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In sports, they sometimes use the term "homer" for a sportscaster who goes over-the-top in support of his team. Well, over the past few years I've become a bit of a homer about the Nashville Film Festival. It has become one of my favorite events of the year. Yep, it's right up there with... you know... the other events. Man, I've got to get a life. Wait, does Independence Day count as an event? No matter - I don't do anything on that day either. Oh well. So what were we talking about? Right, the festival. Here's what I saw at this year's extravaganza.
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The Omega Stone
live screenplay reading
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I have had a little experience with table reads before, since I acted in some Passion Plays in the past. So I was really interested to see how the big boys do it, especially with a movie script. Going into it I knew only that it was written by Jim Hart, who wrote on scripts as great as "Contact" and as awful as "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". Needless to say, I'm hoping this one turns out more like the prior. And at this point it's hard to say for sure how it will turn out, especially considering that they only read the first two acts of the movie. But I can already see that the movie will strive to combine such diverse elements as string theory, Antarctica, Billy Ray Cyrus, and meteorites into a compelling movie. I doubt that "The Elegant Universe" will be compulsory reading for those who will see this movie, but it seems like it has a chance to be entertaining.
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| Lbs. |
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Offhand, I can't think of anybody who needed to make their movie as much as Carmine Famiglietti. In real life, Carmine was so overweight that there was absolutely no joy in his life. So he writes this movie about a character who has that exact problem, and stars in said movie playing said character. And the film is really well done with great characters and a strong plot. It's funny sometimes, and it's harsh sometimes, and it's moving all of the time. But the thing I like the most about this movie is that it doesn't take the easy way out, and it doesn't try to mollify the audience with a happy ending. That's what makes it worth seeing, in my book.
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| After The Day Before |
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Here's one thing I like about foreign films: sometimes I can catch a glimpse of what life is like in a part of the world I'll never see. And this film certainly has that going for it, being set in a remote settlement in the Hungarian countryside. Maybe that's why I was blind-sided by the curveball that director Attila "not the hun" Janisch threw by juxtaposing the chronology of events in this film. It quickly starts to feel like I'm trying to figure out Mulholland Drive all over again as I watch a man on a bicycle search for the house he inherited from a distant relative. I don't think there's a remotely normal person depicted in the entire movie, and some of the scenes look like something from a Tool video. I got the feeling that I was more enthused by the puzzle set before me than others in the audience, since some of them left in bored aggravation. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a big fan of this freaky little flick.
i'm just saying that I survived it.
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| A Midwinter Night's Dream |
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Hot on the heels of the Hungarian "After The Day Before", I attended a screening of this Serbian film. And again, the depiction of life in a distant land was a big draw for me. The stark setting provided by this war-torn region was offset by the strength of the portrayals of the three main war-torn characters. A Serbian soldier who has spent the last ten years in prison returns home to find two refugees - a mother and her autistic daughter - living there. These three characters are the reason to see this film, as it tells the story of their efforts to survive in the upheaval of war. I would love to add that you have not lived until you have seen the Serbian autistic stage version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", but I would hate for anyone to take that the wrong way. Heaven forbid that I make a wryly sarcastic comment in The Thirteenth Dimension. That would be unheard of!
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| The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things |
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Several things made me want to see this film. It was made in Knoxville, it had several well-known people in various roles, and the blurb on the festival web site was a real piece of work in itself. Apparently this magical combination worked for a lot of folks, since the crowd filled the festival's largest theater. Asia Argento wrote, directed, and starred in this cinematic speed trip, and I must admit that I was very impressed with the job she did. But the fact that this movie is all hardcore fury and brutal reality makes it a hard film to endure. The story revolves around young Jeremiah, a boy who is taken away from his foster parents to be victimized by the drug-riddled lifestyle of his birth mother. The result is a film that just dares you to keep watching it; almost every situation depicted makes you wince in horror. The performances are stellar, the writing is first-rate, and the movie is overall very well done. But I'll be thankful if I never have to see that thing again.
