Opening night at the Palais theatre served up a tasting platter showcasing the house specialities of a short film festival. There was the fast-paced-short-with-a-punchline, shots cascading into each other like a row of falling dominoes (Chopper). The gleefully offensive animation with the redeeming ‘awwww’ ending (The video dating tape of Desmondo Ray, aged 33 & ¾). The as-seen-on-Rage-at-3 am music videos and the shorts that read like an episode from a grander dream project (Test drive). Eleanor Wilson’s Possum stayed with me on the long march toward the after party, primarily because of its distinctive visual density.
![Possum Still](http://chrismcauliffe.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Possum-still-300x178.jpg)
‘Possum’, 2013, dir, Eleanor Wilson, 17 min.
Low budget shorts can have a diluted, washed-out feel; art direction takes a back seat, locations are selected opportunistically, lighting lacks subtlety. The rhythm of a script can skew towards speed-dating; slow builds or carefully orchestrated shifts in pace are an unaffordable luxury. While I can’t say I liked Possum, Wilson gave every shot a sense of gravitas. An otherwise familiar ‘true love travels on gravel road’ narrative was tightly packed with material and sensate detail. Mood was condensed into the textures of a bourgeois interior (designer casual, carefully comfortable) and an upstate New York landscape (lush, but never picturesque).
Everyone recognizes the spirit of the short film—snappy, smart-arse, determined to nail it. It’s the grain of the short film that needs more attention.
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