Today was the official start to the festival. The first film was « Shifty » —an Adam Curtis documentary, which was actually a five part series— A total of 347 minutes long! It’s a UK film and I’m not certain what wide screenings that will get in the US but it was really fascinating. Paraphrasing from part of the the program, Curtis uses archival film or TV images from cultural history to construct new often ironic meaning. He looks at the recent history of Great Britain, beginning with Margaret Thatcher and the failed initiatives and the resulting chaos leading into the 21st century which the program described as the 21st century dominated by fragmented half truths and materialism. Many parallels to what is going on in this country today. Brilliant ideas like privatization. 🤪 An example was given of the failed privatization of the water system in Great Britain and the resulting poisoning of people and animals. Stupidity! Extremely long, but really thought provoking. We lasted through all of it without complaint. Several other years, we have had a multi part series shown on Friday and it works well. Often, these are series that we might not see otherwise.
The second film, we saw today was written and directed by Mary Bronstein called « if I had legs, I’d kick you. » Let me quote from the program: « Imagine Cassavetes’ « woman under the influence », pluck down in the hallucinatory world of David Lynch, and you’ll have a place to start. » Rose Byrne played the lead, a therapist on Long Island trying to cope with a very sick child and an absentee husband. Interestingly, Conan O’Brien played her therapist. A very unconventional part for him, but I think he did an excellent job. Exhausting but worthwhile. Both the author and leading lady were here to introduce the film. That’s always special.
I decided to pace myself tonight and skip the last film. I need to get through the weekend! So I’m getting to bed at a reasonable time. Pooped!
(as always, please forgive any typos or poor wording. I’m often very tired when I write these!)
But we’re off to an excellent start.😀
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