Short of the Week
umshini-wam-winner-2

Umshini Wam (Bring Me My Machine Gun)

Harmony Korine & Die Antwoord team up for this bizarre film that follows the antics of two wheelchair-bound rapscallions.

This is a good day for online short film. Two really high profile shorts that had their worldwide debut at SXSW are already online. The second one I’ll write up later today, but first I want to point you to this 16 min collaboration between the class clowns of the music world, Die Antwoord,  and l’enfant terrible of the art-film world, Trash Humpers director Harmony Korine. I have no idea what to expect, it could be brilliant, or unwatchable, though I doubt it will be anything inbetween.

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Sondhi approaches films from the perspective of an uber-fan, knowledgeable film academic, and occasional filmmaker. His tendency to over-think his film criticisms is due to a background in Philosophy, but he is putting useless intellectualizing aside for this site.
  • http://twitter.com/bellawonder Wonder

    Wow.

    The bummer is, I wouldn’t nominate this to make the next level if I were a screener and didn’t know who these folks were.

  • Chris

    Wonder, you hit the nail on the head. Of course you wouldn’t. No one would. It would be seen as amateur. Apparently nonsensical crap made by an unknown is crap but nonsensical crap made by this guy is high art “because he meant to make it crappy”. Please. Art masquerading as incompetence. Just proves how full of it people who champion this are.

  • Jason Sondhi

    Wow. Strong feelings. Will I lose your esteem if I said I was strangely fascinated?

    Got a little drink in me last night and finally summoned up the nerve to watch this late night with a friend, and I’ve got to say, If I’m being honest,I was actually utterly transfixed.

    I found the antics bizarre, but entertaining, and Yo-Landi Vi$$er was amazing. The allegorical journey these braindeads make is rich for interpretation, and the film is an interesting subversion of suburban culture, hip-hop and stories of Bonnie and Clyde style criminals on the run.

    There is a lot of talent in pulling these sketches off too. I think people see improv’d bufoonery like this and think that its amateurish, but really, to pull this stuff off is tough.

  • Jordan Mogli

    I have to agree with Jason. The simplicity and absurdity of this video is more and more entertaining each time I watch it.

  • Kavan

    Agree w/both Jason & Jordan above!

  • Kristian

    @Chris and anyone else who doesn’t quite understand
    This is not “nonsensical crap”. Anybody who “is on their level” would know that every single moment of the short film has a point. Even the seemingly absurd title has a long storied history for those in South Africa. Before you criticize, go out into the world attempting to absorb as much as you can, think about it long enough to learn something then maybe share your opinion.

  • Chris

    @Kristian
    You liked it and saw something in it. Great. I didn’t. But it’s not because I didn’t understand it. It’s art. It’s subjective. It’s not right or wrong. I was just commenting on @Wonder’s observation about fests’ screeners and agreed and elaborated. Peace.

  • http://www.facebook.com/home.php Lodger

    I love some of Harmony’s work and the song “Enter the Ninja” is really one of my favorite songs of last year. However, if I have to be on somebody else’s level to understand this film – then it cannot be a great work.

    That being said – I thought it was OK. Moments were interesting and moments were boring – ideas were intriguining and ideas were lame.

    “but look at me now… all up on the interweb”

  • http://None Charles

    After watching this film I feel weird, but all Harmony Korine films make me feel this way. Being a fan of his films and Die Antwoord I have to say that I love this piece of work. Not saying this just from a fans point of view, but I really enjoyed the film.

  • Jason Sondhi

    New Link! Full 1080p HD for what I think is still my favorite short of the year.

  • Felonious Punk

    Hmmm… This thread makes me want to check out more work by the artists involved, though I have no idea where to start. I’m surprised by some of the comments because I didn’t see crap in it. I saw crappy lives and I saw their misguided attempt at glory. The music and editing made the thing entertaining, and luckily wasn’t overdone to make the whole thing come off as a polished Tarantino-ish work. I thought of it like “Badlands” meets “Ghost Dog”. To paraphrase Jason, I was utterly transfixed from Yo-landi’s first utterance.

    P.S. I hope someone offers suggestions on what other works to check out by these Michelangelos. And also maybe an explanation of some of the language and cultural context…. You, Kristian?

  • http://UMSHINIWAM.COM Pilbert Culvhuni

    Listen nicely ninjas. It’s fookin next level gangsta sshit yo! It was sweet, funny, and, weird, and visually and musically entertaining and. Some people seem to think Korine was going for the academy award with this fine shorty. And.

  • Jason Sondhi

    This win Oscar? That would be hilarious. I wonder if it has qualified? I haven’t heard of it playing anywhere other than its premiere at SXSW.

  • Blindalex117

    Look into the album $O$. You may not like their music at first but once you realize that they are very tongue in cheek about their music, it will start to grow on you. I didn’t actually like them at first and then I bought all of their music. Their new album Ten$ion comes out soon. Also, look up “Die Antwoord zef side official” on YouTube. Fok Julle Naaiers is also a good song located on YouTube.

  • Albert

    Lame & hypster.

  • Anonymous

     Thats the cool thing about it I think, how good the acting is- Just look at Max Normal and you realize NINJA IS FUCKING ACTING ALL THE TIME. Thats craz impressive.

  • Fugue Life

    This is sublime.