HIGHS AND LOWS >>>

The first film to screen at this year's 72-Hour Film Festival name-checked Alan Smithee, the famous pseudonym given to directors who want to distance themselves from failed projects. It was a somewhat telling note for a festival of films that-while admirable, all-are wildly uneven.

Look, it's hard to make a short film in three days. Having competed several times, I should know this. All the same, more often than mistakes in technical execution, there are errors in plot development. It's easy to get up in your head with a concept that makes perfect sense to you, because you thought of it, but is pretty hard for newcomers to grasp. This was a common factor in many of the films featured in last night's 7th annual 72-Hour Film Festival.

As always, though, there were a handful of standouts, including Isaac Olsen and Bill Henderson's Eyeballin', a sequel of sorts to the experimental film parody, Excruciating Eyeball, from a few years back. Monkey-men and disembodied eyeballs make a comeback, this time with English narration (not German), and less techno music. In keeping with Olsen's track record, the film was impeccably stylish.

Another standout was Rick Gratzer's The Unfinished Symphony, which eschewed the filmmaker's usual penchant for silliness in exchange for an oddly touching and weird exploration of the mind of a composer. Riley Gratzer, Rick's brother, complains of having too few hands to complete his composition before multiplying into the Grazters five. It was my favorite entry.

Other highlights include Raccoon Ranch, wherein raccoons are made to embody the Manson family; It Came First, which won Best Use of the Superpower and the Audience Award, and featured a fight to the death between a man and an egg; When Nothing Comes To Pass, a gorgeously shot film about death and past loves that won Best Use of Location; Pier Puppetry, by Terese Cuff and her group of older ladies, who continue to contribute some of the more delightfully surreal entries each year; and Kris Crews' Something Eggxsistential, which featured some beatific kaleidoscopes.

Overall, it was an evening of harsh ups and downs, which has come to be expected from the festival. But it will always remain exciting to see what local talent can do.

Best Use of Location: When Nothing Comes To Pass

Best Use of the Line of Dialogue: Spare a Time? - wherein a dance number erupts on the steps of UW.

Best Use of the Superpower: It Came First

Best Use of Prop: Great Moments in Advertising - wherein ad execs open their minds to find the next wave in pantyhose.

Honorable Mention: Senator Feelgood - about two brothers and the oddly specific powers they possess.

Audience Award: It Came First

Best Overall: Director's Cut - wherein a man becomes the director of his own life story.

LINK: Our feature story on the festival