iffb 13 : GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE

The short(ish) answer to "How was the last night of the festival...?"

I ended up seeing only one film tonight, GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE, and, sad to say, was disappointed.

Festival rep Paul introduced the film, and after giving thanks to the hallowed sponors, explained the magic that happens on the last day of the festival. Magic that transforms the very exciting and informative Festival program into an even more exciting and valuable commemorative collector's edition program! OoooooOOooooo~


He had a few to give out before the show, and lucky me, I got one. Thanks, Paul! And hey, thanks to all the Festival bigwigs, organizers, and volunteers! You throw a damn fine six days of moviegoing! I shall hafta see about getting an email that says as much out to one or some of those people...

GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE... had some wonderful potential, introduced some great eccentric, sad and happy, characters, but was a little too loose in its storytelling for my taste. With the colorful characters, retro/eclectic visual and design palate, and atypical scenarios (our Macguffin is a missing demolition derby driver, last seen on the trail of a supercute lost puppy, now sought by an expecting girlfriend with 18 younger sisters, a father who would marry his car if he could, and a young girl and best friend who goes by the name Turkeylegs), I felt a love child of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE and DONNIE DARKO (perhaps with STATION AGENT as godfather) might have been in the works, but alas, it wasn't to be. I gave it a 3 out of 5 on the festival ballot. I hope I wasn't too hard on it because I felt it let me down.

AMERICAN BLACKOUT was screening while I was in HANDSHAKE. I only caught a glimpse of Congresswoman McKinney at the theater. She was in the doorway to theater #1 (the big theater w balcony seating right thru the lobby) talking to some aides and a festival type before showtime. Alas, I didn't have my camera w me right then (hitting the men's room in the lobby after getting myself a seat upstairs for HANDSHAKE), so no helpful visual aid to post.

Well, except this, which I took later...


Part of the view in my bathroom for most of the last six days. I wonder how much business that particular bit of advertising has won them...

A few minutes into the end credits of HANDSHAKE, I decided to leave and see if I could catch any of the post-BLACKOUT Q&A with McKinney and the director. Unfortunately, it was too late. BLACKOUT finished before HANDSHAKE and the Q&A was already over as well. The audience had already been "dismissed." I could see that Rep. McKinney was still in the theater, near the front of the room, but surrounded by people and engaged in post-Q&A Q&A, with camera people orbiting the scene. I loitered in the lobby w Rowan for a while, hoping to catch her on her way out of the theater, but after a few minutes, let it go.

Right up until then I was 50/50 on catching another movie. It sounded like there were still tickets available for just about everything. But I'd caught myself half-yawning more than a couple times in HANDSHAKE (an indication of my sleep deprivation, not any sleep inducing quality of the movie, which, if I didn't make it clear earlier, was visually, quite a tasty treat!) and decided to head home and call it a festival. I had three weeks of PRISON BREAK saved up on my replayTV at home, anyhow. Of course, here I sit, tapping away, at nearly 3am. Who's tired now?

Five days... Maybe eight buckets of popcorn... 13 screenings... 10 features and a dozen and a half short films...

What an idiot.

=)

Frack. I hope I didn't miss some excellent, perfect, final piece of HANDSHAKE at the very end of the credits...

Keep on keepin on~