Shorts 4 . Austin Chronicle . 03-29-99

Shorts 4

DIRECTED BY: Bob Sabiston

REVIEWED: 03-29-99

Leading off with Austinites Bob Sabiston and Tommy Pallotta's digitally animated road movie "Roadhead," this collection of all-documentary, all-comedy shorts is crammed with stylistic flourishes and outrageous, inspired comic touches. Sabiston's piece chronicling the duo's trip from New York, down the East Coast, and finally home to Austin, mixes cinema-vérité-styled animation with the ramblings of those met along the way. Todd Korgan's "Johnny Bagpipes" -- a mockumentary featuring a rock & roll bagpiper -- is essentially a one-note gag that continues far too long. AC/DC and Metallica squeaking amelodically from a bagpipe only goes so far, and even the charismatic John Johnston can't keep this from sagging under the increasing weight of a bad joke. Likewise Rafe Greenlee's "Cormac's Trash," a 17-minute odyssey in search of reclusive El Paso resident and famed author Cormac McCarthy, which sidesteps the essential question: Why plunder another man's garbage? Sheral Churchill and Thad Wadleigh's "The Music Supervisors" follows the recreated antics of a pair of desperate-for-work shmoes who attempt to make it in the shady world of film soundtracks. Despite a pair of winning leads and a so-ridiculous-it-must-be-true storyline (as well as some snappy editing), at 18 minutes the film is just too long for its short subject.

--Marc Savlov

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