I saw
Note to self for 2013: don't try to see as many as I can. Really. Three weeks is far, far too long a festival to keep up that kind of pace. Remember three days in the hospital and missing all of best of fest? Okay then.
Films noted with * were directed by women.
Turn Me On, Dammit* I couldn't review this film better than Andrew O'Hehir from Salon: "A dry, whimsical and finally sweet film that tries to turn the conventional teenage sex comedy inside out, and asks very good questions. Is female sexual desire fundamentally different from male desire? If so, why is that true?" Just see it. Landmark has picked it up. And it's available now on Netflix (DVD). Trailer.
A Secret World Lovely story about a Mexican girl who is lost and needs to find her way. The MSPIFF description is terrible (so the link is to Berkeley's IFF) and makes it seem this story is all about anonymous sex. It's not. One girl's story of finding herself, all told from her point of view. The cinematography is stunning. I loved the choices the director Gabriel Mariño about focus and point of view. A Secret World appears to be only in the film fest world, so no trailer, no Netflix. Yet.
Magic Silver* What a delightful tale, for adults and children, about a gnome princess finding her courage, making mistakes, getting help, and making things right again. I find stories like this very healing, especially given all the messages I got growing up about a woman's place in society. Thank you Norway.Trailer. No Netflix yet.
Dakota 38 Jim Miller, a Dakota man, has a dream about 38 men being hanged before knowing the full history of the largest massacre in U.S. history, on our own soil. This film is about the first ride from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Mankato, Minnesota, where the hanging happened. Trailer.
Wuthering Heights* It's the classic story by Emily Bronte beautifully rendered on the screen with one interesting change. Heathcliff isn't a "bum" but an enslaved African Catherine's family thought they could "civilize." Disclosure: I walked out because I struggled a lot with the British accent. So during my illness and recovery, I watched director Andrea Arnold's other films on Netflix, Red Road and Fish Tank. Her work is wonderful. Trailer. Netflix.
Balloon for Allah* This conversation between Muslim women about their roles in the past and present. Beautifully done. Trailer. No Netflix.
The Carrier* This documentary about one Zambian family dealing with HIV and AIDS is just about as perfect documentary about Africans I've seen. These Zambians are saving themselves and need no white savior. Breathtaking cinematography, too. Trailer. Netflix.
The Flat When director Aaron Goldfinger's grandmother dies, she leaves him and the rest of his family her flat, and everything in it. Filming the whole process, Goldfinger finds some surprising Nazi propaganda and goes in search of his family's connection to Nazis. Surprising and powerful. Trailer. Netflix.
My Mother's Farm* is about a determined Latvian woman who was one of the USSR's first independent (as opposed to cooperative) farmers. She was born after Latvia won its independence after WWI and witnessed a lot of history from Latvia getting taken by the USSR to the fall of Communism, yet stayed strong and willful and full of hope. Her daughter filmed her for almost twenty years and made this beautiful and touching documentary. Trailer. Sorry, no Netflix.
Old Man and the Lady is a pitch-perfect, beautiful, and sweet fifteen minute film. Sorry, no Netflix or trailer.
Death of a Superhero I really struggled with the decision to see this film. It's about a white straight guy. Directed by a white straight guy. (I get enough of these from Hollywood). But I'm glad I did see it. I could relate to the story of a young guy with leukemia. I understood the main character long before most people in the audience could. (I still occasionally have days like his). The ending was predictable and softer than I wanted, but I think most of my readers will really like this tender film. Trailer. Netflix.
Winter Light A short and beautiful meditation on winter light on a Norwegian archipelago. Of course no trailer or Netflix for this one.
This is My Land: Hebron I'm having a hard time finding the words for this Italian-made documentary about Hebron in Israel, a city with 120,000 Palestinians and five hundred Jewish Israelis. What that looks like shocked me beyond measure. Trailer. It's not on Netflix, but if you google it, you can see the whole thing on YouTube.
King Curling Laugh your butt off as you watch the fictional King of Curling Truls Paulsen, his fall into insanity and his return. Trailer.
The Eye of the Storm A wealthy mother lay on her deathbed and her two far-flung grown children come to see her off. Oh, if it were only that simple. Beautifully written and told and shot. Trailer. Netflix.
Grey Matter The first film by and about Rwandans themselves. Telling their own stories. Beautifully shot, and the first film of the fest that made me wish I had people to talk to about it. Trailer. Netflix.
The House* A young woman wants to get away from her father and the house he is building for her from the shell of the house he started for her sister.
Wish Me Away* follows country music darling Chely Wright's journey of coming out of the closet. Predictable, but worth the rental price. Netflix.
Cafe de Flore is a romance, suspense and etherial film that tells parallel stories but leaves you guessing about the connection until the end. Netflix
The Girls in the Band*. The untold history of women in Jazz. Beautifully told, and enlightening. They could have done a lot better around race. Diversity isn't enough. Trailer. No Netflix.
Found Memories*. Widow Magdalena's ordinary and routine life gets turned upside down when young photographer Rita shows up. Trailer. Netflix.
Juan of the Dead. I don't go in for horror films, even funny ones. But Juan's social critique of both Cuban and American politics had me intrigued. I wasn't disappointed, and you won't be either. Trailer. Netflix.
