HD For Indies

So after seeing The Fountain, we actually went to go see Isolation, on the theory that Edmond was going to be playing at the Alamo starting in a few days anyway, and I didn't know when I'd get to see Isolation, if ever.

So we walked in and sat down and started watching Isolation...and got up and left about ten minutes into it. Two hitmen were sent to an address, and the target turns out to be a little boy, and the movie isn't shot all that well, nor acted convincingly, nor very scary....so it was Time To Go. Turns out that was the 14 minute short, be we didn't know that (oopsie) otherwise I might have waited through, because it won some awards (more on that later).

So we hopped up and left and went into Edmond, written by David Mamet (with his usual dialog style) and starring William H. Macy as Edmond, a fed-up everyday middle aged guy. Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, and others have small roles. Basically, Edmond is an office worker guy who decides he's had enough, and walks out on his wife, and confuses the abandonment of all responsibility with enlightening freedom. Oh, and he's a racist too, which comes back to bite him in the end. It is a tough watch at times due to violence or bigoted speech, and while Edmond ironically gets what he deserves, he's happy with it in the end. It is an interesting bit of work (started as a play), wherein Edmond tells his wife he's leaving, because "you don't excite me, spiritually or sexually" (ouch!). He goes out on the town and basically just wants to get laid, but feels all the women at the strip clubs and "health clubs" are charging too much. He ends up assaulting a pimp who tries to rob him, and the energy he gets from escaping the assault enlivens him, and he picks up a waitress, whom he eventually sleeps with and then scares and then gets mad at and makes her shut up...with his knife...oops. He leaves and has some more odd experiences...I don't know how to read this movie, or frankly to review or comment on it...there are parts of it that are exultant liberation, he has this energy and spark and life and passion at times that cuts through the everyday tedium, but then it comes from having done some terrible things. In the end, it is an interesting performance he gives (Macy always rocks), but I just don't feel like talking about it anymore right now. If you're into strong performances and like the rat-a-tat-tat of Mamet's dialog, check it out, otherwise I'd pass.

Then we went to the closing night party, where I ran into Tim McCanlies (another of the organizers, I failed to mention him earlier, my bad) and talked about a few movies, and what I'd liked about how they ran the show. Ran into Cargill that I'd seen many times (he writes for AICN) as well as Rebecca (she writes occassionally) and Harry Knowles (the man behind aintitcoolnews.com) was holding court in the corner, but I don't really know him (doubt he remembers me) so I didn't want to go up and be all fanboy on him by saying hi.

Tim League, founder/owner of Alamo Drafthouse, got up and announced they were going to present the winners. I really liked the informality of the event - we'd kind of taken over a bar down the street from Alamo Drafthouse, everyone is just drinking and hanging out, and the awards themselves are beer mugs of varying sizes with little plaques on them....and they are actually full of beer! They started announcing the winners in various categories (details on winners below), and in a couple of categories, no one was there to take it...so the rules were, the judges had to drink the beer in the award. Loud chats of "Drink drink drink!" or "Chug chug chug!" on a couple of unclaimed awards (minor awards got cans of Lone Star Beer). On the one hand, totally ghetto, but on the other, I really liked the comraderie, spontaneity, and "no big deal" of how it was done - I HATE formal sitdown things with speeches and pomp and circumstance, this was just a gathering of filmmakers and folks who enjoy movies celebrating together. A very pleasant and cool vibe. After the awards, I hobnobbed and passed out a few cards and then mosied on home.

The official winners are listed further below, but my own pics from the festival:

Special commendation - Best No Budget, Ghetto Indie Production Film That I Saw: Firefly - a good idea competently done, proof that story is what ultimately matters. Even though shot on DV, I didn't care - the story and acting were compelling enough to carry me along. Total DIY indie production, I think I heard someone saying they spent maybe a few thousand dollars hard cash on it - it was all friends for extras and shooting in their own places kind of a deal. For all my discussions of techie stuff, It's The Story, Stupid - get the script right, no get that GREAT, THEN worry about everything else.

My other favorites from the festival, in no particular order:

The Host - great FX, fun, funny, scary, just a really good monster movie, kind of a Aliens vibe with Save The Girl theme, but really enjoyed it

Pan's Labyrinth - beautiful, magical, meaningful, the only film that actually almost made me cry

The Fountain - also very moving, and actually it DOES make sense, ignore those who didn't get it - Doreen saw it as a love story, I saw it as a meditation on acceptance of death. Arronofsky joked that it was either a metaphysical chick flick or a psychedelic something or other, I'll fill that in later when I remember. But in any case, beautiful, thoughtful, meaningful. And kudos to them for the organic effects - stunning and mesmerizing, and kudos again for the no blinking lights vision on the future.

