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Last updated:
August 20, 2005
Copyright 2006
Michael R. Colford. All rights reserved
Film Festival Reviews
Independent Film Festival of Boston, 2004 |
| by Michael Colford and Boston-area CSIF members |
| The Independent Film Society of Boston held their second annual Independent Film Festival of Boston (IFFB) from April 29 - May 2 at the Brattle, Coolidge, and Somerville Theatres. The Festival was well received, drawing 15,000 viewers over the course of the weekend. |
| The programmers of the IFFB did a terrific job, scoring
a number of high-profile films, including several
noteworthy Sundance entries. Documentaries were
particularly strong and continued last year’s trend of
the notable nonfiction. The IFFB teamed with the Toronto International Film Festival, much to my delight, featuring several Canadian films (which made up my viewing schedule.) As a festival, it certainly attracts the talent, and apparently, the distribution companies as well. Representatives from most of the big indie distributors were present at the festival, and the IFFB is well on its way to becoming an important Market Festival… something Boston could really use. It is my hope that next year Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film (CSIF) will be able to take a more active role in the festival as an organization, co-presenting a film or two, and really helping the IFFB to become one of the premiere festivals in the country. And I promise to make a lot more films and parties next year! |
| It’s very frustrating that the first two years of what is
potentially one of the most important things to happen
in this city with regard to film, have found me double- booked! Running the annual conference for the Massachusetts Library Association is a big undertaking, and the fact that it shares its last two days with the first two nights of the IFFB is the source of my frustration. The good news is that my situation changes next year, as the MLA Conference will be held later in May. The bad news is I only saw three films at the IFFB 2004. |
| That’s not to say that I wasn’t involved. The reason
I didn’t catch more films on Saturday was owed
to the fact that I volunteered (as did many Chlotrudis
members) for the IFFB, acting as “Theatre Manager” at
the Brattle Theatre from 4:30 to midnight. There were several reasons
I volunteered (rather than seeing
films), and most importantly was the desire to support
something that Boston desperately needs: a vital,
invigorating, nationally (if not internationally) known
and respected independent film festival. CSIF is all about education and promotion of independent film. |
| We are the perfect partners for the
Independent Film Festival of Boston.
There were other reasons, of course:
repaying the favor of Jason Redmond,
Executive Director of the Festival, and
Scott Moomaw, Society Director (of the
Independent Film Society of Boston), who presented at this year’s Chlotrudis Awards ceremony; and a desire to be involved in a festival from the “other side.” I have attended many film festivals and been one of the many people waiting in line. I thought this could be my opportunity to be one of those people cheering the confused and impatient moviegoers. |
| Organizationally, the IFFB is still testing its wings. It takes an incredible amount of planning and hard work to run a festival, and for a sophomore effort, the IFFB does a remarkably good job. Volunteers could have been better coordinated. Tasks weren’t fully .eshed out for people until they arrived for their first shift , and at that point, it was sometimes too hectic properly explain. The Somerville Theatre, with its multiple screens, faced the largest volunteer challenge. Still, my volunteer experience, although understaffed, was a lot of fun, and given a year or two more of experience, the IFFB will have it down. |
 A
Problem with Fear [Director:
Gary Burns]Despite lukewarm reviews from Toronto, the five Chlotrudis members who caught this film loved it. Reminiscent of director Gary Burns’ previous film, the Chlotrudis Buried Treasure co-winner for 2002 waydowntown, Fear utilizes the insular setting of Calgary's enormous shopping mall. With an absurdist tone, and hilarious dialogue, Burns examines the culture of fear in which we live. Burns and co-writer Donna Burnsdale take a sharp look at the way the media fans the flames of society's fear, a theme reminiscent of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. The acting is stylized, but strong, particularly lead actor Paulo Costanzo, and his two supporting actors, Emily Hampshire as his wildly funny girlfriend Dot, and Willie Garson as his sister’s coworker Erin. I don't know if this film will receive distribution in the States, but hopefully more Chlotrudis members get to see it. If you enjoyed waydowntown, A Problem with Fear will be right up your alley. |
 Flower & Garnet [Director:
