My friend, Meg, came up from South Carolina to go to Nevermore with me. I think she had a good time. I was disappointed.
The computer system crashed Friday so we were unable to buy the ticket package (buy 8, get 2 free). I asked to for punch cards (their usual deal is buy 4, get 1 free) and was told those aren’t offered for film festivals. There was a line behind me and I didn’t feel like having a public fit.
I think the general manager who had been a moving force behind the festival has moved on. There were no skulls, plastic rats or other creepy decorations. There were no “what to do in case of zombie attack” signs in the rest rooms. The juried awards were posted before the festival even started. The volunteers were still handing out ballots, though.
My Friend’s Rubber Ducky “In a tipsy fit, Joseph kidnaps an old friend who owes him $5,000, enlisting the aide of his hipster girlfriend and stoner roommate.” This was hilarious. Pot, tai chi and a kidnapping. Everyone involved did an excellent job.
Jacqueline (Argentine) “This mockumentary follows an unnamed director and narrator (Wyatt Cenac) down to Argentina, where he’s filming Jacqueline, who claims to be blowing the whistle on a plot to assassinate an Arab politician.” Didn’t live up to my hopes. The title character came off as a flake rather than an international woman of mystery. And, if it was meant to be funny, it failed.
Francofonia “A history of the Louvre during the Nazi occupation and a meditation on the meaning and timelessness of art.” This was wonderful. When it is available, I will watch it again.
Tuesday 4/12
Salero “When the future arrives to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, one of the most secluded places on the planet, the destiny of this ancient salt flat is unearthed and one young salt gatherer becomes the last link between the old world and the new.” We were moved. It was thought provoking. Thursday 4/14
Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers “…follows three women in an all female, predominantly Muslim unit of police officers sent to post-earthquake Haiti as UN Peacekeepers for one year. The mission challenges these women while shattering commonly held stereotypes.” We liked this a lot. Geeta Gandbhir andSharmeen Obaid-Chinoy are names we should remember when looking for documentaries.
Cameraperson “Exposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.” This was an interesting memoir.
Heavenly Nomadic “A family of nomads live in the high, remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia…” This is slow and lyrical. I enjoyed it very much.
Chevalier “In the middle of the Aegean Sea, six men on a fishing trip on a luxury yacht decide to play a game. During this game, things will be compared. Things will be measured. Songs will be butchered, and blood will be tested. Friends will become rivals and rivals will become hungry. But at the end of the journey, when the game is over, the man who wins will be the best man. And he will wear on his smallest finger the victory ring: the Chevalier.” This was very funny.
Little Brother (USA) No dialogue, very creepy, uneven black and white line drawings, The Red Thunder (USA) not animated, funny, if I say anything else, it will give away the punch line, She’s Mine (UK) fairly standard animation, a stalker creeps into the house of the woman he intends to murder and finds competition, Pipo (Germany) little conehead, stop motion, weird and sad, House of Monsters: Frank and the Zombie Girl (USA) Stop motion nicely done, sweet story with monsters, A Brief Encounter (Iran), there is a dragon and a girl. Not a happy ending. Life Smartphone (China), line drawings, everybody is totally focused on their cell phones, it’s funny in a too familiar kind of way, Flight of the Soul (USA) stop motion, there are 4 modified clones, one has a birdcage in its middle. The ending is kind of telegraphed, but it’s sweet. Cristal Junket (Portugal) stop motion, surreal party, the story is vague Trolled (Singapore) fairly typical anime, cute The Seed (Greece) live action, good story, a little Blade Runner-esque, title could have been Monsanto World Millennium: Eternal Sunrise (USA) live action, daughter trying to get the Millennium Man to reset time so her mother can come back, the ending was unexpected, Jack is Pretty (USA) live action dystopia, Q&A with the writer and the producer afterward they are hoping to do more with this, planning a couple of “origin story” shorts and a feature film,
Gnomes (UK), garden gnomes gone bad, not bad, not great.
5 Ways 2 Die (Cyprus) this is funny and well made, The 5 ways are pills, jump off a bridge, carbon monoxide poisoning, bathtub electrocution and car wreck and that isn’t spoiling. The Black Bear (Belgium) what not to do in the woods where there are bears, a little Python-esque The Grandson (Netherlands) I liked this until the very end. dark_net (UK), the acting was good but the story was uneven, jealous ex hires a hit man online. A Bite to Eat (UK) at the Midnite Diner, this is cute, Last Night (France) the story was uneven, it’s the last night in an apartment with friends coming to help move tomorrow, and a threesome ends badly. They Will All Die in Space (Spain) this was creepy and well made, B&W
The Stomach (UK), A medium uses his stomach to contact the dead. #Help (Hungary), Very well made, and a good story. I would like to see it expanded into a feature length film Choice Cuts (USA), This started out making me flinch and I laughed out loud at the end. A Way Out (USA), Hit men. Entertaining, El Gigante (Canada), This is straight up slasher gore.
25m2 (Sweden) The wall developed an abscess, which was weird. And there was some grossness because …abscess. And, it was really slow. Not a favorite.
