Sunday morning’s shorts were clumped as stories about faith, but not all of them addressed religion directly.
A Son’s Sacrifice
Don’t let this flick’s austere title scare you. It’s got all the right elements — humor, love, blood — and documents the rift between first-generation immigrant Americans and their US-born kids.
In the film, a hard-ass immigrant father tries to teach his punk-ass, college-educated son the family business: slaughtering livestock according to Muslim dietary law. Intergenerational head butting ensues.
But beyond the minor squabbles on bookkeeping and deliveries, the son must deal with how he is perceived in the mostly immigrant community. Customers chide his western demeanor and sometimes question his faith without provocation.
Director Yoni Brook has this family covered, from the slaughterhouse to the mosque to the kitchen table. His seemingly light touch makes this half-hour film great. No fancy camera work, no heavy take-home message. Just straight-up documentation of this lively, funny and loving family dynamic.
My Name is Ahmed Ahmed
This nine-minute quickie profiles Ahmed Ahmed, an Egyptian-born, SoCal-raised standup comedian. Director Matthew Testa just lets Ahmed do his thing, joking about being a Muslim American in a post-9/11 world. It’s a nice (and funny) look into one man’s experience.
The Days and the Hours
In contrast with the two flicks above, this nine-minute shorty doesn’t document. Instead it illustrates the fate of homeless men and women, who take shelter each night inside a San Francisco church.
Unfortunately, the strolling images of people sleeping on church pews quickly gets monotonous, and too few of the movie’s subjects explain how they came to be homeless. Ultimately, the film is an exercise in cinematography.
Paradise Drift
This is a strange flick. The infrared camera kicks in to capture throngs of people on a nighttime hike. Young and old, they struggle over rocks, battle swarming bugs and wait anxiously for … The mother ship? The second coming? Who the fuck knows.
The pilgrims’ emotional transformation — from devastation to elation — is powerful. However, the slow visual storytelling really wears on the viewer’s interest. At nine minutes, the flick is eight minutes too long.
God Provides (above) and Orishas Are Our Saints
Don’t bother.
Images courtesy of AFI.
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