The Atlanta Film Festival, Two Months Later
I'm extremely late with this, but it's finally time to write about my experience at the 2005 Atlanta Film Festival. I have been going to the festival for five years now, and have seen some excellent films (GETTING TO KNOW YOU, GEORGE WASHINGTON, DEAD DOGS, and LOVELY & AMAZING), but this year turned out to be the best lineup yet.
Saturday, June 15th
I skipped this year's opening film (HUSTLE & FLOW). Atlanta doesn't necessarily have the best track record with opening night films, but their closing night showcases are always a treasure. The opener for me was PRETTY PERSUASION, which was written by Skander Halim (one of my favorite internet film critics before he gave it up to write screenplays). It's a high school satire in the vein of HEATHERS. While it doesn't quite match up to that (despite what some numbskulls were saying as we walked out of the theater), PRETTY PERSUASION was a smart, funny film that is dominated by the brilliant presence of Evan Rachel Wood. She owns every scene she is in and carries this film to much greater heights than it would've got on it's own. The film has a nice script, solid direction, and good supporting performances, but it's Evan's movie and she makes it a wonderful pleasure to watch.
Sunday, June 16th
Unfortunately, due to work obligations, I did not get to see Sally Potter's YES, something I was looking forward to. What I did get to see today was a shorts collection called OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS. Most of the shorts were slightly amusing, but mostly mediocre. The two that did stand out were DEAD END JOB, about a suicidal obituary writer and THE ACT, which featured a dynamic performance from Debra Jo Rupp as a stand up comic who has a difficult personal life. The next film I saw was SEOUL TRAIN, a documentary about an underground network that transports refugees out of North Korea. The film tells a chilling story of the nightmare that these people go through and there are a few memorable moments (particularly an attempt to make it inside the Japanese assembly.) Unfortunately, the film feels too much like a PBS documentary and doesn't have the same narrative drive that you see in better documentaries (especially this year's gem THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL). I would still recommend it as an interesting story that msot people don't know about.
Tuesday, June 18th
I started today off with LOVE, LUDLOW, one of those quirky romantic comedies that always show up at film festivals and then end up on the bottom shelf at Blockbuster. This is among the worst of that genre, with a jarring mixture of nauseating cuteness and overblown melodramatic moments. The nicest thing I can say is Alicia Goranson obviously cared about this project and gave it her all, and she deserved credit for that. Brendan Sexton and David Eigenberg also appear in this, and provide no useful support whatsoever. The following film was DUCK SEASON, a spanish language film from Mexico. It follows a simple day in the life of two teenage friends who are stuck at home without much to do. Their day is livened up by a sexy girl who comes over to use their kitchen as an attempt to practice baking, and their adventures in trying to get a pizza without paying the delivery man. The film perfectly captures the simple comic moments of an average day, and the three young leads are extremely appealling. While it doesn't have much to say and doesn't really go anywhere, the films still work son the strength of it's individual moments and appealing characters. I wrapped today up with another shorts program, ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA. Like the previous shorts program, this is mostly a mixed bag, but does have a few memorable moments, including a rendition of OEDIPUS done by vegetables and CATCHING KRINGLE, about Santa Claus running afoul of national security.
Wednesday, June 19th
I got an early start today and caught the noon screening of JOSH JARMAN, which is the type of witty romantic comedy that Hugh Grant used to excel in. It's about a playwright caught in a love triangle with his next door neighbor and the daughter of the man producing his play. It's extremely light material, but it boasts a remarkably winning cast including Marcus Graham in the lead, and Daniella Farinacci and Kestie Morassi as his two love interests. The next film was ON THE OUTS, a a drama about teenage girls in the inner city struggling with drugs, prison, violence, and motherhood. It's not a particularly original film, but it's yet another movie that is pulled along by strong performances. Of particular note is Judy Marte (from RAISING VICTOR VARGAS) who shines in a tough, powerful performance much unlike her previous work. Stephen tobolowsky was in attendance for this one, and even asked a question during the Q&A. The night closed out with an interesting documentary called THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX. It's about a very religious Southern Baptist girl who also has very liberal political views, particularly in the realm of sex education. The film follows her involvement with a community youth organization that promotes a more open form of sex education than the abstinence only policy of her school system. The film is pretty straightforward, but Shelby and her parents are extremely interesting individuals and this film talks about a very important topic.
