The film festival officially finished last night so that excitement is over for another year. It was a good one, for sure.
I saw a bunch of great stuff over the weekend, starting with Shivababy which has to be one of the most anxiety inducing films I've seen in a long time. It's a very simple premise - a young woman, just about to finish college, goes to a shiva with her parents. It's full of old family friends and acquaintances, including her ex-girlfriend who her mother tells her not to talk to, the guy she's been banging for money on the side, his wife and daughter (who she didn't know existed until the moment they arrived) and various older women who want to either set her up with a future husband or someone who can give her a job. Mainly with the very people she wants to avoid the most!
I also saw a documentary about the friendship between Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, all told in their own words through interviews and letters and diary entries. Such talented writers! And a fascinating and complicated friendship.
I also saw The Eyes of Tammy-Faye which is about tele-evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker. Stunning performance from Jessica Chastain. She's barely recognizable at times. But what a horrible story. Such greed.
Yesterday was a triple-header starting off with a classic 50's melodrama in the form of Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind. I've seen it before, but it was just as good as I remembered. Rock Hudson being manly, Lauren Bacall being gorgeous and acerbic and lots of people with too much money behaving badly.
One Second was a beautiful Chinese film about film. Set in the '60s it was about a man who escaped a forced about camp after receiving a letter telling him his daughter appears in a newsreel. The lengths he goes to to see her in said newsreel are extraordinary and bring him into contact with a raft of fascinating characters. Definitely one of my favorites!
Finally, I saw Titane which won the Palme d'or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. What an audacious film! Part body horror, part commentary on the objectification of women and all twisted. I can't claim to understand everything going on in there, but you have to give points for consistently making brave filmmaking choices. I just wish I'd understood any one of the characters' motivations...
And that's it for another year. Noe I need to focus on getting through to the end of the year at work and preparing for Christmas.
What are your goals this week?
Those sound very interesting. I'll have to see if they're available anywhere to watch.
ReplyDelete