2014 San Francisco Independent Film Festival

The 2014 San Francisco Independent Film Festival (IndieFest) was their Sweet 16.  The festival ran from February 6 to 20.  The opening night film was at the Brava Theater.  The rest of the festival was held at the Roxie.  Actually IndieFest held 8 days of film screenings at the New Parkway in Oakland but all the films I attended were at the Brava or Roxie.

As I mentioned in another post, the Most British Film Festival coincided with IndieFest this year.  I saw 16 films at IndieFest and 12 at the Mostly British.  I don't know if that means I would have seen 28 films at IndieFest if there had been no scheduling conflicts but I would definitely have seen more than 16.  Among the films I missed which I regret were Aldo, Almost Human & Rezeta.

The Congress starring Robin Wright; with Harvey Keitel, John Hamm & Paul Giamatti; directed by Ari Folman; (2013) - Official Website
Doomsdays starring Justin Rice & Leo Fitzpatrick; directed by Eddie Mullins; (2013) - Official Website

Karaoke Girl starring Sa Sittijun; directed by Visra Vichit Vadakan; Thai with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

Let's Ruin It With Babies starring Kestrin Pantera & Eva Kim; directed by Kestrin Pantera; (2013) - Official Website

Delivery starring Laurel Vail & Danny Barclay; directed by Brian Netto; (2013) - Official Website

You Make Me Feel So Young starring Justine Eister, Zach Weintraub & Kymberly Walden; directed by Zach Weintraub; (2013) - Official Facebook

Grigris starring Souleymane Démé; directed by Mahat-Saleh Haroun; French & Arabic with subtitles; (2013) 

Bluebird starring Amy Morton, John Slattery & Louisa Krause; directed by Lance Edmands; (2013) - Official Website

Hank: 5 Years from the Brink; documentary; directed by Joe Berlinger; (2013)

Teenage; documentary; directed by Matt Wolf; (2013) - Official Website

Bounty Killer starring Christian Pitre; directed by Henry Saine; (2013) - Official Facebook

You'll Be a Man starring Aurelio Cohen & Jules Sagot; directed Benoit Cohen; French with subtitles; (2013) - Official Facebook

The Love Songs of Tiedan starring  Feng Si, Ye Lan, Feng Yun & Li Yuqin; directed by Hao Jie; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012) 

Blue Ruin starring Macon Blair; directed by Jeremy Saulnier; (2013) - Official Website

There is Light starring Maya Koizumi; directed by Yukihiro Toda; Japanese with subtitles; (2013)

Proxy starring Joe Swanberg, Kristina Klebe, Alexa Havins & Alexia Rasmussen; directed by Zach Parker; (2013) - Official Website

A central plot point in Let's Ruin It With Babies was the (RV)IP.  That's a combination of RV and VIP.  The characters in the film tricked out an RV, drove it across the country and stopped at various cities to host pop-up parties.  As I exited the Roxie Theater, the (RV)IP was parked directly in front of the building.  The (RV)IP predates Let's Ruin It With Babies.

Grigris (also spelled GriGris) was Chad's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscar.  It was not nominated.

There weren't as many short films preceding the main features as in years past.  I only recall seeing one short film.

Here, There; directed by Ichiro Tani; 5 minutes; (2013)

A short film titled Beasts in the Real World was on the program to precede the opening night film but it did not screen.

I thought it was an extremely strong lineup of films at IndieFest this year.  I watched a relatively modest 16 films this year so perhaps I was lucky and caught the cream of the crop.

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My favorite film from the festival was Delivery.  I thought the concept was clever.  Delivery is set up as though the audience is watching a faux, unaired reality television series about a couple having their first child. Rachel &  Kyle Massy (Laurel Vail & Danny Barclay) are the expectant parents who literally experience the pregnancy from hell.  Set over several months, the film within a film captures strange and frightening events occurring to Rachael.  It has the look of Satanic possession a la Rosemary's Baby but the film goes into a different direction.  Instead, the viewer is left to decide whether the happenings are paranormal or psychological.  Delivery played it right down the middle to the very last scene which is as shocking & disturbing as anything I've seen on a movie screen in a long time.

