B.I.F.F is coming to an end, and I am (I cannot believe I am going to say this) looking forward to a nice and quiet evening on the sofa once the whole thing is over. I have spent every night at the theatre this past week, and although it has been exciting and quite a bit cultural, I am exhausted. It has been a long week with tiresome days at Uni and work, and no time to relax before it has been off to the theatre…not that I am not relaxing in the theatre…few things are more enjoyable to me than escaping reality for a couple of hours with a movie, but when most of the movies are documentaries or accurate historical epics (a.k.a reality)…its hard not to get a little stressed out. I will however admit that it has been worth it. I have been provoked, moved, made upset and terrified by what I have seen the past 7 days, and I could even go as far as to say that I have learned a thing or two. I simply love film.
So I thought I would give a quick rundown of what I have spent my free time on lately;
Thursday night it was the Japanese movie 'Sakuran' (is that pronounced sAkuran or sakUran?) which pretty much turned out to be Japanese soft porn. Now, Im no prude, but I did not see that one coming (pun intended). The first half was about this little girl being trained to be a luxury prostitute…or geisha if you will, while the second half was a bit more humorous with the geisha becoming head-geisha and picky with her customers. Almost a little girl power there for a second before it turned into a drama again. Did I like it? I was surprised, but once the initial “yikes-what-is-this” reaction subsided, I did enjoy it.
That same night, after 'Sakuran', I had tickets to an American film called 'The dog problem'. It was directed by Scott Caan as mentioned previously, and it turned out to be a surprisingly witty film with great dialog! At times the dialog actually reminded me of a typical Quentin Tarantino movie where the characters talk really fast and sarcastic to each other about subjects that initially seem completely uninteresting, but which become interesting simply by the way they talk. I definitely recommend this one.
Friday night we stuck to one film.-A documentary called 'For the bible tells me so'. The director, Daniel G. Karslake, was present for the screening of this film, and he introduced it with a short background story. I think this was by far the most moving film I saw this week. It is about deeply Christian families which have homosexual children. I believe the director said the film would premiere in various states in the US this week if it isn’t out already. Go see it! It is definitely worth a watch.
Saturday night came with the movie 'Factory Girl' about Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhole. A little slow at times, but I enjoyed it. Guy Pearce from ‘Memento’ and ‘Rules of engagement’ plays Andy Warhole, and I swear I did not recognize him! I had to check him out at imdb.com to figure out who he was. He does a great job. Sienna Miller is Edie Sedgwick and she is excellent as well.
Sunday was another double feature (although not in the original sense, as they were shown in different rooms. First out was 'Sharkwater'. This was, as you’ve probably guessed, a documentary about sharks. -An American documentary to be specific. I think the essence of it was: biologist and underwater photographer wants to make film about his favourite animal,-the shark, biologist discovers that sharks are almost gone, biologist decides to find out why, biologist discovers illegal shark-fishing for shark fins (shark fin soup and all that crazy stuff…), biologist gets mad. The photography in this film is amazing, and its worth seeing just for that alone. At times I got sick to my stomach and at times I got pissed off. Cutting off fins on sharks and dumping them back into the ocean while they are still alive seem inhuman to me, but then again, some people should never be allowed to call themselves humans. I wish he hadn’t included the slightly insane criminal, Paul Watson in his movie, but I will admit the action part increased substantially once he did. Either way, if you love beautiful scenery and don’t mind political intrusion, this is the film for you.
After ‘Sharkwater’, I watched a German comedy (who knew they existed?) about speed dating called ‘Shoppen’. Hilarious! That’s all I have to say about that. -A really human, personal film that gets you straight in the heart. I simply loved it and would recommend it to anyone who loves stories about normal people. This film is completely free of Hollywood beauty and special effects. It’s the people who carry the film, and they do it wonderfully. One of the highlights this past week.
Monday came with ‘The wonder of it all'. The director, Jeffrey Roth and the producer, whos name escapes me at the moment, of this film were present and answered some questions after the film was done. I had a question ready, but sadly there was no time to ask it. This is a documentary if you will, or interview session of the 12 men who have walked on the moon. One of the astronauts were supposed to come for the screening as well, but unfortunately he got held up at NASA at the last minute. Sad. Would have been great to meet him. I thought of my friend Beatnik (http://randomscmandom.blogspot.com/) while I saw this one, as some of the astronauts mentioned the scepticism they sometimes get from people who don’t believe they actually did walk on the moon. People who have a hard time believing they have actually been there. Beatnik, go see this film if you get the chance…or rent it on DVD. It was interesting and you’ll get another point of view. I truly enjoyed watching the different guys explain how the experience was like for them…walking or bouncing on the moon, hitting a golf ball and goofing around on a different “planet”. I think I would have been terrified of not getting home had it been me…but then again, Im way too better-safe-than-sorry to ever take such a risk. Sadly.
Tuesday came with the absolute highlight so far; ‘A battle of wits'. This is a China/Japan/South-Korea/Hong Kong collaboration, and the result is a huge movie! Huge in every aspect. In scenery, in costumes, in story, in characters and music. I spent 2 hours and 15 minutes on the edge of my seat watching thousands of soldiers attacking a small village and getting defeated by a single man. A single very sexy man…One guy who with the help of a village and his incredible intelligence managed to defeat an entire Asian army. Wow..! Of course no epic movie is complete without twists and turns, and while you are watching this movie you
1: forget that they speak a language you can only dream to understand and therefore have to constantly read subtitles
2: forget that you are watching a movie that has not been made by the Hollywood machinery and therefore contain less CGI (and you certainly don’t miss it)
3: still forgetting that this is not a Hollywood movie and get surprised by the lack of a Hollywood ending (how refreshing).
I believe this movie came out in Asia last year, so it should be available on DVD soon if it isn’t already…just make sure there are English subtitles, unless you understand Chinese. Great film! I watched this movie yesterday, and I am still a little shook up about it.
Tonight is the last night of the festival, and I have one more movie to watch; 'Andrew Jenks, room 335'. From what I understand this is a documentary made by a 19 year old boy/man who wanted to find out how it was like to live in a retirement home. To figure it out, he found a home that would accept him as long as he paid rent, and he brought his camera. I am looking forward to it, and hope that it is just as humorous and heart-warming as it sounds like.
If you made it this far through the post, you can breathe now. I am done…but to my defence…I DID say I love to rant about movies (under the headline if you haven’t noticed the fine print)…so I accept no complains. –What’s a girl to do, when there is a festival in town…?
Update 25.10.07:
‘Andrew Jenks’ turned out to be more moving than I had expected. I love films that move me to such a degree that tears are impossible to withhold…I just don’t enjoy it when it happens in a public theatre…*cough*. Great film.
