Film festival season has rolled around again, and I’m in the midst of SFIAAFF 2009. Before I dive into the movie reviews, let me share a bit of the wisdom (?) I’ve gleaned over my past 8 years (Really. At least one a year since 2001.) as a film festival attendee.
- Never read the long film guide. Each movie’s description will always be glowing, because it’s most likely written by the person who picked the film for the festival. It will also likely tell you too much about the movie; I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to know what happens before I actually watch the movie. For all these reasons, I usually make all my movie-going decisions from the mini-guide alone. One or two sentences and the picture is usually enough for me.
- Look out for certain red flags in the description:
- existential = depressing
- nuanced = boring
- important = a self-important, preachy, condescending political statement that nevertheless manages to insult your intelligence at the same time.
- Never, under any circumstances, ever see a movie that has won the Grand Jury prize at another festival. It is most likely “important,” or “nuanced,” or—the horror!— “existential.” Also, it is not a “movie.” It is a “film.” It is, without exception, a piece of cinema that is weighed down by its own pomposity and bombast, and so far out of touch with the primary purpose of the movies—to entertain, for God’s sake—as to be laughable. Once you stop crying.
- By contrast, any movie that has won an audience award has a pretty good chance of being enjoyable and entertaining. A good bet.
- It’s not a good film festival until you see something truly awful. I mean, something so terrible that it makes you want to tear your eyes out of your head and wish you’d spent that time clipping your toenails instead, because at least you’d have gotten something out of the time you spent. It’s not really a complete film festival experience without the crap.
OK. With those in mind, let’s talk about this year’s crop of movies, which have been decidedly underwhelming. Which I am brokenhearted about, since SFIAAFF can usually be relied upon to deliver the highest percentage of happiness (3+ star ratings) of all the festivals I attend. There weren’t that many films in the festival to begin with, and most of them seem to be of the depressing variety. 
In fact, the best things I’ve seen in this festival have all been shorts.
- Tokyo Sonata – 3 stars
All of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s (king of the solid 3) films get weird in the middle, and in some of his movies (Bright Future) it works better than others. It didn’t work so well in this one. Though the performances, especially those of the two leads, were quite good, the different parts of the movie didn’t mesh well and seemed tacked together. It was definitely worth seeing, but also not Kurosawa’s best effort. On another note, the director himself is a pretty cool guy; I enjoyed the Q&A they held after the screening.
- Whatever It Takes – 3 stars
The only documentary we’re seeing in this festival, this one flirted with a 4 through most of the screening, until the last few minutes. The end was a bit too pat, but aside from that, the documentary was very well made (love those watercolor transitions!). Recommended. - 3rd I South Asian International Shorts 2009
This shorts program is a fixture at the festival, but I had never seen it before this year. After having seen it, I will definitely try to watch again next year. This program was probably one of the best shorts programs I’ve ever seen; I only disliked one of the shorts, and the rest were all very well made. The clear stand-out here was Midnight Lost & Found, a story set in a modern India we never get to see in slick Bollywood productions. Good acting, smart script.
- Kanchivaram: A Communist Confession – 3 stars
A tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, this movie also danced in 4 territory through most of its duration. It was the second most depressing movie I’ve ever seen, after Hayao Miyazaki’s Grave of the Fireflies; it was like the book of Job without the happy ending. Exceptionally well made and acted, this movie got bogged down in the tedium of its own tragedy about 2/3 of the way in, and started losing me. Automatic loss of a star if I wonder how long it is till the end. That said, it was quite a good movie, and worth seeing once.
- It’s Easy Because You’re Beautiful
This shorts program made the festival complete, because it had some really terrible pieces in it—I mean really awful, with untalented amateur actors and a director who didn’t understand that “low budget” doesn’t necessarily mean “low quality.” That said, it contained 3 really great shorts: The Postcard and A Happy Thermometer, from South Korea and Japan, respectively, and the radiant His Wedding, which made the best use of split-screen I’ve ever seen. I’d love to see a full-length film by this director.
- We weren’t sure what to expect from Ocean of Pearls, since it has the rare distinction of having won both a Grand Jury prize and an audience award. We were curious to know which distinction would be more of a testament to the overall quality of the film, and it turns out, tragically, that the Grand Jury prize is the kiss of death. I give this move 2 stars, for insulting my intelligence, being preachy and condescending at the same time, and worse, being utterly, utterly predictable. Seriously. A 4th grader could have come up with this plot. The film was competently made, and the lead actor is really quite talented, but that couldn’t save this 94-minute-long cliche from itself.
Also: props to the festival again for being so well run. The older and bigger SFIFF should take some lessons. Especially about the damn tear ballot!
Got a couple more left: more to come!