Year Five of the Traverse City Film Festival was filled with the usual rich offerings of documentary, "kids films," ribald comedies, gripping dramas, and the like. A half-decade ago, when it was first created, the market for Netflix and On Demand had not yet caught fire, so the TCFF was a nice oasis of cul-tcha for the unwashed northern Michigan masses, like cinematic missionary work.
But now that I can get many TCFF-worthy films through those two streams -- to say nothing of my expanded cable programming, on which I saw The Answer Man, The Last Mistress and A Girl Cut In Two in the past week for the price of my monthly fee -- has the purpose of the TCFF run aground? Sure, there were decent crowds for each showing I attended on Thursday and Friday, but hearing that their "Friends Of The Festival" price was going to double in a month makes me wonder about their financial solvency. But they got some of my money this year, at least, even if it was only for two days.
Thursday was the money shot day for me: the call-to-arms documentary Food Inc. at noon, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince with my niece at the mall (see, even when I take a quick break from the TCFF, it's to go see a mainstream film), the compelling fish-out-of-the-ballpark drama Sugar (from the directors of Half Nelson), the light comedy Rudo Y Cursi (which reunited the stars of Y Tu Mama Tambien) and the midnight showing of Dead Snow. Hard to find a loser here, as all five movies were solid. But the most fun was Dead Snow -- two words: Nazi zombies -- which is the closest approximation of the vibe of Evil Dead 2 I've yet uncovered. There were subtitles, in-jokes about American films, a quickie quasi-sex scene in a freezing outhouse, and dozens of way-over-the-top maimings/decapitations/disembowellings. In other words, something for everyone.
Friday was a bit more relaxed -- The Cove, Mary and Max, and outtakes from Bruno -- which was a nice way to end my tenure at the festival. The Cove was a thriller of a documentary about the annual Japanese slaughter of thousands of dolphins, all captured in both sound and vision for maximum disgust and horror, and Mary and Max was a charming offbeat animated film from Australia, where comedy and poignant moments stand together. And while there weren't many, the Bruno outtakes were transgressively funny, from Bruno's trip to a gun show to his encounter with LaToya Jackson. And I can't argue that some important immediacy is granted by the public presentation of film that can't be replicated at home; the audience laughing together at Bruno's uber-homosexual antics, the audience physically recoiling at the sight of a small inlet of water richly crimson with fresh kills of a mammal possibly smarter than we are.
And yet, and yet. I've only recently discovered how immediate my On Demand service is with respect to grabbing a film at home, in surround sound and HD, for less than I would pay in a theater. Two films in particular -- Surveillance and In The Loop -- were festival offerings that I was able to sample in my bedroom, free of long lines and neighborly body odor and cell phones. Now, this doesn't mean that I won't partake in any future TCFF's or anything like that. It just means that there are a lot more options for the art film buff that don't involve Michael Moore. (Maybe he should do a film on that.)
But now that I can get many TCFF-worthy films through those two streams -- to say nothing of my expanded cable programming, on which I saw The Answer Man, The Last Mistress and A Girl Cut In Two in the past week for the price of my monthly fee -- has the purpose of the TCFF run aground? Sure, there were decent crowds for each showing I attended on Thursday and Friday, but hearing that their "Friends Of The Festival" price was going to double in a month makes me wonder about their financial solvency. But they got some of my money this year, at least, even if it was only for two days.
Thursday was the money shot day for me: the call-to-arms documentary Food Inc. at noon, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince with my niece at the mall (see, even when I take a quick break from the TCFF, it's to go see a mainstream film), the compelling fish-out-of-the-ballpark drama Sugar (from the directors of Half Nelson), the light comedy Rudo Y Cursi (which reunited the stars of Y Tu Mama Tambien) and the midnight showing of Dead Snow. Hard to find a loser here, as all five movies were solid. But the most fun was Dead Snow -- two words: Nazi zombies -- which is the closest approximation of the vibe of Evil Dead 2 I've yet uncovered. There were subtitles, in-jokes about American films, a quickie quasi-sex scene in a freezing outhouse, and dozens of way-over-the-top maimings/decapitations/disembowellings. In other words, something for everyone.
Friday was a bit more relaxed -- The Cove, Mary and Max, and outtakes from Bruno -- which was a nice way to end my tenure at the festival. The Cove was a thriller of a documentary about the annual Japanese slaughter of thousands of dolphins, all captured in both sound and vision for maximum disgust and horror, and Mary and Max was a charming offbeat animated film from Australia, where comedy and poignant moments stand together. And while there weren't many, the Bruno outtakes were transgressively funny, from Bruno's trip to a gun show to his encounter with LaToya Jackson. And I can't argue that some important immediacy is granted by the public presentation of film that can't be replicated at home; the audience laughing together at Bruno's uber-homosexual antics, the audience physically recoiling at the sight of a small inlet of water richly crimson with fresh kills of a mammal possibly smarter than we are.
And yet, and yet. I've only recently discovered how immediate my On Demand service is with respect to grabbing a film at home, in surround sound and HD, for less than I would pay in a theater. Two films in particular -- Surveillance and In The Loop -- were festival offerings that I was able to sample in my bedroom, free of long lines and neighborly body odor and cell phones. Now, this doesn't mean that I won't partake in any future TCFF's or anything like that. It just means that there are a lot more options for the art film buff that don't involve Michael Moore. (Maybe he should do a film on that.)
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