X2000 - The Collected Shorts of Francois Ozon

Rating:
Summary: Four Films with Ten Ideas
Review: "The Collected Shorts of Francois Ozon: X 2000" bundles together four early, short films by the famed director. The DVD comes with no extras and with no chapter titles. When the fourth film is over, the first film starts over.

The first film is "Truth or Dare" ["Action Verite"], which shows two teen-age boys and two teen-age girls playing truth or dare. They target sex questions and dares involving kissing and touching. Then one dare produces a big surprise. (4 minutes) 3+ stars.

The second film is the best. "Little Death" [a poor translation of "La Petite Mort"; maybe "Post-Orgasm" is closer] stars Francois Delaive as Paul, a gay photographer estranged from his father and living with lover Martial (played by Martial Jacques). Paul likes to take pictures of men at sexual climax. Paul's sister Camille (played by Camille Japy) gets Paul to visit his dying father (played by Michel Beaujard). When Paul arrives, his father does not recognize him. Paul returns later to take pictures. After the father dies, Camille brings Paul some of his father's own photos. The film has a good emotional resolution. (24 minutes) Four stars.

The third film, "Bed Scenes" on the back of the DVD or "Bedtime Stories" in the film ["Scenes de lit"] presents seven very short bed scenes with different actors for each. Issues of trust, cleanliness, age differences, foreplay, transference, self-absorption, and experimentation appear, as do straight, gay, and lesbian behaviors. (25 minutes) Some are 3 stars and some are 4.

The fourth film, "X 2000", shows the morning after the 2000 New Year, many flights up in a residential suite. A nude man (played by Bruno Slagmulder) gets out of bed to get a hangover remedy. The nude women he is with (played by Denise Schropfer Aron) gets up later to take a languid bath. The man notices two young shirtless twin men sleeping in a sleeping bag, a nude couple having sex a few stories down in a neighboring building, and ants feasting on party left-overs. The man goes back to the woman, who asks what's up and is told that ants are attacking. (8 minutes) I could see this as a transition scene in a larger piece but not as a stand-alone. High 2/ low 3 stars.

It's good to gather all these scraps together. There are frequent skin scenes. "The Little Death" is very good movie. Fans of Jeremy Elkaim ("Come Undone") and Loie Even will be happy. I still recommend "Criminal Lovers" by Francois Ozon.

Rating:
Summary: Four Films with Ten Ideas
Review: "The Collected Shorts of Francois Ozon: X 2000" bundles together four early, short films by the famed director. The DVD comes with no extras and with no chapter titles. When the fourth film is over, the first film starts over.

The first film is "Truth or Dare" ["Action Verite"], which shows two teen-age boys and two teen-age girls playing truth or dare. They target sex questions and dares involving kissing and touching. Then one dare produces a big surprise. (4 minutes) 3+ stars.

The second film is the best. "Little Death" [a poor translation of "La Petite Mort"; maybe "Post-Orgasm" is closer] stars Francois Delaive as Paul, a gay photographer estranged from his father and living with lover Martial (played by Martial Jacques). Paul likes to take pictures of men at sexual climax. Paul's sister Camille (played by Camille Japy) gets Paul to visit his dying father (played by Michel Beaujard). When Paul arrives, his father does not recognize him. Paul returns later to take pictures. After the father dies, Camille brings Paul some of his father's own photos. The film has a good emotional resolution. (24 minutes) Four stars.

The third film, "Bed Scenes" on the back of the DVD or "Bedtime Stories" in the film ["Scenes de lit"] presents seven very short bed scenes with different actors for each. Issues of trust, cleanliness, age differences, foreplay, transference, self-absorption, and experimentation appear, as do straight, gay, and lesbian behaviors. (25 minutes) Some are 3 stars and some are 4.

The fourth film, "X 2000", shows the morning after the 2000 New Year, many flights up in a residential suite. A nude man (played by Bruno Slagmulder) gets out of bed to get a hangover remedy. The nude women he is with (played by Denise Schropfer Aron) gets up later to take a languid bath. The man notices two young shirtless twin men sleeping in a sleeping bag, a nude couple having sex a few stories down in a neighboring building, and ants feasting on party left-overs. The man goes back to the woman, who asks what's up and is told that ants are attacking. (8 minutes) I could see this as a transition scene in a larger piece but not as a stand-alone. High 2/ low 3 stars.

It's good to gather all these scraps together. There are frequent skin scenes. "The Little Death" is very good movie. Fans of Jeremy Elkaim ("Come Undone") and Loie Even will be happy. I still recommend "Criminal Lovers" by Francois Ozon.

Rating:
Summary: Some more interesting stories from Ozon
Review: After a year that contained that American release of two great Ozon films (Water Drops & Criminal Lovers), this DVD is a somewhat weak follow up. The four short films tell a story of certain coming of age milestones (the death of a parent, sexual experimentation, etc..). But it doesn't have the richness of his feature length films. But get it anyway. All his films have a story to tell.

Rating:
Summary: ok
Review: These were really fun to watch. Some are funny, some are daring, all of them original. Ozon's sensibility is indeed very clever. I especially loved the first short which involves an explosive game of spin the bottle among four teens.

Rating:
Summary: Great early works by a newly minted master
Review: These were really fun to watch. Some are funny, some are daring, all of them original. Ozon's sensibility is indeed very clever. I especially loved the first short which involves an explosive game of spin the bottle among four teens.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!!
Review: This is an amazing shorts collection from one on France's best young directors. They're smart, sad, funny, sexy and each short has the emotional impact of a feature film. Especially Little Death. With UNDER THE SAND, Ozon gets better and better with the seeds of genius clearly apparent in these short masterpieces!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!!
Review: This is an amazing shorts collection from one on France's best young directors. They're smart, sad, funny, sexy and each short has the emotional impact of a feature film. Especially Little Death. With UNDER THE SAND, Ozon gets better and better with the seeds of genius clearly apparent in these short masterpieces!

Rating:
Summary: ok
Review: Well, being a huge fan of francois ozon I had to check this one out. All the short films are great but unfortunately the DVD format on this one sucks. You actually have to sit thru the whole thing and can't just skip around like the way you should on a DVD. This is almost like owning the VHS version.
Otherwise it's good.