oral sex, and a crudely-made Super 8 short in which the filmmaker narrates how she allegedly lived barefoot for two-and-a-half years. Both women seem far too absorbed with themselves to realize they are filling the screen with out-of-focus images, shaky sound recording, monotonous subject matter, and hack editing, in films that aren't so much underground as they are undercooked. DVD extras include bonus trailers, three of Snider's interactive flash animations, and a booklet. Not recommended. Aud: P. (P. Hall)