Just the fact that Delivery was able to creep me out earns it high praise from me.  I think the fact that the film leaves open the possibility that Rachel is responsible for these strange incidents made the film more disquieting.  I notice the film is now titled Delivery: The Beast Within which is a clever title; is the beast within Rachel's womb or her mind?

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The prolific Joe Swanberg's participation in a project typically signals an interesting film.  By IMDB's count, Swanberg has acted in 46 films and television episodes since 2003 and directed 27 during that same period.  Speaking of which, the Roxie is screening Swanberg's latest directorial effort, Happy Christmas, from August 1 to 7.  Happy Christmas premiered at Sundance in January.

Proxy was directed by Zach Parker and Swanberg was one of the lead actors.  It's a twisted film that is a guilty pleasure.  Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) is a very pregnant woman who is attacked on the street in a particularly violent manner.  As result of the attack, Esther miscarries (nice dead fetus scene).  She begins attending a support group and meets  Esther meets and befriends Melanie (Alexa Havins), a woman whose son was killed by a drunk driver.

Later, Esther sees Melanie in a department store.  As she watches, Melanie becomes hysterical and claims that her son has been kidnapped from the store.  While the security guards search for him, Esther witness Melanie go to her car and get her toddler son.  She returns to the store and "finds" her lost child.

Esther has her own secret.  Her attacker is actually Anika (Kristina Klebe), her lesbian lover who has a temper and done time in prison. When Esther invites Melanie, she makes a pass at her which Melanie declines.  Then Esther states she knows the truth about what happened at the department store.  This enrages Melanie who slaps Esther and tells her never to contact her again.

Clearly unstable (like everyone else is in the film), Esther tracks down Melanie at her house.  She observes Melanie, her husband Patrick (Swanberg) and their young son.  She breaks into the house while the three are at home and drowns the boy in the bathtub.  When Melanie discovers what Esther has done, Esther states that now they can be together...just before Patrick shoots her dead with a shotgun.  Having not heard the entire conversation and having no clue about his wife's activities, Patrick assumes that Esther was just a crazy woman; an assumption which is furthered bolstered when the police inform him about the attack which killed her unborn child.

Esther's death puts everyone on edge.  Anika wants revenge, Patrick regret not torturing Esther and Melanie is concerned that her relationship with Esther and ergo her support group lies will come to light.  Without giving away the ending, some people die and some don't.  Actually, the screen fades to black without revealing who (if any) survives.

What I enjoyed most about Proxy is that everyone is a sociopath although I will say that Patrick is the most well adjusted...until his son is murdered by a home intruder.  As I mentioned, Proxy is a guilty pleasure.  It doesn't really say much about a society that could produce these four people.  Parker frames the four as horrible people so there is little chance the audience will sympathize with them.  Instead, it is like watching monsters attack each other with innocent bystanders getting hurt.  The performance are very good although Klebe had difficulty at times expressing Anika's anti-social rage.

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More of a straight-up revenge genre film is Blue Ruin.  Dwight (Macon Blair) is a homeless vagrant when the film starts.  We learn that Dwights's parents were murdered several years ago by Wade Cleland who is being released from prison after being convicted for that crime.  Dwight follows Cleland from prison as his family has rented a limousine to celebrate.  He sneaks in by the back door of a roadside bar where the Clelands are celebrating.  He confronts Wade in the men's room and stabs him to death.  Dropping his car keys during the struggle, Dwight is forced to flee in the limousine.

He visits his sister and confesses the crime.  His sister was unaware of murder which indicates the Clelands have not reported the murder to the police and will instead seek revenge.  Concerned for his sister and her family's safety, Dwight lies in wait at her house while she has taken her family out of town.  When the Clelands arrive, he is able to knock one unconscious and kidnap him in the trunk of the limo but not before getting shot by a crossbow in his leg.

Later, Dwight learns from the captured Cleland that Wade Cleland did not murder his father.  In fact, it was Wade's father who was the murderer; his motive being that Dwight's father was having an affair with his wife.  The captured Cleland is able get Dwight's gun and is about to shoot him before Dwight's survivalist friend from high school shoots him dead.

