Gone Baby Gone: My love is gone?

Okay, I'm beginning my backlog of films. That means I'll be writing about movies I saw a while ago and that I might not remember all that well. So, Gone Baby Gone. This is one of those movies that caught my off guard by how good it is. I was expecting a standard mystery/crime drama but what I got was a nuanced meditation on morality. Maybe if I realized that it was based on a book by the guy who wrote Mystic River I would have been more prepared. Too often films give us good guy and bad guys or have their characters choose between good and evil but this film explores shades of gray. Ultimately, this movie presents us with a moral conundrum where none of the solutions seem like the right thing to do. That's why I liked it so much. It's much more interesting to see people struggle with moral dilemmas when there are no right answers.


I officially like Ben Affleck again.

Film Festival: Closing Night

Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life

Calling this documentary fawning would be an understatement. I don't know, maybe there just aren't any warts on this Phillies player turned broadcaster. He sure seemed like a nice guy that everybody liked. The problem is that nice guys who lead good lives generally don't make for the most interesting films. But I did like the part where he went off on a tirade about how much he hated catchers. It was partly insane but totally funny.

Well, that's it. My sixth film festival is over. I saw 49 movies over 13 days, subsisting mainly on granola bars. I know that sounds like a lot but they showed 143 movies at this year's festival (they'll tell you that it's over 260 but that's counting each individual short), so I barely saw a third of what they had to offer. I mean, I missed 94 movies.

Sigh. There just isn't enough time.

Anyway, stay tuned. I have a backlog of films I saw before the fest that I still haven't written about and I plan on updating this site more regularly in the future. Thanks for reading!

Film Festival: Day 12

Lucky Miles

Purportedly based on a true story (but you can't always trust that), this film tells the story of a ragtag group of refugees trying to find their way through the Australian outback. It begins on a small fishing boat where Indonesian smugglers (at least, I think they were Indonesian) are transporting a group of Iraqis and a group of Cambodians to what they think will be a better life in a Western democracy. The smugglers drop them off on a beach and tell them that a bus will pick them up just over a ridge and then speed off, knowing full well that there isn't even a road near by. Through a series of events that involves the most hapless of the smugglers lighting the boat on fire, one Iraqi, one Cambodian, and one smuggler find themselves on the run from the less than competent Australian National Guard. It's a fun movie and a little touching.

The New Year Parade

This local film tells the story of a family trying to stay together while the father and son prepare for the annual Mummer's Parade. It's a dour look at life in South Philadelphia and although it's done well, I think one of my fellow jurors put it best when she said, "I've seen this movie before, just without the parade."

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

The title is a bit misleading. A more accurate one would have been Jack Brooks Slays a Monster. It isn't the story of a badass who goes around killing demons. It's a movie about how some dude who's kind of a douche bag learns to put his anger management issues to good use. I would have preferred the former. But hey, if they ever make a sequel, I'm there. After the movie they were randomly handing out copies of the book "The Skin Gods", so I got a free copy if anyone feels the need to read it.

Trailer Park of Terror

The title really says everything you need to know about this redneck horror flick. It's full of gory fun and afterwards I got a free copy of the comic book it's based on (created by some locals). It was a good day for swag. The best part came early in the film when a scorned woman happens upon a mysterious stranger clad in a black cowboy outfit and pissing acid. The man turns around to reveal himself as Trace Adkins and offers to help the woman seek revenge. Yeah, that's right, they got Trace Adkins to play the devil. I think the director nailed it when he said, "The only thing it's missing is good shot of some boobs." Amen, brother.

Film Festival: Day 11

Empties

This is a lovely little Czech film about a marriage that's running into trouble as the couple reaches old age. The main character (who, and I can't stress this enough, is not played by Sean Connery) is a school teacher who quits his job and finds work in a grocery store paying people for their recyclables. The old man is bit of a flirt and very into matchmaking. Seeing how he flirts with the young ladies and, generally, charms everyone in the grocery store it's perfectly understandable that his wife is depressed that none of those attentions go her way. It's sort of a coming-of-age film for the geriatric set.

