Video mix tape of short films for messed up Covid times. Not sure on the shelf-life but as we gaze at 2.5 years and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, maybe I'm underestimating this collection and the virus.
So even if the films are not tightly united there is something to the curation and ordering of them. (Well unless they are displayed chronologically or by the director's birth month or some other sort mechanism).
The first and last were directors I have seen before Jafar Panahi's is the most warm, and includes the symbolism of an egg hatching, so it felt the vaguely optimistic, although apparently Farsi politeness has a fair amount of "I would die for you" which adds a taste of sour to sweetness between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
Then the closing film is devoid of any humans. But scores and scores of insects, are they meant to be bug and akin to the virus. Or are these insects what all that will be left when the last human succumbs. The director is Apichatpong Weerasethakul who often experimental even when their is a narrative of sorts. He does have the glaring lights on beds which reminded me of his excellent "Cemetery of Splendor."
I would strongly recommend watching that over this collection, but the collection still had its moments. And if you likely quirky, deeply personal independent films then you can hang with this. And you might appreciate seeing artistic responses to what you are dealing with in your Covid seclusion/bubble/glaring neon lights in your egg space. You are not alone.
Looking at the other films...
David Lowery is NOT the Camper Van Beethoven musician fella, but this Lowery did have Bill Callahan (from the group Smog) and his pipes handle the narration of a very interesting dreamlike take on a secret Cemetery with no Splendor.
The entry from Chile had heart and some hope, a pandemic baby reunites a family sort of, at least via a pulley over a balcony. The entry from China must have been the longest, and it captured the futile existence for too many during Covid (also purportedly was in Wuhan, ground zero).
I admit to not knowing enough about Project Pegasus beforehand. That film was a confounding mess, but it did trigger more searching online, which makes it important I think. As subsequent reading has me more concerned than the shot. Also "Terror Contagion" has Brian Eno making music so that was a plus.
I guess the pandemic makes our phone virus susceptibility even higher. This was the weak part of the collection on several levels, but somehow it lead me to. Bill Marcazk who seems like a really really good dude.
Mallik Vitthal's entry was colorful, lively and it seemed like the pandemic was the latest in too many setbacks for. Bobby Yay Yay Jones and his family. It's short and bittersweet, but I hope his perseverance is ultimately the most contagious element from these times and the seven films spawned by them.
