So first of all, we managed to get postcards printed at the last minute, and posters go up tomorrow morning. Adrian and I will be on full promotion duty, while at the same time still getting to as many screenings as possible. Went to the opening night party tonight, saw a lot of really cool people and stood on sidelines like a boy at his first high school dance. I feel all so very insignificant and freshman-like. It is hard to throw yourself at people and not sound like you're trying to convince people that you are not just some jack-ass with a youtube account. I wish more then ever I had become a journalist and had a reason to talk with the people respect the most. I did talk to David Lowery, and had a nice conversation with him. I look forward to seeing more of him around this week.
Moving on to what made tonight truly stellar, and that's "You Won't Miss Me" and the Music Video Compilation... which is a compilation I avoid at any festival, mainly because it is such a commercial medium. But I really feel like I've been missing out here. Music Videos range from commercial to well a lot of stop motion compositing expertise. Seriously the amazing programmer of this group definitely had a hard-on for stop motion, but that doesn't mean it wasn't masterfully arranged. Each video climbing atop it's predecessor's shoulders with vigor and pride. With these shorts I will be making a list in order of favorites ignoring ones that I thought were nothing special. Also I will try to find links to the videos, because most of them are on youtube or something.
1. "Count it Off" by The Saturday Nights/"C.R.U.F.F." by Roots Manuva (great cinematography)
2. TIE: "Leave Alight" by Krista Muir (sweet, intelligent, perfect)/"Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie
3. "An Evening with Rthrtha" by Octopus Project (well executed befitting compositing, a color explosion of beautiful)
4. "Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes (great song, claymation worked well to enhance song)
5. "Jerk It" by Thunderheist (SPOILER - it is a Rooster...)
6. "Going On" by Gnarles Barkley (Gritty/Religious/ending sucked)
7. "Hyper Gospel" by Megachurch (completely retarded funny)
I had a lot of fun watching these often ridiculous bits of shear creativity, the worst video of the bunch, was The Knife's video, just dumb, 3 minutes of black silence would've worked better then the over the top wtf of that video. Sorry to the folks behind it, there was not much there for me to like.
and without further hesitation...
"You Won't Miss Me" director, Ry Russo-Young
Even as I type, netflix has already delivered a DVD of "Orphans" and it waits for my return, quietly in my mailbox. It will be the first order of business when I get back, because what I got from her latest film was nothing but confidence in anything by this woman. Before I discuss plot or the beautiful cinematography or the amazing music, I will say that Stella Schnabel will always be remembered for this film. This film, likewise, will be remember for her, and her triumphant discourse. I was very excited to see this film, and was even more pleased with my experience. The film is shot on VHS, miniDV, Super8, Super16, and HD giving it a stark documentary feel. At times it feels as though you are watching a security camera or , someone's camera phone recording from the other side of the room. The director discussed during the Q & A that she felt that people didn't notice the changing aspect ratios or the degrading and upgrading of the image quality, or if they did it effected their attitude toward her or their experience with her. I felt a lot of things, and all those feeling were the subtle steady had of Young's mise en scene or Stella's jaw dropping performance. I am trying to think of the images of this film to describe but, what stands out to me, was something I initially disliked, with was the motocycle shots, but as the film went on, these shots provided me with much needed comfort as I sat closer and closer to Shelly. The more we see of her on screen the more we know here, we cringe when she does something she shouldn't, we laugh when she is acting ridiculous, but more so, nothing is pressuring you to feel those things. And those feelings are subtle. If you are used to slow motion action scenes or over the top sex scenes, a la Watchman. You might miss out on what this film really has to offer. I almost wish that this was the first movie I ever saw. Like I was saying, the motorcycle, this is where the near brilliant score weighes in for every beat, hurting you to feel this happy fantasy. I will no doubt be talking about this film for years to come. For the one sentence review, think Cassavetes' Woman Under The Influence, but without a cross-eyed Peter Faulk, without all the love and security he brings, and add a fondness for video/film formats. Great start to what I'm sure will be a great festival.
D
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