Hag, I loved this take on hag-ridden sleep walking. The Trap, This was short and funny. There is an alien. Night of the Slasher, The hero is blond and female. This was fun. The Fear Box (666 Telemarketing), This is why I don’t answer phone calls from numbers I don’t recognize. Home Sweet Home, This is what I expect from Alzheimer’s. Bad Guy #2, How to move up in organized crime. A little cheesy, a little gory, pretty funny. Never Tear Us Apart, There are cannibals. And grandparents. Shhh, Older sister Helena deserved to meet the monster. What a bitch! Thresher, an homage to Guillermo del Toro and H. P. Lovecraft. Locks galore. in Hell. I would like to see more from Michael Dahlquist and his friends. Knob Goblins, A monster movie where men have to deal with a sexual predator. Made me laugh. A lot.
This is my friend, Trey, meeting Knobby and Writer/Producer/Director Christopher G. Moore after we saw the film.
The Fisherman (Spain) set in Hong Kong, special effects are very good, story is good. I could see this being expanded into an interesting feature film.
Feature length films that I saw:
Reverie of a Solitary Walker This is awful. There are 4 story lines that hop around in time and don’t seem to have any real connection. I was excite about it and very, very disappointed.
13 Cameras. This didn’t go where I thought it was going to and it creeped me right out. There are many cringes, many jumps and several I-can’t-looks. Should get some mainstream play.
I meant to see Clinger, but it was sold out for the time I expected to be there. I’ll see it via Amazon sometime soon. I could have gotten tickets early, but I didn’t.
Fan Favorites were:
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE – Idila (“Idyll”)
Best North American Feature – 13 CAMERAS
BEST NORTH AMERICAN SHORT – Bad Guy #2
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT – The Black Bear
BEST LONG FORM NARRATIVE SHORT – He Was His Friend
We saw 2 collections of Oscar nominated short films today. My husband will go see the documentaries when I’m at work this weekend. I don’t object to the documentaries. These were just easier for me to get to and when I had to choose between 2, these were my preference.
The link in each title is to the Oscar page. I don’t know if it will last for more than a month. The link in the country of origin is the best I could do to show you about the film away from the Oscar website. Or, at least, is a decent starting place for you to try to find out about it for yourself.
Animated: I have put them in the order they appeared in the collection
Sanjay’s Super Team (USA) This is the Pixar offering. And it is very cute and very sweet.
World of Tomorrow (USA) The animation is fairly simplistic. The story is existential and interesting. I won’t hate it if this one gets the award.
Bear Story (Chile) This has a very touching story and clever stop motion animation. I like it very much and would be happy to see it take the award, too.
We Can’t Live without Cosmos (Russia)This has pretty straightforward animation and a nice story. I didn’t find it as interesting as World of Tomorrow or Bear Story. But, I’m glad I saw it.
There were some fun films that got Mentioned, but aren’t actually up for the award. They were inserted between the first 4 that ARE nominated and the last one. They are
The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse (France) Good animation. Sweet story. Nice. Sadly, absolutely nothing for me to link to to show it to you.
The Loneliest Stoplight (USA) Voiced by Patton Oswalt. It was good but not amazing.
Catch It (France) This is a throwback to Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. But with a Vulture and Meerkats. I wish I could show it to you because you would laugh. I will look for it later to see if I can find a useful link.
Then, the final nominee was Prologue (UK) This is the one that you get a warning about so you can remove your children from the theater. There is nudity (free willies) and violence (with spurting blood). Sadly, there is skill in the animation but no real story. Men kill each other and little girl is sad. The end. If it wins I will be pissed.
Live Action:
Ave Maria (Israel) This one as funny. And a little sweet. I don’t expect it to win but I was glad I saw it.
Shok (Kosovo) This one made me cry. I don’t understand how people can be evil to each other and this is about that. It’s also about what it is to be friends when you’re 12.
Stutterer (USA) This is uncomfortable. And sweet. I’m glad I saw it. I don’t expect it to win simply because of what it’s up against.
Day One (USA) This one should win. It is hard to watch. One couple left the theater because it was going to be so very hard. But, it got less hard. And, then, different hard. It is sad. It is War. It is life and death. This was perfectly made.
Yosemite “The lives of three 5th graders intertwine in the suburban paradise of Palo Alto circa 1985, as the threat of a mountain lion looms over the town. Featuring James Franco in a supporting role, the film is adapted from short stories in Franco’s collection ‘A California Childhood.’ ”
This wasn’t really what we expected. We thought we were getting a variation on “Stand By Me” and instead it simply a week in the lives of 3 boys. So, the 11 year old who went along was completely underwhelmed.
It was scary in an anticipating-something-bad-happening kind of way. So much so that it was a relief when it finally did.
I like it better in retrospect than I did while I watched it. Which isn’t uncommon for me watching that kind of film.
The Long Startto the Journey “Filmmaker Chris Gallaway documents his own personal attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and to learn what the path means to individuals he meets along the way. This is a personal story of struggle and perseverance as well as a historical account of the origins and cultural relevance of the Appalachian Trail.”
I think this is probably the best film about the AT that has been made. It has a little history, some gorgeous scenery and tons of information about what to expect. I think anyone considering hiking it, sectionally or through-hiking, should see it.
I am the Audience 