BUFF 2005 opening night
Apr. 7th, 2005 12:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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cthulhia and friend. I felt like I had better luck than usual, with these mixed-bag events: I liked it more than I didn't.God is So Close Now Nonsense tale set to sketchy, punchy animation. That's about it. Short. No complaints.
Nightlight The pretentious art piece. Views of Boston's streets and skyline shot with time-lapse photography, over and over and over again, and playing around with the camera's focus and aperture the whole time. So I not only found it boring, but headache-inducing.
Bad habits I picked up from the SF marathon came out towards the end (sounds of hope when the shot would fade to black, then groaning as it faded back in), though I tried to be quiet about it. Razzing the closing credits was probably over the top, though, and I deserved the dirty looks I got.
The first Q&A session featured the guy who made this thing, and the directors of "The Black Balloon". Most people with questions had them for the Nightlight guy, all clearly quite enamored with it. I was rather gobsmacked. Ahtists.
The Black Balloon A trilogy of short films, all in silent monochrome. The first two are whimsical but somber period pieces that belong together; the third is a wacky comedy sketch (with bonus hot goth chick) that had nothing to do with the other two, and could have stood on its own. This imbalance bothered me so much that I didn't applaud it, even though I would have applauded the third piece by itself, or the first two alone.
During the Q&A, I told the directors that I really liked it, but would have liked it so much more if the vampire had a mustache. I was rewarded with appreciative murmurs from throughout the audience. I swear to you that this will make sense if you see the thing yourself.
Thundercrack! (trailer) Intentionally ridiculous trailer for a 1970s Canadian porn/comedy epic shot in the style of a 1950s horror flick, except with more naked Canadians. Had the most (only?) T&A of anything on the evening's venue, and it was just the trailer. The full monty will apparently be shown later in the festival.
Roommate From Hell Straight-up short comedy with extremely literal title. Another triumph of DV and the will of a few people to make something wonderful with just a few bucks, as far as I'm concerned. I'm adding this to the list of shorts I will suggest to the SF marathon people, if I ever get around to giving them my list of things I want to suggest to them.
Sissy Boy Slap Party Why is this film following me around? I have already blogged this. Go away, you silly little movie.
The Meaning of Life Yeah, the Hertzfeldt thing. The figure animation was his typical fun style and the basic premise was nothing but cynical, so I had to like that much. But I question why the rest was there, and suspect that it was just so the animator could tell us the story of how hard he worked on it.
Something Red I liked it, but it could have been tighter. Once the punchline is revealed, the setup looks really long in retrospect.
Broadcast 23 After some deliberation I decided that I don't like this one. Had the main character been a woman rather than a man, and everything else been the same (assuming that the romantic interest probably wouldn't be too picky about the difference), then the film would have been a bald obscenity. As it is, it's just a weak laugh, for the wrong reasons. Meh. (Also, the punchline was telegraphed halfway into it. I said "OHH NOOOO" in call caps.)
Ryan Wonderful, brilliant, beautiful. The gem of the evening. I appreciate how much the program undersold it, so that I was expecting a traditional documentary, not at all the truly unique animated work that I saw. I didn't know that it had won an Oscar until after the show was over, and was not at all surprised to learn it.
in addition
Date: 2005-04-07 02:29 pm (UTC)Nightlight the amazing feat of squeezing 1 minute of content into an 9 minute film. The comments I heard were veiled "would make a great seque, but doesn't carry itself on its own". And You had your head in your lap, groaning, during the vaguely interesting part with the ducks.
The Black Balloon the entirely non-convincing period photograph of his lost beloved destroyed the mood for me. But... it sums up the Providence crowd disturbingly well.
Thundercrack! (trailer) not a hope that the whole film will be as enjoyable, really.
Roommate From Hell definitely one of the gems.
The Meaning of Life good, but too long for what it is, and the poor projection resulted in losing a lot of the colorwork at the top of the frame. (Compare with the current Brattle show's screening, if you go, Prog.)
Something Red I would've liked more explanation as to why the guy felt more threatened than the wife, or more reason to punish her, and not just him.
Broadcast 23 the other shoe never dropped. He so prefers his job to his wife that I expected, and would've enjoyed, the twist if it had been consensual.
Ryan I'd really like to see a better reel of this. the poor sound and focus/resolution were frustrating.
Re: in addition
Date: 2005-04-07 03:14 pm (UTC)As for B23: yes, I was in fact thinking that they could have worked in a seduction scene. It would have been no less silly than the Crisco (though it would have been more work), and would have saved the picture.
And Something Red just made no sense up until the (all sense gleefully abandoned) punchline. (Why was the guy surprised to find a dead guy's head attached to a dead guy's shoulders? Why did the mother, hearing there was a dead guy, take her baby along to investigate?) It would have been a little better if it were, from the start, either a more obvious spoof, or a serious take on a somewhat better horror movie. A serious take on a crappy horror movie just makes you look like a crappy movie.