Wholphin No. 11

A plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) ruminates on the purpose and meaning of existence while haphazardly en route to the Pacific Trash Vortex. Young Russian women learn about empowerment, sexuality and seduction from a middle-aged male instructor in a real-life Bitch Academy. Animation resurrects the cult legend of Pittsburg Pirates’ Dock Ellis pitching a 1970 no-hitter while stoned on LSD. So it goes in the current quarterly installment of Wholphin (No. 11), the San Francisco-based “DVD magazine of rare and unseen short films.” My usual love-hate relationship with this series continues as the 11 films here fluctuate as wildly in emotional, artistic and intellectual wallop as they do content (bloody fantasy, childhood wonder, romantic implosion, ethnic division) and locales (New Zealand, Pakistan-India border, Antarctica), but the accompanying guidebook is always a memorable, sublime perk all by itself. Interested parties can purchase this program or a subscription at www.wholphindvd.com.