"The Adventure" leads pack of local shorts at Atlanta Underground Film Fest

[Above: Still from "The Adventure" by Mike Brune]

Broad comedy and unexpected bursts of violence characterized the Atlanta Underground Film Festival's collection of local short films screened Friday at the Plaza. These are elements familiar to amateur showcases and turned up often in the nine-film program, but the screening did offer some surprises, not the least of which was its opening act, “The Adventure,” a restrained moral quest that played with its audience through a series of startling tonal shifts.

The 22-minute film opens quietly as a car winds down a secluded wilderness road. The audience hears a dry exchange from a middle-aged couple inside the car, but the two remain off screen while the camera lingers overhead. Then, out of nowhere, a mime appears and runs toward the car, eventually forcing it to stop. The ominous figure, dressed in shades of black and white, begins to perform for the couple, whose awkward attempts to decipher him have a comic edge — until the mime shapes his hand into a gun.

Written and directed by Mike Brune, the increasingly disturbing short marked an early high point of the night. At least one screening with a local bent is common to most film festivals, especially smaller annual events like the AUFF, and the show Friday night fit the bill-- complete with an extended series of technical glitches (another tradition of small festivals) and characteristically unpolished films, celebrated by a crowd filled out by local fans and supporters.

Other bright spots included Tracy Martin’s “Sucker Punch,” an established local favorite that has made it as far as the Cannes Film Festival, and Raymond Carr's “Shamus the Myth,” which, despite stretches of incoherence, boasts a breathless narrative ambition few other shorts could rival.

Loose, often dark comedy otherwise ruled the night, with misfires like the farce “Day Labor” making up the largest part of the lineup. “Panels For the Walls of Hell,” the obligatory self-conscious entry, struck a low point with its crass attempt to send up classic film-festival clichés. By the time the short got to its ultra-violent climax, it had mostly just recycled what it had intended to satirize.

The two-hour screening fell at the midsection of the fest, which ran Wednesday through Sunday at venues throughout Atlanta. The festival is part of a series of film events put on mostly in the Atlanta area by Festival League, also behind Atlanta Horror Fest and Atlanta International Documentary Festival.

Related links:
Local:Atlanta: Atlanta Underground Film Festival kicks off
AUFF.org
FestivalLeague.com/HorrorFest