Wholphin No. 12

Bizarre and deceptively mundane. Melancholy and giddy. Tragic and oddly celebratory. Forthright and meandering. The current quarterly DVD edition of this Bay Area-based “video magazine of rare and unseen short films” plumbs and filets the human condition in nine fiction and nonfiction shorts that have one common denominator: emotional resonance. Mi Amigo Invisible provides a fresh Spanish twist on imaginary childhood friends. The Oscar-nominated Australian drama Miracle Fish approaches Columbine-like headlines with an eerie calmness. The American-made I Don’t Blame the Beautiful Game is an aching collision of sports and corruption. The other stories here include a drunken history lesson, an unrequited romance between long-lost Ukrainian cousins set in Scotland, extreme backyard wrestling featuring fringe legend Youth Suicide, the confessions of an aging horn dog, a Muslim actress’ life in Hollywood and a child who disappears during a game of hide-and-seek.