‘Man’ versus society is a conflict that is familiar to most cinephiles, seeing it played out in films. Most of those films are feature length, but Shorts Not Pants, obviously, show those conflicts in a more succinct way. Let’s begin, and we do so watching someone go up against his domineering father during their vacation.

Aurelio Citterio stands in his garden, waiting for his two sons to be ready for dinner with Germans. He prefers the older son Saverio over his younger son, Federico (Luca Lacerenza). Fede takes more after his aunt Cordelia than him. Saverio does exercises, not fun to watch while injured, while Fede tans. At least, that’s what we assume is the plot of Antonio Donato’s Shooting Watermelons, depicting that conflict in a style reminiscent of both Luca Guadagnino and Wes Anderson. Yes, it’s referential. But the short gives us a good left turn where we see the human side of a man most may assume as a villain.

Centrico or Urban from director Luso Martinez is the next film, where a Spanish family rents an AirBnB to visit a city in their country only to maybe have regrets. The mother (María Vázquez) does a double take. She ensures the lights are out before they leave for an amusement park. However, they return and see that the lights are on. This is a fun short, a competent thriller that knows how to incorporate comedy. That competence is also evident in the short’s production design that shows off a lived in feel of the apartment, maybe too lived in if you know what I mean. There’s some slack in the pacing but livens up when needed.

Things are tense in the Belarussian short Live from director Mara Tamkovich. Here, a woman checks from behind a door, wondering if the police are going to batter themselves in. Aliaksandra Vaitsekhovich, Tamkovich’s muse, plays the lead here as an activist in a stranger’s apartment. Through her and the other actors, one can sense a collaboration where the cast and crew bring life to a true story. Her character narrates a video depicting police brutality which is the norm in Belarus under Lukashenko’s. Visually simple but it’s a poignant work and I hope for democracies everywhere, which is harder to pray for.

Shorts Not Pants is playing their fourth block of shorts today at the Carlton.