April 12, 2004 - Indulging in Film

We started the day with a visit to the Men's Warehouse in Center City, because The Gryphon needed to have a suit for several different upcoming events. He got himself completely styled out, with a charcoal Versini suit and a number of cool shirts and ties.

We had enough time afterwards for brunch at the Marathon Grill before heading to the first film, at the Prince Music Theater.

The first film was called The Park, directed by Wai Keung Lau, and it's a Hong Kong horror movie in 3D. It sounds much more interesting than it was. The best part about it was that we met up with some of The Gryphon's friends.

One of them, Genevieve "Eve" Okupniak, had done a short film which was called Tattoo, a black and white silent film using stop action. In it, a tattoo gradually takes over a sleeping woman. Although it was simple and took up a fraction of the screen time as The Park, The Tattoo was far scarier.

The feature was laughable at best: not bad enough to be a cheesy B movie, and not good enough to be scary. It wasn't 3D all the way through: they would flash a warning for you to put the glasses on. But most of the 3D sections weren't even worth donning the glasses. Few things came at you or even seemed three-dimensional.

The plot — such as it is — is about a haunted fun park where a group of teenagers go in search of the missing brother of one teen, Yen. The best character in the film was a spiritualist, who happens to be Yen's mom. She has a special camera that can capture spirits, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of the film. This concept that the camera can see things the naked eye can't is explored, as well, with a digital video camera one of the teens owns.

One of the most amusing aspects of this movie is that at the end, there is actually a curtain call, where all the characters come back to smile at the camera.

The second film we saw Saturday was Josee, The Tiger and The Fish, directed by Isshin Inudo. This is a Japanese drama, and it's about a college age guy, Tsuneo, who befriends a young handicapped woman, Josee. Of course, this being a Japanese movie, naturally the romance must be complicated. Don't look for any easy Hollywood endings.

The story is told as a flashback, after we see some photos taken on the beach when Tsuneo and Josee took a special trip. Because he's speaking about her in the past tense, we suspect they are no longer together but we don't know what happened.

Symbolically, the tiger probably represents Tsuneo, because Josee is clearly the fish: her legs don't work, and she's developed the habit of diving from furniture onto the floor. Significantly, the only time we see a tiger in the film, he is caged and pacing.

Overall, Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish is a moving film that avoids easy sentiment and opts, instead, for more genuine moments.

We really didn't have time for dinner, so The Gryphon bought us wraps at the grocery store across from The Bridge, where we were seeing the next film.

Finally that night, we saw Nine Souls, another Japanese film, directed by Toshiaki Toyoda. It's difficult to put this in a genre, but I'd say it was a drama. Basically, it's a prison escape movie, about nine men who escape prison and what happens to them on the run.

Interestingly, they have freedom and yet they're all still chained to their past, so that they all want to go back where they came from, where of course they meet some sort of karmic fate. As bloody as it sometimes was, and as crude as it was at other times, the movie made a surprisingly emotional impact.

At the heart of the movie is an unlike pairing: a man who killed his son and a boy who killed his father. Naturally, they are at odds, with the older man still trying to act like the father for the entire group, and the son wanting to rebel against that authority.

Parts of the film are very dreamlike, where you view things through the fantasies of the different escaped convicts. In this way, we get to see the softer side of these ruined, dangerous, desperate men. These are classic anti-heroes: men with fatal flaws who, nonetheless, have human dreams and aspirations that are often moving and even sweet.

Sunday was our day to see short films, again by coincidence rather than by plan. We started with One Weird One X 10, which was a collection of 10 unusual short films. The showing was at the International House at the University of Pennsylvania campus, and we ate dinner first at the Sitar India buffet nearby.

The program book description said these were short films that "deal with your standard androids, zombies, cannibals and robots, but in very weird ways."

A few of these stood out. One of my favorites was Robot Boy, directed by Ted Passon, which is about a boy whose parents give him robot parts, which dooms him to outsider status until he finds a girl who's determined to build a rocket and escape.

Another favorite was y did Yodo figt Count Duku? directed by Sean McBride. It was an animated film using the voice track from a 5-year-old boy talking about the Star Wars films, along with drawings he'd done, based on the films. The result was buoyant, silly fun.

