Jason goes to Indiefest--Opening Night

Here we go again, with the festival that started my obsession and which I've been faithful to (if not monogamous) since 2002. Haven't missed a movie in 8 years, don't plan to miss any this year.

I did, however, miss all of their Winter Music Festival this year, except for the closing night party...which happens to be the same as their Film Festival opening night party.

But first, the movie, WAH DO DEM. Max (Sean Bones) is a Brooklyn hipster. He was planning to take a cruise to Jamaica with his girlfriend Willow (Norah Jones, in the first indie film role wear I've noticed a personal hairdresser in the credits). Problem is, she dumps him and he doesn't want to go alone. His buddy agrees to go while they're drinking at night, but during the day he realizes he has a job and that two dudes cruising together is kinda gay. Anyway, he goes on his own and is kinda a hipster dork not at all fitting in there (a juggler assumes he works there since no young guy goes on a cruise alone). But eventually he gets to Jamaica, where he goes to see the "real" part of the island...and is promptly robbed. With just his shorts--no shoes, no money, no ID, and definitely a fish out of water--he gets back to the ship just to watch it pull away. Now he has an epic journey ahead of him to the American embassy in Kingston. He begs a few bucks from some frightened tourist, who also give him a "Jamaica, no worries" t-shirt that he promptly turns inside-out. He walks, takes buses (takes a bus in the wrong direction, takes a bus that breaks down), gets other rides from locals, and sees the really real Jamaica (including a bit of shamanistic psychedelia from Carl Bradshaw, who is probably the most famous Jamaican actor ever and was a producer of the movie).

The title in patois means "What (are) they do(ing)?" but the inference is more "WTF are they doing?" And to answer that question, with humor, music, and cinematography, they're creating a story of a man learning that finding the "real" part of any place is learning to be real yourself.

Plus, the music was cool.

Running Time: 76 minutes

My Total Minutes: 169,000 (wow, even. Now I wish that wasn't just an estimate)

Jason tells you how to see everything at Indiefest (in many ways)

Woo hoo, Indifest starts tonight! I've missed all of the music fest (wanted to catch a bit, but I've been crazy busy) and Indiefest has only 3 TBA slots to fill. I'm hoping they choose just one movie to fill all slots, otherwise I will be in trouble. Anyway, let's start with the whole schedule:


If you look at it for a while, what first jumps out--after the three TBA screenings in the second week--is that the first week (Feb-4 to Feb 11) is completely different than the second week (Feb-12 to Feb-18). So this is really 2 different 1 week festivals stuck together (at least in terms of "solving" the festival). Now if you stare at the first week for a while, you might notice something (highlighted in grey):


Three movies--LIMBO LOUNGE, LESS ADOLESCENT, and GAMES OF TELEPHONE--form a little ring unto themselves. That is, whatever I choose to see in the first time slot directly affects the other two but has no effect on anything else. What's less obvious is that the rest of the movies in this first week have the exact same relationship, in a much larger ring, leading to two solutions (times 2 solutions for the 3 movies in grey, so 4 non-trivial solutions just for the first week). I've already defaulted to the 7:15 show opening night instead of the 9:30, but those are two trivial variations that make 8 total solutions to week one. These solutions (leaving the small ring in grey0 are:


and:



Okay, so let's look at the second week. The first thing that jumps out is that there is only one showing of LOVE BITES: The 80s Power Ballad Singalong (on Valentine's night). It will be annoying as hell, and I'll probably hate myself for being there, but as a completeness freak I just gotta do it. But that propogates out like thus (movies I have to see are in green):


Big important takeaway: I cannot see the TBA screening at 5 pm on Sunday, Feb. 14th without missing something else. Remember that, it's very important!!

Now I can simply do the same thing with the remaining screenings as I did with week one. It might not be obvious, but when you play around with it there are two distinct solutions to week 2. They are:


and:


And that's how you do it (in 8 non-trivial ways). But wait, what about those TBA screenings? Well, remember I can't see the one on 5 pm Sunday, Feb. 14th. And you'll notice that both of my week 2 solutions involve seeing 1 TBA with something else playing at the time of the other TBA. That means simply this: The three remaining TBA slots must be filled with the same movie, or else I will not be able to see everything! If the good people behind the scheduling get 2 or 3 movies into those TBA slots, I'll have to make some hard choices and miss my first Indiefest movie since I've started attending (in 2002).

