08/15/08
Text: Bryan Hood
Throughout its brief life, Wholphin, McSweeney's quarterly DVD magazine, has done a good job of living up to the publisher's name. Like its print brethren, it has made its name by being a showcase for intelligent, humorous, and—most of all—entertaining content by both famous and unknown filmmakers. This current issue is no different.
Although this issue doesn't contain the name recognition of past issues, it has a wide variety of great and inventive films that make up for this. Randy Krallman's "Force 1 TD," the story of a boy trying to find shoes for his seeing-eye horse, is pleasing and feels remarkably genuine, never devolving into the sachrine mess it so easily could have. Steph Green shows us an African boy's struggles adjusting to school in Ireland in "New Boy," an adaptation of Roddy Doyle's short story. For all its depressing trappings, the film is remarkably uplifting and one anyone can relate to. Other films range from footage of insects and reptiles in the jungle to a film starring Michael Cera about dating a girl whose family is a little(or extremely) peculiar.
While the disc is packed with a number of standout selections the real high point is the documentary "Please Vote For Me." Weijun Chen's 30 minute film, tells the story of a Chinese third grade class' classroom monitor election. The narrative unfolds with all the suspenseful twists of the best political thrillers: there are dirty politics, attempts to disrupt the electoral process, and a lot of crying. It's a truly enjoyable film, one that feels all the more appropriate with the Presidential election right around the corner.
As with any anthology style release, there are films that people will like and ones that just won't do it for them. Luckily Wholphin No. 6 seems to have much more of the former. But more than anything this latest issue—like all of the McSweeney's brand—is a celebration of the creativity of life.
Wholphin No. 6 will be released on August 15th.
