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SHORT 7: Utopia
Short Cinema Journal (or just SHORT for short) is a DVD series distributed by Warner Brothers every few months or so that spotlight notable examples of short films from a wide variety of genres and styles. SHORT 7 deals with Utopia and how various filmmakers tackle ideal perfection in its many guises. This disc, as with most in the SHORT series, is set up in five sections: Narrative, Experimental, Documentary, Interview, and Music. Within each lies the films that relate to each category. Titles include "More," "Zoltar From Zoran," "Bar Channel," "Images of Korea:," "The Lion and the Lamb," "Amplified Man," "Superstition," "Sam L. Grogg on Utopia," and "Lars from 1-10." The picture quality on SHORT 7: Utopia varies from film to film. Several of the shorts are shot on video, and in these the picture isn't as sharp as the ones on celluloid. However, none of the selections suffer from any major defects. Audio for all of the films is Dolby Digital 5.1, with the alternate tracks in standard 2.0 stereo. Unfortunately, SHORT 7: Utopia is the weakest of the series to date, but it's still worth picking up if you're a fan and/or completist. For people interested in shorts who are hankering for a fix of mini-flicks, the Short Cinema Journal series is one of the few places where we can find interesting short films on DVD, although novices should start with an earlier issue and work up to this one.
