Cinequest 2011

WELL, Cinequest is over once again!  A friend was gonna hook me up with a pass to encore day, but they weren't really showing the programs I wanted to see.  Boo!  I missed The Dead and Madly in Love and, of course, the showing of Nosferatu (1922).  I really regret that one the most. It's one of my favorite films of all time and I really should've made time for it!  Well, for the Cinequest events/films I did attend...it was real.

Bi, đừng sợ!

Bi, Don't be Afraid! is a sort of slice-of-life movie about a middle class family in Vietnam. It was a really...sweaty movie. Ice/melting ice/dripping water were reoccuring motifs in the film. The film doesn't revolve around the titular character (a young boy) so much as it does around the whole family. The film kinda gets really weirdly sexual about halfway through... I feel like there are some cultural references I may be missing. It was interesting, though. It's only the second Vietnamese film I've seen, the first being Vertical Ray of the Sun.

I saw this with my mom & my sister, but ran into my friend Tracy downtown on the way in, so she came too. You know you've lived somewhere too long when you start running into people. Ha! The film was showing at the California Theater, a really nice restored old theatre in San Jose. It's unfortunate that they don't show films there more often! (it's home to the San Jose opera).

The film is also showing at the San Francisco International Asian American Festival.

my bff at the movie. i would post more pictures of the theater interior--it's lovely--but my camera isn't very good!

After the film Tracy suggested we pop in on the Festival meetup.  It was going down at Clubhouse (a new bar downtown. I got a Yelp check-in discount so I will likely go in for drinks sometime).  The bar was full of movie..type...people so I was a bit out of place as a mere film fan (not to mention my poor social skills), but Tracy is a festival volunteer and knew a few people.  We struck up a conversation with some guy in distribution.  It was neat.

Post #100.

Lumea Vazuta de Ion B

The World According Ion B is a doccumentary shown on TV produced by HBO Romania.  I'd never seen any films out of Romania, so this was interesting.  The film follows "Ion B", a drunk vargarnt genius artist.  The guy doesn't really have as many interesting things to say as you'd think, though...he isn't say as funny as, say, a schizophrenic.  I'm not sure this was a super interesting topic for a film, but it was a good way to get awareness out there for this guy's art...because it seriously is amazing and hilarious.  Still, I think I'd rather go to an exhibition than see a film about it.


A short was supposed to play before the film, it looked like it may have been interesting, but there were technical difficulties so I guess I'll never know >:(!!


Some of his awesome art:

團圓

Apart Together was an interesting look at a story about real people involved in the evacuation to Taiwan. I was a history major in college and it's fascinating to learn about the history behind something and then see a movie about a political events later effects. The characters in Apart Together really draw you in. They are all likeable and understandable in their own ways, and you end up eager to know what happens. This is probably one of the best movies I've seen any any Cinequest (not that I've been to 3049580349854 CInequest showings, but you get it).

The Chinese pictographs for "apart" and "together" were really beautiful, too, and make a lovely title for the film:

Little Baby Jesus of Flandr

This is what I get for trying to take an interest in culture and local happenings.

So, I saw my first Cinequest screening today and things were pretty disorganized.  They appeared to have a gaggle of volunteers running things.  They had--no joke--like seven people taking tickets.  One person to take the ticket.  One person to hand me a pencil for the survey (there was also a different person outside after the film to collect my pencil).  At least two of these people touched my shoulders.  UH, HELLO.  I LIKE MOVIES BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE INTERACTING WITH ACTUAL PEOPLE. DONT F(*^#^#$)$* TOUCH ME!

Prior to that, we got to the floor where our screening was.  After a bit of confusion we were told by a couple of volunteers that we needed to "get in the line for the screening."

"OK.  Where is the line?"
"There isn't a line yet.  You two will be the first in the line."

Well.  No wonder we didn't know where the line was!  There was no line.

Things like "festivals" (of any sort) are not really my scene, but I go to film festival screenings sometimes because I like movies.  STEP UP YER GAME, CINEQUEST.  I mean, alls I'm sayin' is that I like going to the movies, but I don't like having to interact with a dozen different people before I sit my ass down, you know?

Anyway, the first film in the festival that I saw was Little Baby Jesus of Flandr.  I kinda don't remember how I chose which films I wanted to see at the festival.  I remember kinda browsing the website and seeing ratings on IMDB and making a list/schedule.  This popped up because it has an interesting title.  I wanted to get into a Yelp Elite screening (I'm on the squad, weirdly enough), but it was full up! Boo.  So, I ended up here instead.

The film kinda asks the question What would happen if the nativity story took place in Belgium? and What if the three magi were three retarded dudes?    


Well, apparently not much goes down.  To be totally honest, I'm not sure if this movie was a joke or not.  Was it an attempt at serious religious commentary?  Was it supposed to be blasphemous?  I have no idea.

The film is black and white except for one short part where a person (a tranny?) is singing in a night club.  That part is in color.  Then it cuts back to black and white.  Yeah, I don't know.

Half of the cast of the film are people with (what I believe to be?) Down Syndrome.  OK...interesting.

You can play I Spy Ikea furniture.  The stuff is everywhere.  Even in arty movies from Belgium.

Before the feature, they showed an animated short called The Tannery which was a charming animal story with a vegetarian/animal rights slant.  I really liked the animation, it looked like it was done on watercolor paper.  They were working off a crappy scratched up DVD or something, though.  Boo!

In spite of the few hitches, I will likely be going to a couple of Cinequest screenings on the weekend, too. I ain't no player hater.

Cinequest

Peep game.  Today's groupon in the Silicon Valley is a weekend pass to Cinequest, San Jose's film festival.  San Jose is my hometown and I've quietly been going to screenings for several years.  I'm probably going to see my first film in the festival on Wednesday.  Excitement?!