Keith Behrman]The intriguing synopsis (and the fact that it was Canadian) caught my eye, but after IFFB Program Director, Adam Roffman, told me that this was his pick of the Canadian entries, and fellow Chlotrudis member Beth Curran expressed her admiration for the film, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Unfortunately, Flower & Garnet failed to live up to expectations. After Garnet’s mother dies giving birth to him, and his father, so wrapped up in grief, would rather have the neighbors keep him under their watch, it’s up to older sister Flower to take responsibility. Yet now Flower is an adolescent, with the all the hormonally-driven behavior that implies, and being mother to her quiet, introspective brother isn’t high on her list of things-to-do. As Garnet spirals deeper into psychosis, I grew increasingly unsettled with the extremes in the script, and the shortcuts taken with behavior. Fortunately, the acting (led by Last Night’s Callum Keith Rennie) is very strong, and the cinematography powerful, so it wasn’t a total loss. Still, the fact that it won the Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for a narrative seems rather far-fetched. To each their own. |
Luck [Director: Peter Wellington] Based as it is, on a hugely famous hockey game played in the 1970s between Canada and Russia, I suspect Canadians will have the jump on the rest of the country when it comes to insider knowledge. Shane is in love with his best friend Margaret. Unfortunately, she’s on the rebound from a lengthy relationship, and it is unclear (to him anyway) whether she is going to return to her former beau, or finally break free. When an argument between the two seemingly drives her into her ex’s arms (and a trip to London) Shane naturally turns to gambling with his ne’er-do-well friends. This “comedy” never manages to rise above TV-movie of the week melodrama, with jokes falling flat, characterization being fairly random, and lessons being hammered into viewers’ heads. Not even the stellar Sarah Polley (as Margaret) can completely rise above this tiresome script. I mentioned to Scot after seeing A Problem with Fear, how excited I was to be seeing films by new, young Canadian directors, potentially adding them to my pantheon of the experienced Egoyans, Rozemas, Fitzgeralds, et. al. After seeing these latter two films, I’m glad the experienced are still hard at work. |
| Diane Young: |
| I caught most of my IFFB screenings at the Somerville Theater, which drew audiences largely made up of twenty-somethings from the neighborhood. It's a great site for a festival, with its four screens and plenty to do and eat during breaks from filmwatching. The timing coincided nicely with Somerville's Open Studio Days, with many artists' studios within walking distance of the theater. |
| Highly recommended: I Like Killing Flies, Matt Mahurin's docu about caustic NYC restaurateur Kenny Shopsin, and Gowanus, Brooklyn, a fictional short about home and school life featuring a powerhouse perf by an inexperienced actress (Ryan Fleck, director). Watch for this as a feature someday. Films to avoid despite the lure of good casts or important issues: The Baroness and the Pig, Saved!, Deadline, Goodnight Joseph Parker. |
| I disliked 6 of my 9 viewings, and most of the moviegoers I talked to were likewise unenthused. The advantage of a festival is that Q&A is worthwhile even if the film is not. Maybe especially... |
| Chris Kriofske: |
 I
Like Killing Flies [Director:
Matt Mahurin]You've probably already heard lots of praise about this simple, beautiful film, and get ready to hear a lot more over the next year. I can't remember another doc where I've laughed so hard and felt so moved. This follows Kenny Shopsin, a hilariously profane, unexpectedly gifted chef (his menu contains over 900 items) who ran a tiny, pre-gentrification Greenwich Village diner with his wife and five children for over 30 years. As he loses his lease and prepares to sublet a larger location down the street, viewers can practically gleam a philosophy of the entire world in his single grain of sand. Kenny may be cranky, but as the film progresses, he evenutally comes off as a honest and exceptionally humane son-of-a-bitch. 5 cats |
DiG! [Director: Ondi Timoner]This frenzied documentary is worthy of the hype lavished upon it. A chronicle of seven years in the lives of two bands (The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre) who start out as friends and end up taking wildly divergent paths. Deeper and much more fun than your average rockumentary, with BJM leader Anton Newcombe emerging as a fascinating portrait of a eccentric, mad, tragic genius. 4 cats |
|
 Big
City Dick: Richard Peterson's First Movie [Director:
Ken Harder; Scott Milam; Todd Pottinger]A Seattle fixture for decades, Richard Peterson is a mentally challenged, musically gifted savant obsessed with Johnny Mathis and orchestral cues from the '50s TV show "Sea Hunt." Initially, I feared that the filmmakers were crudely exploiting Peterson in this documentary, but that feeling disintegrated over time. To the film's credit, watching it is akin to meeting Peterson; at first, you don't know what to make of him, but gradually, he becomes familiar and (dare I say) engaging. Although the film's a little slick and overlong, Peterson is unlike anyone you've ever met (the real life "Rain Man" comparisons don't do him justice). I think I'd much rather meet him onscreen than in person. 3.5 cats |
