Faithful blog-readers,
Those of you who followed my coverage of the Sarasota Film Festival know that new posts were being published at least once and sometimes twice daily. Though I was somewhat intimidated by the prospect of daily posts, the pressure turned out to be good for me and I was able to produce consistent work. Alas, since the festival has ended though, I have (obviously) dropped off on my writing. Anyone who has followed me from Rodney&Roger's inception knows that failure to meet my goals for the blog has unfortunately been a recurring theme. From my extended absence after the first three posts, to my inability to finish any of my Globes Predictions, to my still un-finished Director's Series, and lastly (and most recently) to my incomplete Festival Reviews -I'm not always the best at finishing what I start.
But this blog and I are each a work in progress. With every failure, I learn. I've come to value the proverb, "Don't bite off more than you can chew." And I'm actually discovering what it takes to be able to "bite off" more, and still manage to "chew it". From the beginning there has been much progress: I do write with much more consistency and regularity (rarely does a month go by without at least one post), I have made time to re-format and update the website itself (hooray for pictures!), and as of today the blog is up to almost 1200 views (at the start, I never dreamed of passing 1000).
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
SFF Jury Prizes
Last night the 14th Annual Sarasota Film Festival came to an end. I'm sure I'll be suffering from symptoms of film-deprivation and withdrawal soon enough, but I think all the blogging I have yet to do will keep it alive for awhile. At the Filmmaker Tribute and Awards that preceded the Closing Night Film, this year's jury winners were announced. I want to share who won... and who should have:
Narrative Feature Competition Winner:
Elena
Having seen every film in contention save for 11 Flowers, I can definitively say that this was hands-down the best film in competition. It was one of the few four-star films I saw, a truly Hitchcock-ian masterpiece of paced tension and subdued brilliance (my review is soon to come). It's nice to see the best film win.
Narrative Feature Competition Winner:
Elena
Friday, April 20, 2012
SFF: Day 4 -Alps
Day 4 (part 2):
Alps * * * ½
Judging from his last two features, director Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in films centered around social experiments. In his last film Dogtooth, he used the story of homeschoolers brainwashed and shut in by their parents to examine the effects of a leading power (ranging from governmental to parental) using misinformation and lies to instill obedience in others and maintain authority. It was a depraved, even disgusting film (an alleged dark comedy whose humor escaped me), but shouldn't any authority's abuse of power be met with disgust?
Alps * * * ½
Judging from his last two features, director Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in films centered around social experiments. In his last film Dogtooth, he used the story of homeschoolers brainwashed and shut in by their parents to examine the effects of a leading power (ranging from governmental to parental) using misinformation and lies to instill obedience in others and maintain authority. It was a depraved, even disgusting film (an alleged dark comedy whose humor escaped me), but shouldn't any authority's abuse of power be met with disgust?
SFF: Day 4 -Restoration
Day 4:
I saw three movies on my fourth day at the festival, but in honor of two of the friends I've made (I'll call them Easy Rider and Less Is More) waiting in one of the many lines I've spent time in this week, I'm going to blog on the third before I write on the second. So today I'll be reviewing Restoration, then my next post will be on Alps, thus saving The Intouchables for sometime after that.
Restoration * * ½
A film is the summation of its parts, but sometimes they just don't add up. Restoration's parts are great in and of themselves, each of them well-crafted like the furniture Fidelmen (its protagonist) restores. The film's sum can't equal its individual qualities though: strong reality-rooted-performances that stray from sensationalism, its fittingly mournful violin-heavy musical score, and a well-written script. Its central problem can be summed up with one word... "emptiness".
I saw three movies on my fourth day at the festival, but in honor of two of the friends I've made (I'll call them Easy Rider and Less Is More) waiting in one of the many lines I've spent time in this week, I'm going to blog on the third before I write on the second. So today I'll be reviewing Restoration, then my next post will be on Alps, thus saving The Intouchables for sometime after that.
Restoration * * ½
A film is the summation of its parts, but sometimes they just don't add up. Restoration's parts are great in and of themselves, each of them well-crafted like the furniture Fidelmen (its protagonist) restores. The film's sum can't equal its individual qualities though: strong reality-rooted-performances that stray from sensationalism, its fittingly mournful violin-heavy musical score, and a well-written script. Its central problem can be summed up with one word... "emptiness".
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
SFF: Day 3 -Monsieur Lehzar
Day 3 (part 2):
Monsieur Lehzar * * * *
There are two way to unnaturally die: by causes outside of one's control, or through events brought on by one's own actions. The Oscar nominated Monsieur Lehzar shows how one man copes with the effects of one, while absorbing the backlash and debris from the firestorm of the other. Though slight in its scope, it tackles this most universal of experiences: death -bringing to mind other small-scale but profound masterworks like Starting Out in the Evening or The Visitor.
The contradiction of children is that they can be simultaneously simple and complex creatures. Though nuance may escape them, pretense cannot fool them. But the discovery of the reality of death is a molding and unsettling time for any child.
Monsieur Lehzar * * * *
The contradiction of children is that they can be simultaneously simple and complex creatures. Though nuance may escape them, pretense cannot fool them. But the discovery of the reality of death is a molding and unsettling time for any child.
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