Friday, February 19, 2016

Jason goes to Indiefest--Day 6

Two more a couple of nights ago.

First up was a German film, STUBBORN BOY (BUBE STUR.) The slice-of-life story of Hanna, a young woman recently released from prison. The last step in repaying her debt to society is community service, which she is performing on Uwe's remote dairy farm in the Black Forest. She doesn't fit in there at all, and as often as she can she escapes to the nearby town, goes partying, and makes friends in the park with a family and their foster baby. When her stubbornness (and economic hardship brought on by a milk strike) gets to be too much for Uwe, he kicks her out of the house. And as stubborn as she was to leave, she becomes just as stubborn at staying. It's a slow moving film with some great performances but not a lot of action. Which is fine, when I'm in the mood for it. And I more or less was.

And then on the opposite side of the spectrum was a Turkish screwball comedy, NIYAZI GUL, THE GALLOPING VET (NIYAZI GUL DORTNALA.) Ever since he was a child, Niyazi Gul had a way with animals. And so he grows up to be a a veterinarian and a professor of veterinary medicine. His grandfather was also a great vet, and on his deathbed, gave him the formula for a magic elixir that will cure all animals. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear the final ingredient over the sound of his father's band. So his life's work is finding that mystery ingredient and perfecting the cure-all serum. Meanwhile, Sultan and Ryza are competing plutocrats and avid horse racers. They place a wager with the highest of stakes--if Ryza wins, Sultan has to marry him. And when they hear about the magic serum, they pull poor, humble Niyazi into their wacky hijinx, ultimately bringing out the animal in him (literally.) Pretty darn funny.

Total Running Time: 187 minutes
My Total Minutes: 418,247

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