Drowning by Numbers

Sanning/Lögn(sv)

The Big Shave(en)

A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene.

Time Piece(en)

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this 9-minute experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson. Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, "Time Piece" enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for Outstanding Short Subject.

The Magic Bubble(en)

A middle-aged woman frees herself from the spirit-crushing influence of her husband by refusing to remember what her age is.

Doughnut(en)

Things turn sour when an amateur improv class meet for the first time after one of the group misjudges the situation. https://shortoftheweek.com/2021/11/22/doughnut

My House(en)

A man's life takes a sharp dark turn when a stranger shows up at his door claiming to be the owner of his house.

Dead Candi(es)

Lucas is a withdrawn young man with a deep desire to travel. However, he carries the responsibility of supporting his dysfunctional family in his consciousness. Enduring the rejection he feels for his unbridled, but outstanding younger brother and his accomplice mother obsessed with appearances, Luke's contradictory emotions explode into a violent crime.

Breakthrough(en)

Tragedy strikes when a woman named Joyce's son falls through the ice on a frozen lake and is trapped underwater for over 15 minutes. After being rushed to the hospital, the 14-year-old boy continues to fight for his life as Joyce, her husband and their pastor stay by his bedside and pray for a miracle.

I'll Be Right There(en)

Wanda wants to take care of everyone in her life. She barely has time for herself, not that she would know what to do with it anyway.

Lajko: Gypsy in Space(hu)

In 1957 the Soviet Union decides to give Hungary the chance to choose the world's first cosmonaut, who can be the very first person in space. It seems like the best candidate is Lajkó, the gypsy spraying pilot.

SHROOMHEAD!(en)

Floyd Benson, a neurotic college student, must learn to overcome his fears and discover who he truly is after he's forced to confront a particularly unique hygiene problem.

Timestalker(en)

Hapless Agnes repeatedly falls for the wrong guy, dies a grim death, and is reincarnated a century later. As she experiences romantic misfortune spanning various eras, Agnes aims to avoid repeat mistakes and finally break the cycle.

Close-Up: an oddyssey(en)

Aspiring writer Lucy Simon embarks on a psychedelic road trip to the planet Mars with her brash, unnamed drug dealer behind the wheel in this music-driven space adventure presented entirely through the use of close-up photography.

Toy Gun(en)

Ruggero, a meek young man, impulsively robs a bank to prove to his ex-wife that he is courageous and masculine. A police investigation engulfs everyone except our unassuming hero who is completely ignored. Through a set of hilarious coincidences, he gets away with the robbery, while corrupt bank officials take the fall for what looks like an inside job.

The Daytrippers(en)

Eliza D'Amico thinks her marriage to Louis is going great until she finds a mysterious love note to her husband. Concerned, she goes to her mother for advice. Eliza, her parents, her sister Jo, and Jo's boyfriend all pile into the station wagon and go to the city to confront Louis with the letter. On the way, the five explore their relations with each other and meet many interesting people.

Broken Wings(he)

Daphne and her four children try to cope with the abrupt death of husband/father. As the family seems to fall apart, a sudden incident gives them a chance to heal their 'broken wings'.

To Dust(en)

Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor in Upstate New York and distraught at the untimely death of his wife, struggles to find religious solace, while secretly obsessing over how her body will decay. As a clandestine partnership develops with Albert, a local community college biology professor, the two embark on a darkly comic and increasingly literal undertaking into the underworld.

Measure for Measure: Live from The Globe(en)

William Shakespeare's darkest comedy, Measure for Measure. Live from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, this television production of the play was broadcast on BBC4 on Sept 4, 2004. Directed for stage by John Dove and for television by Janet Fraser Cook. Presented by Andrew Marr and with comment from historian David Starkey, actress Juliet Stevenson and the production’s director John Dove. Starring Mark Rylance, Liam Brennan and Sophie Thompson.

Who Is Cletis Tout?(en)

With a hitman’s gun aimed at him, Finch tells the story of how he broke out of jail, fell in love, and took the identity of a man wanted by the Mafia.

Real Life(en)

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

First Cow(en)

In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow—the first, and only, in the territory.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover(en)

When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.

Decalogue I(pl)

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

The Belly of an Architect(en)

Stourley Kracklite, a driven, detail-obsessed architect, travels from America to Rome with his much younger wife, Louisa, to oversee an architectural homage to a personal hero, 18th-century master builder Etienne-Louis Boullée. En route by train, Stourley and Louisa conceive a much-wanted child — but Stourley's obsession with his wife's expanding belly, her perceived infidelity, and his own recurrent bouts of abdominal pain reach epic and dangerous proportions.

Hannah Arendt(de)

A portrait of the genius that shook the world with her discovery of “the banality of evil.” After she attends the Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, Arendt dares to write about the Holocaust in terms no one has ever heard before. Her work instantly provokes a furious scandal, and Arendt stands strong as she is attacked by friends and foes alike. But as the German-Jewish émigré also struggles to suppress her own painful associations with the past, the film exposes her beguiling blend of arrogance and vulnerability — revealing a soul defined and derailed by exile.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril(ja)

Ogami Itto is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin and battles Retsudo, head of the Yagyu clan, and his son Gunbei.

Appointment with Death(en)

Emily Boynton, the stepmother to three children, blackmails the family lawyer into destroying a second will of her late husband that would have freed the children from her dominating influence. She takes herself, the children, and her daughter-in-law on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. At a dig, Emily is found dead and Hercule Poirot investigates.

Prospero's Books(en)

An exiled magician finds an opportunity for revenge against his enemies muted when his daughter and the son of his chief enemy fall in love in this uniquely structured retelling of the 'The Tempest'.

Crazy Desire(it)

A middle-aged businessman meets a band of rowdy youths and is smitten by one, named Francesca.

Black River(ja)

A university student moves into an apartment building and becomes involved with a waitress. The landlord then attempts to evict the tenants and sell the building through illicit means.

Love Boat(fr)

To overcome their financial problems, Justine, her husband and their whole group of friends organize a fake romantic cruise for Franck, a big investor, who is trying to seduce a woman.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(en)

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

The Color of Money(en)

Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.

The Blackout(ru)

Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small ring-like area in Eastern Europe still has electricity, and maybe even life is being reported from space. What military forces find outside the ring is shocking.

Freaks(en)

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

La Belle Époque(fr)

Victor, a disillusioned 60-something whose marriage is on the rocks, opts to relive the week of his life when, 40 years earlier, he met his true love through a company that allows customers to return to the time period of their choosing.

Midnight Express(en)

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

Inside Llewyn Davis(en)

In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future.

Coherence(en)

Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.

Annie Hall(en)

New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.