Choose Connor

This is a film about seduction, evil, and politics. It follows a precocious kid who comes to the attention of a politician played by Steven Weber. By the by, I think I like Weber more every time I see him. I'm going to officially nominate him for the Most Underrated Actor of His Generation Award. Seriously, how could so much talent have come out of "Wings"? Anyway, this is a great movie that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. You can tell that Weber is not the great guy he pretends to be (in order to get elected) from the very beginning. But you're never sure if he's just another insincere politician or if he's Mephistopheles himself.

The Last House in the Woods

Definitely the goriest film I've seen this year. The director went so far as to claim that it's the goriest Italian movie ever but I find that hard to believe. I mean, we're talking about the country that Lucio Fulci called home. But this movie doesn't just have the gross-out factor going for it, it's a genuinely creepy film where good and evil are defined in relative terms. Although, I don't totally buy the director's theory that the movie is about a girl who matures into a woman and that all the blood is metaphor for menstruation. I think he just said that to gross us out one last time.

Then She Found Me

Helen Hunt's directorial debut shows competence but the story isn't anything special. It's one of those movies that's too heavy to be a romantic comedy and too light to be a drama. It's just sort of . . . there. Frankly, it's not that interesting to watch Colin Firth try to out nebbish Matthew Broderick for Ms. Hunt's attention. Also, having The Divine Miss M show up as Hunt's long-lost mother/local talk show host seemed a little random.

Toons From the Dark Side

It was a long day and I was getting sick, so it was really tough for me to stay awake through all of these animated shorts. But you know how these things go: some good, some bad.

Film Festival: Day 10

Behind Forgotten Eyes

War is hell and this is just one more documentary to prove it. During World War II Japan invaded China and Korea and ran into a problem. The Japanese soldiers raped women on such a large scale that venereal disease became a hindrance to combat operations. Let's take a moment to consider just how much rape that is. The Japanese authorities felt that the best way to deal with this issue would be to provide their soldiers with prostitutes, which they could periodically check for disease. This film focuses on the 14 to 25-year-old Korean girls who were forced into prostitution during the war. This is a very serious topic and that's why I was so surprised that they used wildly inappropriate, awful animation to dramatize parts of the story. This was some sub-Hanna-Barbera shit here. The quality was so bad and the subject so serious that the contrast between the two made me feel like I was watching an episode of South Park. Never a good thing when you're trying to cover the atrocities of war.

Son of Rambow

This movie pretty much rules. It's about a very creative (but not terribly bright) kid who teams up with his bully to make a film. The film is set just after the release of First Blood but it took me a while to figure that out. At first I thought the French foreign exchange student was a hipster but it turns out that was just all New Wave-y. The movie that the kids make is truly awesome (think Max Fisher Players, Jr.) and this film manages to get some real drama out of the kids relationships. Keep an eye out for this one.

First Person

"78% of low-income high school students expect to attend college. Fewer than half of them make it. What happens to their dreams along the way?" That's how this documentary begins. It follows six high-school juniors as their plans to attend college slowly slip through their fingers. Although it's a depressing premise, the situation is far from hopeless and you can personally help these kids by going here.

What We Do Is Secret

If you're into the late 70's L.A. punk scene, man, is this the movie for you. On the other hand, if you don't know who Darby Crash is going in, well, this probably isn't for you. I mean it's really well done and Shane West gives a great performance but if it's not your scene, it's not your scene. You know?

Triangle

Another Johnny To film. I think I would've enjoyed this one a lot more if I hadn't been so tired (it was a long day). It was somewhere between a crime thriller and a comedy of errors. It had gangsters and buried treasure. Needless to say, the plot was really complicated and I really wasn't up to following it. Maybe I'll try to see it again sometime.

