Blog: Wis-Kino program notes

There must be some kind of identified phobia of art forms that are open-ended and inconsistent by nature. An unspeakable terror lies in sacrificing control to the whim of the crowd for open-mic-style entertainment, where the possibility of endless boring tangents is accepted as part of the process. But Wis-Kino eases that problem. Anyone can submit films to the organization's monthly screenings, but they must usually stick to a theme and limit the runtime to five minutes or less. There's room for experimentation, but if something sucks it'll be over quickly, and if something's really great, it'll seem all the more great for being concise. Tonight, Wis-Kino will screen a retrospective of its 2008 films at the Mercury Lounge. Here's a brief look at the lineup.

The Rob Matsushita Factor: "God And Breakfast" by Rob Matsushita

Whenever I take a look at local comedy or local short films, there's always this little ritual called "Rob Matsushita trouncing everyone else." Why does Chad freaking Vader (for which Matsushita writes and acts, incidentally) get all the viral attention when Matsushita's own short films are so resourceful and punchy? Like some of Matsushita's other shorts, "God And Breakfast" isn't hard to sum up—God overtakes Rob's friend's (Emily Mills) body and turns out to be "kind of a douchebag"—but contains dialogue worth following. This isn't quite as sick or violent as some of his other works, but it's the snappy writing that counts.

Awkward genital jokes: "A Public Service Announcement From RASH Films" by Josh Klessig and Sam Lawson

It's true that people can still base great comedy on their peeky parts: Home Taint Removal System, a 2007 Kino short by John Wiedenhoeft and Mark Whitcomb, really earned the laughs, combining an absurd concept with a dead-on infomercial parody. On the other hand, this "public service announcement" basically sets up a pretense for two guys to make jokes about balls, and they proceed to tear through the standard ball-joke handbook ("Just put that in your mouth"). So, I guess it depends on your patience for ball jokes.

General goofery: "Hovercraftin'" by John Feith

Feith and friends buzzed a hovercraft around on one of Madison's frozen lakes, and Feith recored a little song for it. It's basically some upbeat workout-friendly music, and the only lyrics are, "Hovercraftin', oh yeah..."

Unexpected seriousness: "Love & War" by Shelby Falk

As you'd expect from short films made without a lot of time or resources, Wis-Kino often brings out the artists' quirky or downright silly tendencies. Shelby Falk's videos have that side, too, but she takes more chances with her approach. ("People I Love," her experimental set of 'potraits' from 2007, convinced me to check in with Wis-Kino more often.) "Love & War" is all climax, no background—what chain of events pushed this guy to point a gun at this woman?—but that only cranks up the unsettling tension.

Madison-gazing: "Fore By Four" by Adam Schabow, Beth Morgan, Erin Rasmussen, and Michael Donnelly

Some goofballs from Dane101 interview farmers'-market vendors, then hit their purchases with golf clubs on the Capitol lawn. Then they high-five.