activities of daily living

The day after returning home from London, I tried to see at least one SIFF screening a day, falling off the wagon maybe only once when it turned out that my pass wasn't powerful enough to get me into the evening with Francis Ford Coppola for Tetro. Along the way, I did a horrible thing and "tweeted" capsule reviews of the 35 films that I saw.

Now that it's all over, for the sake of posterity in the face of Twitter's sub-optimal searching capabilities (even with the dreaded "hashtags", it fails), a compilation. Doing these reminded me of one of my favorite middle school sports: writing 25-word-sentences for points in English class. (I imagine that if Ms. S., were she still teaching school instead of physical energy vampire clinics, might use twitter even though the character limit is far more restrictive.)


my SIFF in 4369 characters. (note that in violation of house style due to the overwhelming spirit of compactness, the first link goes to SIFF, the second to the twitter status update; note also that the first three were faked because I saw them ahead of the festival, before this questionable idea occurred to me.)

• In the Loop : profane political farce hinging around va rious governments' misunderstandings & misrepresentations of the word "unforeseeable".



• Modern Life: Only a few minutes feature anything but static shots of conversations at kitchen tables with reticent elders. Oddly mesmerizing



• I Know You Know : you realize quickly that this father is either the most careless spy ever or that something else is terribly wrong.



• Saw Stella at SIFF, mostly overestimating the inevitable awful to break the gauzy spell of not happy adolescence.



• Moon : creepy sci fi on the cheap.



• Rembrandt j'accuse you of being Tim from the Office (and a little crazy)



• Dead Snow : zombies are the new bacon. / Feeling mildly delerious and extra sensitive to the possibility of zombie attacks now that everyone else has reached their destination.



• All Tomorrow's Parties documentary is a brilliant collage (and challenging recognition game). Now I want to go!



• Pirate for the Sea , an enlightening and unfocused tribute with a lot of whale and seal blood and a little bit of hope.



• City of Borders , smartly-crafted Israel Palestine doc. She found an exceptional menagerie of unicorns in a conflict zone.



• The Hurt Locker , near plotless, character development free, stuffed w/ preferably ignored war horrors, yet astonishingly compelling.



• Sounds Like Teen Spirit : a heartbursting joy. Until the end. Like spellbound with more telegenic subjects and better choreography.



• Like Dandelion Dust : knockout gutwrenching adoption horror movie, with a happily contrived tearjerker ending.



• A Sea Change : frightened by the NewYorker, retiree journeys to pen a letter explaining the unfathomable ocean crisis to his grandson.



• Welcome : heartbroken instructor trains an Iraqi Kurd refugee to swim across the English Channel for love.



• Art & Copy : reverential doc about advertising as high art told through interviews with creatives, who are as magnetic as their ads.



• William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe . Daughters' outstanding tribute to their lawyer father & a history of American revolution.



• The Paranoids : Argentine slackercore, stumbles along pleasantly uneventful and ends jarringly disjointed. no lo comprendo.



• Humpday : two straight guys decide to sleep together for art. Lynn Shelton's film is squirmily suspenseful, funny, and believable.



• Il Divo : feverish Italian political biopic; could've traded some showy camerawork for just a little more narrtive coherence.



• True Adolescents : on the perils of having an indie rocker as a wilderness guide. Harrowing, affecting, authentic, and oh so funny.



• A Woman Under the Influence : the kids are the only unlikely beacon of sanity in this hellish nuthouse. Left me feeling unhinged.



• OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies . Goofy french spy comedy under the moon at the beach huddled in sleeping bags.



• The Karamazovs : czechs stage a beautiful Dostoyevsky production in a steel mill; haunted by a janitor's tragedy, dancers, and puppets.



• At West of Pluto : naturalistic portrait gently flutters through a day & night of Quebecois teen life, parties, & love in an ice rink.



• Manhole Children : So bleak & miserable, in this Japanese documentary Ulan Bator's impoverished seem less like fact than cruel fiction.



• Cold Souls : Paul Giamatti offloads his heavy soul. Once he realizes his folly, it's been lifted by Russians. Metaphysical laughs!



• (500) Days of Summer : mutual Smiths appreciation may not be solid relationship foundation, but works as a spark for a cute romcom.



• The Girl from Monaco : bombshell weathergirl sexes up repressed lawyer's trial/visit. Hints of intrigue, comedy, & Bodyguard bromance.



• Give Me Your Hand : twin French brothers have a dialogue deprived "erotic" walk to Spain. Too nappy to be sure what happened.



• Adam : Romance is even harder with Asperger's, but with such an adorable couple you hope for a fairy tale ending. Entirely lovely.



• the Bear : No Age turned what might have been a confusingly frivolous animal buddy pic into something strangely ominous and moving.



• Every Little Step : a movie about casting a revival of a musical about casting a broadway production. Heartfelt, engaging, & fun!



• 50 Dead Men Walking : Gripping thriller. Ben Kingsley handles an IRA double agent through webs of danger, deceit, & family obligations.



• OSS 117: Lost in Rio : goofy French spy returns, complete with Nazis, buffoonery, and crocodiles.

Now, to conjure some summary information graphics...