Okay, so I totally dropped the ball on this one but I want to wrap up the last film festival before I get to the most recent one. Most of this post was written six months ago. I just didn't get around to finishing until now.* Anyway, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I know you've been dieing to read my thoughts on movies you've never heard of:
Training RulesFor decades the women's basketball program at Penn State war run by Rene Portland, an unrepentant bigot who wouldn't allow lesbians to play for her. In 2006 a student who stood up to her after being kicked off the team for her perceived sexual orientation. This documentary tells her story in the blandest way possible. I'm sorry, documentaries are suppose to be films and this felt like a "20/20" Special Report, even the 57-minute running time felt made for TV. On a scale of one to five (official grading scale of the festival) I give the story a four but the execution a two.
In general, I feel like police procedurals no longer have a place in the film world. With three versions of "CSI" and four iterations of "Law and Order" (not counting their documentary series) it seems like the stories are pretty well played out. This film sets itself apart by telling a story that couldn't be told on the small screen but I'm not sure that it's a story worth telling. The main thing this movie has going for it is the strong hand of director Jennifer Lynch (the daughter of a noted filmmaker). It's a slick, good-looking suspenseful flick with a ridiculous plot. This one, I give a two for the story but a four for the execution (again on a scale of one to five).
Shorts program with a horror theme:
White Radishes - A man attempts to rescue a girl being used as radish fertilizer. Creepy and beautiful looking.
The Fairy Princess - Suspenseful film about a man who kidnaps unsupervised trick-or-treaters. Great ending.
I Don’t Sleep I Dream - This was weird. Like, weird in an I-don't-understand-what's-going-on way, not weird in a good way.
A Little Mouth to Feed - A woman who's been trying desperately to conceive is told by her husband that her constant calls to God are of no use. She decides to direct her prayers elsewhere and finally gets results. Creepy and suspenseful.
Rite - Very little dialogue is used in this stylish look at a society where everyone gets the end of their ring finger cut off as a symbol of adulthood.
The Painter of Skies - Beautiful but tedious animated film about an artist who must overcome his demons to produce a hopeful painting that he can put into his lighthouse machine to make the weather nice and return home . . . or something.
Side Effect - The babysitter is preparing a roast turkey - Look, I think we all know where this is going. The only thing about this film that's interesting is that instead of a hippie high on illegal drugs we're presented with an over achiever strung out on prescription meds that are supposed to keep her awake and focused. Oh, how societal fears have changed.
The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon - An attack from a spoon-wielding ghoul goes from annoying to torturous over a period of years as the relentless killer stops at nothing in this very funny spoof of horror trailers.
Treevenge - As awesome as it sounds! This pitch perfect parody of late 70s/early 80s horror films offers a look at Christmas from the trees' perspective and then the bloody, bloody aftermath as the plants take their revenge and the topiary revolution begins.
Another shorts program, this time with a disturbing theme:
80% - "Hey, it's Jenn!" That was my first thought when watching this dark short about a dystopian future (or past, steampunk throws me off) where the world is dying of thirst. It's fun to see your friends on the big screen, even if you're a little confused about the plot. But two other people I know were in this short and it had a great look and an ominous tone so I was happy with it.
Pie of the Day - Amusing animated film but it seemed very derivative of "The Ren & Stimpy Show".
Piñata - Very funny stop-motion animation about a piñata who's given the opportunity to take his revenge on humans. His bloody, bloody revenge.
The M.O.D presents MoneyLEGS - Bizarre but awesome animated short about a bushel of money with legs and the men who love it (her?). I believe there was singing and dancing.
Rx/OTC - Experimental horror film. And by "experimental" I mean "nonsensical".
Inside ARM UVI #1: Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye - Man, I don't know what to make of this one. It was based on a video installation that was part of the fringe festival. There were images of women with their eyes gouged out spliced together with some porn so, uh, it was interesting.
Thanks Blood - I don't remember this one. It must not have been that great.
Smut Cave - A mock public-access cable show purports to review the latest trends in internet pornography. This week's topic? Cake farters. It's an absurd but highly entertaining look at a ridiculous world. I think I was most impressed with how perfectly they nailed the amateurish production values and awkward delivery style of a non-professional host.
Apprentice - Pretty good but very long short about a junkie and his young protege. It seemed like a fairly realistic portrait of what it would be like to addicted to crack, living on the streets, and making your living as a low-end male prostitute but I don't think that's enough to base a 40-minute film on. Oh well, at least it had a few god moments of comic relief.
This film tells the true story of South Korea's first generation of rock and rollers. It begins as a light-hearted story about a bunch of kids trying to make it as rock stars. They're young and reckless and seem to be having a great time introducing Korean audiences to songs like "Soul Man" and "Proud Mary". Their band, The Devils, is pretty rockin' and the youthful hijinks are fun. But as tension with their neighbors to the north increases the government imposes a curfew for safety and The Devils are only able to perform by circumventing the law. They find a loophole that allows them to perform in a hotel (night clubs are forbidden) as long as they get the audience in before the curfew starts and keep them in until the wee hours of the morning when the curfew ends. Needless to say, this makes for a pretty sweet all-night party. Okay, so we've got rock 'n' roll, teenage rebellion and hot go-go dancers. Everything is going well but our years of watching VH1's "Behind the Music" have taught us that it's only a matter of time before the inevitable fall from grace and a straight shot to rock bottom. Only this time it's not the drugs or the egos or the girlfriends that break things up, it's the authorities. Basically, the entire band gets arrested for playing Western music. Arrested and tortured. Tortured for playing music. Rev. Shaw Moore wasn't even that strict. You see, there was a military coup in South Korea in 1961 that lead to a dictatorship until the president was assassinated in 1979 (only to face another coup, and subsequent military dictatorship, in 1980). It was really a wake-up call to realize that our hippies had it easy.
*Oh, and I'm sure that nobody cares but I'm back dating this post so that the date matches the day I saw these movies, not the date I finally got around to posting. I actually do that for all my festival posts but there usually isn't a six-month difference.
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