End In Sight: 8 More Reviews!

I believe this will be the first year I end up writing about every film I saw at SIFF. Yes, you should be impressed. I’ll have at least one more film after this posting, maybe two. And yes, party news! Party news! Party news!

First, those little commercials they show before the films. Over the years I’ve been puzzled as to what they’re for. So they push the film festival; don’t people already know they’re at the film festival? And I don’t think they air on TV. Then I decided maybe it’s just another way to shove the sponsors’ names in our faces. However, this is the first year where I’ve actually not got sick of them by the time the fest’s over. My favorite character’s that waitress: “Whatchoo like?” “Good choice,” and my favorite line from her, “Who ordered the murdered mistress?” (not me) But most people seemed to like “Hong Kong Standoff” best.

Well, finally got to see “Bombon, El Perro,” an Argentinean film about a man and his dog. Sweet. Heartwarming. Funny. Don’t know if it has distro, but worth seeing. Ask me to tell you my funny dog-mating story (preferably over a drink) when you see me.

Just saw “The Circus” today. Sweet. Heartwarming. Funny. Poignant ending that made me weepy. Silent film, score by Chaplin (he sang the opening song as well). Chaplin’s at a circus, and there’s all kindsa hilarity as a result. I kept thinking how Buster Keaton would do it though…I love him. Nice. Recommended.

“Cruel But Necessary.” A much better variation on “reality TV” than the gar-bage we get today. While watching the family’s holiday vids, a wife discovers her husband’s cheating on her. As a result, she becomes totally obsessed with surreptitiously filming everything happening in her life, with predictably comic results. This was fun, I enjoyed it, the lead actress very good at conveying the character’s underlying craziness. No distro, but boy, would they love it.

“Her Minor Thing.” A woman’s boyfriend (a TV newscaster) inadvertently blurts out she’s a virgin and it’s picked up on the news. Shock! Horror! Nice idea, and some of the resulting fallout is funny, but rather on the amateurish side…with a stronger script and cast, it could’ve been better. No distro, they sure are looking though; among their promo swag were heart-shaped chocolates. Sorry I missed the cocktail bash they held in town too, but I skipped it in favor of…

“The Well,” Swedish doc about Orson Welles’ fascination with Spain. Interesting, but a bit slow (too many driving scenes!), and you want more of behind-the-scenes footage of Welles as well. Several nice interviews. The bullfights literally made me sick. Don’t know if this has distro. Worth seeing. Then I made the mistake of staying to see…

“Lonesome Jim.” A young man returns to his home in the Midwest, where life’s just as dreary as in NYC, though he gets to have bad sex with Liv Tyler, which is some compensation I’m sure (I’d have lasted longer than 30 seconds though, ha ha). I didn’t like the self-centered lead character, though he does Learn and Grow by film’s end. But Mary Kay Place was in it, and she’s fabuloso. Really disappointed in that ending too; they didn’t have the guts to go for the poignancy of “The Circus.” Not even interested if they have distro.

“Hana & Alice,” a Japanese film about two teenage girls, best friends. Hana develops a crush on a rather unresponsive young man, so when he bangs his head he tries to convince him that he has amnesia, and he was really her boyfriend. He goes along with it, but then develops a vague attraction to Alice. Simple and sweet at first, but at over two hours way, way too long. One critic told me he didn’t notice the passage of time because it was so charming. I noticed it. Also, the crush seemed inexplicable to me; what was so special about that guy??

I totally forgot to mention “Summer Storm,” a German coming of age film about a young gay man. No, he’s not tortured that he’s gay, he’s tortured he can’t tell his best (straight) friend he’s in love with him. Despite some fraught moments, this is basically a comedy and a pretty good one, especially when the super-straight rowing teams find themselves facing off against the “Queer Strokes” team. I do believe this has distro.

Now I'm going to make myself pretty for this evening.