Film Festival: Day 9

The Take

I really enjoyed this movie while I was watching it but something the director said afterwards made me appreciate it even more. He mentioned that the film is a throwback to 70's cinema and that made me think about how studios don't really release films for adults anymore. I know it's nothing new to claim that Hollywood markets it's goods to adolescents but it's still good to remind yourself of that every now and then. Before the age of blockbusters "Action" movies would have two or three action sequences in them and then the rest would be filled by, well, story and characters (remember, Bullitt really only has the one car chase). Anyway, that's how this plays out. It has a couple of action sequences and the rest is filled out with suspense, drama, and strong performances from John Leguizamo, Tyrese Gibson, and Rosie Perez.

Chop Shop

This is just a great movie about a brother and sister (both kids) who are trying to make it on their own in the slums of Queens. The director, Ramin Bahrani, made a splash on the festival circuit with his last movie, Man Push Cart, and I expect him to do the same this time around. It's touching, moving, and all that jazz and it doesn't need to resort to swelling music to tug at your heartstrings.

Help Me Eros

Two guys playing pool without any pants while one of their wives gorges on ice cream. A very acrobatic threesome on the roof of a building. A naked fat chick in a bathtub full of eels. A drive-thru convenience store operated by strippers (pole included). Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either.

Beautiful Loser

Boring. And a little stupid.

Placebo

Finally, a weird movie where all sorts of crazy things happen that totally makes sense at the end! It's a surprising movie about a young man who develops a wild theory that alcohol is a placebo after he fails to get drunk after his first exposure to it at the ripe old age of 26. It's got comedy and a lot of heart but at times it can drag a little. Never the less, it's great to see a local film that has a chance to take off (and by "take off" I mean "get a DVD release"). I wish them luck.

Film Festival: Day 8

Bad Habits

This is a Mexican film about eating disorders. Actually, it's mostly a movie about people who need to eat more. It centers on a family where the mother, who is clearly anorexic, keeps trying to force her paunchy daughter to loose weight before her first communion. The mother's tactics are abusive and only cause her daughter to gain weight (see, some people eat when they get depressed). Meanwhile, the father decides that he's sick of his skinny bitch wife and starts having an affair with a thick girl who's more fun in bed. At first I thought that was pretty awesome but then I realized his time would probably be better spent getting his psycho wife committed and encouraging his little girl to have a healthy relationship with food. Also, there was a nun who wouldn't eat because that made her see Jesus. That part was a little weird.

The End

This documentary about gangsters from London's East End is directed by the daughter of one of the subjects. It's a really interesting look at the criminal underworld and, although the film examines both the good and bad aspects of these men, it still seems biased in their favor. The men admit to stealing and violence and even imply that they've murdered people but they claim that they only did these things to "bad guys". I doubt that this is true of all their victims but, even so, how were the "bad guys" different from them? Didn't they have families too? There's also a part where the gangsters talk about prison and what they do to child molesters. I know it's nothing new that criminals hate pedophiles (and I mean hate) but I'd be interested to learn a little bit about criminal psychology. To me it seems like gangsters only feel that strongly about child molesters because they're the only ones that somebody who kills for money can look down on. Oh, this movie also includes a section where the guys try to explain cockney rhyming slang. Man, I don't think I'll ever understand how that works.

Epitaph

Before this film even started, I used my lightning-quick reflexes to win a Danger After Dark T-shirt plus two DVDs of movies I saw at previous festivals. The first one is Evil, Greece's first zombie film. I remember it being incredibly violent with a ridiculous amount of blood. The other one, The Living and the Dead, was much more suspenseful and, if I recall, disturbing. Anyway, the film at hand was a ghost story. At least, I expected it to be a ghost story but it wound up being three interlocking ghost stories. This was really confusing for me because the ghosts didn't really have anything to do with each other but the people being terrorized were all connected. It's a really complicated plot that involves many mysteries and I really wish that they'd stuck to one story. I had a lot of trouble following what was going on and telling the characters apart. It's not that I think all Asian people look alike. It's just that I think all Korean people look alike. Oh well, at least there were some good scares. Including a scene where one guy sneaks up behind another guy and yells "Boo!". So simple, yet so effective.

