Eeee! Films!

[girlofprey]

Jesus Christ it is cold today! And I had to get up at 7:30 and WALK in it for about 45 minutes! I almost froze. I predict a long, long lie-in tomorrow, and if that's not warm enough, self-immolation.

Went to my first ever film festival/conference-type thing though (bounces). Not all of it, or even most of it, but I was there! Hence the early morning(s). It was great. I had an I.D. badge and everything. And free 'refreshments' to take in (the one time in my life I wished I liked popcorn). The free lunches were not so fabulous, sadly. Posh enough, but it turns out I don't like vennison, and little indian-style sausage rolls. Saw some of the best films I've seen in my life though, which I guess we're not meant to advertise, but...

Mondays in the Sun (aka Lunes in el Sol) - Spanish film, about the complete lack of holiday-style living in Spain most of the time, for the locals. Follows the lives of three middle-aged, unemployed friends four years after being laid off when their shipyard closed down. Very, VERY much like all those films about coal-miners after the pits closed, honestly no real difference between those and this film except the language. And it was hilarious, in a real way, and there was a complete bastard, who wasn't even an insecure, sexy bastard, and I still loved him. Great.

Bullet Boy - English, this time, following a black teenager in London, living in the 'ghetto', as he gets drawn back into his past of gang wars and gun crime, and the effect it has on him and his family. As much family drama as 'thriller', realistic, shocking, and tragic, but not really 'alive' the way some of the other films were.

Downfall - German, and about the last month of World War II from inside Berlin, based (I think) on the account of Hitler's 24 year-old personal secretary (although probably on lots of other stuff too, given the amount of different 'stories'). HUGELY long, 2 and a half hours, but gripping and shocking. Will almost certainly make you feel for the Nazis, and hate them, and feel for Hitler, and hate him. I had to deal with my disturbing attraction to Nazi-types as well during this (the foxy uniforms! The trenchcoats! The sharp cheekbones!), but I still don't agree (obviously) with what they were doing, however well-intentioned/screwed up, and maybe it's natural. 'Every woman adores a facist', and all that.

The Chorus - the film I was least interested in seeing, and most suprised/impressed/awed by. French, set in the 1950s, and about a failed musician who goes to teach in a school for 'troublesome' boys, and (after initial problems) ends up winning them over and wringing a damn fine choir out of them. Real, often funny, and ultimately beautiful. And slightly slashy (troubled schoolboys all in the same dormitory, lordy!) but that's not even close to being my favourite thing about it. The only film I saw I'd consider buying on DVD, and I'm buying it as soon as it comes out. Incredible.

Only four, but looking at some of the rest of the films (Racing Stripes? Quelle fuck?) I'm thinking maybe the best four, and I've said 'real' a LOT, I think, but there's no other word for them, absolutely fantastic acting/scripts/the works, not a single bum note. And not a bad film - pretty much on a sliding scale of 'pretty excellent' to 'really, REALLY excellent'. And that's all.

As for the rest of my weekend, it's pretty much all reading. Richard III, Nieztche, Foucalte and Caryl Churchill's 'Cloud 9' by Wednesday. And there's Sea of Souls at 9 o'clock of course, with Craig facing childhood demons and facing off against a possible fraud 'healer' - slashy brain, don't fail me now!