Pith and Vinegar
Six-word reviews of some of the hotter screenings at Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest 09.
There are more than 120 features playing at this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest 09, a large number of them in week two. In the interest of originality, we’re going to borrow an idea from The Morning News.org’s Paul Ford, who came up with the Six-Word Review for SXSW—the best way to deal with having to write about 763 bands. Surely this can work for cinema, too. Here, then, are about 30 films given the brevity-is-the-soul-of-wit treatment. Each movie is graded on a 1-to-5 star scale, with 1 being pretty crappy and 5 being excellent.
Able
Unsettling, long as no one speaks. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 9:30pm, PMT.
ABLE film trailer from Will Stotler on Vimeo.
The Beautiful Person
Honoré does it again. But slipping. 3 stars. Sat., April 4, 4:15pm, PMT; Sun., April 5, 9:15pm, R5.
Before the Fall
The apocalypse plus a serial killer?! 1 star. Sat., April 4, 12:30pm, R5.
Burning Plain
Not bad, just sad. Poor Arriaga. 1 star. Thurs., April 2, 7pm, PMT; Sat., April 4, 2:30pm, R5.
The Chaser
Memories of Murders-lite. Still valuable. 3 stars. Wed., April 1, 4:45pm, R5.
Cuttin’ Da Mustard
Overly earnest, overly autobiographical, lacks rigor. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 6:45pm, BCD; Fri., April 3, 7:45pm, RE.
Dioses
Ooh, evil rich kids! Too easy. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 4:45pm, BCD.
Food Inc.
Fast Food Nation: already a movie. 2 stars. Wed., April 1, 4:45pm, IH.
The Girl From Monaco
Fluff with clever ideas? Still fluff. 3 stars. Fri., April 3, 12:15pm, R5.
GS Wonderland
Goofy time capsule. Can’t sustain momentum. 3 stars. Wed., April 1, 7pm, BCD.
I Sell the Dead
Fessenden plus graverobbing plus Perlman. Easy. 3 stars. Wed., April 1, 4:45pm, RE; Sun., April 5, 9:30pm, IH.
Il Divo
One-note. But what a crazy note. 3 stars. Fri., April 3, 7pm, R5; Sun., April 5, 5pm, PMT.
I’m Going to Explode
Godard riff luckily its own thing. 5 stars. Fri., April 3, 9:30pm, R5; Sun., April 5, 7:15pm, BCD.
Julia
Tilda and Zonka improve Cassavetes’ Gloria. 3 stars. Sat., April 4, 9:30pm, RE; Sun., April 5, 2:15pm, RE.
Jury Duty
Less Camus, more French Pauly Shore. 2 stars. Wed., April 1, 4:45pm, PMT; Sun., April 5, 7pm, RE.
Kassim the Dream
Ugandan past, bad. American present, good. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 9:30pm, IH; Fri., April 3, 4:45pm, PMT.
King of Ping Pong
Deadpan-kid film amuses, loses steam. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 2:15pm and Fri., April 3, 7:15pm, RE.
Lymelife
Suburbs are evil? I didn’t know. 2 stars. Mon., April 6, 7:15pm, PMT.
Number One With a Bullet
Interesting, probing, but needs better aim. 3 stars. Thurs., April 2, 4:45pm, PMT.
Pressure Cooker
Nice but with precious little drama. 3 stars. Sat., April 4, 7pm, BBP.
Sita Sings the Blues
Irresistible. Except, maybe, to humorless jerks. 5 stars. Fri., April 3, 7pm, PMT; Sun., April 5, 5pm, RE.
Snow
Bosnian Cherry Orchard. Still, has toughness. 3 stars. Fri., April 3, 12:15pm, BCD; Sun., April 5, 6:15pm, BBP.
Summer Hours
Loverly farewell to childhood. Go, Assayas! 4 stars. Thurs., April 2, 7:15pm, R5.
Surveillance
Better than Boxing Helena. Not hard. 2 stars. Sat., April 4, 9:30pm, PMT; Sun., April 5, 2:30pm, R5.
Treeless Mountain
Slight sophomore slump. Still, pretty good. 3 stars. Sat., April 4, 5pm and Sun., April 5, 2:45pm, RE.
Tulpan
Real-time sheep birth! Also, humor. 4 stars. Fri., April 3, 7:15pm, BCD; Sun., April 5, noon, RE.
Wages of Spin
Amateurish Dick Clark hit piece misses. 2 stars. Wed., April 1, 6:45pm, IH.
The Way We Get By
The anti-Young@Heart. Thank Christ. 2 stars. Fri., April 3, 3pm, RE; Sat., April 4, 4:30pm, BBP.
Zift
Eastern European retro-noir retains misogyny. 2 stars. Thurs., April 2, 9:30pm, RE; Sat., April 4, 5:30pm BDC.
For ongoing coverage of the Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest 09, visit Matt Prigge’s festival blog at www.FestPhanatic.wordpress.com.
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