AFI Dallas

I've spent the last week primarily at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. I managed to see 4 films/film programs. Thought I'd put some short summaries/reviews up here.

The Go-Getter:
Directed by Martin Hynes. 19 year-old Mercer steals a car and goes on a road trip to find his half-brother and tell him that their mom died. What follows is a trip down the Pacific coast and through the American West, accompanied in turn by a slutty girl from his past, a salesman who doesn't take crap from anyone, and the voice, via cellphone, of the girl who owns the car he stole. Overall, a great movie. Beautifully shot, well-acted, great soundtrack by M. Ward. Definitely had an indie movie feel, but not too pretentious. Kind of like a road trip version of Garden State.

Shorts Program 2:
Nice mix of drama, comedy, and horror. I particularly enjoyed "Duck Man" and "Troll Concerto." "BITCH" was hilarious. "Lump" was ridiculously disturbing (I spent the last 5 minutes of that movie squirming, but I guess that just means that the surgery scenes were really well done). "Wanted," "The Listening Dead," and "Last Night" were okay. Still, I have to say that some expert eyes, ears, and taste must have been used to select the movies...Sarah Harris, programming coordinator, sure did a kickass job.
(Full disclosure note: I'm friends with the talented Ms. Harris.)

The Rocket:
Directed by Charles Biname. Biopic of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. It was a beautiful film. Also, if you're a hockey fan, an educational film. I learned a lot that I didn't know about Quebec history (I later did some research on "The Quiet Revolution") and a lot I didn't know about mid-century hockey history. It was released in Canada last year and is due for American theaters in a few months.

Midlothia:
Directed by Bill Sebastian. Don't be mislead by the high rating on IMDB. The theater was packed with fans of this movie, mainly b/c everyone knew someone in it. The three people I went with knew the director/screenwriter/actor, and according to the three of them, the movie was terrible. I thought the plot was tiresome, the dialogue misguided, and the acting occasionally stilted. My boyfriend dubbed it "THE WORST MOVIE [HE'D] EVER SEEN." When I told him that he had to be exaggerating, he would only reiterate his opinion: "I've walked out of better movies." I was silently laughing for the last 30 minutes of the movie. [Spoiler Warning] The movie tagline says, "It's kind of like therapy, only with guns and booze." In actuality, it was like a bad soap opera, just a series of shocking revelations about this group of four drunk friends (apparently sponsored by Shiner, beer of Texans!). He's leaving! She has a gun! He kisses her! He's not leaving! He's getting married! She's a slut! He has a shotgun! He's colorblind! He's gay! He loves him! He's committed suicide! He's NOT committed suicide! She got an abortion! He hates him! He's an alcoholic! She hates him! She didn't get an abortion! He's leaving! He's making the gay guy leave! She wrote a story about a girl who gets an abortion...and then there are aliens! (in the story, not the movie, thankfully) He leaves! Other people stand there! Seriously, terrible movie. Towards the end I started irreverently whispering possible new revelations into my boyfriend's ear. (He's dying of cancer! His wife and kids are fictional! He loves the gay guy back!) We all bailed prior to the Q&A, where we may not have been able to hide our dislike of the movie. There were some good things about the movie. There were about 7 good lines. Some of the shots were interesting. Some actors were better than others. It was a movie based on a play, which is difficult to do well. Still, all in all I would have preferred to see Diggers, our original plan.