Jason watches CRAZY HEART

I'm not much of a fan of country music, but Jeff Bridges is awesome enough to make me believe in it. Now I wanna see El Dude-arino musing how his little gold Best Actor statue really ties the room together (since Sam Rockwell (MOON) got snubbed).

Running Time: 111 minutes
My Total Minutes. 168,718

Jason goes to the Niles Film Museum to see THE SOCIAL SECRETARY

And it was remarkably crowded. Who knew the Norma Talmadge fan club was so big!?

But first a couple of shorts:

WHEN A COUNT COUNTED (1912): Very early Thanhouser comedy. Mignon Anderson stars (she's forgotten now, but was one of Thanhouser's biggest stars in her day) as a young stenographer. Her boss sends her on vacation, but when a former client identifies her as a (gasp!) working girl, all the snooty muckety-mucks at the resort shun her so badly she wants to cut her vacation short and leave. That is, until her law clerk boyfriend shows up masquerading as a count to sweep her off her feet and show everyone what real class looks like.

CURSES (aka THE LAST SERIAL) (1925): A hilarious sendup of serial adventures starring Al St. John as the evil leader of a gang of thieves who steals valuable papers from an old guy, while threatening his daughter and her boyfriend.

And then the intermission, and the feature.

THE SOCIAL SECRETARY (1916): Norma Talmadge, who was normally a dramatic actress, stars as Mayme, a stenographer who is always chased by her employers. Meanwhile, a wealthy family has lost yet another social secretary to marriage, so they advertise specifically for an unattractive replacement. So Mayme uglies up--puts on glasses and plain clothes--and gets the job. But danger abounds, as a former boss might recognize her, or he might steal from the family. A nosy reporter (Erich Von Stroheim) causes trouble. And worst of all, she falls for the handsome son of the family.

Total Runing Time (estimated): 80 minutes
My Total Minutes: 168,607

Jason goes to the Vortex and sees NAUSEA

And most importantly, there's one more chance for you to see it, tonight, at the Vortex.

Ya know, no matter how many movies I watch (and in reviewing my records from last year I realized I forgot to log two movies, so my total was 444), I can always count on the fact that there's some sick fuck somewhere who will make something I've never even imagined. This time that sick vomiting fucker is Wes Malvini, writer/director/star of NAUSEA

Apparently this is all funnier if you've read a lot of Sartre (I have not) or Bukowski (I have a little, or maybe I've just seen a few movies based on his writing). An unnamed Man (Malvini) is a quirky goofball who be-bops his way down the street to his job at a bookstore. He seems pretty happy wandering through life with his sly, absurdist, dare I say "outsider" viewpoint on humanity. I can relate. So then the Woman (Lindsay Howard) shows up. She's "self-medicated," which is a nice way to say she's drugged out of her mind all the time. The Man is now in love, and that makes him sick. Indeed, as the opening line from Bukowski reads, "There are worse things than being alone." Throw in a rival, Skylar (Dustin Jones) and it gets sicker, although to his credit Skylar is a very good son taking care of his sick mother. And caught in the crossfire is a young family living the suburban American dream, with a baby that (I'm sorry) looks really, really freaky, like a big-headed small-bodied alien (okay, all babies look like that, but most can make it look cute, this one just made it look freaky). But then, maybe that's all due to the color scheme.

Oh yeah, the color scheme. Colors are all manipulated and flipped so skin (and apples, etc) is blue, eyes are yellow, and everything is just bizarre. Apparently they did this to fix one scene that wasn't working, and then just liked how it worked with everything else. In the Q&A they talked about how the colors made you notice things that you wouldn't otherwise. Cool, and I guess it takes a bit of getting used to.

Actually, the whole movie takes some getting used to. I bought the DVD (they were selling it for $10, go to the Vortex and get your own tonight) and re-watched it this morning. The combination of not drunk/struggling to stay awake and knowing what I'm in for made it much easier to understand and appreciate the second time. So there you have it, NAUSEA holds up to--and in fact rewards--multiple viewings. Perhaps I'll go read the complete works of Sartre and watch it again.

