Whatever, the main feature was just one continuous take. At least for now.
Thanks to the organizers for the free drinks. Though maybe we didn't even need them... yikes...
Anyway, enough about my struggles. Let's talk movies.
It felt like they were lined up by quality from worst to best, so when the last film (genius, btw) finally ends, you’re sitting there all hyped up realizing an entire hour of the main program just vanished and that was it for the night. A pretty clear sign of a limited selection of films to choose from, I guess.
First was Ascension, Australian if I remember right. A stylistic exercise—a nice one with good music, but nothing more. Just subway escalators and one woman.
Then the Mexican version of Cast Away, which was a decent exercise in story structure. The plot repeats cyclically, revealing new elements until everything is laid bare. It reminds me of something, but I can't quite place it. Still, that's a positive thing I can say. The acting was terrible, the plot felt like it was written by a random Script generator tailored for the Mexican market. Corrupt cops, dealers, a family murder, and way too many "puta madre" and "joder" lines.
Next, the British Sleep tight, my baby. The organizers clearly assumed the young, urban, hip crowd (including Maja Freundlich) knows English well enough that subtitles weren't necessary. With English like this, they definitely needed them. But whatever, not a huge deal; just a dysfunctional family and a lot of "fucks." A really fine black-and-white film with a dark twist and a fantasy sequence at the end (not sure how much I should say about this, someone might actually go out and buy it). That final sequence is a masterclass in low budgets—all you need is a little imagination, which in this case meant the lead actor using his twin sister as a stunt double (or actress?).
Nest, Australian again, is a total drag! Some woman behind me kept grumbling about how boring it was. Not entirely wrong, though; the movie is basically just close-ups of the narrator's face, who mumbles incoherently over some clicking sounds, making the whole thing sound deeply unsettling. Subtitles crawl along the bottom so we can follow the story about him needing to remove a wasp nest from his tenants' house. Very atmospheric stuff.
Dmitri is a documentary about some guy (presumably Russian) getting out of a UK prison. It shows about ten minutes of his walk from the cell to the outside. His broken English and sheer luck are endearing, but overall, it didn't leave much of an impression on me.
But the last one is a beast. Take it Back from Ireland. Hide yourself, Christopher Nolan 😁 it's a powerful story about a horrific misunderstanding, told in reverse. What I found particularly fascinating was the visual style. At first glance, it doesn't look like the film is being played backward; it looks like the actors are simply acting weirdly. But things like hair and clothing show that the footage *is* actually reversed, since human movements don't have that obvious unnaturalness you get from a reverse projection. Which would imply they were acting forward but doing everything backward, or something... ugh... I'm not really in the headspace to explain it properly today 😬 🙂 anyway, damn near genius.
Let me wrap this long rant up. Even with the free drinks, people didn't stick around for the afterparty. Why? Because after a certain point, the vibe got depressing. The poor DJ was trying so hard, but it was useless; the place was totally empty, so we headed out around midnight.
