A few final thoughts before I crash in bed….
After inhaling some truly awful cheese curds, we headed off to the SLIGHTLY UNSETTLING SPANISH SHORTS…
So there were 5 short films in this program, and while I enjoyed all of them, my thoughts are as follows:
CAN’T WALK ANYMORE–this film looked really good, and had a nice creepy set up, but it tipped its twist almost instantly by the order of events, so the ending wasn’t really a “shocker”
THE SPOOK HOUSE–this one was really well done. The main actor had a very distinct character that you were with from his first line of dialogue. The set up of a man taking part in a fear experiment was pretty cool, and a lot of good chills were built with only technique and sparse dialogue….lighting was very effective. This one suffered a bit from one reveal or twist too many as things started playing out, taking the wind out of the sails for me by the end.
TERCERO B–this was a nice little thriller with a cool twist. the film had very muted color that added a lot, and there were a lot of great visuals including a great shot through a swinging kitchen door. This one kept you guessing from start to finish. Nice
BEHIND THE CURTAINS–this was my favorite of the “horror” themed shorts. this one was a bit grisly, and creepy, but had a lot of dark cynical humor to it throughout. There were quite a few nice touches and twists that were reminiscent of old EC comics which really made this one very rich and fun for me.
7:35 IN THE MORNING–starring Nacho Vigolando of TIMECRIMES fame, this one was not what I expected, to say the least. Not unsettling in the way that the others were either, and what? A musical number? This one was a lot of fun, with a couple really good laughs.
–My son took off to go and see TERRIBLY HAPPY and MOTHER, while I had a drink with friends, and took in WITHNAIL AND I at the Stage Door
WITHNAIL AND I
This is one of those movies that I had been meaning to see for a long time, and I really couldn’t pass up the chance to see it with a crowd. I also wanted to end the fest with something a little lighter than some of the films I had seen in the past couple of days. There were a lot of great laughs in this film as we watch these 2 20 something out of work actors barely function through life, and a holiday in the country. A number of good, cynical bits of dialogue, a great comedic performance by Richard E Grant. I loved their drug dealer friend Danny, quite hilarious. And it was a hoot to see Mr. Dursley from the Harry Potter movies playing eccentric homosexual Uncle Monty, who is trying to get into bed with Withnail’s roommate. Quite possibly the last movie I will see in the Stage Door before it is closed for good….
–Overall, 14 films in 5 days, and in spite of lack of sleep, I could do another 5. I am sad to see it go, and want to give kudos to Meg Hamel, our very own Golden Badger, and to all of the people in front of and behind the scenes that make this happen every year. Wonderful job. Unbelievable festival.
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