Short film review archive

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B — 160 results

• Beck "Girl" (2005)

  Review preview for Beck "Girl"

  Clever and well shot, if not entirely original.

  Pop video in the form of origami.
• Becoming Anita Ekberg (2014)

  Review preview for Becoming Anita Ekberg

  A fascinating and humorous exploration of a star image and its use by savvier directors.

  An exploration of how the construct of “Anita Ekberg” became an internationally famous sex goddess.
• The Bedfords (2009)

  Review preview for The Bedfords

  This is less a tale of exploitation than a portrait of isolated individuals still playing a game that long ago lost its meaning.

  A new look at the Scottish highlands as imagined by the Victorian aristocracy.
• Bed Bugs Don't Bite? (2004)

  The terror of what darkness brings for a claymation boy and his cat.
• Bella Maddo (2010)

  Review preview for Bella Maddo

  Played absolutely straight, it finds its comedy - and its horror - in the obsessions that underscore many real lives.

  A pregnant woman goes to extreme lengths to stay glamorous and thin.
• Bells (2015)

  Review preview for Bells

  Bells is a touching, moving little piece.

  A lone twin struggles to cope with the loss of his sibling.
• Ben And Lump (2012)

  Review preview for Ben And Lump

  This is genuinely funny, full of subtle characterisation and humorous moments.

  One Christmas, two friends are forced to acknowledge that their lives are going in very different directions.
• Big Girl (2013)

  Review preview for Big Girl

  Feels real, honest, open, compelling.

  A reunion between friends leads to awkward revelations.
• Big Men (2006)

  A man's relationship with his grandad.
• Bike Thief (2006)

  Mockumentary about a thieving ned.
• Bikini (2004)

  Review preview for Bikini

  Stories of this sort are so often presented as tragedies that it's delightful to watch this very different take.

  An angstful adolescent finds a new lust for life upon daring to wear a bikini.
• Binn Bunny Goes Green (2009)

  Review preview for Binn Bunny Goes Green

  The plasticine animation here is delightful, not least for its flaws.

  The inhabitants of Wayward Wood work hard in an effort to win the Wood Of The Year competition.
• Birds (2006)

  Dogs shake their slo-mo thang to a Vitalic track.
• Birth Of A Nation (2010)

  Review preview for Birth Of A Nation

  In the constructedness of its approach, the split-screens, the mute passage of time before us, it becomes evocative, enlightening, impressive.

  An experimental short providing a glimpse inside a summer camp where young Russian cadets develop their allegiance.
• Bite (1997)

  Review preview for Bite

  The story is a good one, the ending sharp.

  Postman gets to grips with the problem females in his life.
• The Bite (2009)

  Review preview for The Bite

  Haunting, intriguing, compelling.

  A woman is waiting for her lover. The little girl she is taking care of is playing. When the young man arrives, the little girl decides to explore the park.
• Blacksmith (2013)

  Review preview for Blacksmith

  Blichfeldt keeps things simple and lets the process tell its own story.

  Documenting the work of a smithy.
• Black Box Shorts (2008)

  Review preview for Black Box Shorts

  The unknown gap between a given input and output.

  Experimental short film showcase.
• Blind Date (2010)

  Review preview for Blind Date

  The script and direction are solid, the performances great.

  A man's quiet night in the pub is interrupted when a girl arrives looking for her blind date.
• Blind Passion - Raw Cut (2008)

  Review preview for Blind Passion - Raw Cut

  They don’t seem to have quite decided whether the dance is to be eroticised or, as it would appear, not.

  Naked dancers perform a tango-inflected routine.
• Block (1994)

  A sculptor discovers a stone man inside a block of granite.
• Bloom (2004)

  Review preview for Bloom

  It's not often that magic realism creeps into short film but Martin Gent uses it to great effect here.

  Grass - and romance - grow.
• The Blue Toon (2004)

  Documentary on the demise of the fishing industry in Peterhead.
• Blurred Lines (2012)

  Review preview for Blurred Lines

  It's interesting to see plastic surgery explored as a pragmatic life choice, not sensationalised.

