Jason goes to Cinequest--Day 11

The pen-penultimate day. That is, penultimate to the closing night gala, which itself is penultimate to the encore day (which one might describe as post-ultimate?) Umm...I got nothing, let's review the movies.

First up was QUESTION IN DETAILS, which was a surprising little treat. A man and a woman--Zoli and Eszti--meet and have one date. Or part of a date. They quickly realize they're not meant for each other, and so they just start talking like real people. They do go back to her place, just to continue talking, and her brother shows up and joins the conversation. And I can't really describe this more without giving away spoilers. It's hard to describe what's so surprising and thrilling about watching three people speak in one room--at least not without giving anything away. And certainly independent film fans have seen "3 people in one room talking" fail plenty of times. Just trust me, it works this time.

Then I popped over to the California for a nearly packed house to see NOSFERATU with Dennis James on the mighty Wurlitzer. I've already described at least one part of why I love this movie so much. And yeah, it's still awesome. Still quite possibly my favorite movie ever. And only better with Dennis James rocking the score. Awesome.

Then I had to book it back to the Camera 12 to get into TOGETHERNESS SUPREME just as the opening credits were rolling. Kamau is an artist living in Kibera, East Africa's largest shantytown. He has talent, but he's under the thumb of his father--the drunk landlord whom everyone hates. He takes care of a little boy CJ who was hit by a car, heroically running him to the hospital. CJ is fine, and Kamau meets Alice, a pretty little nurse and pastor's daughter. Meanwhile Otieno enlists Kamau into the Orange Democratic Movement, a hopeful, youth-based campaign for reform (of course, Kamau keeps it a secret that his father is from the tribe of greedy bastards supposedly ruining the country). And then Otieno, one suave, charming guy, catches his eye on Alice as well. A love triangle, a tribal conflict triangle, and political intrigue, all leading up to an explosive election day. It's an exciting story, and a very personal one with fully fleshed out, flawed but sympathetic characters (based on real people and real events). And it's shot beautifully.

And finally, after a couple of drinks at the packed Maverick Meetup, I caught the midnight screening of Shorts Program 5: Mindbenders. Yeah, fucked-up movies!

41: An Audio tour of a museum, with a little TMI.

BY A HAIR: A hilarious (or should I say "hair-larious?" Answer: No I shouldn't, that's stupid) story of a guy who wakes up with a hairy pimple, tries to tweeze out the hair, but it just keeps coming. Kinda reminded me of Don Hertzfeldt's WISDOM TEETH.

INTERVIEW: Okay, I admit I was drifting in and out of consciousness for this one. And investigator interviews a psycho...I think?

LANDPARTIE: Awesome POV shot of a zombie invasion, through the eyes of a guy who just got bit.

OUT OF NOWHERE: I had a weird sense of déjà vu watching this. Repetitions and variations, where people don't seem to remember what happened before.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE: If you meet someone who knows you from birth and can recap all your secrets (even the ones you didn't know) in 5 minutes...look out.
LAVAN: There is only one right way to shave that prisoner. Learn it!! A story about mental torture.

Total Running Time: 381

My Total Minutes: 228,119