 Sexual
Dependency [Director:
Rodrigo Bellott] I had mixed feelings about this ambitious but flawed first feature from director Rodrigo Bellott. Beginning in Bolivia and ending up at a prototypical American University, it tracks a cast of young adults undergoing various sexual awakenings, experiences and epiphanies. It's entirely in split screen (except for one shot), which at times makes for some interesting comparisons/contrasts; at other times, it's merely superfluous and distracting. The cyclical script is a little uneven and cliched on occasion, but innovative in its construction, with a pretty surprising conclusion. 3 cats |
| Carolyn Ziering: |
| I didn't hang around much at the film festival so I don't have sny sort of overview on the whole thing, but I did see Luck and DiG! I really enjoyed both of them. Luck was a sort of hopeless story about gambling and addiction in general. The main character did waiver back and forth A LOT, but I thought the acting was good and it showed how difficult overcoming an addiction can be. |
| I really enjoyed DiG!, the documentary the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. I didn't know anything about BJM beforehand and the film seemed very real and honest. They weren't hiding anything. |
| Rob Stanhope: |
| David Inniss and I spent two evenings attending films at the 2004 IFFB and saw five films at the Somerville Theater: Saved!, Slasher, Seducing Doctor Lewis, Monster Road, and 5 Sides of a Coin. Overall we had a great time and felt most of the films were better than average. |
 Slasher [Director: John Landis] I'm a big fan of documentaries, so I was really looking forward to Slasher by John Landis, which chronicled a flamboyant hyperactive freelance car salesman during a frenzied weekend sale-a-thon in Memphis. It was hilarious, disgusting and sad at the same time -- but in the end I actually came to respect the car salesman. I would highly recommend this film. 5 cats |
 Monster
Road [Director:
Brett Ingram] The two other documentaries were not as wildly entertaining. I expected Monster Road (Brett Ingram, director) to be simply a geeky exploration into how claymation is done. It is much more. The film shows us Bruce Bickford, a solitary artist who has spent his life creating bizarrely beautiful clay animation (mostly known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 70s). Bickford comes across as a genius-type, highly creative, but also a bit crazy. He's an eccentric, secluded man dealing with his own demons from his youth and caring for an elderly father in mental decline. The animation sequences are violent and grotesque but mesmerizing and seem to mirror Bickford's emotions when he talks about his past. It seems he spent most of his life making these strange clay animation films (a long, tedious and solitary practice -- he made 10 seconds of film per day), I began to wonder if the nature of his artwork help to make him into such a strange man. Monster Road is more intriguing for its examination into Bickford's personality than his craft. 4 cats |
 5
Sides of a Coin [Director:
Paul Kell] 5 Sides of a Coin is a documentary on the history of hip-hop music. I had no expectations going into this film and was entertained and informed, but I did not think it was spectacular. 3 cats |
 Saved! [Director:
Brian Dannelly] Saved! and Seducing Doctor Lewis were the only "narrative" films we saw. We must have been in the mood for humor because both films were highly comical. Saved! was definitely not as sophisticated and was even predictable, but I enjoyed the absurd story: a devout Baptist high school girl has sex with her gay boyfriend to make him straight (a vision from Jesus put that idea in her head!) This sets her up for some funny scenes with her ultra-religious Tammy Faye-wannabe friends. This film is definitely not for everyone, but if you're queer or a recovering fundamentalist you might appreciate some of the humor. 3.5 cats |
|
| I think the shining star of my experience at the IFFB was the staff at the Somerville Theater. I was amazed at how smoothly the large crowds were handled. Everyone was helpful and pleasant, despite the large number of people and the possible confusion one would expect at such a big event. I would give the IFFB five cats! |
| Beth Curran: |
|
 The Puppeteer [Director: Gary Henoch]The Puppeteer, a featurette about a local street performer in Harvard Square who I had seen many times while in grad school. He died a few years ago while the producers were working on a doc about his story: Russian puppeteer coming to the States to practice his art the way he wants to and becoming beloved local fixture. I was near tears a couple of times, hearing him speak (which he never did while performing) and seeing him do his thing again. However, I do wonder if this would be of interest to anybody not already familiar with the artist - much of the narration assumes a familiarity with Cambridge and the Square. 4 ½ cats if you're local, 3 ½ cats otherwise. |
