Here we present a look at two films that many people will not only not "get," but may have some difficulty in even seeing for themselves, as they are not widely available for viewing as of yet. Noah Tilsen'sGrinning Faces and Roger Davidson'sStreet Hassle are two micro-budget indie shorts, both approximately 30 minutes long, made by two of the more promising filmmakers currently at work in the Twin Cities of my home state, Minnesota. Both films are dark (both in cinematography and content), stylish and disturbing, with a bit of gallows humor and a strong sense of impending doom and madness. It is this reviewer's opinion that short films are too often overlooked, and I try to rectify this oversight by occasionally reviewing them here; in fact, my first article as an official writer for this site was a lengthy analysis of one of my favorite films, Luis Bunuel's 16-minute masterpiece,Un Chien Andalou (1929).
Full disclosure: though I had nothing directly to do with the making ofGrinning Faces, several of those both behind and in front of the camera are friends or acquaintances of mine, which is also true ofStreet Hassle; additionally, I have a minor, non-speaking role inHassle, though my influence on the film is so minimal, I feel that it is not a conflict of interest for me to review it here. I thought it best to be up-front and honest about this, and I will do my utmost to provide unbiased reviews of both.
Grinning Faces begins with a black-screen and floating head narrator, "The Observer" (Steven Rod), who sports a carnival barker-style mustache and speaks with the kind of mysterious hyperbole and extravagant intonation of the same as he introduces the film. It is a moment far too similar to the opening of John Boorman's bizarre and hilariousZardoz (1974) to not be an intentional homage. We are then introduced to "Hero" (Danny August Mason), a very intense and troubled young man who is grappling with his deviant psycho-sexual desires and hatred of humanity, and his creepy, mysterious mentor, "Writer" (Matthew Feeney), a novelist who seems to be writing Hero's story as Hero lives it. Completing the trifecta of protagonists is "Love" (Rachel Grubb), a prostitute Danny abruptly picks up in the middle of servicing another client (an uncredited cameo by Tilsen) who wants Hero to kill her in the midst of an orgasm, which she believes will transport her to an afterlife of eternal bliss.