Movieside Film Festival

Movieside Film Festival presents a collection of 20 short films (ranging in length from 1-16 minutes), which have been featured in Chicago's Movieside Festival, a venue for aspiring filmmakers established by a director who goes by the name of Rusty Nails. While there are a few pieces here that are moderately amusing or visually interesting, overall this is pretty standard fare. The entries include a couple of anti-Bush rants (one animated film that depicts Bush blowing up a field of bunnies, another of a man singing a tune titled “Damn You Mr. Bush”), some that combine repetitive action footage and pulsating music (one features scenes of the Cabrini-Green projects being demolished, set to Bizet; another joins jazzed-up sequences of skateboarders to a throbbing background score). The collection also includes phony “trailers,” including one for an A&E “interview” with a foul-mouthed computer-animated monkey channeling Christopher Walken. A few are non-narrative pieces showcasing experimental technique, but most—including the longest, a surrealistic fantasy called “Knuckleface Jones,” which is chockfull of woozy non-sequiturs—have the feel of juvenile jokes. Although mildly interesting as an anthology, the general level here is on a par with student films. Not recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)