Cinequest 15 Report

The festival started on a low note. Upon arriving we discovered that the Camera One is closed forever. Bummer. That was my favorite theatre in all the world. Camera Three is also closed but they say that they will reopen it once it has been remodeled. I hope they really do as I think that it is a great venue for independent film. The shiny new Camera Twelve is a fine place but it is a megaplex. It does not really have the character and sense of independent film spirit that is a big part of the festival experience for me. That being said, there is something to be said for modern sound and projection equipment and comfortable seats. :-)

We saw about 28 films this year. I did not keep a log this time so I had to reconstruct from memory when I got back. I may have missed one or so but I do not think so. Here is the complete list.

Ben Kingsley and Jon Polito were given Maverick spirit awards. We saw a few minutes of Ben Kingsley and the entire Jon Polito presentation. Ben Kingsley came off as a bit of a pompous bore. Of course, I did not see the whole thing so I should really reserve judgment. Jon Polito was more interesting but he really came across as pandering to the audience and the festival. I wanted to get a head shot for Hardie with "they're giving me the high hat" on it but Jon did not have any head shots. Oh well. Sorry Hardie.

The Good

I started to pick a favorite but I saw several really awesome films and my favorite changes depending on my mood so I thought that I would give equal favorite billing to my list of top films.

Chlorox, Ammonia and Coffee! - One of those wacky foreign films with a very European sense of humor. My favorite scene is when a woman who is nine months pregnant attempts to rob a grocery store. A policeman comes in and breaks up the robbery but she goes into labor as he is doing so. The policeman and the store owner end up taking her to the hospital and helping her deliver. You had to be there. It is very funny. The camera work can be a little gritty but the story is very well told and the acting is top notch.

The Civilization of Maxwell Bright - This one gets a nod for taking chances. It starts out as a story of one of the biggest male chauvinist that you'll ever see. In this respect it succeeds in a major way. Patrick Warburton is perfectly cast. I've never seen it done better or with more humor. The director was there before the movie and he told us that after the first twenty minutes no matter where we thought that it was going we were wrong. He was right. It turns dramatically in the end as he takes a mail order bride, loses his business, gets cancer, converts to Buddhism and dies. You do not really expect it to get deep and try to send a message. The director said afterwards that it pointed out that the things that we think are important in life are not really so important as we think. This is a bit cliché and I did not really get that message even after he gave it to me but it was a good film. Well worth the time.

Campfire - I've never seen a film where everyone spoke Hebrew. This was about a family of Israelis who are debating moving into a West Bank settlement. Early on I assumed that this was a setup for some political commentary but it was not. It was completely about the lives of these people and the goings on as they debate this major change in their lives. It was interesting. Well acted and reasonably well shot.

Zemanovaload - Terri walked out of this one. It is a very British comedy about a young bachelor obsessed with a porn star. There is very liberal use of "the F word" and a lot of nude shots of Veronika Zemanova. I did not mind these things and I really like British humor. The lead character had faces tattooed onto his two index fingers and kept consulting them at strategic times. His girlfriend leaves him and takes everything in his apartment except her cat (she takes the cats litter box but leaves the cat). He realizes that he does not know the cats name so he names it Dog. Lots of gags like that. If you are offended by profanity or nudity you should skip this one but you'll miss a really funny film if you do.

Our Own - A gritty story about World War II Russia. Three soldiers are taken prisoner by the Nazis. They escape and go back to the home village of the lead soldier which is controlled by the Germans. About half of the town have become German sympathizers and life gets interesting as this small town discovers that the soldiers' father, a local policeman and German sympathizer, is protecting the men. This movie is really beautifully shot. They go from almost black and white to fairly rich color to bring out the stark contrast of the cold rural areas in back Russia. The actors were unknowns from the Ukraine and they did a really amazing job. Overall an awesome film.

Saturday - This one took the biggest chance of my favorites. It was shot documentary style in real time. It opens with a girl going to the house of another girl who is about to marry her boyfriend. The bride is in her wedding gown and a scene ensues in which she convinces the bride that she has been sleeping with her groom for quite some time most recently last night. The bride grabs the camera man and goes to her grooms house to confront him. She finds him in the shower and drags him out to confront him. They end up out in the street with him trying to keep a towel wrapped around him with varying degrees of success. It is hilarious. The camera never stops rolling for the entire film. When I read about the film I almost skipped it because I was afraid that it would be badly shot and badly written. I'm glad I took a chance. It was an awesome film.

The Bad

Cruel but Necessary - Another film shot documentary style but unlike Saturday this one simply did not work. The story wanders around a lot and there are a few scenes that were only tangentially related to the story.

Sunnyvale - Another in the long list of Office Space wannabes. The dialog is bad and the jokes could be funny but they simply aren't delivered well.

The Dry Spell - The only movie that I walked out of. Most of the movies that I saw had something to recommend them even if I did not like them. This one was badly shot, badly acted and dropped into gutter humor. The worst of the festival.

The Last Known Documentary - Not really a documentary. It is about a young man who hates his life and discovers that he has cancer so he goes to the wilderness to die. He meets a beautiful young former stripper with aids who has done the same thing. They fall in love and get married just before committing suicide together. The film is really beautifully shot and the stars are both gorgeous and scantily clad most of the film but the story never works and the dialog consists mostly of them bemoaning their diseases and professing their undying love.

Honorable Mention

The Works - I really liked this film. It was a well told story with a great cast. It was very close to making my favorites list but it had a problem. It was a character based tale but they did not develop the two main characters. They gave you enough to prop the story up but not enough to understand what was really going on. The film is definitely worth seeing but I left it wondering what might have been.

Guarded Secrets - I liked what I saw of this film but I saw it right after dinner and the food and the wine made me too comfortable. I fell asleep for a bit in the middle and missed part of it. I'll look for another chance to see it while I'm fully awake.

My Big Fat Independent Movie - Not a bad film with some funny parts. Did not quite work but parts of it were great.

Tales of Intransigence - Well shot and some great story telling. A good look into a culture that I don't get exposed to much. A fun film.

Terrorists - Almost made it onto my favorites list. Very close. An excellent look at a small town gone crazy with terrorist paranoia. Well worth watching.

The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess - This was the biggest turnaround story. I was about ready to walk out in the early parts. This was a wild film with a script that breaks all the rules. It is MTV like in places and just wacky early on but later it gets serious and has a surprisingly real story. If the front end could be tamed I think that this would be an excellent film.

The Armwrestler from Solitude - An excellent documentary on a former world champion arm wrestler from a tiny town in Sweden. Well worth watching.

Vares Private Eye - A good detective story. I liked it overall. Kind of gritty but a good story.