I Love Sarah Jane

Horrorphile

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I Love Sarah Jane

June 24th 2008 00:11

I didn’t get to see many short films at the 55th Sydney Film Festival this year, partly because I ended up seeing a lot of screeners (DVDs for media use), and also most of the films I saw on the big screen weren’t accompanied by a short. Festivals are generally the only time you’ll get to see short films (it’s also the only time you’ll get to see those oddball documentaries that don’t run feature length), so I’m always hoping there’ll be a short before hand, because they can often be pure bloody gold.

Last year’s Spider (co-written and directed by Nash Edgerton) was a gem, or the year before Six Shooter (2004, written and directed by Martin McDonagh), which ended up winning an Oscar. This year a superb horror short played before Donkey Punch (2008). I completely forgot to mention it in my review, so I’ve decided on giving it its own post. Last year some time I did a post on the Kiwi zombie short Zombie Movie (2005), made by Ben Stenbeck and some special effects blokes who had been working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Mia Wasikowska as Sarah Jane

Now we get an Aussie take on the zombie apocalypse told with an equally impressive sense of black humour, excellent special effects, strong visual style, and solid performances. I Love Sarah Jane (2008) is a 10-15 minuter. Co-written by David Michôd and Spencer Susser and directed by Susser, it tells the poignant story of 13-year-old Jimbo (Brad Ashby), who has a puppy love crush on slightly older Sarah Jane (Mia Wasikowska). He is dead-set on winning her affections, but first, there are the rotting, hungry dead to deal with.

For Australian viewers the voice and talking head of SBS newsreader Anton Enus, playing himself, provides a humourous touch of realism to the movie. But what stands out is the movie’s matter-of-fact nihilism. It appears all the adults have been killed off and devoured by the zombie plague. Now it’s just the kids running the roost, and of course, kids have their own protocol and agendas.

Vladimir Matovic as leader Joey

Any zombie caught isn’t going to be dispatched in a swift and efficient manner, no, no, the zombie needs to be trussed up and toyed with mercilessly. There’s no ethics in this grim future. But then it’s not as if the zombie has any feelings. The emotion responses belong to the humans, and that’s where this short come sup trumps, contrasting the macabre with the coy.

Here’s the movie (I could only find a version with Italian subs and no end credits):