The film of the day, watching Indian Boundary Line is inspiring. It's a film about a seemingly small and insignificant issue, the renaming of a street from Indian Boundary to Rogers Ave. The Film is an extremely well shot, almost nostalgic but still incredibly effective. Timeless, even, although continually comforting in its warmth and intelligent use of voiceover narration. Excellent stuff.
Get Out of the Car - 2010 - 34 minutes - Directed by Thom Andersen
Referred to as a 'city symphony' project, I'm not sure I agree with that hefty praise (real city symphonies: Berlin, The Man with the Movie Camera, My Winnipeg), Get Out of the Car is a clever curiosity, a series of short shots of fading advertisements along the L.A. skyline cut together with snippets of conversation and music. Pretty great stuff, especially on 16mm. Pretty.
Sandcastle - 2010 - 96 minutes - Directed by Boo Junfeng
I know this has nothing to do with the movie, but the director of Curling, Denis Cote, totally sat next to me during the film. I didn't say anything to him because I'm not one of those guys, but still. Oh yeah, the movie. Sandcastle is a fairly assured first feature from a young, Singaporean director, and it is sophisticated in its illustration of some complex themes surrounding the murky communist history of the protagonist's father. Though the film lacks something in the way of innovation, still a worthwhile effort and absolutely deserving of its place on the program.
A Silk Letter - 2010 - 50 minutes - Directed by Kang Sangwoo
Though the circumstances surrounding A Silk Letter are tragic, director Kang Sangwoo being threatened with prison, the film just doesn't hold up. The first half hour is a touching meditation on duty, companionship and fear, and the last twenty minutes is a kind of inappropriately impressionistic sequence about his cat. Though you get the sense that Kang is working to draw parallels between the protagonist's lover and the cat, it really doesn't pan out very well. That the camerawork loses its finesse during these final moments provides an assist in erasing any good will the first half of the film had built up.
The following five short films were part of a program called Apichatpong and Hirabayashi, and was to represent the two masters' excellent work in the short medium.
After the mess that was A Silk Letter, The Anthem was just the kind of vital, immediate, fun and energetic short to lift your spirits. Really really great.
Aramaki - 2010 - 26 minutes - Directed by Hirabayashi Isamu
My favorite short in the Apichatpong and Hirabayashi program, this is an elongated shot of a man preparing for something we don't really comprehend until a few minutes from the end. He splashes meat on his bandaged body after ridding himself of almost all clothing. The cartoon finish is a nice touch that works to transition the protagonist from life to death in a stylistically choice fashion.
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee - 2010 - 18 minutes - Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
A prequel of sorts of the feature length Uncle Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives, Apichatpong is at his best here, his camera drifting across an almost serene yet inescapably violent setting, lingering on details as the voiceover works to suck us into the drama of the house.
Luminous People - 2010 - 15 minutes - Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
A journey to scatter a relative's ashes shot on Super 8mm with a voiceover detailing a dream. Evocative and powerful, Apichatpong makes this kind of work seem effortless.
Shikasha - 2010 - 10 minutes - Directed by Hirabayashi Isamu
Pretty much terrible. Boring, pedantic, everything that Aramaki was not.
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