Monday, April 20th
The day opens with an interesting documentary called Kassim the Dream (***). It's about light middleweight boxer Kassim "the Dream" Ouma, who was kidnapped at a very young age and forced to be a child soldier for Uganda. While in the military, he took up boxing and took advantage of a chance to defect to the USA. He would later become a very good boxer and win the IBF title. The film follows his boxing exploits as he simultaneously tries to win a pardon so he can return home ot Uganda and see his family. Kassim is an interesting figure in that he doesn't seem to be too concerned with the human rights aspect of what happened to him, and is willing to keep quiet on that front so he doesn't ruffle feathers with the Ugandan president and gets a chance to go home. He is a fairly aloof figure for most of the film, except for some very emotional moments near the end of the film. Kassim is a fascinating person and the doc does a good job of exploring different facets of his life, including the Irish-American family who takes him in as one of their own.
Then it was time for Animation Extravagazna 1, and this one was far less successful, although there were a few standouts.
Garbage Angels (**) shows several objects in a trash heap coming to life. It was cute, but felt very derivative of Toy Story.
French Roast (***1/2) was a very funny short following a businessman in a Paris cafe who finds that he forgot his wallet and cannot pay for the cup of coffee, so he keeps ordering more cups until he can figure out what to do. The humor escalates in this one nicely and has a clever payoff.
Crew 54 (**1/2) is a Bulgarian film following an elderly veteran's recollection of the war he fought in. This one is a little too clever for it's own good. There's only so many times you can go into slow motion and blast a Radiohead song before there's diminishing returns.
Articles of War (***) is an emotional tale of a WW2 bomber pilot who starts to feel regret for bombing civilian locations, told in a letter to his father. The narration is moving, and it avoids being overly preachy by including multiple dimensions in the pilot's monologue.
I Am So Proud of You (*1/2) is a biographical short drawn mostly in stick figures. It's not without funny moments, but most of it is absurdist Adult Swim-style humor that honestly goes right over my head. Might be better if you get baked beforehand.
Bill Plympton presents Hot Dog (***), the third film in his Dog series. I haven't seen the first two, but this one is really funny. It follows an oddly shaped dog struggling to find a place where he belongs. Here he attempts to be a fire dog but fails in hilarious fashion. (8/10)
Chump and Clump (****) is so far the most fun I've had at the festival. The two odd looking title characters meet at a bus station, waiting for a bus that only shows once a week. Slowly they start to bond over alcohol and this eventually escalates to more alcohol and on to weed and shrooms. The two are so stoned that when the bus finally arrives, they have a Herculean struggle in trying to make it to the door before the driver leaves. Very inventive and absolutely hilarious.
Back to more serious subject matter with the next film, another sports oriented documentary. Living is Winning (***) tells the story of Andrew Johnston, a triathlete whose career was derailed by being diagnosed with Leukemia. This is the kind of documentary that really stands out above others because it takes a serious subject and injects a good dose of humor. You'll really enjoy getting to hear Drew and his family and friends talk about these events. The film is pretty candid about the relationship with Drew and his wife, including their sparring over Drew's involvement in dangerous high speed cycling races, which ended with him finally agreeing to switch to Triathlons. Drew is a compelling person who doesn't want to give up, and his battle to get back on the course is very inspirational, especially for someone like me whose been sitting on his ass all week watching films. Drew and his wife were both in attendance for the Q&A.
Last year's festival featured a couple of fun low budget horror film called Make Out With Violence and Dance of the Dead. That spurred me to check out the late screening of Killer Movie (*1/2), a horror film about a serial killer loose in a small North Dakota town while a reality show is being made. The reality conceit has been played out by now, but this one still had some potential. Kaley Cuoco has some really funny moments as a fictional Paris Hilton clone, but the rest of the cast fails to be engaging or create any characters worth caring about. The suspense moments are boring and unimaginative, and most of the humor falls flat. The director has clearly seen lots of horror films in his day because this one is filled with every cliche in the book, but he's clueless about how to retain the success of any of them.
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