Monday Short Film Pick 8/30/10 – CROSSBOW
In honor of HTN staffer Brandon Harris, who is walking directly into the film production tornado as we speak, it seems only fitting to present one of his short film recommendations as this week’s pick (break both legs, Brandon!). However, this particular film, Crossbow, makes sense for another timely reason, as the writer/director is none other than David Michod, who wrote and directed of one of the most talked about new miniplex releases of the summer, Animal Kingdom, and who is a member of the prolific and exciting Blue-Tongue Films collective (The Square, Hesher, etc.).
Crossbow is a dark, moody affair that has the impact of a solid short story. In it, an Australian lad reflects back on his childhood and his troubled next door neighbors: the reserved, quiet child; the tough, tattooed father; and the sexy, panty-wearing mother. One day, to the shock of everyone in the neighborhood, tragedy strikes, but not in the way that you might expect.
Crossbow is NSFW, I’d have to say, and at 14 minutes, it’s longer than I want these picks to be—I’m really hoping to keep them to 8 minutes or less, if possible—but for the reasons stated above, we’re going with it this week. Enjoy.