FILMS:
“A Love Story in Milk,” by Danann Breathnach: The journey of a milk carton.
“Super. Full,” by Niam Itani, 2011: A love story between a young deaf couple working in Doha.
“We Refuse to Be Cold,” by Alexander Carson: A couple’s promise to stay warm for the winter.
“Firecracker” (FATAKRA), by Soham Mehta: A family reunited.
“Bubbles,” by Dalia Schlesinger: A young woman is pregnant and having an affair, but when her husband returns home, he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Kitagawa in the Second Grade,” by Ikuro Tomeda: A young high school girl tells two boys that she likes them.
Repeats Sunday, Feb. 19, at 12:30 p.m.
HE SAYS: It was Valentine’s night at SFIndieFest and, as promised, Love appeared on the screen. Unfortunately, Love played less of a role and was quieter than you would have liked in the series of short films called “The Languages of Love.”
Love first showed up in the poorly titled “A Love Story in Milk,” a two-minute record of an affair between two plastic bottles (the milk has nothing to do with it except to run out). Is it possible in 2012 to feel a twinge of sorrow over the tragic fate of petrochemicals thrown onto a dump, where they will endure for thousands of years without their beloved? Yes, because however he did it, Danann Breathnach got Love to do a cameo in a piece of plastic, and Love is all you need.
Following the petrochemical path, we next encountered Love in the wondrous “Super. Fill,” a 13-minute story of a deaf/mute immigrant gas station attendant in Doha who takes his wife out to dinner for her birthday. Despite its bleak surroundings, the film borders on the precious. But Niam Itani and his cast pull it off, leaving you not in admiration of the filmmaker, but in awe of Love.
The others left Love on the cutting-room floor.
SHE SAYS: I could have done without “A Love Story in Milk,” but I would not have missed “Super. Fill,” and it’s definitely worth going to the repeat performance of all of them to see Niam Itani’s beautiful 13-minute love story.
Itani and the actors offer what’s so rare in life today: selfless love that can also be silly and lovely at the same time.