Round 1: Best Short Film - My Best Friend's Birthday Vs. Bedhead
I never expected much going into either film as most short are a director's first attempt at making a film and are usually rough around the edges and only show the potential of the director. This is certainly true for Tarantino's 1987 short film, My Best Friend's Birthday, and Rodriguez's much shorter 1991 film, Bedhead. My Best Friend's Birthday is everything you'd expect from Tarantino, a lot of colloquial talk about films, music and icons of pop culture, as well as drug use and hookers. The film ended up being the template for the Tarantino scripted and Tony Scott directed True Romance. This becomes an obvious realisation as the lead character of both films is a geeky sort of guy called Clarence who has an intense interest in comic books and retro Americana culture. Aside from the film having poor video and audio quality and only 36 minutes of a 70 minute film surviving, the biggest flaw of this film may be that instead of Christian Slater playing Clarence, as he does in the 1993 feature film, the lead actor of the short is none other than Razzie nominated part-time actor, full time phenomenal director/writer, Mr. Quentin Tarantino. I wouldn't say Tarantino is the worst actor to have ever been in a film, but his skills in front of the camera are diminished by his awesome skill behind it. When it comes to Rodriguez's Bedhead, a film that focuses on a volatile sibling relationship, my main criticism of the film is that it falls in line with Rodriguez's films that have children as the lead actors and are aimed at a family-friendly audience, such as his Spy Kid's franchise and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl. Even as a kid I was never a fan of these films, and now as a fully grown adult I find them annoying, especially as every Spy Kid film Rodriguez focuses on means that a potential Sin City or Machete sequel must be put on hold. However, Bedhead is a bearable film as it is a slender 10 minutes long, is very original and rather charmingly stars Robert's family members in different roles. Like My Best Friend's Birthday, Bedhead shows insight into the future style and traits of the director's career. The fact that when the credits roll up and the majority of the roles for the film, such as writer/director/editor and animator are all taken up by Rodriguez, shows the humble beginnings of his 'one-man film crew' style. Though both films are very flawed, neither film is terrible and can be admired by fans of the directors as they show the origins of both Tarantino and Rodriguez's unique and iconic styles. In all fairness there is more complexity and variation in story-telling in Rodriguez's 10 minute film than in Tarantino's 36 minute film, as there is the inclusion of practical effects, animation and even voice-over, and though this film with its very child friendly plot is the foundation for the annoying Spy Kids films that have continued to grow and prosper in Rodriguez's career, Bedhead is still the clear the winner of the first round.