SIFF roundup

Torremolinos 73 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Azumi ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Secret Festival #1 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
The Story of the Weeping Camel ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Jagged Harmonies ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Secret Festival #2 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Blind Swordsman Zatoichi ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Hero ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Secret Festival #3 ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Incident at Loch Ness ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
6ixtynin9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Secret Festival #4 ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Straight Jacket ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

even though C and i together saw less than 20 films, we saw three of the Fool Serious top ten films and none of the lowest rated ones. Secret Festival #4 was nearly a walkout for me, and #3 becomes more offensive to me the more i mull on it, but i was quite pleased with the Secret Festival experience. i met some nice folks (including Isaac the greyhound) on line, saw at least one world premiere, and got to see three directors discuss their films.

what will stick with me...

baby camels are so damn cute.

nobody doing a story about famous musicians should make them play music composed for the movie.

i need some taiko recordings.

Hero is so stunning to look at that i can almost overlook the message of the film about nation-building. almost.

a film made entirely of elements that i like with a script that sucks will suck no matter how much i like those elements.

Werner Herzog is almost as cute as a baby camel.

if you find a noodle box full of money outside your door, skim a little bit off the bottom, leave the box where you found it, and go stay with your family for a while or something.

Straight Jacket is based on a play, and i think the camp style would play on stage infinitely better than on film. i'd like to read it. one of the three films that i will drag C to if it comes around (also Torremolinos 73 and Incident at Loch Ness).

next time i will pack more food and airplane bottles of emergency bourbon.