INTO THE WAKE / SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL

INTO THE WAKE (2012)

WIFF 2012 FILM

Upon coming to terms with missing a chance to join Marge and Steve in Madison for my fifth Wisconsin film fest in a row with them, I was excited to find out that a film they had watched was playing at the San Antonio Film Fest!  Also, as an example of how many films are out there that will never be blockbusters, Into the Wake was the ONLY film from the dozens playing in Wisconsin in April that made its way to my new town's festival.

First off, Into the Wake made me nostalgic for the Upper Midwest.  Most of the movie's dramatic scenes are shot in what appears to be in the North Center or Ravenswood neighborhoods of Chicago, as well as around scenic vistas by the Wisconsin River that I became very familiar with.  Just like the Dark Knight movies taking place on the streets of Chicago had a weird effect, I think the familiar landscape personalized the cinematic experience for me.

 

About the film itself, I would consider it a slightly shallower take on Winter's Bone that is a tad less believable and a smidgen less well acted.  Given that Winter's Bone was incredible on so many fronts though, that means that Into the Wake was pretty darn good.  The thick rich vein that comes with backcountry family rivalries can be tapped to many ends, and the filmmakers gave the story a style and intensity it deserved.

 

Enjoying these recaps!  Maybe I'll make it a daily clip!

TRASH DANCE (SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL)

TRASH DANCE (2012)

So, now begins my recollection of my San Antonio Film Festival experience.  From June 18-24 I sampled a few movies.  A little different that the very popular and fun Wisconsin Film Festival, which I attended from 2008-2011.  First of all, hardly any details of the scheduled films were released beforehand.  The theaters weren't very full.  During the short film showcases I had to wait minutes at a time for the projectionist to load up the next 2 minute film.  These films were often student films of varying quality... some had very local colors and themes.  So, it is not something that I would jump at the chance to go again.  It's not an immerse film experience, and not a user-friendly festival to say the least.

BUT, what was interesting about this festival was ACCESS to the filmmakers.  One movie had it's world premiere and the filmmaker came up to greet me and remembered my name.  The cast and crew were available at most screenings.  I'm now facebook friends with two of the filmmakers.  What made this special was that by seeing the physical people that attempted to make their cinematic visions with a limited scope and budget it really personalizes the experience in a whole new way.  There were some real technical and thematic faults with these movies but you can tell there was a passion behind them, and it convinces you that with enough drive (and the willingness to commit money of course) anyone can make something, and it can have many redeemable qualities.  It was a real insiders experience.  I just wanted to watch some unique movies, but I was surrounded by aspiring filmmakers who talked about the business of making movies and using this fest as a forum as a testing ground to get their careers started.  

Trash Dance was my first film screened during the three days that I attended the festival, and while the theater was empty and the film was only 60 minutes long, it actually probably had the most compelling theme of the festival.  A choreographer in Austin specializes in creating pieces that make blue collar activities artistic. She wants to create a performance using real trash workers.  She is a real Austin weird artistic type but through patience and understanding recruits folks that don't seem to have any interest in interpretative expression begin to rehearse for her work.  You feel that tension.. that feeling that this is really out of place for her to be doing this.  But the life stories of the workers and the way she crafts something that respects what they do shows that you can't judge anybody at face value or working class level.  From the lady's spacey eyed thoughts on dance you think you'll have maintenance workers dancing around in leotards but it's pretty magical what she pulls off.

More entries from the San Antonio Fest forthcoming!

Jonah

THE INTOUCHABLES

THE INTOUCHABLES (2011)
2012 WIFF selection

I am far from the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival now, but this film was the Audience Favorite at that festival, and it found its way to the Santios Bikou theatre a few weeks ago.  The Bijou is near my apartment, they show artsy movies, and it's one of those movie cafes like the Alamo Drafthouse.  Nice to have it nearby.

This is about the most interesting and entertaining version possible of a very cliched premise.  Basically you have two people from different walks of life forced by circumstances to spend time with eachother, and each person learns a little more about themselves in the process.  But it is warm and charming, with unique twists given the French setting and the race issues in that country.  It's not  enough to overpower the feeling that you've seen this before, but worth a try.

In case you haven't noticed, I am trying a one film per post format.  I hope to address every film I've seen despite the backlog, and maybe somedays I'll want to give a simple recap or another day I want to do some tangential essay about how the movie relates to life experience.  We'll see how it goes.

TRON (1982)

Enormous credit has to go to the Matrix for introducing the concept to me of a complete alternate reality created by computers.   These films aren't really comparable, but I think for my generation the Matrix was a gateway drug to this kind of heady science film, stylized in a slick way that the MTV generation could find appealing.  Now we have this earlier interpretation, where the computer wasn't a prison for humanity's minds but a universe where elements of a data network were personified into characters with distinct relationships to their system.  Pretty geeky stuff but approachable if you try just a little bit to understand it.

I can't imagine how mind-blowing this must have been for people from 1982 to see this.  1982... when I was one year old!  You have to excuse me for laughing at the special effects, because  sometimes it was just too much.   "Why don't they fill these graphics in!" I was saying to myself.  But in actuality Tron likely pushed movies to the absolute edge of what they could accomplish visually for it's time.  I might assume that a movie focusing on innovative graphics would be all flash but no substance, but I actual found very little movie cliches that could take me out of the story for the duration of the film.  I think it's effective, in particular, when you have to focus on the alternative lingo of a new world.  Finding out what a "program" means to these characters, as well as a "user", and an "MCP" gives you an additional puzzle to acclimate to this universe.

I think the power of a completely realized cinematic world is that you actually feel like you were cheated by the movie's running time in that you couldn't explore this world for days.  Tron isn't some overhyped baby-boomer geek fetish.  It's the real deal... a stunning and exciting visual kaleidoscope with a solid story and concept.

Grade:  A-