Other films shown were Baby Eat Baby by Michael S. Reich and Jeremiah Zagar, a disturbing short where a man prepares and cooks a baby as his animated neighbors cook a chicken; Dead Broke by Patrick Hasson, an artfully done short about a down-on-his luck man who lives with four roommates and their cats begins stealing the cats' food; Inhuman Creation Station by David Deneen, a music video where humanoids build other humanoids in a Metropolis-inspired factory; Lawrence of Zombania by Brian Muth and Andrew Laputka, a badly paced zombie parody; Looking for Something Special by Dmitry Torgovitsky, a modern day Reefer Madness, where several coked up friends get overly emotional with drastic consequences; Rat to Whatever by Alex Strang, a brilliantly paced hand-draw animation piece; Soccer Time by Edmond Hawkins, a very silly one-minute film where two guys have their game of soccer interrupted by a strange, animated pink nemesis; and Wiley Jack-a-napes by Anthony Mastanduno, a short film done as a silent movie for the National Film Challenge.

Our last showing for the weekend was the Best of the 48-Hour Film Project. This project challenges filmmakers to make a short film within 48 hours. Everything must be done in that time: it must be scripted, filmed, edited and completed in that time.

Philadelphia had 44 teams sign up, only 20 of which finished the film on time. They showed us the top 10. Each film team had to choose a genre out of a hat, like a Western, Fantasy or Horror. Everybody had to use the same prop, a Rolodex with cards; the same character, M. Drake, magician; and the same line of dialogue: "Get a move on. There's no time to lose."

The group that made the most creative use of the prop, Citizen Wumpus, did a superhero genre movie called Rolodex Girl. Her powers come from flipping through a Rolodex, picking out cards and reading them. Those cards give her the ability written on them. That was a cute film and a lot of fun.

The film that walked away with the most prizes, including the top prize, at the end of the night was Hove Lurts. It was a short film that nonetheless had all the characteristics of a romantic comedy. The editing, the scripting, the acting, everything was excellent.

Hove Lurts, by Flim Flam Film, features a man who, when he gets nervous, has trouble speaking normally. He wants to propose to his girlfriend but is afraid he'll mess up all the words. His psychiatrist agrees to go with him. Meanwhile, we discover that his girlfriend can't walk normally when she thinks about him but keeps falling down unless she's dancing or something. Her best friend agrees to attend go with her to the dinner that night, too, with comic results. Ultimately, the couples end up switching, and all four then turn to the camera and say, "Let's get married!"

Another favorite was Copcakes, by IBOx Films, which was a cop film with a particularly obnoxious Tom Selleck wannabe as one of the cops. The villain is a hapless magician who steals EZ-Bake Ovens from children's parties.

A horror film, True Identity, by Cofi, featured a clown whose car breaks down near an insane asylum. He goes inside to ask for help, and while he's waiting, the inmates come out and steal his clothes. One of the most dangerous criminals smears the makeup onto his own face, escapes. Interestingly, we met one of the actors in the parking garage afterwards, waiting for the valets to return our cars. He'd played one of the inmates.

He asked me if I was involved in the project and I said no, which was funny because so many of my friends had been film majors in college. None of them in the local area, at least, are currently making films. He said he mostly does theater work in New Jersey, and his name is Bruce something.

Other films were a mockumentary called Birders by Back Your Brothers Play, about bird watchers and a self-labeled ecoterrorist bent on deterring them; a western called Lunch Break by Bredstik Entertainment, which featured an office worker who at high noon each day slips into an alternate reality; a romance called Unclaym'd Heart by Bughouse Productions, which was a whimsical Claymation piece; an action/adventure calledThe Delivery by CW Syndicate, about a pizza delivery driver whose car is commandeered by a desperate man; a horror film, Jimmy by OSBX about a man with deadly bad luck; and a fantasy called Client 3815 by WC4, where two men employed at a dream factory flip the wrong switch and end up inside a client's dream.

It was a great weekend. We got to see a lot of films we wouldn't get to see otherwise. I'm looking forward to next weekend, which should also be another sampling of interesting films.

