BNFF10 REVIEW: The Beneficiary [2008]

“Go to bed darling” You never know who is watching or recording your daily moves. Theodore Mali’s The Beneficiary, a short film screened at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, expresses this idea both in its storyline and visual flair. While we watch the characters move along through the days this movie spans, the screen regularly cuts to different surveillance cameras showing another vantage point, recording common activities that seem like nothing, but could be hiding a crime when pieced together. The entire plot hinges on such an electronic record of…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Stuck Like Chuck [2010]

“I guess I like threesomes” With the inundation of paint-by-number romantic comedies these days, sometimes checking out an ultra low-budget Indie can be a breath of fresh air—even if said movie knows it. Jerry Cavallaro’s Stuck Like Chuck is a tale of collegiate love and missed signals that can be related to by anyone who’s ever grown up on the fringes of high school popularity. But the story of Charlie’s lust for his film class compatriot Juliet is only the vehicle for the writer/director to poke fun at Hollywood and…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Contractor’s Routine [2011]

“Change is the currency of the universe” When planning out the films I was going to try and see at the 2010 Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, I noticed one on the first Saturday called Contractor’s Routine. The image on the poster was intriguing and its categorization as a psychological thriller put in firmly in my wheelhouse. I checked out the website and was met by a somewhat jumbled mess of text and images, giving me the impression that perhaps the finished film would show it’s independent budget on its sleeve.…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: The Teacher [2010]

“Maybe a scotch would be better” Conquering your fears—I think that is as good a description as any of what Lisa Ford, (and her son Zack Ford, who co-directed), was looking to express with in her short film The Teacher. Screening at the Buffalo Niagara Film festival, the piece is an interesting mix of reality and fantasy, showing many of the activities for which Hermes is the patron God of. A stand-in for orators and literature, (the teacher), as well as thieves, liars, athletics and sports, (the student); this God…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Bravo Sierra [2010]

“The Maple Leaf will prevail” Sometimes a film can be successful as nothing more than a good time; a point driven home by the local Buffalo production Bravo Sierra. It’s a satire of the war in Iraq that is so over-the-top you can’t help but become part of the joke. While the first few minutes are funny, the performance of jack-of-all-trades Jason Aupperle, (writer, director, producer, editor, and star), seems too grating to look beyond. The film quality isn’t the greatest, the one-shot cutting abrupt as you wonder why two…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Badfish [2009]

“The Michael Jordan of competitive fish eating” Not to belittle the comparison of Badfish to the films of Christopher Guest that the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival’s program contains, but that is some lofty thinking. The movie being a faux documentary is an accurate similarity, yet what makes the works of Guest successful is that they are send-ups of real life events. Amateur theatre troupes perform, dog shows exist, and folk bands actually have concerts. So, the premise of the film revolving around a goldfish eating competition is just too outlandish…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Cadillac [2009]

“All I can do is drive” The eight-minute short film Cadillac, by Nathan Lewinski, is a sentimental portrait of the memory of a man who has left this earth. Beginning without dialogue, an older gentlemen turning on his Caddy while still in the garage, I thought that maybe my cynical mind was playing tricks on me. The first reaction I had to the scene was that this man was committing suicide, especially as the sequence blurs out into black for the next act to begin. Only when I read the…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: St. Gertrude [2009]

“A bitch named Leroy Brown” By far one of the highlights during my first day at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, Emily Johnson’s senior film project for the Savannah College of Art and Design, St. Gertrude, is a gorgeous little film. Right from the beginning, during a sequence that sees a family in mourning, as the grandmother lies dying in bed, you can notice the strong sense of composition and quality of visual aesthetic. The credits then run above a static shot of young Gertrude on the floor of her…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Hens & Chicks [2010]

“Did you have pygmy zygotes?” I really didn’t know what to expect when Becky Lane’s short film Hens & Chicks began. It opens up to show young Hanna and Marco on their way home from school. You assume the two have whatever kind of crush one can at the age on each other, and see it confirmed somewhat when the two race. The finish is somewhat anticlimactic as Marco trips and falls—as he is wont to do—relaying the fact his carrying her books hindered his ability to go full speed.…

Read More

BNFF10 REVIEW: Laundry Day [2010]

“I just don’t know how they got so orange” It’s tough to create a film that’s only four and a half minutes long that can resonate the same way a feature can with all its character development and plot progression. One way around the time frame is to just make it a fun little bit to entertain for the short span it lasts on screen. Dominick Saraceno’s Laundry Day attempts to do just that in its simple orchestration. Taking place at an empty Laundromat, a guy (Clint Byrne) and a…

Read More

BNFF10 PREVIEW: The 4th Annual Buffalo Niagara Film Festival

Year four is here for the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival taking place at both Dipson’s Market Arcade Centre downtown and the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda. I’ve attended the past two entries and have been impressed by the quality of films and improvements made. 2009 saw the world premiere of Steve Coogan and Hillary Duff’s What Goes Up, a sub-par movie with only lackluster guests in attendance, but a cool event to be a part of anyway. To date, 2008’s The Cake Eaters and last year’s Boppin’ at the Glue…

Read More