Hoping the feud is over since the body count is two dead on both sides, Dwight reluctantly prepares for a final showdown when the Clelands indicate they have no intention of ending the feud.

Macon Blair delivers a strong performance as Dwight, a man whose life has been ruined twice by murders - first his parents murder sent him into a tailspin and his revenge killing has put his life in jeopardy.  Eve Plumb (Jan from The Brady Bunch) shows up as the matriarch of the Cleland family (the one who affair started the feud).  Dark, humorless and taut, Blue Ruin is a gritty revenge tale.

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I was also intrigued with the Japanese film There is Light.  It's a provocative film about a young woman who turns to prostitution to make some money.  Not just any kind of prostitution but she works for an agency that specializes in providing services to handicap individuals.  The film uses handicap non-actors for the roles of the clients.  Far from appealing to those who want to see the grotesque or kinky, There is Light shows a range of personalities which Saori (Maya Koizumi) encounters.  This may sound like The Sessions but it has a darker tone.  Saori has her own secrets and in some ways, she is more emotionally damaged than her clients.  The film is weighed down by Koizumi's lackluster performance and at times, the director seems to have lost control over the non-actors but the semi-documentary feel of much of the film compensates.  There is Light is not a great film but it portends bigger and better films in director Yukihiro Toda's future.

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The Congress has an impeccable pedigree.  It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was directed by Ari Folman who also helmed the much acclaimed Waltz with Bashir.  Robin Wright plays Robin Wright, not necessarily herself although there was a scene with large posters of Robin Wright from The Princess Bride and other Robin Wright films.  It's more like the real Robin Wright in an alternate reality.  It's a reality where Wright is offered a large amount of money to sell her digital image in perpetuity.  The condition is that Wright cannot act again.  Wright reluctantly accepts the offer.

The film jumps 20 years in the future where Wright or her digital image is again on the cutting edge of technology which has advanced far enough that people can "become" an digital image and Miramount Studios (portmanteau of Miramax & Paramount) want to work a deal with Wright for people to "become" her.

Before this can happen, Wright is seemingly executed but only to wake up in an animated world.  This is where the film excels.  The literally animated Robin Wright wanders around this animated world consisting of famous people and various animation styles.  The film is visually stunning but difficult to follow the plot.  At this point, I gave up on trying to absorb "the message" of the film and decided to simply enjoy the images.

Harvey Keitel plays Wright's agent and has an impressive monologue.  I recognized Sami Gayle from Detachment (Cinequest 2012) as Wright's daughter.

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Doomsdays - a story about a pair of misfits (later joined by a teenage boy & a young woman for awhile) who break into houses while the owners are out and squat/vandalize the homes.  They are bullshit anarchists whose behavior justifies their slacker attitudes and anger management issues.

While watching Doomsdays, I was reminded of the French film Going Places (1974) which I saw at last year's Sacramento French Film Festival.  During the Q&A after the film, the filmmakers mentioned their film was inspired by Going Places.  At the time I saw the film, Doomsdays seemed more meritorious.  Five months later, it doesn't stick in my memory.  Oppositely, some of the scenes from Going Places have remained in my memory after more than a year.

Karaoke Girl - an interesting semi-documentary film about an bar girl in Bangkok whose memories, dreams and fantasies form the basis of the film.  Episodic and skimpy on plot, the film is lightweight but enjoyable fare.

Let's Ruin It With Babies - real life married couple Kestrin Pantera & Jonathan Grubb play Channing & Chaz, a married couple whose shared dream is to start RVIP, a party bus/karaoke hybrid (just like the real life couple).  Chaz wants kids and is unable to go on the road with Channing because he has accepted a full-time job.  She must rely on herself and some flighty friends to tour the country with RVIP and generate some publicity.  This results in some predictable but enjoyable scenes in what is, for most of its time, a road trip movie.  Kestrin Pantera's winning performance lifts this film into tolerable territory but Patrick Daniel as a dishonest mechanic is most memorable.

