Nurse Viola falls for mortician Mortie, but she quickly discovers that Mortie's only into dead chicks. After visiting an herbalist to obtain a love potion, Viola comes up with a radical way to win Mortie's affection... just as his shrink brings him to the realization that he likes her too.
What could have been a truly tasteless farce is made enjoyable by the fantastically catchy music, swift editing, passionate performances and incredible direction. Opening with a full-blown production number and sweeping camera-work, it's nearly incomprehensible that this is merely a low-budget short -- it has the look, feel and sound of a big-budget Hollywood production. There's background gags galore, and they make incredible use of every second of screen time. Christina Souza, Christian Campbell and Michael A. Shepperd give powerful performances; and it seems that everyone involved with the film was giving their all. The only flaw is the ending, which feels a little like a cop-out, but it still works. I'm looking forward to seeing more from director Shawn Ku.
It's really a shame that it wasn't a full-length feature, since there's really not much of a venue for 20-some minute shorts. A friend saw it on IFC and told me about it so I wrangled a copy online... and I'm so glad that I did. I never thought I'd love a short film as much as I love this one. It's also notable that the wonderful music is available for download on the official website.
What could have been a truly tasteless farce is made enjoyable by the fantastically catchy music, swift editing, passionate performances and incredible direction. Opening with a full-blown production number and sweeping camera-work, it's nearly incomprehensible that this is merely a low-budget short -- it has the look, feel and sound of a big-budget Hollywood production. There's background gags galore, and they make incredible use of every second of screen time. Christina Souza, Christian Campbell and Michael A. Shepperd give powerful performances; and it seems that everyone involved with the film was giving their all. The only flaw is the ending, which feels a little like a cop-out, but it still works. I'm looking forward to seeing more from director Shawn Ku.
It's really a shame that it wasn't a full-length feature, since there's really not much of a venue for 20-some minute shorts. A friend saw it on IFC and told me about it so I wrangled a copy online... and I'm so glad that I did. I never thought I'd love a short film as much as I love this one. It's also notable that the wonderful music is available for download on the official website.