![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
SIFF is over, long live SIFF
Jun. 12th, 2012 02:20 pmMy Dad is Baryshnikov
i went to this one because it was showing at the Bay. and that was nice, except for the part where there must have been six speakers before the film, including two from Wells Fargo execs. they got quite the tongue bath, so i guess they gave SIFF a significant amount of money.
the movie was pretty okay. a Russian coming-of-age film about the littlest rhino* in 1980s Moscow, who decides based on a videotape of White Nights and some dicey evidence that his absent father must be Baryshnikov. it had more failure and hazing in it than i want in my entertainment, but nice lifestyle details and an unexpected ending. after seeing all the clips used in the film i mostly want to rewatch White Nights as an adult.
*a friend's little brother was in a residential ballet school here in the US, and that's what the boys called themselves since there doesn't seem to be a male term to match "ballerina".
Duck Beach to Eternity
documentary covering an annual unofficial gathering of Mormon singles in their 20s and 30s in North Carolina. i thought that the subjects' sincere belief was handled respectfully, and it was a nice insight into a subculture. it's a world where high school never ended and being unmarried at the age of 25 means you must be damaged goods. the style feels modeled on MTV reality shows, but the subjects aren't scumbags. (i have such a crush on Bryan the Latin teacher, who also appears to be fluent in Italian and a great singer. he was clearly chosen as the misfit, but i like to think that as the film spreads he's going to get calls from some nerdy LDS ladies. speak it! speak it!) recommended.
The Woman in the Septic Tank
a Filipino indie hit about Filipinos trying to make an indie hit for the festival circuit. great sequences where as the producer and director argue over casting, the scene they are imagining plays out with each actress. there are rewarding details...each concept uses slightly different props and set dressing. maybe it's too inside baseball for a general audience, but a really cool thing to see at a festival.
Otelo Burning
black surfers in Apartheid-era South Africa. this showing was plagued by projection issues and i walked out when they gave up and got ready to show the end on a watermarked DVD screener. it wasn't bad, but obviously i didn't love it enough to hold out. it was the North American premiere. i ached for the director.
A Checkout Girl's Big Adventures
a frothy fairy-tale about a blogger and her life as a cashier and guardian for her little brother. it somehow takes grim subject matter and fluffs it up in a way that keeps the movie from being a downer. it is silly, and too pat. i smiled and laughed a good deal and had warm fuzzies for the cast. (it felt like a tv movie from the days when the networks made tv movies...pretty common with French films since CANAL+ finances a lot of them for future tv release.) conflicts with other events meant that Checkout Girl was the end of my festival. it was a perfectly nice dessert.
this year's total was only 42 films (most of which i need to go back and review as of this writing) but i didn't fall asleep during any showings or get terribly sick so i can't feel bad that the number is relatively low. every year i am more aware of my own tastes and the hidden clues in the official film descriptions, which creates a higher percentage of personal hits. the pass is still worth the money.
i went to this one because it was showing at the Bay. and that was nice, except for the part where there must have been six speakers before the film, including two from Wells Fargo execs. they got quite the tongue bath, so i guess they gave SIFF a significant amount of money.
the movie was pretty okay. a Russian coming-of-age film about the littlest rhino* in 1980s Moscow, who decides based on a videotape of White Nights and some dicey evidence that his absent father must be Baryshnikov. it had more failure and hazing in it than i want in my entertainment, but nice lifestyle details and an unexpected ending. after seeing all the clips used in the film i mostly want to rewatch White Nights as an adult.
*a friend's little brother was in a residential ballet school here in the US, and that's what the boys called themselves since there doesn't seem to be a male term to match "ballerina".
Duck Beach to Eternity
documentary covering an annual unofficial gathering of Mormon singles in their 20s and 30s in North Carolina. i thought that the subjects' sincere belief was handled respectfully, and it was a nice insight into a subculture. it's a world where high school never ended and being unmarried at the age of 25 means you must be damaged goods. the style feels modeled on MTV reality shows, but the subjects aren't scumbags. (i have such a crush on Bryan the Latin teacher, who also appears to be fluent in Italian and a great singer. he was clearly chosen as the misfit, but i like to think that as the film spreads he's going to get calls from some nerdy LDS ladies. speak it! speak it!) recommended.
The Woman in the Septic Tank
a Filipino indie hit about Filipinos trying to make an indie hit for the festival circuit. great sequences where as the producer and director argue over casting, the scene they are imagining plays out with each actress. there are rewarding details...each concept uses slightly different props and set dressing. maybe it's too inside baseball for a general audience, but a really cool thing to see at a festival.
Otelo Burning
black surfers in Apartheid-era South Africa. this showing was plagued by projection issues and i walked out when they gave up and got ready to show the end on a watermarked DVD screener. it wasn't bad, but obviously i didn't love it enough to hold out. it was the North American premiere. i ached for the director.
A Checkout Girl's Big Adventures
a frothy fairy-tale about a blogger and her life as a cashier and guardian for her little brother. it somehow takes grim subject matter and fluffs it up in a way that keeps the movie from being a downer. it is silly, and too pat. i smiled and laughed a good deal and had warm fuzzies for the cast. (it felt like a tv movie from the days when the networks made tv movies...pretty common with French films since CANAL+ finances a lot of them for future tv release.) conflicts with other events meant that Checkout Girl was the end of my festival. it was a perfectly nice dessert.
this year's total was only 42 films (most of which i need to go back and review as of this writing) but i didn't fall asleep during any showings or get terribly sick so i can't feel bad that the number is relatively low. every year i am more aware of my own tastes and the hidden clues in the official film descriptions, which creates a higher percentage of personal hits. the pass is still worth the money.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
