Saturday, October 16, 2010

OMNIBUS


Omnibus (1992) is a short comedy film directed by Sam Karmann. It won an Academy Award in 1993 for Best Short Subject and it won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. In terms of dramatic storytelling this is arguably one of the best short films ever made.

Produced by Anne Bennet
Written by Sam Karmann & Christian Rauth
Starring Daniel Rialet & Jacques Martial
Cinematography Daniel Diot
Editing by Robert Rongier

2 comments:

Doug Sinclair said...

It's kinda cute and all, but one of the best short films ever made? That might be pushing it just a little. :)

The ending seems like an utterly arbitrary gag, does it not?

Unknown said...

I disagree about the ending, It doesn't come out of left field and it IS set up very well earlier - the whole idea of the film is that help is never there when you need it, and when you dont need it you get more help than you want. There are two cars in the omnibus and the guy that fetches him from the platform is in the second car and has not been party to the conversations that have gone on in the front car. also, the only reason that the guy in the omnibus grabs the poor guy is cause he is running and he is running because he didn't heed the instructions of the driver as to when he should jump. his failure to heed "instructions" is the reason he has the problem to begin with - the old lady saw the sign about the schedule change - he didn't. It is an intelligent film with a most surprising ending that re-contextualises the dramatic problem and in the scores of times I have screened it to audiences, some times as large at 600 - there are always audible gasps from most of the viewers. Personally, I love the film and the way it dramatises the essential grammer of short-form drama - but I would be interested in you recommending some short films that are better than this one. Please!!! And thanks for your response.