I've been in Hyderabad for the past couple of days and apart from watching movies (I saw Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation last night, pretty nice direct-to-video sequel) I also got to do some work on my Doom II map, Stygian_Nebula.  One of the things I did yesterday to this map was to warp (or bend) the walls and doors in different places, which gives an interesting look to the level.  The level is taking much longer to complete than expected though.  It is a trade-off I suppose — on one hand, I want to finish the thing quickly; but on the other, I don't want it to turn out badly.

Anyway, that is not the main point of this post.  What I wanted to write about is a short film called Bedhead, which I watched today, courtesy YouTube.

I've admired director Robert Rodriguez for quite a long time, and am a big fan of his Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn.  I also liked his first two Spy Kids movies, and most recently, was fascinated by his segment, Planet Terror in the collaborative project Grindhouse.  Apart from the films themselves, the man is extremely talented, it is not unusual to see him serving as director, writer, producer, editor, cinematographer, composer and visual effects supervisor for a single movie (I think he did all this for Spy Kids)!  He also has a way of shooting amazing films on a very low budget.  Desperado for example is a low-budget film but does not look like one at all, and his first feature El Mariachi was made for something like $7000 (just to compare, according to this article, Warner Bros apparently spent $5 million for making ONE SCENE in the upcoming Will Smith movie I am Legend!).  Anyway, I'd heard that Rodriguez had made a short film called Bedhead earlier, and that it had won several awards.  I never thought I'd get to see it actually, but thanks to YouTube, I got to see it today.

This is simply one of the most awesome films I've ever seen!  You'll be going "wow" before the actual film even starts, as the opening titles are done in animation, cartoon-style.  The film itself is about a little girl called Rebecca, who is constantly annoyed by her elder brother David (he has this unkempt mass of hair — the "bedhead" of the title).  One day they get into a fight, Rebecca bumps her head, and develops telekinetic powers!  It's a quirky story, and Rodriguez develops it at a manic pace, with slapstick-style comedy and Sam Raimi-style camera moves.  Like Spy Kids, there's even a sweet moral at the end, and the whole thing has nice music too.

Considering the fact that this was shot for next to nothing, in black-and-white, with all the characters being played by Rodriguez's own family members (Rebecca is actually Rebecca Rodriguez and David is David Rodriguez), this is a real achievement.  It's a very imaginative movie, and technically too, you'll be wondering how he did some of those shots with the equipment he had.  Great stuff all through!

Oh, almost forgot.  Here is the link to watch Bedhead.  You won't be sorry you did!