Saint Louis International Film Festival

This is going to be a bit late, but I think it's important to point out that this week has been a troubling, existential emotional roller coaster where both time, money, and other important grips on reality began slipping through my fingers. When you spend multiple days sitting in your car either eating or just staring up, waiting for the next thing to happen, you start questioning your worth.

Yesterday I ate almost a whole bag of Snickers unwrapped, and that was not the only candy I had that night. I then went to Burger King in an irrational attempt to "even things out" in my stomach.

I saw some movies, too, at SLIFF. This was a part of my strange week, but not all of it. It mostly had to do with being in the Loop all the time, smelling lots of garbage, being approached by homeless people, and seeing some very interesting but not all too amazing movies (bar a few).

The first thing I saw (after the tragic events described in my last post) was Computer Chess (2013).

 This is the latest work from Andrew Buljaski, who has been dubbed "godfather of mumblecore". Mumblecore is a fairly recent sub-genre of independent movies that is known for "naturalistic dialogue" "amateur actors" and "low key production design". I put quotes on these phrases, because I think mumblecore would be more appropriately described as overly quirky and peculiar for the purpose of being quirky and peculiar, and stupid dickhat crap. 

Luckily, this movie didn't have that problem. Andrew Bujalski doesn't endorse his nickname, and is right not to, because he can obviously make a movie with substance, like Computer Chess. 

That isn't to say I loved Computer Chess. There were several scenes that I found hilarious and brilliant. Overall, the film was shot really well in terms of composition, yet also intentionally shot terribly on a glitchy and archaic video camcorder from the 80's. It's a dry humor, absurdo-surrealist (I made that term up) period movie about computer nerds, but it's really about weird people who are weirdly passionate about weird things, and the mixture of deadpan, absurdism, and avante garde styles makes the movie something both grotesque and beautiful. Still not sure what think. Definitely want to see it again.

Then I saw The Blue Tiger (2013)

And...Oh whatever. It had a blue tiger in it and it was from the Czech Republic. That's all you need to know.

Things started to get better after that. I attended a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929). It's one of his early silent features, only this time it was accompanied by live music from the Rats and the People Motion Picture Orchestra.

They do these crazy amazing and beautiful scores for older movies and it is one of the coolest things ever. 

If you ever get a chance to see a silent film with live music, do it. It's fascinating.
I also saw Eric Von Stroheim's Greed (1924) accompanied by a RATP score. In this case, the movie often out shined the music.

Unfortunately, there was yet another shitty theater experience. I went to see a former professor's newly finished documentary, and thought if I sat in the back row, in the corner, I would be alone. I thought wrong.

Four hefty men filled out the rest of the row, trapping me. My professor (the producer, writer, director, and editor of the film) was right at the end. I couldn't even move or I would be spotted. Nevertheless, I thought if I just accepted that I couldn't move, and got comfortable, things would be okay. I thought wrong. It was at that moment that Lou Ferigno decided to sit right in front of me.

The documentary was in Spanish.

So for the majority of the movie, I just looked at pictures and was able to read the first and last few words of dialogue. This was my experience for the next 90 minutes, and that's all I want to say about that. I'm just gonna wrap things up.

Movies I Also Saw This Week
His Girl Friday (1940), Stagecoach (1939)