Sep 28, 2007  |  By: GREG MARZULLO  | COMMENTS     

Pound for pound, it seems that queer short films have a better reputation than their feature-length brethren, but usually that’s because if they’re horrible, at least they’re over quickly. In the case of “Girls’ View,” now on DVD from Alluvial Filmworks, the short subjects aren’t just entertaining by default — each of the five pieces is a solid example of creative filmmaking, strong acting and well-crafted writing.

First up is “Unspoken,” a coming-of-age piece that delves deeper into the subtleties of queer teen life than just the worn out self-discovery tale. Jani (Troian Bellisario) is a vaguely pretty and marginally recognized girl in high school who doesn’t really register on the kids’ social hierarchy except she’s always hanging around with blond good-time girl Gabby (Sarah Christine Smith).

The two teens are romantically involved, unbeknownst to the jocks, who eventually lure Gabby into their heterosexual ways. It’s this betrayal of Jani that seems most familiar and painfully poignant — the young outsider always remains on the outskirts looking in at what she most wants and can never truly have.

“Open” uses a clever time device, telling the story of a crumbling lesbian couple from their end point to the beginning cracks in their façade. The couple, Gabby (Mindy Abovitz) and Sam (Mariah Helfrich), decide to open up their relationship with a poet friend of theirs. It all seems cool, until the power balance slips out of control, and the core relationship falls apart. By starting at the couple’s end, director Teale Failla reveals how seemingly innocuous choices can have far-reaching consequences.

“SUGARED PEAS” IS THE collection’s weakest offering, mostly because it borders on melodrama. Told in a flashback, two girls at an all-girls Catholic high school perform in a school play about Guinevere and Lancelot. The girl playing the knight in shining armor discovers her budding Sapphic tendencies and relishes in an onstage kiss, but her queen, while never rude, doesn’t return the affection. The melodrama rears its head during the scenes when the girls are older and happen upon each other at a local park, stretching that willing suspension of disbelief almost to the breaking point.

Possibly the strongest short of the bunch, “Open Studio” is also minimally lesbian. An adult lesbian, Dee, and her mother, Rose, engage in a power struggle once mom finds out that Dee has decided to get pregnant. Rose gave up her fledgling art career when she became pregnant, and now she’s terrified her successful daughter will have to throw away everything that she’s accomplished. The story shifts to Rose as she breaks through years of sacrifices and lost hopes to regain the belief in her own artistic abilities, and by the film’s end, she’s a transformed woman. The minimal, yet effective, script allows for the silent moments of Rose’s transformation to be told through painting, a beautiful metaphor for creating a new life.

“Different” is the most ironic and tongue-in-cheek of the shorts, with a tone that’s refreshing in light of the other, more intentionally serious shorts. In this alternative universe high school, gay and straight is switched. Gays rule the school, and only the repulsive heterosexual kids are in the closet, lonely, willing to betray one another to avoid confrontation and hyper-focused on passing. It’s a clever conceit, but once you get it there’s little purpose left to the film. If director Tyrrell Shaffner’s intended audience is straight high school kids, the film would be a brilliant teaching tool, but for gay people, the concept loses its punch early, despite strong performances from the entire cast.