VIFF 2005 Reviews

If this laundry-fresh package of shorts were boxers instead of films, they would have big red hearts all over them. Touchingly earnest at times, garishly overstated at others, the I'm So Over You lineup is flush with tales of love in all shades of frustration, running a stylistic kaleidescope touching on everything from musical comedies and hypercolour pop art to office ennui. Opening film "Big Girl" is a melt-in-your-mouth triumph of simple beauty and gorgeous pathos. The premise is as unassuming as the title: precocious young Jospehine is the harshest critic of her single mother’s rotating barrage of boyfriends. Gerry, the newest beau, challenges Josephine to a series of quirky competitions to win a chance at Mom’s affection. Maybe it's the fact that the adorable running through snowy fields sequences are scored to Feist's "Mushabooom", maybe it's the delightfully effortless charm of the actors, or maybe it’s because "Big Girl" reaches every potential for love-tousled confection that I hoped to see in a shorts program like I’m So Over You, but the humbling poignancy of this film sparkles like soda bubbles up a child’s nose - exhilarating at first, but then more stinging than you’d imagined at the end.

Further gems includ the morbid left-at-the-altar comedy "Jilted", the heartbreak whirlwind of "Qualite de l’Air", and the glam-jazz of "Fallen". Unfortunately, title piece "I’m So Over You" fell sadly under par. A musical comedy set in a grocery store in which two ex-lovers converge and sing about the mutual awkwardness of the situation, "I’m So Over You" renders the viewer far too over it before the end of the film. It’s a solid effort at mastering the fluorescence of postmodern camp, but the actors and directors overdo it in the “schlock” department; the result is a sloppy aesthetic that is more jarring than endearing. Overall, however, the films in the I’m So Over You package live up to their title - certain romances linger with you for days afterwards, while others leave more to be desired.