Holly Shorts Film Festival (August 13-23), a qualifying festival for the Oscars, is gearing up with some 430 short film offerings.

“The Colisseum” is a 12 minute 19 second basketball short from France, directed by Nabil Kechouhen and starring Vincent Cassel as the coach and Sammy Baroun as star player Mehdi. It is a climactic game for the French team in this Holly Shorts offering. Star player Mehdi is having an off night for personal reasons, suggests the dialogue.

EMOTIONAL ISSUES

References are made to Mehdi’s missing his Mom and long-absent father in the stands. The coach seems quite disgusted by his team’s failure to play “ensemble,” i.e., together, as a unit. Some of the players seem to be showboating for NBA Scouts in the stands.

Coach Cassel is quite pissed off at his team. His demeanor is a characteristic Cassel tough guy look. As he told IMDB, “I’m a little angry in life.” Some interesting camera angles (looking down through the hoop as the ball drops, for example) as the teams each attempt to pull ahead and win the game.

PERSONAL ASIDES

Can Mehdi make the shots and win the game?

The power couple marriage between Cassel and Italian star Monica Bellucci collapsed after 14 years and 2 daughters. Cassel just had his fourth child with a young model 31 years his junior, so looking up previous credits (“The Crimson Rivers,” 2000, with Jean Reno; dubbed voice of Hugh Grant in “Four Weddings and a Funeral”) proved to be even more dramatic than this 12-minute basketball short, which culminates with the team star (Mehdi) at the line with the chance  to win the game via free throws.

CONCLUSION

All-in-all, this offering reminded me of the lengthier Miles Teller vehicle “Whiplash.” It also provided me with the opportunity to enjoy a spirited debate about famous men dumping beautiful women their own age for younger models (some pro; some con) as I refreshed my memory of the career of its 70-year-old star, Vincent Cassel.

Rapprochement?

Viva La France!