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| Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth |
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Bernie Worrell was the keyboard player for Parliament Funkadelic. He had a major influence on Talking Heads, which is one of my favorite bands. And for that, I am grateful. But I was really only there to see the documentary that came second in the twin bill. But I must admit, I knew almost nothing about experimental funk keyboard expressionism until I saw this movie. So now that void has pretty much been filled up.
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| The Human Hambone |
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This is the documentary I wanted to see, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Hambone, if you don't know, is a form of body percussion several degrees more complex than just, say for example, clapping. Sam McGrier, one of the hambone artists featured in the film, was in attendance at the screening, and he was extremely amiable and gracious with everyone in the theater. I've always been fascinated with hambone, especially since I grew up to be a drummer who no longer owns drums. But this documentary went beyond hambone and covered several other forms of body percussion as well, like beatbox and playing the spoons. I really got a kick out of this film, and I think I'm now ready for hambone to sweep the country and become the next big thing. Spoons, on the other hand, will probably just fade into obscurity. I mean, come on, don't be ridiculous.
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| The Special |
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"The Orange Blossom Special" is considered by some to be the perfect bluegrass song, and it is probably one of the most recognizable American folk songs ever written. This documentary chronicled the trip that this song has taken around the world, beginning as a tune written by a mentally challenged trick fiddle player from Florida named Ervin Rouse. How can you go wrong with any movie that involves a mentally challenged trick fiddle player? I bet you could put both Ben Affleck and John Travolta in a movie about a mentally challenged trick fiddle player, get Joel Schumacher to direct it, and it would still be good. This film was very interesting, and it is sure to be a hit on the public television circuit. And isn't that the most that any documentary about any American folk song can hope for?
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| Tennessee Film Night |
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I suppose the signature of the Nashville Film Festival are the programs featuring Tennessee-made short films and animations. These screenings are always packed, and if you watch both of the Tennessee Film Night programs back-to-back, you'll end up catching from 15 to 20 short films in the span of three hours. Some of them are certainly amateurish, and all of them are faily low-budget affairs. But you can see some real talent in bloom here, and it's exciting to think that all great filmmakers start out something like this. My personal highlight of this year's showcase would definitely be "Super 7", about three friends travelling to the Hoover Dam in honor of one character's brother. Ballard Boyd got everything right in this short film, and I think I'll want to keep an eye out for anything he does in the future. "Canoodle" was nicely done as well, and was a product of one of those whacky 48 Hour Film Project things. "Square Claire" was a simple tribute to the style of films like "Beetle Juice". And "Excessive Force" was a surprisingly good cop movie spoof done with puppets.
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| High School Record |
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Imagine that somebody made a mockumentary about high school that took inspiration from "Freaks And Geeks", "Welcome To The Dollhouse", and "Napoleon Dynamite". If you get the blend just right, you might get pretty close to what this movie is like. The makers of this film bit off a little bit more than they could chew, but there are still some good laugh-out-loud moments. Like the kid who got a circular reverse mohawk, and just about every word that came out of the teacher's mouth. If somebody could tighten this film up some, I think it could be a real gem.
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| Robbing Peter |
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You know those movies that have a few different groups of characters, and somewhere along the way they all cross paths with each other? This is one of those movies, en espanol. There's a crime boss who has conversations with his pet bunny rabbit. There's an aging, down-on-his-luck engineer who is trying to convince himself that he can be a good criminal. There is a mumbly slacker who gets pulled into crime by his enterprising brother. There's a double-crosser who just got out of jail. There's a girl. And there are a whole lot of things that just don't seem to go right for most of these people. It takes some extra effort to follow this movie, since you're reading subtitles and following interweaving subplots at the same time. Fortunately, the movie is smart enough to make sure that you can keep up, and that you'll actually want to keep up. Handy!
