after i failed to get into "american teen", i had a bit of time to waste before my next film. so i walked two blocks over to see "lovely by surprise" (imdb)
i hadn't really planned on seeing "lovely", it just happened to be playing at at a convenient time and place. shockingly, that turned out to be a really bad way to choose a film. "lovely" really sucked. it was pretty much a textbook case of what a bad festival film would be. the acting was mediocre. the script was trying so hard to say something quirky and deep, it eventually overwhelmed any charm the film might otherwise have had. i thought that most of the jokes fell pretty flat, though the woman next to me couldn't stop laughing hysterically throughout. that could only add to my enjoyment of the film.
it did pass the time, i'll give it that. plus i had been wondering if my method of picking films for the fest made any sense. i mean, aside from a small handful of films that i've actually heard of or which have directors that i recognize, most of the movies i see are the idiosyncratic product of: (a) the mood that i happen to be in when i read the one-paragraph description, plus (b) my own biases towards films about certain subjects, from certain countries and in certain languages. i've often wondered if i would do just as well picking random films out of a hat. my decision to see "lovely" was about as close as i've come to that. i think i'll stick with my original methodology.