Beowulf and Grendel was a bit stodgy and stiffly acted, and Sarah Polley was miscast, but still a gorgeous film to watch for the scenery and cinematography, and I liked the meditation on the pointlessness of revenge

The Listening Dead was a great little short, intentionally created to look like some long lost silent film - a cute little love story with death involved

Renaissance - INCREDIBLE look (see review from a few days ago), the story was passable but not at the level of the animation - think of it as The Matrix meets Sin City, with some moral quandaries thrown in

Rogairi (Villains) - the short before Beowulf & Grendel, truly beautifully shot little gothic revenge tale

Severance - The Office meets The Hitcher - I like my violence with a sense of humor - the only "tortured in the woods" movie I saw and enjoyed

Starfish Hotel - enjoyed it, gorgeous, worthwhile

I wish I'd seen based on good word of mouth:

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, but I'll have to wait and see it in theaters like everyone else

Beach Party at the Threshold Of Hell - I heard mixed reviews - clearly a ghetto budget production, but some really enjoyed it

Bugs, but I'll see it theatrically

Frostbite - EVERYONE said it was good, sorry I missed it

I wish I hadn't seen

Hatchet (even though it won first pick for audience award, go figure, tastes vary)

Piano Tuner of Earthquakes - Brothers Quay, go back to music videos and your lovely shorts and STAY THERE

Glad I didn't see:

Broken - too much pain, I felt there were too many "I'm in the woods and have lots of Owies from Mean People" movies here.

As a personal aside, while I respect indie filmmakers that recognize an affordable niche to produce in (torture in the woods), it isn't exactly something to stand proud about (hey, porn is cheap to produce, too). I think there is too much of it coming onto the market, and I hope the trend passes quickly. It isn't pleasant. One thing that bugs me about some of these films that I mentioned (I think) in my Texas Chainsaw review - it used to be you would enjoy the victims Getting It - they were obnoxious, or there was the moral revenge aspect of it, or SOME motivation to make it OK for the victims to get killed. With some of the new ones, there is none of that - you're watching people that you are either neutral about or might like get killed. I'm just not into that.

OK, so that's my own opinion, here's the official winners, my comments in italics:

Films without distribution at the time of their acceptance to Fantastic Fest were eligible for awards.

AUDIENCE AWARDS
1st Place - HATCHET - I'm surprised, I wasn't into it
2nd Place - ISOLATION - I missed it, my mistake
3rd Place -FIREFLY - Really enjoyed it, surprised it didn't rate higher, may be due to audience demographics

SHORT FILM AWARDS
Best of Show - THE LISTENING DEAD - clearly the most deserving
Best Short Form - THE COST OF LIVING
Best Long Form - ROGAIRI (VILLAINS)
Best Animated - IF I HAD A HAMMER
Best Comedy - THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT - missed it, wish I'd seen it

HORROR JURY AWARDS
Best Picture - ISOLATION
Best Director - Billy O'Brien, ISOLATION
Best Script - Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme, NIGHTMARE
Best Actor - Kane Hodder, HATCHET
Best Actress - Nicole Roderick, NIGHTMARE
Best Supporting Actor - Lance Henriksen, ABOMINABLE
Best Supporting Actress - Kristen Bell, ROMAN
Best Art Direction - Alex Boynton, UNREST
Best Cinematography - Robbie Ryan, ISOLATION
Best Special Effects - HATCHET
Best Make-up - BROKEN

Of these, I only saw Roman, and wasn't that impressed with it overall

FANTASTIC FEST JURY AWARDS
Best Film -THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Director - Simon Rumley, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Script - Larry Kent and Daniel Williams, HAMSTER CAGE
Best Actor - Leo Bill in THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Actress - Jodie Jameson, VENUS DROWNING
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Scarfe, HAMSTER CAGE
Best Supporting Actress - Kate Fahy, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Art Direction -STARFISH HOTEL
Best Cinematography - A QUIET LOVE
Best Special Effects - PUZZLEHEAD
Best Make-up -THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

Of these, I only saw Starfish Hotel

Special Mention of the Jury, Blood Tea and Red String
"For its originality and stunning visual audacity! Blood Tea and Red String is a dark psychological fairy tail, a work of creative passion by director Christiane Cegavske. The films eccentric and unique vision will be with you like a feverish dream for years to come."


2006 FANTASTIC FEST COMPETITION FILMS
THE BEACH PARTY AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL
BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING
FIREFLY
GAMERZ
HAMSTER CAGE
INSIDE
PUZZLEHEAD
A QUIET LOVE
STARFISH HOTEL
VENUS DROWNING
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

2006 FANTASTIC FEST HORROR COMPETITION FILMS
ABOMINABLE
BLOOD TRAILS
HATCHET
SIMON SAYS
WILDERNESS
THE LAST SUPPER
BROKEN
ISOLATION
UNREST
ROMAN
NIGHTMARE

...and that's it for my coverage of the 2006 FantasticFest. I'll be back next year, and the Austin Film Festival is coming up in about a month, and I'll be hitting that one as well, I'm also going to be on a panel there.

-mike

PS - Special dead Stabby Post Mortem graphic just for you, Paul!