Jason announces a fantastic Cinequest pass giveaway

So I just got confirmation that I will have a press pass for Cinequest this year (the big 20th anniversary). And like last year, I also donated at a level that gets me an all-festival pass (specifically, a VIP Pass that gets me into every film, every event, and every party). Last year, I gave that pass away as a "travelling pass"--use it, write what you saw, and pass it on. That was half successful. I know a lot of people used it, because I saw it full of comments on the final weekend, but it never got back to me at the end. Some would call that completely unsuccessful, but I'll count it as half-successful. Anyway, I'm trying a new way to do it this year.

This year I've decided to give away the pass to just one person, but someone I know will write about what they see. If you are that lucky person, you may keep the pass to yourself or pass it among friends (or even strangers). The only rule is, as before, you must note everything you (or your friends) saw. And you/they must write opinions of some of the movies you see . I don't plan to provide a notepad this year, as my old one never reappeared. So bring your own. Better yet, just post your opinions to CQCentral.com, or e-mail them to me and I'll post them. If you do keep a physical notebook, just give it to me at the end of the festival and I'll scan/transcribe them online (depending on my energy and your handwriting)

So now how do you win this pass? Easy, just e-mail me with your reviews of at least two movies you saw last year. I'll pick a winner. The idea is I want to give it to someone who can can show that he or she can write movie reviews and is willing to do it in exchange for a pass (really, the idea is that more people should be like me). You can send me more than two reviews, and it might increase your chances (unless they suck. I don't need any competition on the quantity over quality front). My fellow bloggers are welcome to enter, however my idea is really to challenge new people to put their opinions out there, so I'll probably be biased against well-established bloggers. Besides, if you already blog and want to cover Cinequest, you could just e-mail the publicity office and ask for your own press pass.

Anyway, let the contest begin!

Jason goes to Noir City--Day 7

A night of Frisco Noir, the Castro was packed and let's get straight to the movies.

First up was RED LIGHT, a tale of vengeance starring the heaviest heavy ever--God. Also starring Raymond Burr as Nick Cherney, in jail for embezzlement. He stole from freight magnate Johnny Torno (George Raft), who loves nothing and nobody more than his army chaplain brother Jess (Arthur Franz). Nick sees in a newsreel that Jess is coming home after 5 years at war, and getting a hero's welcome in San Francisco. So he decides to hurt Johnny as much as possible by hiring about-to-be-released Rocky (Harry Morgan, credited as Henry Morgan) to kill Jess. Yup, it's the movie for everyone who has ever wanted to see young Perry Mason hire young Col. Potter to kill a priest. Anyway, Rocky does it, and as Johnny hold dying Jess in his arms, he whispers something about the killer's identity being written in the Bible. Turns out, that's not the family Bible but the Gideon Bible, and by the time Johnny realizes that it's been taken by a later guest. So Johnny goes on a quest to track it down, Nick and Rocky chase him to get to it first, but ultimately vengeance belongs to the Lord. Overtly religious, but still fun, and the last heavy-handed "open 24 hours" scene cracked me up. Best line: "The meek shall inherit the earth--six feet of it"

And then the entire free world is at stake in WALK A CROOKED MILE. In a sleepy California town of Lakeview, which sprouted up during WWII, nuclear scientists build the future. Trouble is, there's a security leak, so FBI agent O'hara (Dennis O'keefe) and Scotland Yard inspector "Scotty" Grayson (Louis Hayward) team up and follow the trail to that den of commies, San Francisco, where they run into Krebs (Raymond Burr again, this time sporting a goatee straight out of the mirror universe). There's a plot about math, stolen equations smuggled out on a handkerchief in the laundry, etc. Really, as a scientist myself it's a bit silly (perhaps it was different at the time, but the math isn't the part worth stealing, the actual nuclear material is) and sometimes way to dry (a pivotal scene has a team of scientists passing an equation around and praising the inventor). But when it gets to the guts--the commies and the good guys throwing punches and/or bullets--it cooks pretty well. Oh yeah, and a little advice to the FBI, when you compare a traitor to Benedict Arnold, don't do it in front of your British colleague. Was I the only one who thought that was awkward?

Running Time: 174 minutes
My Total Minutes: 168,441