Jason goes to SFIFF--Day 2

Two movies last Friday, and two beautifully weird movies.

First up was LUNA, one of the most strangely beautiful and beautifully strange movies I've ever seen. A surface plot synopsis can't possibly do it justice--4 friends hang out in a secluded seaside home for a weekend, reminisce about the old days, and reveal a surprising and traumatic past. And that tells you absolutely nothing. This movie is more about vivid, hallucinatory visuals coexisting with everyday life (a lot of it is about personal perception and how we all experience reality differently.) A mysterious angel/demon/creature/child wanders through, sometimes seen by one person, sometimes by another. Dinner conversation gives way to a melodious song about how words are both powerful and meaningless. And other stunning, breathtaking scenes. But still this doesn't capture what the film is. The film is...just so warm and loving. The director wasn't there but one of the artists was and he said the film was about healing. And that makes sense. I've seen a lot of films, and most films want to be loved. This might be the first film I've seen that cares more about loving the audience than about being loved.

And then over to the Roxie (the venue for the Dark Wave late night shows this year) for a very different kind of beautifully weird movie, COP CAR. A couple of kids are out in the fields of rural...somewhere, America. They're running away...or at least having an adventure. Engaging in a little childhood rebellion, like saying swear words when no adults are around. They even say the F-word! And then they find a seemingly abandoned cop car and decide to play around in it. Turns out the doors aren't locked. And the keys are in the visor. And it runs. So they run off with it. Then we go back in time a little bit to learn about a finely mustachioed Kevin Bacon as the cop whose car those kids just stole. See, his car wasn't abandoned, he had just driven to that secluded spot because that's where he drops the dead bodies. Yeah, he's a corrupt cop, and kind of a psychotic one at that. And now he's chasing the two kids who think they're on a joyride. As a friend pointed out to me afterwards, it's kind of the perfect coming-of-age movie. It starts with the joy of freedom, and quickly becomes a story about the big, dangerous world and the consequences of your actions (deserved or undeserved.) But also it's just a cool genre flick with a couple of great child actors leading it.

Total Running Time: 192 minutes
My Total Minutes: 393,054