Friday, June 21st
Today started off Kirby Dick's TWIST OF FAITH, a powerful documentary about Tony Comes, a firefighter who was sexually abused by his priest many years ago. Comes is forced to confront his past when he discovers that the priest who abused him now lives six houses down. What's interesting about this film is the filmmakers gave Comes his own camera, allowing him to film the most intimate, private moments while he is dealing with his crisis. The scenes that really struck me are the ones where Comes attemtps to explain the incident to his preadolescent daughter and the scene with Comes wife, where she reveals some very troubling thoughts about what is going on. The best documentaries show us moments and feelings that we wouldn't normally witness in everyday life. As Comes and his wife, deal with this experience, they reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings, things that most of us have never experienced or understood. This has been a great year for documentaries and TWIST of FAITH is among the best. Unfortunately, I followed this up with HOOLIGANS, a film I had been anticipating because of advanced word and an interesting cast. It focuses on a group of obsessive soccer fans who constantly get into fights with with fans from their rival team. Elijah Wood is the Ivy League dropout who gets involved with the clib and gets to prove his manhood (Whatever). I could not get into this one at all. It's all very violent ands repetitive and I'm sure it will appeal to the Fight club crowd, but I found it extremely monotonous and dull. Wood is not very convincing in this role, and the only actor that truly stands out is Charlie Hunnam with a very charismatic performance that I have not seen him give before. I look forward to seeing more from him and less movies like this. Perhaps my disappointment led to me liking the next film a little too much. SAINT RALPH follows a troubled teenage boy who hopes for a miracle that will get his sick mother to come out of a coma. His goal is to win the Boston Marathon, which he feels is the task he needs to accomplish for the miracle to happen. It's your standard underdog miracle story (see RUDY), but has the added complexity of dealing with religious themes (which RUDY dealt with only sparingly). Adam Butcher shines in the central role and there is wonderful support from Campbell Scott as the priest who mentors the young boy. The film is well written and directed, with some particularly nice musical choices, and builds to a wonderful climax. Sure it was sappy, but what can I say? It worked for me in every way imaginable.
Saturday, June 22nd
Atlanta usually saves it's best for last. In previous years, festival closers such as GETTING TO KNOW YOU, GEORGE WASHINGTON, and LOVELY & AMAZING ended up being my favorite films of the festival. That trend continued this year with Miranda July's ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. The film is a multi-character comedy/drama centering on Richard, a recently divorced father who moves to a new place with his two sons, and the romance that slowly develops between him and Christine, a struggling performance artist. It's really difficult to describe the movie in a way that gives it justice, because this film works on so many different levels. It's very interesting to watch the insightful and comical ways in which the various characters interact. The standout performance is clearly Mirana July, also the film's director. She brings a very unique, quirky presence to this film that perfectly suits the unpretentious and idealistic nature of the film. July's film is about various people desperate to find a special connection (or in some cases, any kind of connection) with another person. Her memorable film provides that kind of connection for anyone that has the pleasure to watch it.
This was easily the best year I ever had at the Atlanta Film Festival. There were at least three films that I absolutely loved and plenty of other movies that had considerable merit. One thing I found interesting was that many of the indies had straightofrward storylines, but they worked because of a strong cast. In the past, it used to work the other way around with uinique plots and really bad acting. It's nice to see that talented actors are willing to give it a go on the indie scene, but I also think it has to do with studios willing to spend more money on indies. This may end up stifling the creativity of these films, but it allows us to see more interesting performers than the often bland leads in big budget, Hollywood films.
Saturday, June 15th
I skipped this year's opening film (HUSTLE & FLOW). Atlanta doesn't necessarily have the best track record with opening night films, but their closing night showcases are always a treasure. The opener for me was PRETTY PERSUASION, which was written by Skander Halim (one of my favorite internet film critics before he gave it up to write screenplays). It's a high school satire in the vein of HEATHERS. While it doesn't quite match up to that (despite what some numbskulls were saying as we walked out of the theater), PRETTY PERSUASION was a smart, funny film that is dominated by the brilliant presence of Evan Rachel Wood. She owns every scene she is in and carries this film to much greater heights than it would've got on it's own. The film has a nice script, solid direction, and good supporting performances, but it's Evan's movie and she makes it a wonderful pleasure to watch.
Sunday, June 16th
Unfortunately, due to work obligations, I did not get to see Sally Potter's YES, something I was looking forward to. What I did get to see today was a shorts collection called OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS. Most of the shorts were slightly amusing, but mostly mediocre. The two that did stand out were DEAD END JOB, about a suicidal obituary writer and THE ACT, which featured a dynamic performance from Debra Jo Rupp as a stand up comic who has a difficult personal life. The next film I saw was SEOUL TRAIN, a documentary about an underground network that transports refugees out of North Korea. The film tells a chilling story of the nightmare that these people go through and there are a few memorable moments (particularly an attempt to make it inside the Japanese assembly.) Unfortunately, the film feels too much like a PBS documentary and doesn't have the same narrative drive that you see in better documentaries (especially this year's gem THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL). I would still recommend it as an interesting story that msot people don't know about.
Tuesday, June 18th
I started today off with LOVE, LUDLOW, one of those quirky romantic comedies that always show up at film festivals and then end up on the bottom shelf at Blockbuster. This is among the worst of that genre, with a jarring mixture of nauseating cuteness and overblown melodramatic moments. The nicest thing I can say is Alicia Goranson obviously cared about this project and gave it her all, and she deserved credit for that. Brendan Sexton and David Eigenberg also appear in this, and provide no useful support whatsoever. The following film was DUCK SEASON, a spanish language film from Mexico. It follows a simple day in the life of two teenage friends who are stuck at home without much to do. Their day is livened up by a sexy girl who comes over to use their kitchen as an attempt to practice baking, and their adventures in trying to get a pizza without paying the delivery man. The film perfectly captures the simple comic moments of an average day, and the three young leads are extremely appealling. While it doesn't have much to say and doesn't really go anywhere, the films still work son the strength of it's individual moments and appealing characters. I wrapped today up with another shorts program, ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA. Like the previous shorts program, this is mostly a mixed bag, but does have a few memorable moments, including a rendition of OEDIPUS done by vegetables and CATCHING KRINGLE, about Santa Claus running afoul of national security.