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| A Reawakening In Cayce Homes |
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I don't think it's any secret that there are some rough neighborhoods in East Nashville. Some of those neighborhoods, like Cayce Homes, are populated with kids who have the odds stacked against them. So it would be one thing to go into that community and make a documentary that builds awareness of the enormous obstacles that those kids face on a daily basis. This crew went several steps further and actually helped these kids make a short film of their own. So the documentary portion of this screening is all about the adventure of walking these kids through each step of the process of making a film, with the help of several pros who were willing to volunteer their time. And immediately following the documentary, we all got treated to the actual 10-minute short that they created. All of it was great. I love that it really inspired some of these kids. I love that everybody got to see proof of what these kids can do when they're given the chance. And I appreciate how honest this film was about the mistakes that were made and the failure that still looms in the area once the film crews pack their equipment. Not to be preachy, but I think Nashville should take this and every opportunity to really be proud of its young people.
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| Men Without Jobs |
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As the name might imply, this film deals with the life of slack: the two central characters live in Brooklyn, play Atari, and think up names for a band that will probably never play a single song. But these two guys are more than just the brunt of everyone's jokes; they show themselves to be in need of reconciliation, forgiveness, and a means to become what they're meant to be. The comedy layer is certainly a big part of this movie; I don't mean to imply that it isn't. But the characters and the relationships are the true focus of this film. Sadly, the Atari plays only a very small role in the film.
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| Bruce And Me |
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Oren Siedler doesn't seem like the sort of lady who might have grown up with a countercultural criminal for a father and a mother who organized a Aboriginal pottery group. That is to say, she seems like a fairly normal documentarian. So it's not hard to believe that she would get the idea of making a documentary about her father, the thieving hermit. The surprise lies in the high level of objectivity that she demonstrates in the making of this film. She manages to present an unfiltered glimpse of Bruce's life, allowing the audience to make up their own minds about this undeniably interesting fellow. So I guess my biggest remaining questions are about Oren herself. Does she really have the mixture of ice-water-in-the-veins and warm amiability that she seems to have? She's a conundrum!
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| Beautiful Outsiders |
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This was a collection of four short films about some various kinds of unusual folks. And I'll lay it on the line for you: "Above the Below" was stupid. How's that for intelligent discourse? It's about some idiot who spent 44 days in a plexi-glass box to prove how much he loves being the center of attention. "Taubman Sucks" came close to being interesting, but then decided that it might not enjoy that experience. It was about some guy who had an upsetting experience with a shopping mall; since that's such an incredibly rare thing, this film obviously had to be made. "Dimmer" was an interesting film about a group of blind friends growing up in Buffalo. But the highlight of this program would have to be "Cheeks", a documentary about a family in their home in southern New Jersey. And the star of this film is the father, who lives in an entire universe of unbelievable delusions. I think my favorite of Mr. Cheeks's theories would have to be the one about a secret society of carpenters who sneak onto his property and make imperceptible renovations to small sections of his house on an ongoing basis. My guess is that he read an article about the Freemasons, misunderstood all of what he read, and then let the dementia wash over him. I would love to see the footage of that guy that didn't make it into the film. He is, beyond any other, a real piece of work.
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| Missionary Positions |
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I knew this documentary would have to be interesting just based on the description of its subject. Two young California pastors started a ministry to help men who are dealing with pornography addiction. That in itself would certainly be honorable, but it might not be an interesting subject of a film. Well the ideas that these two guys come up with in their battle against porn range from curious to compelling to downright crazy. Their base of operations is their web site, xxxchurch.com, which they bill as "the number one Christian porn site". I think that qualifies as an attention grabber. But the content of the web site is a powerful and straightforward collection of Bible studies and revealing insights into how destructive a life of porn addiction really can be. The tragedy lies in the fact that some of the methods used by this ministry are too racy for a lot of conservative Christians to be able to get with. These guys are taking a beating out there on the front lines of a vicious battle, and the country that they're fighting for is wavering in its support. I have to admit, it's understandable that church folks might cringe at the fact that a couple of pastors would actually team up with some real-life pornographers to produce an advertisement for their ministry. I'm still not sure how deferential I could be to some of those more extreme tactics. But I don't think I have any trouble getting behind the impact that this ministry has been able to make in people's lives. One thing is for sure, those guys are a trip.
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