Weekly Goals 12-8-24

 As predicted, I didn't get any writing done this weekend.  I did see five films though...

Kneecap, a fast-paced, very creatively put together documentary about an Irish hip-hop group called Kneecap.  They sing in Irish, which I learned from the film, was not officially recognized as an official language in Northern Ireland until 2022.  Very political, but also a huge amount of fun, I enjoyed this one very much.

Armand is a Norwegian film and wins the prize for being the most confounding film of the Festival for me.  I'm still not sure I liked it or not.  It's about the parents of two kids being called into school to discuss something that happened between them at school.  As the meeting unfolds, more and more about the characters and their relationship is revealed and the more we know, the less certain we can be about what actually happened.  I loved this slow unfolding and the way the mother of the accused child's metal instability was revealed.  But toward the end of the film, the filmmaker took things in a new direction that was jarring because it was so unlike the rest of the storytelling.  I wish they'd either introduced this slightly fantastical element earlier, or not done it at all.

The Sweet East is one young girl's journey through the Eastern States after running away from a class trip.  She meets a bunch of different people along the way, all of whom want something from her because of the way she looks.  Part coming of age story and part social commentary/critique, this one features a star studded cast of hot young things including Talia Ryder, Earl Cave, Jacob Elordi and the woman who plays Sydney in The Bear.  I enjoyed this one, particularly Simon Rex playing a white supremacist.  Dude sure can play a sexual predator...

Janet Planet sees the adult world through the eyes of a lonely, slightly odd, 11-year-old.  After begging to come home from camp, Lacey spends the summer with her mother, Janet, watching her relationships with the people around her as they blaze and fade.  Janet is still her entire world at this point in Lacey's life, the sun around which she orbits, but you can sense that this stage is coming close to ending.  I thought this one was kind of beautiful and really captures that end-of-childhood vibe.

And finally, The Substance.  Another social commentary about the way women look and are looked at, but far less subtle than The Sweet East.  Demi Moore plays a once-hot actress called Elisabeth Sparkle who is now fronting a morning exercise program.  When the studio executive (a career-best Dennis Quaid) ditches her for being too old, she is desperate enough to try this mysterious thing called The Substance.  A new, younger, better you is created through taking this, but the catch is, each of you only gets 7 days at a time.  And if this is not adhered to, the consequences are... not pretty.  This one wins the award for out-bloodying Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino in the final scenes and for making several people in the audience faint.  Body horror at it s finest!

And that was the official end to the Festival.  There is one more film tonight - an anniversary screening of Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures - which I'm going to..  I was at the original premiere way back in the 1990s because in those days, I worked for the Film Festival so it feels like I should be there.

This week is another busy one with a show on Wednesday, the orchestra on Thursday and tickets going on sale for the Jazz Festival at work.  But I hope to get at least a little writing done this weekend.

What are your goals this week?