The Best of the Web, Vols. 1-3 (2001)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Produced by Multimedia 2000
Original short film production by AlwaysI, Camp Chaos, and Bijouflix

Rating: NR, suitable for 17+

Anamorphic: No.

My advice: Only if you’re a webfilm fanatic

With the explosion of internet technology, it was only natural that artists began using this new medium almost as soon as it was widely available. Before most of us could bother with broadband, a number of websites were cranking out digital video content. With The Best of the Web, Multimedia 2000 attempts to save some of the best of that content for posterity.

The nature of web humor, however, is almost inherently transitory and topical. Things don’t stay funny for very long in web-time, and producing DVDs of material that was funny three years ago is an exercise in nostalgia more than anything else. Many of the films contained on these discs have lost a great deal of their “punch,” and are basically reduced to the status of an intellectual curiosity.

This is not to say that none of the content is worthwhile, however. A decent portion of it is--basically the shorts that don’t rely on the early days of the Napster controversy or the 2000 election campaign for their laughs. And since each disc covers a different website/producer, the aesthetic varies widely from volume to volume--so if you don’t like one, you’re bound to find something on one of the other discs.

I would like to have seen some different sites represented (AtomFilms comes to mind, but mayhap they weren’t interested--I have to assume they were contacted in order to give M2K the benefit of the doubt). Of the three presented (AlwaysI, Camp Chaos, and Bijouflix), AlwaysI has the best stuff consistently. Camp Chaos is all Napster/Metallica jokes and adolescent boob humor, so except for the nostalgia value of the Napster jokes, there’s nothing much there. Bijouflix has some good segments (“Mattress of Solitude” was particularly funny to me), but is more hit-or-miss than AlwaysI (which isn’t solid gold, but has a better hit-to-miss ratio).

The DVDs present the films with excellent video and audio (at least as excellent as the original source allowed). They do not, however, present any additional material whatsoever. Interviews with the creators or site owners might have been an interesting way to add some value to the product, and I’d wager most of them would love the chance to talk about the experience, but no such luck.

If you’re a webfilm junkie, and particularly a fan of one of these sites, than these discs are of some interest. Also, if you tend to be a big supporter of independent film, than this series is probably a necessity purely as a matter of principle. But if you’re neutral to the medium and its creators, then the quality of most of this stuff is insufficient to recommend its purchase. Especially since a broadband connection gives you access to some or all of the same shorts (granted, the DVD gives you crisp picture and fullscreen video instead of a teeny little WMP window or Quicktime screen).