After some major disappointments over the past few days, it was nice to wrap up the festival with a nice trio of films that could not possibly be more different.
Up first was MONTCLAIR, which tells a typical indie story about thirtysomething adults living in the small suburban town of Montclair. Nothing new about the plot but I like the filmmakers decision to mix in the story with footage of actual Montclair residents. The individual stories are fairly basic stuff: Jay and Amy struggle when Jay's work demands get in the way fo their future family planning, Suzanne and Joel have difficulty connecting during her pregnancy, Vaclav hides behind his reclusive nature to cover up an old tragedy, and Bruce is a divorced slacker with dreams of being a comedian.These stories certainly don't burst off the page, but the director tells it with so much empathy and the actors (for the most part) invest so much warmth in their characters that it becomes hard to resist. The standout performance comes from Jeremy Schwartz as Vaclav, a character that threatens to become a stereotype but instead becomes the most winning performance in the film. Interesting trivia note: Bruce is played by Bruce Sinofsky, co-director of acclaimed documentaries BROTHER'S KEEPER and PARADISE LOST.
And next we have BLOOD CAR. This is the movie that led to a pitiful protest by a right winger who stole the festival blimp. It was one of the most anticipated films of the festival, and the buzz during the sold out screening was palpable. Thankfully the movie delivers. BLOOD CAR is set in the future, at a time when gas prices are so high that people refuse to drive. (The first laugh comes when the opening narrator tells us this is only two weeks in the future.) Vegan kindergarten teacher Archie Andrews has plans to make a car that runs on wheat grass, but during an accident eventually discovers that his engine runs on human blood. Sure the political analogy is absurdly direct, but this is actually a solid movie that keeps a consistent comic tone throughout and fits right into the grind house style that Tarantino and Rodriguez just recently paid tribute. The film loses some momentum toward the end as Archie goes off the deep end and director Alex Orr starts using spastic camera movements to convey this. Sure the technique makes sense, but it's not very funny. Other than that, this is a hilarious film that is every bit as crazy as its title suggests. Catch it at a festival near you, because I doubt it will get released, or if it does it will be severely edited. The cut I saw will definitely get an NC-17.
My festival week closed on a strong note with Jeffrey Blitz's ROCKET SCIENCE. Blitz burst onto the scene with SPELLBOUND, a superb documentary about the national spelling bee. Once again, Blitz tells the story of kids with offbeat personalities that participate in school competitions. The only difference is that this one is a fiction film. ROCKET SCIENCE follows Hal Hefner, a kid with a stuttering problem who decides to join the debate team and falls for his teammate. This seems like a typical three act underdog sports drama, and the first act certainly plays out that way. But Blitz has a few surprises in store for us. What's great about this film is that Blitz keeps you guessing every step of the way. At almost every point of the narrative, he avoids doing the obvious and ends up with a real original. The film is certainly quirky, especially with regards to the supporting characters, but in his first fictional film Blitz shows a good talent for making sure that quirkiness never threatens to overpower the film. The only problem is some contrivances with the events in the 3rd act, especially a scene with a cello that is left dangling the rest of the movie. Despite that, this is a smart, funny, and winning fiction debut for Jeffrey Blitz.
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