i'm deep in film festival mode this weekend. i saw three films yesterday. three in one day's my limit. i learned that last year when i saw four and realized that i was so out of it by the fourth film, it was basically a wasted ticket. so yesterday i stopped at three, and i ended up liking each one.
my first film, was beauty in trouble (imdb)--presumably the title sounds better in czech. it caught my eye because it's a jan hrebejk film, the guy who directed up and down. "beauty" is a small film with a lot going on in it. and like "up and down" a running theme is the widening gap between the haves and have-nots in post-communist prague. it's less funny than "up and down", but still very enjoyable.
my second film was fay grim (imdb). i'm a big hal hartley fan, and "fay" is essentially the sequel to henry fool. it had all the hartley signatures: unrealistic dialogue delivered in a deadpan style with a completely absurd plot, this time lampooning international espionage thrillers. it was a lot of fun.
finally, i met up with mrs. noz and saw sweet mud (imdb), a pretty non-idealized look at both life on a kibbutz and mental illness. the writer-director dror shaul is relatively new; i never heard of him before this film. but he's on my list now.
