Santa
is coming, so Indian and Cowboy are minding their behavior, but even their
Christmas best is completely unruly and impulsive. The holidays only come once
a year, but chaos reigns 365 days a year in this provincial village of plastic
toys. Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar give viewers one of the rowdiest
Christmas specials ever with A Town
Called Panic: The Christmas Log, which screens as part of Short Film
Program One at the 2014 New York International Film Festival.
The
bickering Cowboy and Indian (they are Belgian, so they use politically
incorrect terms) have not matured one whit since the Panic feature film. They
still live with the infinitely more responsible Horse, trying his patience
daily. When their fooling around accidentally ruins the Christmas log for Horse’s
dinner party, they finally push him too far. Exasperated, Horse calls up Santa
and cancels their gift delivery. Naturally, Cowboy and Indian try to fix the
situation, but only make matters worse.
Right,
so Merry Christmas one and all. Do not look for any cheap sentiment here. Linus
will not explain the true meaning of Christmas, nor will the Grinch be joining
the citizenry of Whoville for a Christmas roast. Instead, Town Called Panic delivers a feast of increasingly reckless lunacy
that only molded plastic figurines could survive. In short, it is all good
stuff.
At
twenty-six minutes, Christmas Log is
the longest film in Program One and a reasonable substantial fix for fans of
the feature. However, Panic die-hards
will miss hearing Cowboy and Indian calling each other “bastards,” presumably
in accordance with the holiday spirit. It also makes Log somewhat more appropriate for the boundary-pushing NYICFF. Even
still, the same ruckus vibe shines through.
In
contrast to Cowboy and Indian’s bad behavior, the other standout of program one
kindles the fires of youthful idealism and the spirit of discovery. Three
classmates think they have unearthed a previously unseen fossil in Katerina
Karhánková’s The New Species, but the
adults just do not get it. It might be a simple story, but somehow Karhánková
executes it with a tone that is both ironic and inspiring.