Wednesday, June 19th
I got an early start today and caught the noon screening of JOSH JARMAN, which is the type of witty romantic comedy that Hugh Grant used to excel in. It's about a playwright caught in a love triangle with his next door neighbor and the daughter of the man producing his play. It's extremely light material, but it boasts a remarkably winning cast including Marcus Graham in the lead, and Daniella Farinacci and Kestie Morassi as his two love interests. The next film was ON THE OUTS, a a drama about teenage girls in the inner city struggling with drugs, prison, violence, and motherhood. It's not a particularly original film, but it's yet another movie that is pulled along by strong performances. Of particular note is Judy Marte (from RAISING VICTOR VARGAS) who shines in a tough, powerful performance much unlike her previous work. Stephen tobolowsky was in attendance for this one, and even asked a question during the Q&A. The night closed out with an interesting documentary called THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX. It's about a very religious Southern Baptist girl who also has very liberal political views, particularly in the realm of sex education. The film follows her involvement with a community youth organization that promotes a more open form of sex education than the abstinence only policy of her school system. The film is pretty straightforward, but Shelby and her parents are extremely interesting individuals and this film talks about a very important topic.
Friday, June 21st
Today started off Kirby Dick's TWIST OF FAITH, a powerful documentary about Tony Comes, a firefighter who was sexually abused by his priest many years ago. Comes is forced to confront his past when he discovers that the priest who abused him now lives six houses down. What's interesting about this film is the filmmakers gave Comes his own camera, allowing him to film the most intimate, private moments while he is dealing with his crisis. The scenes that really struck me are the ones where Comes attemtps to explain the incident to his preadolescent daughter and the scene with Comes wife, where she reveals some very troubling thoughts about what is going on. The best documentaries show us moments and feelings that we wouldn't normally witness in everyday life. As Comes and his wife, deal with this experience, they reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings, things that most of us have never experienced or understood. This has been a great year for documentaries and TWIST of FAITH is among the best. Unfortunately, I followed this up with HOOLIGANS, a film I had been anticipating because of advanced word and an interesting cast. It focuses on a group of obsessive soccer fans who constantly get into fights with with fans from their rival team. Elijah Wood is the Ivy League dropout who gets involved with the clib and gets to prove his manhood (Whatever). I could not get into this one at all. It's all very violent ands repetitive and I'm sure it will appeal to the Fight club crowd, but I found it extremely monotonous and dull. Wood is not very convincing in this role, and the only actor that truly stands out is Charlie Hunnam with a very charismatic performance that I have not seen him give before. I look forward to seeing more from him and less movies like this. Perhaps my disappointment led to me liking the next film a little too much. SAINT RALPH follows a troubled teenage boy who hopes for a miracle that will get his sick mother to come out of a coma. His goal is to win the Boston Marathon, which he feels is the task he needs to accomplish for the miracle to happen. It's your standard underdog miracle story (see RUDY), but has the added complexity of dealing with religious themes (which RUDY dealt with only sparingly). Adam Butcher shines in the central role and there is wonderful support from Campbell Scott as the priest who mentors the young boy. The film is well written and directed, with some particularly nice musical choices, and builds to a wonderful climax. Sure it was sappy, but what can I say? It worked for me in every way imaginable.
Saturday, June 22nd
Atlanta usually saves it's best for last. In previous years, festival closers such as GETTING TO KNOW YOU, GEORGE WASHINGTON, and LOVELY & AMAZING ended up being my favorite films of the festival. That trend continued this year with Miranda July's ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. The film is a multi-character comedy/drama centering on Richard, a recently divorced father who moves to a new place with his two sons, and the romance that slowly develops between him and Christine, a struggling performance artist. It's really difficult to describe the movie in a way that gives it justice, because this film works on so many different levels. It's very interesting to watch the insightful and comical ways in which the various characters interact. The standout performance is clearly Mirana July, also the film's director. She brings a very unique, quirky presence to this film that perfectly suits the unpretentious and idealistic nature of the film. July's film is about various people desperate to find a special connection (or in some cases, any kind of connection) with another person. Her memorable film provides that kind of connection for anyone that has the pleasure to watch it.
This was easily the best year I ever had at the Atlanta Film Festival. There were at least three films that I absolutely loved and plenty of other movies that had considerable merit. One thing I found interesting was that many of the indies had straightofrward storylines, but they worked because of a strong cast. In the past, it used to work the other way around with uinique plots and really bad acting. It's nice to see that talented actors are willing to give it a go on the indie scene, but I also think it has to do with studios willing to spend more money on indies. This may end up stifling the creativity of these films, but it allows us to see more interesting performers than the often bland leads in big budget, Hollywood films.
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