The schedule on Friday started later in the afternoon allowing visitors to explore downtown Charleston and do a bit of sightseeing, and workers to finish their jobs for the day.
The first block started with a documentary from South Carolina which I skipped in order to watch a Portuguese feature at 4:40pm. I can't say I've seen many or actually any Portuguese films so felt it was a good opportunity to get a feel for the kinds of films made in Portugal.
This block was opened by an Australian short called Lover's Walk. This so-so short is about an aging couple and their daughter who comes to understand their complicated but co-dependent relationship when they are both forced to enter nursing homes as their health declines. The film is overly sentimental with flashbacks used as a means of explaining how their relationship has changed over the years. The actors in the flashbacks do not fit with their aged counterparts making the film rather unbelievable. The subject matter is good and definitely explores issues that most films don't explore in depth. This would be interesting as a feature which would allow more time to explore the characters and their relationships.
The Portuguese feature Good Night Irene followed. I don't know if it was just horribly shot or whether the copy of the film that was played was damaged but the film looked terrible. The entire audio was distorted and the music was so loud in parts that it made the dialogue impossible to understand. While I tried to find meaning throughout the film I didn't really understand why I was watching this film. There were many random scenes that didn't add to the film but tried to build relationships that took way to long in their realization. For me it was a rambling mess in which the main character (in no way a likable character or one I could connect to as an audience member) took one and a half hours to realize that other people are what make life worth living.
This film has been selected as a finalist in a few notable film festivals so I must just be missing something. The film's website looks and sounds really good leading me to wonder if it was the projectionist at the festival who was the main problem in terms of sound and vision. The director Paolo Marinou-Blanco is someone I'd like to keep my eye on however as a fellow global nomad. I can't fault him for creating a film that doesn't just pander to the Hollywood prototype. As much as I didn't like this film I would be interested to see what Paolo makes next.
Block 3
I followed the feature with a block of shorts in the hopes I'd watch something interesting! This block definitely turned out to be a gold mine of interesting films.
First was a local comedy spoof called The Merkin Man based on the regional public television of South Carolina. It was funny at times and a good parody of local TV, although I'm sure I would have found it funnier had I seen the local TV or lived in South Carolina. Most of the jokes appreciated by the audience seemed to be understood by the audience because they were friends of the filmmaker which made the short rather indulgent. However, I could see it as a sketch on SNL and appreciated its appeal for that reason.
Next was a gorgeous short called The Big Fat Lazy Sun by Daniel Brothers. It was a sight to see and the music used was excellent. Whoever shot this short has great talent and reminds me of shorts made by a talented cinematographer called Kevin Phillips that came out of SCAD while I was a student there. Check out his reel here.
This short has a great storyline although I did lose the plot close to the end. I don't know if that was because the speech and music got so mixed up that I missed what was being said (although that could have been intentional) or just because I expected the storyline to be more linear. Overall though it is one of the most creative and engaging shorts I've seen so far. I want to hire this cinematographer!
The 8th Samurai
Definitely my favorite short of the festival and no shock that it's an AFI film! Excellent short with humor and drama in the storyline which was highly unpredictable making it a complete gem. The black and white photography was beautiful and the performances were unforgettable. Literally there is nothing bad or negative I can say about that short. Definitely a must see if there is a chance! LOVE IT!
A Thing Of The Past
This short was a great try but looked too amateurish. The art direction really let the film down and the acting was not the best. Like a lot of other films at the festival the subject matter was definitely film worthy, but overall a letdown. Definitely a subject matter that needs more time on screen though so I'm glad the filmmakers were selected for the festival.
There was a problem with the last film of this block La Loteria which was unfortunate because this short was the reason I watched this block of films. After sitting in the dark for about 10 minutes we were told they would play us a festival favorite called Wish but after another 10 minutes we were still sitting in the dark. Unfortunately for us they then played another film instead. This film was a winner in last years CIFF.
Tangled Web
Knowing this film was the winner in last years CIFF awards made me cringe. This was the worst film I saw the entire festival and I was not the only person in the audience who felt that way. There was a collective groan when the film ended and people quickly got up to leave when the film started to replay for a second time. If the film was supposed to be a parody then it would be genius but it was cliched, badly acted (the main actress won an acting award last year and was so fake it was painful to watch) and the cinematography was inconsistent with half looking like a Hollywood feature and the other cinematography 101. One of the main characters was Michael Urie who plays Marc St. James on Ugly Betty. My question for him would be 'What were you thinking?'. My question to the Jury at the 2008 CIFF would be a simple 'What?'.
After that painful end to my favorite block of films in the festival so far I was hoping to get another chance to see Wish in Block 5. Unfortunately they were still having problems playing the disc so The Beneficiary was played instead.
The Beneficiary
This short film was really well shot with cinematography stylized to suit the subject matter. The acting is really good although I didn't believe that the main actress would be married to an aging abusive truck driver. Their relationship was never explained and just to add to that confusion was the inclusion of a random woman at the end of the film who ended up with some money (I'm guessing she was supposed to be the truck drivers ex-wife). However, those were the only parts of the film that seemed misplaced. The ending was rather unresolved, but as the master of unresolved short film endings I can hardly criticize. Overall a good short that I was glad I got a chance to see over Wish.
The End
The British documentary The End was the highlight of this block and ended up winning the award for best documentary at the festival this year. About gangsters from the East End of London this documentary focused on roughly eight interesting 'characters' who grew up in the East End of London before immigrants moved into the area and native Eastenders moved out to the suburbs. While highly stylized it was obvious that no added detail had been left out in order to make a cohesive documentary about a side of British life normally highlighted in negative British press that has only otherwise been explored in films such as those by Guy Ritchie (e.g. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch).
With the daughter of one of the so-called gangsters directing, the filmmakers were able to get interviews that may otherwise not have been as honest or revealing from people who are normally ignored by the general press or only portrayed in negative light. Unfortunately, at one point the interviews did seem to get almost too revealing, becoming slightly racist in my point of view. The characters revealed a side of life in the UK that is normally glossed over - that of white, native Brits feeling pushed out and alienated from current British life and culture due to all the different races of people that now make up the British Isles. While the documentary highlighted a tension in the British community between older generations of native Brits and so-called 'foreigners' it did little to explain how this has changed the UK other than by pushing the Eastenders out of the East End of London making the East End (for the protagonists) not the London they once considered it. This segment of the film definitely sentimentalized the time when the East End was run by these so-called gangsters making the East End, in their opinion, much safer and a time when everyone could leave their doors open and feel safe.
Overall I'm not 100% sure what the filmmaker was trying to say with this documentary, which could have been because as one of the main character's daughters whose life did not go in the same direction as her father, this film was more an exploration of a side of life she wasn't necessarily living first hand, but was exposed to growing up.
This film is definitely worth a watch and although extremely disturbing in parts an original project that deserves exposure in the film world.
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