Philadelphia Film Festival

This past week was the Philadelphia Film Festival, so for the first time ever, I decided to take advantage of that. I ended up seeing six movies, and while I'm kind of happy that I can go home after work and spend an evening at home relaxing for the first time since April 3th, I'm disappointed that I won't always have such a diverse array of films at my disposal.

I'm no critic. I know nothing about film. So I refuse to give movie reviews because I know I'm not qualified to say anything more than, "I liked it" or "I didn't like it." So that's pretty much what I'll do.

Cartoonucopia
The first film I saw was actually a collection of animated shorts. Some were funny, some were boring, some were eye candy. My favorite would have to be "Fantasie in Bubblewrap", which was video of bubble wrap with little faces superimposed on the bubbles. It was a few minutes of the bubbles freaking out and shrieking as a sadistic hand with a pencil destroyed them, one at a time. Hilarious!

Join Us
This was the one movie I really wanted to see. It was a documentary about a small religious cult and what happens to the folks that decide to leave and go through cult rehabilitation. Creepier than Jesus Camp. I was so captivated by the film that I ended up buying a book about cults, which was difficult to find. Apparently Barnes and Nobel and Borders don't carry books on cults.


Eleven Minutes
I had to see this, being a Project Runway fanatic and a Jay McCarroll fan. But it was even better than I could have imagined! I was nearly in tears from laughing so hard throughout this documentary! McCarroll is quite a character!


California Dreamin'
Described in the program book as an "astounding international comedy", I was really disappointed. First of all, I chuckled at one scene, but it was far more depressing than funny. Secondly, it had that shaky hand-held camera feel, so I started feeling sick after about 30 minutes, and the next 2 hours weren't any better. There are such great reviews for this film, so maybe I just didn't "get it". I can accept that. But I was checking my watch every five minutes. (Trailer below is not in English.)


The End
I'm glad Rob picked this documentary about Cockney gangsters. It was really entertaining, and I loved the art direction. I probably never would have chosen to see this movie, but I'm happy I did.


Son of Rambow
My favorite BY FAR! We almost skipped this one. Thank goodness we didn't! All I can say is that you have to watch the trailer, and if it comes to your town, I recommend seeing it!


Well, that's it! No more films for me. Maybe I can get back to my Netflix queue. I've had Before Night Falls at my house for a month. One thing that I really enjoyed was all the Q&A with the directors. I wish I could have that at every movie I see! Well, I'll be waiting for next year.