Today was sedate – probably the most mellow of the festival so far. People are tired, pure and simple. All of the faces I’ve been seeing for the past week are slowly beginning to look more and more weary. We’re all like four years olds who refuse to go to bed when we should. Please mom? Can we have another day? If only we can squeeze in that last day of movie watching before we have to go to bed! On the scene only the last few holdouts of actors and directors are here, most having returned to their normal lives after the excitement of the fest.

Unfortunately for me, it was a day of films that seemed to fit the tired mood. Not saying that they were bad, but that there wasn’t a single slam bang film chock full of energy to get my pulse up. It was, all in all, pretty laid back.

I opened the day with an indie GRRL! Dramedy directed by Jamie Babbit (Gilmore Girls, The Quiet) called Itty Bitty Titty Committee. And it was a pretty cute little film that followed yesterday’s Monkey Warfare pretty well – although I kind of wish I’d seen them in reverse and back to back. It’s all about a feminist micro group revolting against a patriarchal America while everyone is falling in love with one another. I felt the very end of the film was a little too easy, but all in all enjoyed it for the performances and theme of unending revolution. Having followed it up with Monkey Warfare, a film about revolutionaries 15 years down the road, would have really made for a killer double feature though.

Then it was on to my favorite film of the day, Lost in Woonsocket - A follow-up film to a unique, but cancelled, television show called Random 1. The idea was a grand social experiment to find a random person in need of help and then try to find someone willing to supply that help out of the goodness of their heart – without the TV crew providing any money or direct assistance. This film chronicles two of their episodes as well as the follow up to them both – an intertwined story of two homeless drunks who need help getting cleaned up and reunited with their families. Heartwarming, touching, and yes – even tear jerking. I loved the heck out of this film and almost came to tears describing it to several friends later on. This film needs distribution badly as it will play to the heartland of this country like nobodies business. It’s the type of film churches need to organize screenings of. A film about humanity at its very best.

Following that was my biggest disappointment of the day, Steal a Pencil for Me. This is a Holocaust film with a very interesting premise. It’s the story of a man in a bad marriage trapped in a concentration camp with both his wife and his girlfriend. Because they must keep their affair a secret, the two lovers write letters to one another over the course of several years. Sounds great, huh? Unfortunately they tell you who lives, who dies and who gets married all in the first five minutes, removing any and all tension, and proceed to explain how it came to happen for the rest of it. Had it been the other way around, it could have been fascinating. Instead, I was just waiting for it to end so I could see…

Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (aka Grimm Love). The single most disturbing film at the festival. Forget Zoo. Bestiality is nothing. This is a dramatization about the true story of a man who wanted to eat someone who found a man who desperately wanted to be eaten. Not even remotely for the squeamish, this brilliantly crafted film chronicles the whole skin crawling ordeal without the gore you’d expect. It’s all implied. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t shifting uncomfortably in my seat or crying out as certain very sensitive parts are bitten off while the victim was still alive (and at his insistence.) This film shook me to my very core – which certainly was its intent. I cannot recommend this to anyone but the most mature of viewers who are 100% aware of what they are getting themselves into. A great film for those who want to peek inside the mind of two very sad and sick individuals – but one that should be approached with caution.

One more day. Closing night. Hell yeah. Very much looking forward to what they have in store for me for my very last day covering this until next year. More tomorrow.

C. Robert Cargill - - - Email Me
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Austin-based Cargill, who "... not only loves, but owns, The Cutting Edge," writes on Movies and DVD two times a week.

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