  A short documentary about facial reconstruction surgery.
• Body Team 12 (2015)

  Review preview for Body Team 12

  This film is a monument to all those who have no graves, and a valuable outlet for Liberian voices in discussion often dominated by Western narratives.

  A documentary about a team tasked with collecting the bodies of ebola victims.
• Bogans (2004)

  Review preview for Bogans

  The film succeeds in making us root for the characters rather than simply laugh at them.

  Three bogans set out on a quest to star in Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films.
• Bogies, Brains And Breakfast (2003)

  Review preview for Bogies, Brains And Breakfast

  Julia McLean's film is delightfully imaginative, aided by Thomas Scott's excellent score.

  An animated moment in the life of a nose picker.
• Bogman Palmjaguar (2007)

  Review preview for Bogman Palmjaguar

  Visually, the film takes risks and loses.

  Docubiog of a conservationist gone wrong.
• Bohemios (2000)

  Review preview for Bohemios

  Bohemios has conceptual depth and effortless, exquisite execution.

  Youth, age and exhaustion examined through tango.
• The Bombs (2005)

  Claymation animated bombs in a cake film comedy thriller.
• Bond (2013)

  Review preview for Bond

  As courtships go Bond is somewhat unconventional.

  A one night stand leads to unexpected entanglements.
• Bones Of Contention (2004)

  Documentary about the scandal surrounding whale bones on the Island of Coll.
• Bon Appetit (2010)

  Review preview for Bon Appetit

  A mixture of humour both visual and bodily that will amuse children of any age.

  A little girl tries to get her ice-cream back from a hungry monster.
• Borderline (2005)

  Experimental film about the streets of London.
• Borderlines (2015)

  Review preview for Borderlines

  Simply rendered and very effective.

  Two people struggle to share their space.
• Born in USSR (2010)

  Review preview for Born in USSR

  A nice idea which could have been better executed, even on a low budget.

  Animated allegory about the USSR.
• Boxed In (2002)

  An old man in a room with a mouse.
• A Boy And His Atom (2013)

  Review preview for A Boy And His Atom

  A Boy And His Atom has a quirky charm that stems partly from fascination at how his can be done, partly from the appeal of its simple character.

  A short animation drawn with individual atoms.
• Boy Lost Girl (2006)

  Review preview for Boy Lost Girl

  Has an energetic pop video feel.

  Boy meets girl, boy loses girl.
• Brainsstorm (2005)

  An artist hears the voice of Hitler in his head.
• Brand Spanking (2004)

  Animation examining a future world where the private sector run schools
• A Brazilian Immigrant (2005)

  Review preview for A Brazilian Immigrant

  While the animation is quite artistic, its throbbing lines are constantly vying with the subtitles, making them difficult to make out and digest.

  Documentary on the Brazilian experience of clearing Customs to enter the UK.
• Break (2003)

  Review preview for Break

  What it lacks in substance it makes up for in style.

  An old man has been left to live alone in an abandoned, desolate house.
• Breakfast (2010)

  Review preview for Breakfast

  It's hard to say who it is actually for.

  Meat is murder in a grisly fairy tale.
• Bride Wars (2009)

  Review preview for Bride Wars

  With a title like this you know pretty much what to expect.

  Best friends become bitter enemies after inadvertently scheduling their weddings for the same day.
• A Brief History of Errol Morris (1999)

  Review preview for A Brief History of Errol Morris

  A funny and attention grabbing portrait of a unique filmmaker.

  Documentary about the non-fiction film-maker.
• Britain (2011)

  Review preview for Britain

  As an artist, she certainly gets my vote.

  Join a pair of armchairs who discuss the politics around Britain today.
• Britannia (1993)

  Review preview for Britannia

  Quinn cleverly mixes the natural playfulness of the animal with more sinister inclination.

  Animation about British imperialism.
• The Brixtonian (2002)

  Short about a former public schoolboy who thinks he's better dread than dead.
• Broken Night (2013)

  Review preview for Broken Night

  This is a quality production all round.

  A young woman and her four-year-old daughter find a road trip turns into a nightmare.