The Good, The Bad, The Musical!

Yesterday we saw our first three films. Here's a recap:

The Good: Documentary Spotlight
This was a collection of seven short documentaries.

Quadrangle -- The film maker interviews her mother and father about their open relationship with another couple that eventually resulted in them trading spouses. It was extremely well made. She used a split screen to show both parents describing this time in their lives, so that it was almost as if they were conversing about it. The director does a nice job of removing herself from the subject, presenting a very honest account of this period in her family's history in a fairly straight forward and non-judgmental manner.

Drunk History: Tesla and Edison -- I'm still trying to imagine the creative meeting where the concept for this film was discussed and agreed upon. The film maker decided to have someone get drunk (yes, he was actually drunk) and recount a piece of history. As he tells the story, well-known actors (in this case, John C. Reilly played Tesla and Crispin Glover played Edison) don cheesy wigs, mustaches and costumes to stage reenactments. Their dialog, however, uses the drunk guy's words, not their own. You are just going to have to trust me when I say it was hilarious. This is one in a series and they ar part of a longer comedy program debuting on HBO next month. Tonight, we are seeing another Drunk History short, this time on Douglass and Lincoln -- I can't wait!

Notes on the Other -- A short look at Hemingway and how he created his own persona. The topic was explored by visiting the son of a man that Hemingway saw fall during the running of the bulls (who  photographs the event every year) and visiting a Hemingway look-alike contest. The film asked us to figure out the link between all these events and I think I failed the test -- it just didn't come together for me.

Bus -- An Israeli film maker explores the difficulties of traveling by bus between Israel and Palestine with images of the checkpoints and recorded phone conversations.

Thompson -- This film hints at the changing friendship of two teenage boys as one graduates from high school and the other doesn't. At least I think that was what it was trying to do -- no clear story line ever actually developed. When the film makers were asked about their inspiration, they said that they were at a party across the street from Matt Thompson's home and he wandered over, so they decided to make a movie about him. Oh... that explains it.

Born Sweet -- My favorite of the collection, this film illuminates the problem of arsenic poisoning in Cambodia (over $2 million people have it) and how one non-profit is using Karaoke to educate the next generation. Focusing on the story of Vinh, a 15-year-old boy, with arsenic poisoning who loves Karaoke, it puts a face on the problem and delivers a message of hope.

Wagah – This film explores the separation of India and Pakistani through the eyes of three young children and the pageantry around the lowering of both flags at the border gate. The children lend an element of honesty and innocence to the story, while the flag ceremony is all about patriotism. Not allowed to cross the border, two film makers were enlisted. One filmed from the Pakistani side and the other from India. Although they did not meet until after the film was complete, they somehow created a seamless story.

The Bad
Lourdes -- This French film by an Austrian film maker focuses on, Christine, a paraplegic woman who travels to Lourdes in hope of a miracle. Even though she is the main character, we never really get to know her. (In fact, I had to look her name up in the film guide.) The pacing of the film is painfully slow and the characters all seem to speak to each other as little as possible. I doubt this film will ever show up in U.S. theaters, but if it does, skip it.

The Musical
Bran Nue Dae -- An adaptation of a popular stage musical from Australia, this film had catchy tunes, loveable characters and all the hokiness you would expect from a musical. I didn't like it as much as Jois and Dede, mainly because I found the ridiculousness of it distracting. It also kept bringing to mind other movies (Grease, Little Miss Sunshine, and just about every Disney Movie made between 1960 and 1980.) That said, it had a great cast: Australian Idol runner-up Jessica Mauboy as the girlfriend, Geoffrey Rush as a shifty and eccentric Priest, and Ernie Dingo (yes, that's really his name) as the pickled, but wise Aboriginal elder. It does entertain, it doesn't offend and you may even catch me singing a few bars of "I’d rather be an Aborigine."

We have three more movies today, finishing up about 11:00pm tonight. It's still snowing like crazy, but with less wine and slower driving, we hope to stay on the road tonight.