I've come to the conclusion that short movies are like olives and pickles: either you have a taste for them, or you don't. If you aren't an olive-eater, a sample tray of specialty olives from around the world just isn't going to appeal to you, no matter how many other people have praised the briny little fruits.

As far as sample trays go, Shorts! Volume 1 seems to have a lot going for it. The fifteen short films presented here are described as award-winning pieces from various international film festivals... although in retrospect it's telling that nowhere in the program, on the case, or in the insert are we told which films won what awards. Did all of them win awards, or only some of them? We don't know, but I suspect the latter.

The films themselves will probably be best appreciated by fellow film students and aspiring filmmakers, as examples of learning experiences, experiments, and works in progress. Taken independently as short films, and judged on their own merits, few of the films here really stand out. The stories tend to be dark and often self-obsessed to the point that the viewer is put on the outside wondering "What the heck is all this about?" The surreal "Dreamscapes" and "In Absentia" feel vastly longer than their six-minute running times, because after about thirty seconds of interest in the filmmaker's technique, there's no hook, no reason to keep watching. Of the less successful shorts here, some attempt to create a narrative, but don't succeed, like "John and Mia," while others never even try to go anywhere, like "Earthquake," whose director admits in the commentary that it's a pretty much pointless thing that he just had fun throwing together; that's great for a learning experience, but why did it end up on a "best of" DVD?

Some of the short films are reasonably well done. "The Chinese Wall" tells a focused story about loneliness and false assumptions, with a moderately clever wrap-up that brings the point home. It's also of interest because, coming from the Netherlands, it's one of only two shorts that are not from either the U.S. or the U.K. (The other is the Danish "John and Mia.") "The World of Interiors" is a playful animated short that puts a surreal spin on the everyday things that cause us to be late. All in all, though, Shorts! is very much a collection for people who want to see works in progress; this isn't the place to find polished films in a short format.

The DVD

Video

With fifteen separate short films included here, it's hard to put a rating for the overall image quality. Some, like the animated "The World of Interiors" and "Fish Never Sleep," look bright, clean, and sharp; others, like "John and Mia," are murky and blurry. Most fall somewhere in the middle: generally free of excessive noise or print flaws, but not particularly sharp or attractive-looking either.

The films are all presented in their original aspect ratios, which means that the presentation varies from film to film, with some appearing in 1.33:1 ratio and others in widescreen ratios.

Audio

The soundtrack for most of the films is a Dolby 2.0; some have a Dolby 5.1 option as well. The sound is generally satisfactory, with clear dialogue or narration, and a clean background with no noise or distortion. The films are all presented in their original language; most are in English, but those that are in other languages have subtitles in English (these are not optional).

Extras

First off, Shorts! should get a whack over the head, figuratively speaking, for its substandard DVD design. The DVD won't show the running time for the films, and, more annoyingly, it won't allow you to use the "memorize position" feature of your DVD player. On the brighter side, at least viewers have the option of selecting the films individually or choosing a "play all" feature; if you play them all at once, you can skip from one to the next.

The main special feature here is that all the films have one or more audio commentaries from their filmmakers. Like the films themselves, this is a feature that will be most appreciated by fellow film students, because as commentaries go, these aren't terribly insightful. The various directors and cinematographers seem inclined to talk at great length about exactly what type of camera and film they used, or how exactly they got the lighting in such-and-such a shot, but there's really very little insight into the filmmaking process as a whole. If you loved the shorts, you may find the commentaries of interest, but if the films themselves left you cold, then the commentaries won't make you any more interested.

Final thoughts

If you enjoy watching short films that primarily explore imagery and film technique, rather than telling stories, then the fifteen films in Shorts! may be worth watching. If you're looking for solid storytelling in a shorter format, though, this set of films will not be to your taste at all. I'll go ahead and suggest this as a rental if you're interested; the commentaries don't add enough solid content to make it worth a purchase even for those who like the films. Rent it.