Film Festival: Day 7

The Art of Travel

This film begins with an excellent premise. Our hero has just graduated from high school and is about to marry his sweetheart after four years of savings themselves for each other. During their wedding he interrupts the ceremony to inform everybody that he has a present for each of them. The crowd reaches under their seats to find envelopes containing a picture of the bride in bed with the groom's brother. Our hero then tells the bride to fuck off, walks out of the ceremony and catches the next available flight out of town. That flight takes him to Managua, Nicaragua where drunken escapades with Dutch co-eds ensue alongside muggings and other clashes with the locals. The movie's a whole lot of fun until the main character decides to go on a dangerous, year-long trek through the jungle. It takes forever and it's not very interesting. Also, the ending is stupid.

Who is KK Downey?

A timely film about an "autobiography" from a made-up author, this film had potential and manages some good laughs but, ultimately, it never quite cohered into something worth watching. It's got the ideas, just not the execution. Speaking of executioners, this movie is playing as part of the Danger After Dark series and I kept expecting the characters to start getting killed. I wasn't so lucky.

Eye in the Sky

This was my fourth Johnny To film and I've got one more coming up later in the festival. The first one was pretty bad ass but I was a little disappointed by the other two. This one, however, was really great. I've come to the conclusion that To is a craftsman and definitely not an artist. His movies are extremely well made but they lack originality. I'm fine with that as long as he can keep me interested in the story and this one had one of my favorite plots. It's about some really smart cops trying to catch a really smart criminal. Specifically, they're surveillance specialists and the film is all about how to watch someone without being noticed and how to become invisible to those trying to track you down. Also, I love that the film begins with a successful heist where one element was slightly off and that seemingly unimportant element eventually leads the cops to their prey. This is the kind of movie they should show in film school to demonstrate how the genre works.

Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America

You'd expect a low-budget viking epic to be pretty cheesy and I think that's how this quite, very realistic, character study caught me off guard. It takes place one thousand years ago when two vikings get left behind after a battle with Native Americans (presumably somewhere in Canada). The two men must survive on their own while attempting to make their way back to their fellow countrymen. The film is (mostly) in Old Norse but there's very little conversation between the warriors. At times it gets a little slow and there's one plot element that seemed a little far fetched to me (but hey, I'm no Viking scholar) but, overall, I really enjoyed it.

Film Festival: Day 6

Dharm

This is a good drama about a Brahman priest who accidentally adopts a baby from outside of his caste and the havoc that raises on him and his community. Eventually the priest realizes that his religion has stupid rules that lead to disharmony in society (about 60 years after Gandhi and 2,400 years after the Buddha). It's a little strange watching this film as an American because we haven't had a formal class system since . . . uh, 1968? Okay, maybe that wasn't that long ago but, still, this movie's probably a lot more socially relevant in it's home country (India, if that wasn't clear). Oh well, I suppose the world can always use another movie about people opening their minds and becoming more tolerant. One of them is bound to do the trick eventually.

Darling

This is a Swedish film about a spoiled, rich bitch who gets her comeuppance when she has to take a job at McDonald's. There she befriends a 61-year-old man who's fallen on hard times after his divorce and she almost learns a valuable lesson from him about how being a good, hardworking person is more important than being hot and owning lots of great outfits. Although the ending was disappointing, I can't say that it wasn't true to life.

The Savage Breast

Shorts programs are always a mixed bag. This one had a bunch of films that revolve around music. Also, a surprising number of them feature breasts. I mean, I know it was in the title and all but I still wasn't really expecting it. One of them started off with some Earth Mother mumbo jumbo and then went on to show artful shots of a naked woman for ten minutes. I think my favorite boobless (55378008?) short was Steve Martin on the Loose. Based on a dream the director had, it features Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen from Back to the Future Part III attempting to save Steve Martin's twin from drowning. I think.

