Dec 10
The festival was not as well attended as I'd expected. At the free screening in the Square most of the viewers were people who passed, saw that something was going on and decided to stop and see what it was, rather than people who'd come specifically for the movies. I don't think that many people actually came and stayed around for both films. There were only seven people at the screening of ¡Salud!, and fewer than 20 in the audience for God Grew Tired of Us (both of which I really enjoyed, just as I had expected I would).
On the other hand, the screening of the Caribbean shorts* was sold out. It was evident that most of the audience were friends with or related to the featured Barbadian film-maker, Annalee Davis, and had come out to support her, which was wonderful.
I know that home drums should beat first and all that, but I freely admit that of the three shorts I saw, my favourite by far was Murder in Mesopotamia. Subtitled Fear & Vengeance in a Caribbean Village, Murder recorded the reactions of a small Vincentian community to a young woman's murder. The film was wonderfully composed, perfectly paced, and absolutely riveting; it was a better movie in 15 minutes than some of the 2-hour long features I've seen this year.
* BIFF trivia: Peter Minshall and Wendell Manwarren (of 3Canal) appeared in two of the three Caribbean shorts that were screened. Just a funny little coincidence, especially since the films were about very different subject matter (Carnival in Trinidad and the free movement of people in the CSME) and were by my estimate, filmed roughly eight years apart. ↵
How was The Savages?
Jonathan · December 11, 2007
“The Savages” was not what I expected, which was a hyper-self-aware, slightly absurd indie movie a la “The Squid and the Whale”. I expected it to be quite mannered, but instead it was subtle, true to life, and touching. With an ending that was hopeful, without being cheesy. I know that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney were the big acting draws for the movie, but the guy who played the elderly father in the movie (Philip Bosco) was so good; he stole the show for me.
I liked that the movie avoided being sentimental, and that it didn’t make the mistake of having big long expositions about the characters’ pasts so as to explain (or resolve) the nature of their relationships, and that it didn’t try to make you feel sorry for anyone.
The movie felt a bit slow, but there was obviously a reason for that. And I was very aware that the film was too highbrow for me to get most of the important references that were being made.
titilayo · December 11, 2007
The premise of The Savages reminded me somewhat of You Can Count On Me—also starring Laura Linney, also about siblings. That was an excellent film. And it wasn’t “too highbrow” at all.
Jonathan Ali · December 11, 2007
When I say “too highbrow” I don’t mean it in a negative way. And the highbrowness wasn’t gratuitous. But there were some theatre references that I just didn’t get because that’s completely not my arena. I don’t even know if they were really that important — maybe it just felt that way because I knew I was missing them.
titilayo · December 11, 2007