Other thoughts on the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival:

April 19, 2004 - Beyond Tragic Consequences

Musings on the 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival:

April 11, 2005 - Film Style 5+

April 12, 2005 - Short and Sweet

April 18, 2005 - A Different View

April 19, 2005 - Last of the Fest

Musings an Online Journal of Sorts By Alyce Wilson
April 12, 2004 - Indulging in Film
	This was the first weekend of the 13th annual Philadelphia Film Festival. The films are actually showing during the week, as well, but The Gryphon and I are only attending films on the weekends. We each purchased a 10-pass, which allows us to attend ten movies for a slight reduction in price. The advantage is that it guarantees us tickets to shows that might later be sold out. We saw five films this weekend and will see five the following weekend. Saturday ended up being Asian cinema day for us. There were films from a variety of other nations playing that day, but these were the ones we chose to attend.
We started the day with a visit to the Men's Warehouse in Center City, because The Gryphon needed to have a suit for several different upcoming events. He got himself completely styled out, with a charcoal Versini suit and a number of cool shirts and ties. We had enough time afterwards for brunch at the Marathon Grill before heading to the first film, at the Prince Music Theater. The first film was called The Park, directed by Wai Keung Lau, and it's a Hong Kong horror movie in 3D. It sounds much more interesting than it was. The best part about it was that we met up with some of The Gryphon's friends. One of them, Genevieve "Eve" Okupniak, had done a short film which was called Tattoo, a black and white silent film using stop action. In it, a tattoo gradually takes over a sleeping woman. Although it was simple and took up a fraction of the screen time as The Park, The Tattoo was far scarier. The feature was laughable at best: not bad enough to be a cheesy B movie, and not good enough to be scary. It wasn't 3D all the way through: they would flash a warning for you to put the glasses on. But most of the 3D sections weren't even worth donning the glasses. Few things came at you or even seemed three-dimensional. The plot — such as it is — is about a haunted fun park where a group of teenagers go in search of the missing brother of one teen, Yen. The best character in the film was a spiritualist, who happens to be Yen's mom. She has a special camera that can capture spirits, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of the film. This concept that the camera can see things the naked eye can't is explored, as well, with a digital video camera one of the teens owns. One of the most amusing aspects of this movie is that at the end, there is actually a curtain call, where all the characters come back to smile at the camera. The second film we saw Saturday was Josee, The Tiger and The Fish, directed by Isshin Inudo. This is a Japanese drama, and it's about a college age guy, Tsuneo, who befriends a young handicapped woman, Josee. Of course, this being a Japanese movie, naturally the romance must be complicated. Don't look for any easy Hollywood endings. The story is told as a flashback, after we see some photos taken on the beach when Tsuneo and Josee took a special trip. Because he's speaking about her in the past tense, we suspect they are no longer together but we don't know what happened. Symbolically, the tiger probably represents Tsuneo, because Josee is clearly the fish: her legs don't work, and she's developed the habit of diving from furniture onto the floor. Significantly, the only time we see a tiger in the film, he is caged and pacing. Overall, Josee, The Tiger, and The Fish is a moving film that avoids easy sentiment and opts, instead, for more genuine moments. We really didn't have time for dinner, so The Gryphon bought us wraps at the grocery store across from The Bridge, where we were seeing the next film. Finally that night, we saw Nine Souls, another Japanese film, directed by Toshiaki Toyoda. It's difficult to put this in a genre, but I'd say it was a drama. Basically, it's a prison escape movie, about nine men who escape prison and what happens to them on the run. Interestingly, they have freedom and yet they're all still chained to their past, so that they all want to go back where they came from, where of course they meet some sort of karmic fate. As bloody as it sometimes was, and as crude as it was at other times, the movie made a surprisingly emotional impact. At the heart of the movie is an unlike pairing: a man who killed his son and a boy who killed his father. Naturally, they are at odds, with the older man still trying to act like the father for the entire group, and the son wanting to rebel against that authority. Parts of the film are very dreamlike, where you view things through the fantasies of the different escaped convicts. In this way, we get to see the softer side of these ruined, dangerous, desperate men. These are classic anti-heroes: men with fatal flaws who, nonetheless, have human dreams and aspirations that are often moving and even sweet. Sunday was our day to see short films, again by coincidence rather than by plan. We started with One Weird One X 10, which was a collection of 10 unusual short films. The showing was at the International House at the University of Pennsylvania campus, and we ate dinner first at the Sitar India buffet nearby. The program book description said these were short films that "deal with your standard androids, zombies, cannibals and robots, but in very weird ways." A few of these