Awards

Everything seems correct and proper academically in this film - the cinematography is clean and polished, the production design is excitingly attractive, the story and screenplay use suspense to entice us to follow the film to the end, not to mention its insight on loss (of love and objects) and preservation or memorialization. Is this a perfect short cinema because of its clever fusion of filmic elements? But somehow, something is off in the whole presentation: the walls and the cabinets feel like they have been "production-designed" and the actions unfold with such oddity (funny when they are supposed to be dark; macabre when they are supposed to be about love and pleasant things). Then there is the performance, nearly stilted as if the filmmakers do not want us to feel sympathetic with the characters. All these make Pretty Pickle by Jim Vendiola deserving of A Special Jury Citation.