The Sperm

I think this movie was Thailand's attempt to prove that they can be just as weird as the Japanese. This is a movie about (Ringo, spoiler alert!) a young man who, through a complicated set of circumstances, masturbates on the street causing his sperm to become mutated by exposure to some aliens' malfunctioning ray gun. These mutated sperm grow to giant size (for sperm that's about golf-ball size) and impregnate women on their own. The next day, about four hundred women wake up in the final stage of pregnancy and give birth to babies that have the lead actor's face. I can't express how disturbing that visual is. By the next day the babies are now toddler sized (still with full-grown, matching heads) and unbelievably horny. Apparently, they live only long enough to masturbate, at which point they shrivel up leaving behind only a dried up bag of skin. I can't express to you how much classier this film is than Bad Biology.

Film Festival: Day 5

Anywhere, USA

This movie was interesting but I think it was supposed to be funny. Oh, and profound. Funny and profound. That would have been nice. One of my fellow jurors pointed out that it was filled with great characters, it's just that the plot didn't give them much to work with. Knowing that this was made by a first-time director does make me very curious to see what he does next, though. Clearly, there's some talent behind the camera and I think it would be really interesting to see how the director grows (or doesn't grow).

Medicine for Melancholy

I'd say that this film falls in the Before Sunrise/Sunset mold. The trouble is (as Colleen always points out) that's a very difficult type of film to pull off. I mean, just two people talking? Especially for another first-time director. I give that guy a lot of credit for only being a little boring. Again, he's another person that I'd like to see mature as his career goes on. It's also nice to be reminded that movies about black people don't have to be completely retarded.

Lovely By Surprise

So far, this film has made me think the most. I would have to see it again before I could really have an opinion on it because it throws an awful lot at you and it's not always clear what's going on. It took me about five minutes to really wrap my head around the ending. And when I saw "wrap my head around" I mean "figure out what questions are left up to the audience's interpretation". Answering those questions will take considerably more work. This is another first-time director (again with the first-time directors!) that I'd like to keep my eye on.

Storm

This was supposed to be like The Matrix but it was more like The Matrix Revolutions meets The Fifth Element. It's about an epic struggle between two poorly defined sides (with no apparent motivation) and the douche bag who must choose between them. Oh, and the titular storm didn't appear to have anything to do with, well, anything. There should have been way more kick-ass fight scenes with the hot Swedish chicks and way less childhood trauma. Emotions are for sissy movies, not movies where girls wear skin-tight leather unitards and kick people in the face.

Film Festival: Day 4

Summer Scars

Before I even get to this movie, I need to talk about the awesome short that preceded it. You know what? I can't even do it justice. Just take ten minutes of your time to go here, click on "Short Film", then "Nash Edgerton", and then "Spider". Okay, the main event was a solid film about a gang of kids that run into a creepy guy in the woods. Lots of tension and uncomfortable situations follow. Also, a lot of unnecessary religious business. Two of the main characters are named Peter and Paul; and one of them is looking for a dog named Jesus, who doesn't exist (at least, not anymore). None of this appears to be particularly relevant to the themes of the film.

The Matsugane Potshot Affair

This film reeled me in from the very beginning with it's darkly comedy sensibilities. But the problem with black comedies is that they're extremely dry and require an awful lot of attention from the audience to pick up on those elements. So, when this movie got bogged down with a bunch of extraneous action mid-way through I just got bored and stopped paying so much attention. Near the end I thought I was going to fall asleep.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad

Acrassicauda is Iraq's only heavy metal band. They take their name from the black scorpion, which is known to be way more badass than regular scorpions. This documentary follows their story as the band attempts to play shows outside the green zone in Baghdad where mortars and gunfights are a daily occurrence (much of it was filmed in 2006). Eventually, the guys decide that it's too dangerous to remain in their hometown and, one by one, move to Syria where Iraqis are not allowed to work legally. Yeah, things are going great in that part of the world.

Phoebe in Wonderland

Some movies you just know are going to get a theatrical release. I mean, this one's got Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman, Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott, and it stars the littlest Fanning. The movie gets off to a dishonest start by pretending that it's a story about a girl finding herself through theatre but it's really about parents coming to terms with their daughter's mental condition. In that way, it's a very powerful film that deals with issues that we as a society are just now coming to grips with. So, this one's worth checking out.