| DiG! [Director:
Ondi Timoner] A documentary about the relationship/rivalry/history of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Loved this one, definitely try to see it -- it's pretty much about the founders of each group, and how each fared with the whole balancing indie cred with career success. Or not, as the case may be. They gave the filmmaker amazing access, so it's a total insider’s look at what these bands were like, warts and all. Present for Q&A after was Joel, ex of the BJM -- if you know BJM at all, he was the tambourine man -- and he's got some of the funniest riffs in the doc, so he was a hoot to chat up afterwards. Folks who like Hard Core Logo must see this film, I was cracking up at some of the similarities! 5 cats, wearing cool shades dude! |
 Deadline [Director: Katy Chevigny; Kirsten
Johnson]Deadline, another documentary was about the death penalty. Specifically, the Northwestern journalism class that managed to undercover enough evidence to get the sentences of several death row inmates overturned, and set off a chain of events that led to the Governor of Illinois commuting the sentences of all death row prisoners to life. Really interesting, very well balanced. Only problem, which made it ultimately come off more like Frontline-lite, was that its focus was too broad and scattered, as if they couldn't pick among related “death row topics” for the focus, so just threw a little of each in. So as a whole it didn't come together as a film. 3 cats |
| Saved! [Director: Brian Dannelly] I went back and forth about seeing Saved!, but I was in the mood for goofy, and in that respect it delivered. It's a teen flick-like comedy about a good, devout born again Christian girl (Jena Malone) who starts to question things after the plan she thought Jesus had for her goes a little astray, and she finds herself on the bad side of her former friend, the most popular girl in their evangelical Christian school (Mandy Moore). I feel sorry for the film's marketing director - I suspect folks expecting a religious satire will be disappointed, and teens looking for a crass teen flick will think it's too goody-goody. It's more like a Fast Times at Ridgemont High for the evangelical set - very curious to see how it will do when it's released. Funny, but also poignant...although they could have used a little bit of a lighter touch on the Big Message, still a good film. Loved the set design, too - and hey, Mandy Moore has a knack for comedic acting, who knew? 4 cats |
 Moonlight [Director: Paula van der Oest]I still can't decide if I liked it or not (can't decide if the things that jarred were my problem or the film’s, it's one of those deals) but I will say that the girl starring in it was fabulous; incredibly expressive face. The story is hers, about what happens on the same day she first gets her period, when she finds an injured (shot by drug smugglers) foreign boy in her shed. It's something like a coming-of-age story, and a parable of some sort (after the umpteenth moving camera shot of woods, I think the “modern day fable” thing becomes compulsory). It fell off the rails a bit about 2/3 through, trying to do too much, but recouped in time at the end. 3 ½ cats |
 The Frank International Film Festival [Director:
Bob Odenkirk]This short was pretty funny. It was by Bob Odenkirk, and was a sort of loving spoof of all the film festivals he & his cast went to last year to support his feature, Melvin Goes to Dinner (which I saw at last year's IFFB and can only say, eh). An amusing cameo by Mike White made the piece. |
| Luck [Director: Peter Wellington] The last film I saw was Luck, which was set in the 1970s around the time of the Canadian-Russian tourney (presumably the Olympics - they don't say). This guy thinks he's alternately lucky/unlucky based on his optimism/pessimism regarding his chances with his platonic gal-pal, the lovely Ms. Sarah Polley. Again, I say, eh. Started off okay, although it bugged me when the script had them using modern day vernacular. The bad haircuts and clothing is really the only thing that was consistently 70s. The plot was too much, someone should have forced the writer/director to give up at least two twists. Way too much deus ex machina going on; one way in particular just pissed me off where the script has a major character completely contradict herself and her earlier actions for the sake of a “gotcha” moment. Arrrghh, I HATE that - particularly when it makes me dislike Sarah Polley...that's just wrong! 2 ½ cats. |
Gowanus, Brooklyn [Director: Ryan Fleck]
Seducing Doctor Lewis [Director: Jean-François
Pouliot]
Rick [Director: Curtiss Clayton]Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema • High Falls Film Festival • Independent Film Festival of Boston • Provincetown International Film Festival • Sidewalk Film Festival • Sundance Film Festival •Toronto International Film Festival • Tribeca Film Festival • Venice Film Festival