It's been a weird roughly 24 hours.
Today was my short day, only three films planned, but there was a great deal of craziness around it.
First not long after the wrap up yesterday the Internet and phone went down at the Unseen Head Quarters and I couldn't do anything until about 7am today. That's all fine and good except that it meant that the frantic calls from my brother didn't get answered. (He needed someone to watch the baby while he took his wife to the hospital. Everything is fine, thank you cell phones)
The Internet being down also stopped my watching the many Tribeca shorts. I was just starting my 6th film when it all went to silent.
THE ABYSS OF MAN'S CONSCIENCE (Reconocer) is a great semi abstract film about the cycle of violence in Columbia. Its fantastic piece of animation and I hope that it shows up where I can get a copy.
ADIRAKE is a film about a bot who survived a Tsunami and tries to find a white elephant in the jungle. It's good, but nothing special
CATCAM is about what was found when a man attached a camera to the cat he and his family kind of adopted. Its a very good little film that will make you wonder what your pet is up to.
A FALCON, A REVOLUTION was a disappointing film about how a falconer saw the Egyptian revolution of last year.
FINDING BENJAMIN is a about a man who was found beaten up in a parking lot and has no idea who he is, nor does anyone else. Also very good.
When I'm done with this post I'll see some more.
Today was quieter than the last bunch of days. This is what happened last year, Tuesday things quiet down. That's fine. While I miss many of the familiar faces it was nice to just be able to chill. It means I get a nice quiet day. I can ponder my next move, both at the film festival and after it. I can also steal up for a solid 12 hours of films tomorrow. Okay not solid I do get lunch in there, but its 6 films from 9AM to 9PM.
The films I saw today were:
THE LIST. A solid and moving film about Kirk Johnson who has made it his work to get the Iraqis who have helped US forces out of the country before the various militants can kill them. Its a film that will anger you and break your heart. Its an amazing story and one that needs to be told. I'm going to do a full review after the Festival.
CERTAIN PEOPLE --- yea well. I liked what I could understand. I think its a good film I'm not sure. I know the people who sat in front of me and who understood Swedish loved t, but I was lost because they used white subtitles. Normally that's fine, and it is fine in the second half which takes place at night, but the first half, which is outside and set around a table with a white table cloth it's not. I caught one or two words here and there. If people don't like the film who saw it at the festival its the subtitles that killed it.
For the record the film is about Katinka, who invites her friends to her country home for her birthday. Her brother shows up with a girl in tow and the pair sets in motion lots of emotional fireworks and bad feelings.
As I said what I understood was really good but because the subtitles SUCKED and I don't speak I can't review it until I see it on DVD with better (I hope) subtitles.
The final film was HYSTERIA about a doctor in 1880's London treating women for hysteria (aka sexual frustration). Its similar to play called In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play from 2 years ago. Here we have Hugh Dancy as a doctor who starts to work for Jonathan Pryce. He then gets entangled with both of Pryce's daughters and of course an early vibrator. Well acted, the film is a tad too knowing and artificially constructed for my tastes. It's not bad but with all the other goodies (and even most of the baddies) at Tribeca this is an unremarkable film in the line up. Seriously I've seen 52 films at the festival and I don't know why they picked this one. Worth a look when it hits theaters in a couple of weeks, but not worth racing to the festival.
That's it for today. I have things to do for the blog and for me...I need desperately to shave my face and head, the long hours in the trenches have put me behind as far as that goes.
Until tomorrow...keep reading.
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