Confession of Pain

Okay, you know The Departed? Well, that was a remake of a film from Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs and this is made by the same people. It's a movie with an odd structure. It's a murder mystery where you learn who the killer is very early on but you have to wait until the very end to find out why (Answer: It was all part of an elaborate revenge plot). Honestly, the whole thing felt like a really long episode of [insert network detective show here]. I'm sorry, but shit like this should be wrapped up in 45 minutes, sans commercials. But hey, I wasn't a huge fan of Infernal Affairs to begin with.

Film Festival: Day 3

The Toe Tactic

My day got off to a slow start with this film about a young woman who needed to discover . . . something. I'm not quite sure what, but I do know that she needed the help of five animated dogs that served as a Greek chorus, voiced by David Cross, Eli Wallach, Andrea Martin, and others (oddly enough, it featured H. Jon Benjamin in a rare live-action role). All of this was scored by Yo La Tengo.

In a Dream

Any Philadelphian will recognize Isaiah Zagar's mixed-medium mosaics on South Street and throughout the city but they probably don't know much about the man himself. Fortunately, his son made a wonderful documentary about him (at the bequest of his mother). At least, the project started off as a portrait of his father as an artist but it ended up becoming an examination of a difficult time in his parents marriage. One member of the audience described this film as the bravest thing she'd ever seen any family do and I have to agree. It's a brutally honest film about imperfect people who have to come to terms with their self-inflicted wounds. If you ever get the chance, you should see it.

Bad Biology

The director said it shouldn't have been made. This movie is so indecent that I don't think I should even try to summarize it. Hell, that mutant baby pictured above only scratches the surface of this film's depravity. I loved it!

The Visitor

This is the type of movie that is almost made Oscar nominated. It's a moving portrait about how people's lives can altered by chance encounters and then torn apart by an unfeeling bureaucracy. It's full of really strong performances and it even deals with a current social issue (immigration policy in post-9/11 America) by focusing on how it affects individuals on a personal level. You should catch it when it's at the Ritz. And it will, undoubtedly, play at the Ritz.

Stuck

Inspired by the horrifying real-life events of a woman who hit a homeless man with her car and then parked in her garage with the victim still embedded in the windshield, alive and pleading for help, this film packs a powerful punch. The main character's refusal to assist a dying man or even acknowledge her responsibility for the situation is chilling. That being said, this is also a movie from the man who brought you Re-Animator, so it's got a few laughs. It's a really smart film and in many ways it's the opposite of a standard horror film. In this movie the unstoppable foe who continues to come back from the dead is the innocent victim while the horny co-eds are the merciless villains.

Film Festival: Day 2

Pistoleros

This movie presents itself as a modern-day, Danish spaghetti western in the Sergio Leone model but it's really just another Tarantino knock-off with a ludicrously convoluted plot. The entire story hinges on the fact that a criminal would stash a large amount of loot and then force his closest friends to get tattoos offering clues as to the location. Why would he do this? He knows where the money is. He hid it. Was he afraid that he's forget where he put his fortune? It's almost like he was daring people to try and steal his money. Also, one of the buddies that he forced tattoos on was a stripper. Right, 'cause nobody would ever get a good look at that one. Maybe he was hoping that everybody would just be too distracted by her tits.

Baghead

I love seeing movies when I don't know a thing about them. This one started off in a super-meta way by showing an independent film being screened as part of a film festival. Then it transitioned into a thoughtful character study about four friends in L.A. Next, things got back to being all meta when the friends decide to spend the weekend in cabin writing a screenplay that will feature all of them as actors. Then, suddenly, things took a dramatic turn as all the elements of a good horror film emerged. This movie kept me guessing about it's nature the entire way through and I loved every minute of it. Also, the characters are so well drawn that everything they do has a ring of truth to it and that makes this such a strong film. So far, it's my favorite film of the festival.

Mirageman

This Chilean film about a do-it-yourself superhero had a lot of neat fight scenes and a few good laughs but, overall, it lacked focus. Sometimes movies try to take on too much and they just end up being muddled. Also, the whole thing just seemed a little lackluster.