Cineworld Day 2: Neighboring Sounds

     As I left today's screening of Neighboring Sounds, I felt so impacted by it that I wanted to get all of my thoughts written while they were still fresh. Immediately after, I drove to Panera Bread and began typing this post. Hence today's post is my review for Neighboring Sounds and yesterday's films will be revisited in my posts to come.

Neighboring Sounds * * * ½

     Never has a film's title been so perfectly exemplified and explained in its opening moments. The film opens on a black screen and neighborhood sounds can be heard in the background. Ominous music builds to a swell accompanying these sounds as the screen is brightened by black and white images of Brazil. A tracking shot following neighborhood children at play breaks this stillness and introduces action to the screen, announcing and defining what will become the film's signature camera style of fluidity and movement. The sounds of the children's play build to a roar as an abrasive screech grows louder and louder in the background. This symphony of music, voices, and organic noise builds to a crescendo as the camera reveals a man with a power tool working with iron on the other side of the playground's gate.

The Cineworld Film Festival: Schedule

     An unfortunate stretch of time has gone by since my last blog post. In the next week I'll be moving back in with my former room-mate and fellow blogger Robert. This new living arrangement will bring an end to my lack of internet access and hence I can begin to blog once again. So with a few months and an unfortunate end to a relationship behind me, I arrive here at my first post since July.

 

     Today marks the start of The Sarasota Film Society's Cineworld Film Festival. This is a small but significant festival in that just as the Sarasota Film Festival showcases the best of festival fare from Cannes and Toronto, Cineworld showcases the first in the onslaught of Oscar contenders soon to be released. Year after year the films and performances that I see there go on to be Oscar nominees and even winners such as 2011's Best Picture winner The Artist and 2010's Best Actress winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan).

SFF: "Think of Me" (Retitled "About Sunny") Review/ Bryan Wizemann Interview

     I'd like to start this, my first post since the Colorado theater shootings, by taking a moment to pause and remember. Remember those who lost their lives and those lives that were saved. Remember that there is a God and that He has a plan. It is when tragedy strikes and that plan is less evident that we must remember it all the more. Christopher Nolan said best what is in my and I'm sure all of our hearts, "I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting, but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me." Take not for granted that it was not your "home" that was invaded that early Friday morning.

Think of Me * * * *

"Following" My Extended Absence

     I have been away for far too long. Rather than give an extended explanation and apology, I'll simply say that I'm sorry and offer as compensation the fulfillment of one of my long overdue blog promises: typing up, tweaking, and posting my old hand-written review for Following.

Following * * * ½

     Film and story aren't synonymous. One encapsulates, manipulates, and then presents the other. As Roger has essentially said before, "Film is not only concerned with the telling of a story, but also in the way in which it is told." Even going back to their roots, the Nolan broth-ers exemplified a keen understanding of these facts. Though it was with their sophomore effort Memento that they earned notoriety and prestige; it was while they still stood on the precipice of that fame that they first demonstrated their mastery of storytelling with their freshman foray into cinema: Following.

     Following's starkly minimalistic black and white frames lend a documentary-like gritty realism to its stylized and streamlined plot. The film's allure doesn't just stem from its plot though. As with Memento, it is the way in which the film's plot unfolds that develops its intrigue.

Rodney&Roger's Happy Cinematic New Year!

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).