Socialism

AFI FEST: Final Day (Wedesday)

I woke up on the last day of the AFI Fest a little sad. Sure, it wasn’t technically the last day, but for me it was. Didn’t really have plans to go to Black Swan, nor did I have any way of getting into the awards at the end. At least, I didn’t quite look up anything about how to be a part of that. Sometimes willful ignorance is bliss.

Anyway, I got to the event early per usual and waited in line for some Werner Hertzog 3D action. Since I had tickets for the rest of the films that night, I would never see the Rush Line again. Funny that they saved these films for last.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Directed By: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog and Charles Fathy
Rating: ★★★★☆

In generally, I’m not impressed by the whole 3D movement. It’s one of those gimmicks that got popular awhile back, disappeared and has now returned with a vengeance. Seems like every film these days boasts a 3D version, with a nice and hefty ticket price to go along with it. Cave of Forgotten Dreams was the first time I felt that 3D had been used properly, or that the medium had been utilized to meet an end. The cave drawings almost came to life. Each slow pan along the cave wall brought the images to life in a new way and I felt challenged by what I saw.

The handheld shaky-cam stuff, however, was disgusting and made my eyes bleed. Still shots in 3D already give me a headache, but shaking the camera like this was Cloverfield 2? Yeah…DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!

Mr. Herzog was there to talk about the film and offered that 3D will do well in the porn industry. He also referred to Avatar as “new age bullshit.”

Film Socialisme
Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Catherine Tanvier, Christian Sinniger and Jean-Marc Stehlé
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Film Socialisme marks my second outing with Jean-Luc Godard. The first thing I saw of his, Band Of Outsiders, was an absolute treat and offered some great narrative devices that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. This film was also unforgettable, but for different reasons. The copy we saw lacked any subtitles, so I was pretty much left in the dark as to what people were saying at any given moment. However, based on what I heard from people who knew the language, I didn’t miss much.

Given it’s seeming lack of coherency, there’s still a definite structure at play here and the oscillating use of digital film quality was an interesting way to go about visually describing an ocean liner.

And then there were a bunch of images, a gas station and a Llama set to somber monks chanting.

DES CHOSES!

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(And that wraps up perhaps the most exciting week or so I’ve had in awhile. It’s not every day I get to go to festivals or conventions, so I take advantage of these whenever I can. Hope to hit up C2E2 next year, provided awesome things happen there. HINT HINT!!)