Dig my cray-ay-zee wuzzonXL analog spreadsheet app there... =)
I came up w a list of films I wanted to hit, post-it'ed them, and arranged and re-arranged til I found a near-optimal spread, allowing for travel time, large popcorns, and bathroom breaks. I eliminated a few that I really wanted to see because I figured they'd make it back to the big screen in wide release later in the year. My anchor/must-see screenings included all the shorts packages, both the After Dark offerings, and CHALK. Then I found best fits remaining gaps by time and location. Based on my spread, I went and picked up advance tickets last night for ten screenings. I have more than ten on my post-it-inerary, but I held off on a couple that I guessed wouldn't sell out too quickly. I'll be at the Somerville theater for most flicks, and that's where advance tix are available.
So, let me fill you in on the plan of attack, day by day... I'll rip off the IFFB blurbs for summaries and link to online trailers when I can find them - do check them out!
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Thursday: Teachers, in an OFFICE SPACE-y way, and maybe crossword puzzlers, maybe a shiftless SLACKER-ly drug addict, maybe teenage angst...
I'm taking tomorrow night off from vball so that I don't hafta watch CHALK in my vball togs and race over to the gym at Newton South right after. Also, depending on how I'm feeling, and the crossover/timing of showtimes, I may pick up a ticket for a later evening show of COCAINE ANGEL, IN BETWEEN DAYS, or WORDPLAY, a documentary on the cult of the crossword, focusing on the annual crossword tournament held in Stamford, CT, and featuring interviews with a rainbow of crossword puzzler personalities, including Will Shortz, editor of the NYTimes crossword puzzle, Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, the Indigo Girls, and Mike Mussina.
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Friday: Animated storytelling, Mamet, and Luc Besson's ESCAPE FROM
In the late afternoon I'm hitting the ANIMATED JOURNEYS shorts package at the Coolidge, then back to Davis Square in the evening for William Macy and Joe Mantegna gettin their Mamet on in EDMOND, and finally, the late show of DISTRICT B13.
I'm super keen on soaking in some B13, a French action flick produced by Luc Besson, creator/director of THE PROFESSIONAL and FIFTH ELEMENT. Looks like some beautifully shot kickass martial arts and parkour runner action. Kinetic cinema with heart. I live for that stuff. =)
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Saturday: 21st century mercs, modern undead living, a Poet in NYC, it's funny cuz it's not me, and samurai hyperaction...
SHADOW COMPANY is a documentary on the privatized military - modern day mercenaries, guns, and armies for hire, at war and in battle all over the world today. All five short films in the DEADLY ENCOUNTERS package offer dark thrills, but if I've gotta choose one of them to sell them all I have to go with ZOMBIE-AMERICAN, featuring DAILY SHOW correspondent Ed Helms as a living-impaired fellow trying to make his way in the world, just like anyone else, laughing, loving, unliving... THE LAST ROMANTIC follows the wanderings of an aspiring young poet thru the streets and subways of New York City. He is certain he can make his mark on the literary world, if only he could focus on writing instead of falling... in love with girls on the street, and asleep on park benches. That's right, it's my life story. Shhh... Don't tell anyone...
I follow that up with the COMIC AVENGERS shorts package. Out of this selection of seven funny films, I have to raise DARLING DARLING above the others for its quiet young star power. Michael Cera, George Michael Bluth of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, plays the polite "everyteen" who arrives at his prom date's home perhaps a bit too early. Made to wait for his gal, he is forced to make conversation with her bizarre father. A surefire recipe for painful laughs, no? =)
And what better way to chase all that stimulating celluloid down than with some calm and soothing... STYLIN SWORD-FIGHTIN MIDNIGHT MARTIAL ARTS MADNESS in DEATH TRANCE!!!! =)
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Frack. Me tired. I'll just rattle off the last three flicks I had picked out for viewings now...
AMERICAN BLACKOUT, a documentary on the systematic, structural, disenfranchisement African-American voter population in the U.S. this century. Produced by the notorious Guerrilla News Network.
WORKINGMAN'S DEATH is a documentary on laborers around the world engaged five of the most hazardous and gruesome jobs possible in the 21st century.
GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE... ummm... well... Just check out the trailer. I really can't explain.
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Will try to get myself to leave some festival blog droppings each night, but with the ass-to-movie-theater-seat-molding pace I've set for myself, I can't make any promises.
Keep on keepin on~
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