Animation Of The Apocalypse; Best Of The Fests 1991; Nice Girls ...Films By And About Women; Tony Vegas' Acidburn Flashback Tabu

The latest releases of collections of award-winning short films from Picture Start is a mixed bag, with one outstanding compilation, one dud, and a couple of reasonably good collections. The clear winner is Nice Girls ...Films By and About Women. Opening with Emily Hubley's "Emergence of Eunice," an animated piece about a teenage girl's coming to terms with pregnancy, Nice Girls includes nine more short films which use a wide variety of techniques (cell animation, computer animation, live-action, etc.). "Urban Steal," Caroline Blair's spoof of artists is a hilarious interview with the fictitious Hane Gonne, who repeatedly denies that her obviously phallic sculptures have any sexual meaning, while Lidia Szajko's "Constant State of Departure," deals with the complicated range of emotions attending the loss of a friend to death from AIDS. Sheri Wills' "Social Experiment" asks how much does appearance really mean? Doffing her make-up and jewelry, Wills finds that interest from the opposite sex not only wanes, but she, too, begins to feel depressed and insecure. A color rinse and some make-up, and things change quite a bit... All of the films on Nice Girls are interesting and thought-provoking. An exemplary collection. [Note: the "library" version of Nice Girls is slightly different from the consumer version. An 11th film, "Nice Girls Don't Do It," which is about female ejaculation and includes close-up footage of a masturbating female, is not being included on the "library" version-although libraries that request it can certainly purchase the full-length version of Nice Girls. We recommend that you purchase the "library" version, since "Nice Girls Don't Do It" has problems other than its explicit subject matter, and just isn't good enough to go to bat for.] The latest annual compilation, Best of the Fests 1991, is not as good as its predecessors, but still offers some choice gems. The opening piece, Dan Bootzin's "Six Point Nine," is a humorous look at apartment living where morning rituals differ between two neighbors. Joan Stavely's "Wanting For Bridge" is an extraordinary short in which pairs of hands fly like birds across an often hostile landscape. On the short documentary side, Clay Walker's "Post No Bills" looks at the work of guerilla artist Robbie Conal, whose politically satiric posters are plastered over the city at night; and Roger Teich and John Starr's "Stealing Altitude" examines the sport of base jumping (illegally parachuting off of buildings). The final half hour is a waste: Neil Grieves "Man Descending," which follows the deterioration of a couple's relationship on New Year's Eve is a poorly scripted, poorly acted, amateurish production. The two one hour theme collections are the weakest, especially Tony Vegas'Acidburn Flashback Tabu, a relentlessly pointless series of pretty colors and no brains. Of the 11 animated films on the tape-some of which offer some wonderful animation -I found only one to be truly enjoyable: Jeffrey Noyes Schur's "Reasons to Be Glad," an animated dance sketchbook with music by Xavier Cugat and vocals by Dinah Shore (which I'd already previously seen). Maybe you truly have to be on drugs to enjoy this collection, I don't know. Worth noting, however, is Jeff Carpenter's and Mary Lambert's "Rapid Eye Movements," a dreary attempt at hip filmmaking, which includes an unmistakable animated fellatio sequence. Mary Lambert would goon to an undistinguished career as a director of feature films, making such instantly forgettable movies as Siesta and Pet Sematary. Animation of the Apocalypse is better, featuring a pair of nicely animated welcome-to-hell pieces by Christopher Sullivan ("The Beholder" and "Master of Ceremonies"), John Schnall's moody adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," Y. Tom Yasumi's macabre story of a young boy who witnesses a murder while driving with his parents-but can't get their attention ("The Side View"), and a disturbing pixilated action-figure short which uses army dolls to dramatize the horror of Vietnam. The collection closes with the clay-animated spoof of television, "Buzz Box," which is creative for about five minutes, and tiresome for the last ten. With the exception of Tony Vegas' Acidburn Flashback Tabu, all of the titles are recommended, with Nice Girls ...Films by and About Women highly recommended and an Editor's Choice. (Available from: Picture Start, Inc. 221 E. Cullerton, 6th Floor, Chicago, IL 60616.)