stood out. One of my favorites was Robot Boy, directed by Ted Passon, which is about a boy whose parents give him robot parts, which dooms him to outsider status until he finds a girl who's determined to build a rocket and escape. Another favorite was y did Yodo figt Count Duku? directed by Sean McBride. It was an animated film using the voice track from a 5-year-old boy talking about the Star Wars films, along with drawings he'd done, based on the films. The result was buoyant, silly fun. Other films shown were Baby Eat Baby by Michael S. Reich and Jeremiah Zagar, a disturbing short where a man prepares and cooks a baby as his animated neighbors cook a chicken; Dead Broke by Patrick Hasson, an artfully done short about a down-on-his luck man who lives with four roommates and their cats begins stealing the cats' food; Inhuman Creation Station by David Deneen, a music video where humanoids build other humanoids in a Metropolis-inspired factory; Lawrence of Zombania by Brian Muth and Andrew Laputka, a badly paced zombie parody; Looking for Something Special by Dmitry Torgovitsky, a modern day Reefer Madness, where several coked up friends get overly emotional with drastic consequences; Rat to Whatever by Alex Strang, a brilliantly paced hand-draw animation piece; Soccer Time by Edmond Hawkins, a very silly one-minute film where two guys have their game of soccer interrupted by a strange, animated pink nemesis; and Wiley Jack-a-napes by Anthony Mastanduno, a short film done as a silent movie for the National Film Challenge. Our last showing for the weekend was the Best of the 48-Hour Film Project. This project challenges filmmakers to make a short film within 48 hours. Everything must be done in that time: it must be scripted, filmed, edited and completed in that time. Philadelphia had 44 teams sign up, only 20 of which finished the film on time. They showed us the top 10. Each film team had to choose a genre out of a hat, like a Western, Fantasy or Horror. Everybody had to use the same prop, a Rolodex with cards; the same character, M. Drake, magician; and the same line of dialogue: "Get a move on. There's no time to lose." The group that made the most creative use of the prop, Citizen Wumpus, did a superhero genre movie called Rolodex Girl. Her powers come from flipping through a Rolodex, picking out cards and reading them. Those cards give her the ability written on them. That was a cute film and a lot of fun. The film that walked away with the most prizes, including the top prize, at the end of the night was Hove Lurts. It was a short film that nonetheless had all the characteristics of a romantic comedy. The editing, the scripting, the acting, everything was excellent. Hove Lurts, by Flim Flam Film, features a man who, when he gets nervous, has trouble speaking normally. He wants to propose to his girlfriend but is afraid he'll mess up all the words. His psychiatrist agrees to go with him. Meanwhile, we discover that his girlfriend can't walk normally when she thinks about him but keeps falling down unless she's dancing or something. Her best friend agrees to attend go with her to the dinner that night, too, with comic results. Ultimately, the couples end up switching, and all four then turn to the camera and say, "Let's get married!" Another favorite was Copcakes, by IBOx Films, which was a cop film with a particularly obnoxious Tom Selleck wannabe as one of the cops. The villain is a hapless magician who steals EZ-Bake Ovens from children's parties. A horror film, True Identity, by Cofi, featured a clown whose car breaks down near an insane asylum. He goes inside to ask for help, and while he's waiting, the inmates come out and steal his clothes. One of the most dangerous criminals smears the makeup onto his own face, escapes. Interestingly, we met one of the actors in the parking garage afterwards, waiting for the valets to return our cars. He'd played one of the inmates. He asked me if I was involved in the project and I said no, which was funny because so many of my friends had been film majors in college. None of them in the local area, at least, are currently making films. He said he mostly does theater work in New Jersey, and his name is Bruce something. Other films were a mockumentary called Birders by Back Your Brothers Play, about bird watchers and a self-labeled ecoterrorist bent on deterring them; a western called Lunch Break by Bredstik Entertainment, which featured an office worker who at high noon each day slips into an alternate reality; a romance called Unclaym'd Heart by Bughouse Productions, which was a whimsical Claymation piece; an action/adventure calledThe Delivery by CW Syndicate, about a pizza delivery driver whose car is commandeered by a desperate man; a horror film, Jimmy by OSBX about a man with deadly bad luck; and a fantasy called Client 3815 by WC4, where two men employed at a dream factory flip the wrong switch and end up inside a client's dream. It was a great weekend. We got to see a lot of films we wouldn't get to see otherwise. I'm looking forward to next weekend, which should also be another sampling of interesting films. Other thoughts on the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival: April 19, 2004 - Beyond Tragic Consequences Musings on the 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival: April 11, 2005 - Film Style 5+ April 12, 2005 - Short and Sweet April 18, 2005 - A Different View April 19, 2005 - Last of the Fest
Moral: Just because a film is foreign doesn't make it good. Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson Musings Index
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