People's Broken Noses Compliment Their Broken Faces is a collection of strange and sometimes confusing short movies, set to music. The music is equally strange and sometimes confusing, but it's hard to deny that they belong together. I'd never heard of this collection before, and there's a good reason why I hadn't: there is virtually no information about this release anywhere. In fact, the only background info I could find was a review from Amazon.com by some person named "Qwerty" from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His review, titled "Rockin' Like Crack," sheds a little light on this strange collection, for the most part. Take it away, Qwerty:

...[a] cosmic toxic stew anthology of several short tales from the nasty corner of a cinematic dumpster. Character-driven, takes parts from sci-fi, sexual mind benders, 80's teen movies, spy thrillers, bad horror movies, disgusting snuff flicks, urban decay intropsections, heavy metal videos, porn, and the bastard child of David Lynch does John Watters fluffed by Fellini and Troma...

Well, there you have it, folks...the complete review can be viewed here. If you need further proof as to the extent of the weirdness found on this DVD, there's some screen captures provided. Look, here comes one now!

With a running time of 81 minutes, People's Broken Noses Compliment Their Broken Faces covers a lot of ground, and will either strech or destroy several sections of your brain during the journey. Each short film is relatively sparse in dialogue, with no traditional plot or direction...the viewer is left to figure things out for themselves. While that would normally be a negative when used to this extreme, there's something about most of these shorts that really kept my attention. My favorites, in particular, are Mr. Blast, which follows a slightly demonic young man as he walks the streets causing trouble, and The Gamut of New Destroy, which features some exceptionally mind-bending visuals. Overall, these shorts were interesting to say the least, but providing too many spoilers wouldn't really accomplish anything (also, it would probably make me sound like a raving lunatic). So, you're left in the dark, as I was then I first popped this disc in. However, I'll give you a few hints: here's the complete list of content, along with the tracklist for the bonus soundtrack CD included:

The DVD:
Tretmikaria Trilobite (5:13)
The Shitter (25:53)
Daubit Crigh (4:19)
Mr. Blast (13:20)
Vexed (2:23)
The Gamut of Now Destroy (27:44)
Skelechair (music video)
Death & Fire & Hell & Flames (music video)

The CD:
Win The Fight
Blacksmith
Shitter's Anthem
Whore Enthraller
Dance of the Second Girl
Zo
Looped Passage
Black Participant
Intro Credit Sequence
Lynch Mob Fiasco
Tribal Passage
Violin H'ordun
Where is the Zulu Child?
Cautious Approach
Whisburg
Battered Mallard
Scene Two Soundtrack
Laugh Track
Wrath Ascension
Self-Induced Realignment
Borwn Participant
Nonsensical Grip
Molten Crow
Epistaxis
Hathor

The soundtrack CD itself was a welcome inclusion, as a few of these tracks were very interesting (in an Aphex Twin sort of way). The music itself ranged in sound from Atari-style sound effects to puslating rhythm loops. Overall, the music is still best experienced within the context of the movies themselves...you'll know what I mean when you see it, but everything fits together pretty well. There's a good bit of content overall, and there's some images which will stay with you. It must be noted, though, that this release is unrated. While there's nothing that will make you write your Congressman in protest, People's Broken Noses Compliment Their Broken Faces isn't really something for the kids. If you're a weird adult, though, it might just be up your alley!

After I was finished viewing this release in its entirety, I didn't know whether to get a shower and forget the whole thing, or run and tell my friends about it. Each short will likely be something that you'll either love or hate, since material this odd will most likey appeal to the curious viewer who doesn't mind the occasional 81-minute head trip. This new DVD comes to us from the good folks over at QUA (I've never heard of them either), and proves to be a pretty substantial release, especially given the low retail price. Let's see how everything stacked up:

Video:
Video quality is varied here. Everything is presented in 1.33:1 full screen (the original aspect ratio, I'm sure), and looks a little soft and grainy overall. Still, I doubt any of these could be considered unwatchable...the colors in particular were handled well. Keep in mind that most of these shorts have never looked better, and probably never will. Overall, the image is passable and shouldn't hinder any interested parties from checking this one out.

Audio:
The audio mix fares better than the video. This release is presented in Dolby Surround, and most of the mixes are quite aggresive. Directional effects are occasionally put to use, and the music really takes control of the whole experience. Overall, this was a good listen, and takes the production up a few points. A lackluster audio track would have really hurt this release, but it's up to the task consistently.

Extras:
It's hard to tell what's regular and what's extra, to be honest. I'll go out on a limb, and consider the two music videos and the bonus CD as the extra content, and it's not a bad offering. While you could technically dismiss the CD as a simple rehash of the DVD's audio content, it's still a nice inclusion...and after you see these shorts, you might not really appreciate traditional DVD extras anyway (see the additional comments below).

Menu design and presentation:

The menus are a real kick and definitely follow the strange flow of everything. Above is the main menu itself...each short is represented by a white picture, and turns red when you highlight each one. As you can see, it's a very odd look for a menu, but it doesn't surprise me at this point. Sub-menus (for each short) are equally headache-inducing, but I'll say one thing about the whole presentation: It's very unique. The packaging itself matches the DVD: little to no details are given, except for a one-page inset that lists the contents and cast members. In the small chance you'd ever see this on a store shelf, most people wouldn't pick this up out of anything other than curiousity. Pound for pound, this is one of the most unconvntial DVDs I've ever seen, period.

The soundtrack CD was a nice inclusion (as well as the music videos), but more content for the DVD may have made this an easier purchase for some people. Of course, these shorts are best viewed in smal doses, so maybe what we get is plenty. As for me, I'd have liked to see more details on the production itself: I'm still in the dark about the whole thing, and I watched it all! There's no real story why this was produced---or for what purpose---so it makes this release that much more enigmatic. While the convential behind-the-scenes DVD stuff wouldn't have really fit in here, I'd have liked to seen something in the form of background information.

This disc was the longest, strangest 80-minute trip I've ever viewed, hands down. The good thing is, I don't really mean "long" in a bad way...the large majority of these shorts were interesting: strange enough to hold my attention, but not so strange as to make me frustrated (well, for the most part). You're not likely to find this one for rent anywhere, so any fans of the surreal and twisted can consider this Recommended...there's a decent amount of content here, and the low MSRP of $17.99 is pretty fair (especially considering the bonus CD). However, this release is not for everyone, and I sincerely mean that. If none of the above descriptions or pictures seemed interesting in the least, you're probably better off skipping this one. For me, People's Broken Noses Compliment Their Broken Faces was just strange enough to work...but then again, I'm a little crazy.