Philadelphia Film Festival '04
This year I was able to get to five showings at the Philadelphia Film Festival. It's small compared to others but still offered me the chance to see movies I might not have been able to see previously.
No Rest For the Brave (France): 7/10
I have not had much exposure to French movies (my extent is about to Amelie), and No Rest For the Brave is about the extreme of ordaniary French movies. With an incoherant plot and more symbolism than you can shake a stick at, this is a movie in which to get lost.
The plot revolves around a man who has a dream that if he falls asleep one more time, he will die. He therefore tries to not sleep, but the movie doesn't really revolve around his attempts to stay cognizant. It partially is about the dreams he has, the hallucinations from the lack of sleep, but it's also a symbol for various things, including death. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The plot follows a completely non-linear structure, even less so than movies such as 21 Grams. And yet everything comes full circle at the end, making it a satisfying experience. There's so many metaphors for so many different things it's hard to name all of them. Obviously, there's the Johnny Got/Death thing there, but that's quite obvious. If you think you're up to the challenge of No Rest For the Brave, go for it.
The Park (Hong Kong): 10/10
I'm not that interested in foriegn horror, but The Park is an amazing horror movie. It's hilarious, it's extremely scary, and it's in 3-D! My only complaint is that the 3-D often seemed useless. Other than that, The Park is the perfect [send-up of a] horror film.
The Corporation (USA): 10/10
If you thought Bowling for Columbine was heavy, you ain't seen nothing yet. A long, involving, inviting, and amazing documentary about the vileness of corporations, it's set for release this summer. Although I'm a proud liberal, I don't take much action, and this film seems to have the effect of changing right-wing people over to the good side. But I digress.
This film told me so much that wasn't known to me. I didn't even know that a corporation was a legal person, and all of the atrocities that are done by these "people". But it affected me so much that I can never feel the same way about, basically, life as I know it. Although it's an impossibility, I've been trying to avoid using corporate products as much as possible. As often as I say this, The Corporation actually did change my life.
Super Size Me (USA): 8/10
The most likely to be released out of any of the fims I saw, Super Size Me is already famous because of what the man went through. To prove that McDonald's was the reason why America is so obese, he goes on a one-month spree of eating only at McDonald's. Some rules he must follow: he must have everything on the menu at least once, and if asked, he must super size.
Super Size Me plays like The Corporation-lite. It goes into some of the same details as the latter. The physical deterioration that he went through was amazing, and how he (and his Vegan girlfriend) could put up with that is truly spectacular. There's one thing that annoyed me, though: it spent too much time being sidetracked (such as talking about school lunches) instead of the main focus: him eating McDonald's. It's quite funny, and an important documentary. When it's released later, don't miss it!
One Weird One x 10 (USA): 8/10
Collection of shorts:
"y did Yoda figt Count Duku?"-5 min.-A cute short that has the animator's son do voices and drawings for his interpretation of Star Wars: Episode One. It goes on a little long and gets a little repetitive, but it's entertaining.
"Baby Eat Baby"-11 min.-A very disturbing and eerie mix of live-action animation that is obviously anti-American. I got something totally different out of it than what the person I saw it with got, but still very freaky and mindblowing.
"Dead Broke"-10 min.-A man can't get a job so he steals his cats' food...much to the chagrin of the cats. Very entertaining and funny-masterfully done.
"Inhuman Creation Station"-4 min.-Claymation piece about the creation of robots. No real lasting effects but nice to look at.
"Lawrence of Zombania"-18 min.-A spoof on horror and zombie films, three people look for Lawrence of Arabia's treasure and wind up unearthing the dead. Hilarious and well-written; the sound was bad, though.
"Looking for Something Special"-10 min.-An odd film about the dangerous of drugs. Worth watching at least for the acting.
"Rat to Whatever"-3 min.-Flip-book type animation which begins as a rat and goes to, well, whatever. Very interesting to look at, and it's obvious to look at the dedication of the animator.
"Robot Boy"-16 min.-One of the two I didn't like. A boy is put into a robot costume and tries to escape, while meeting a girl (who is a very bad actress). Doesn't go anywhere, and the symbolisim is not well used.
"Soccer Time"-1 min.-Just see it-as the program says "possibly one of the funniest one-minute films ever made."
"Wiley Jack-a-napes, dodges, parries unmitigated evil"-23 min.-A silent film in which nothing happens, it's hard to look at, and it's not entertaining. It does fly by, though.