While making an animated film, a filmmaker must decide whether to stop working with his assistant or stop sleeping with her. “Brontosaurus,” directed, animated, and voiced by Jack Dunphy, is a brutally honest and darkly funny portrait of a messy relationship, presented as a series of pencil drawings enlivened by simple but expressive animation techniques. The film is unafraid to roam into the touchy subjects of the day. Dunphy recounts the story of his romantic fling with a subordinate, and their patterns of passion, connection, and manipulation. After relating to one another’s history of health disorders, body image issues, drug problems, and rehab experiences, the two form a bond, despite recognizing how problematic it is while living in the MeToo era. A rich audio design and music soundscape bumps up the material, but the real show is the earnestness and vulnerability on display considering the potentially inflammatory material. It’s a refreshingly blunt and complex view of the sexual life and power dynamics of free-thinking adults. The same could be said for the recently recorded 15 minute interview between Dunphy and the real-life Odette, viewable below for NoBudge subscribers, which further illuminates the dynamics at play, particularly from Odette’s point of view. -KA. Writer, Director, Animator, Editor, Narrator, Producer: Jack Dunphy. Music by Seth Kaplan.
Celeste and Aurora have lived together for awhile but sometimes their friendship finds them bickering over mundane issues. “Dye Red,” directed by Vittoria Campaner, is a character study filled with vivid color and atmosphere, presented in vignettes that flow into one another with hidden cuts. The...
A group of disillusioned L.A. couples compete in an obscure sport to obtain money and social status. “Hill Hikers,“ directed by Elizabeth Godar and Mitch deQuilettes, is a mockumentary about a hiking “race” started by a couple trying to keep their sexual chemistry alive. Vague as the competition ...
After a night out in Miami, a young woman reckons with the dwindling chemistry between herself and her ex-boyfriend. Paula Andrea González-Nasser directs “Limestone,” a relationship study that paints a complicated portrait from an ordinary night out in the city. At a club, the woman reunites with...