You Make Me Feel So Young - a mumblecore film about a couple who move to a small town for the boyfriend's job (running a arthouse movie theater!) and how the girlfriend's isolation gives her time to observe the deterioration of her relationship with the man.  I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would.  If I'm not careful, I'm going to become a fan of mumblecore...if they still call it that.  Justine Eister is quietly effective in the lead role.

Grigris is the name of the title character (Souleymane Démé), a man with a paralyzed leg who makes his living on gratuities from dancing.  When his step-father falls ill, Grigris must make more money than he can on the dance floor.  He hooks up with a local gangster who smuggles gasoline.  Grigris runs afoul with he skims the money and takes his girl, a prostitute.  The two are on the run from the gangster and hide out in a small town before a surprise ending.  The plot meanders a little but the performances by Démé & Anaïs Monory as the prostitute are impressive given they are not professional actors.

Bluebird - a school bus driver is distracted and misses a boy sleeping on the bus at the end of the route.  The boy freezes to death in Maine during winter.  The affected parties behave differently - the driver, her husband, her daughter, the boy's mother & the boy's grandmother.  The realities of modern small-town lives are examined through the husband's lumberjack job and the town's reaction to the death.  Bluebird is a festival film in the sense that it is too measured and observed to get a distribution but is also the type of film which makes me glad I have so many festival options available to me.

Hank: 5 Years from the Brink - a documentary about Bush's Treasury Secretary during the financial crisis of 2008.  I didn't learn much which was news to me.

Teenage - a disjointed documentary about the role and behavior of teenagers from the early part of the century with celebrity voice over narration.  I couldn't discern much of theme and the visual were not consistent with the narration.  It left me bored.

Bounty Killer - a late addition to the schedule.  It wasn't nearly gritty or gratuitous enough for my taste.  It was very stylized but the cast lacked the acting skills and the film had a plot which felt padded.  I will admit the final shoot out in a office environment with gangsters dressed as businessmen was inspired.  Kristanna Loken has a memorable supporting role.  It was a midnight movie screening which I wish I had rather gone to sleep.

You'll Be a Man - a young man is hired to be the nanny for an overly protected, shy, young boy.  The two form a quick friendship with the man frequently behaving more immaturely than the boy.  The father thinks the relationship is unhealthy, fires the nanny and the young man kidnaps the boy.  Full of cliches and plot holes, I couldn't get into this film.

The Love Songs of Tiedan - I couldn't follow the plot to this film.  As a boy, Tiedan had a crush on the beauty of the small rural town he lived in.  Now a grown man, the woman returns to town with her three  grown daughters.  Tiedan is a folk singer (Er-ren-tai) who seduces the daughters in successive order.  The plot jumped around and further complicating matters was the fact that the same actress was cast in multiple roles making distinguishing the character difficult.

More Spring Cleaning

I saw a number of non-festival films in the first quarter which were interesting and worthwhile if not spectacular.

The Great Passage starring Ryûhei Matsuda; directed by Yûya Ishii; Japanese with subtitles; (2013)
Two Lives starring Juliane Köhler & Liv Ullmann; directed by Georg Maas & Judith Kaufmann; German & Norwegian with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website

24 Exposures starring Adam Wingard, Caroline White, Simon Barrett & Sophia Takal; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2013)

7 Boxes starring Celso Franco; directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia & Tana Schembori; Spanish with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website

Gloria starring Paulina García; directed by Sebastián Lelio; Spanish with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

Generation War Part 1 starring Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein & Ludwig Trepte; directed by Philipp Kadelbach; German & Polish with subtitles; (2013) - Official Facebook

Generation War Part 2 starring Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein & Ludwig Trepte; directed by Philipp Kadelbach; German & Polish with subtitles; (2013) - Official Facebook

The Grand Budapest Hotel starring Ralph Fiennes; directed by Wes Anderson; (2014) - Official Website

I saw The Great Passage & Two Lives at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in January as part of their annual For Your Consideration series in which they screen film submitted for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar category.   The Great Passage later screened at the 2014 CAAMFest in March.

I saw 24 Exposures and 7 Boxes at the Little Roxie.  I saw 24 Exposures on the first day in February and 7 Boxes on the last day in February.

I saw Gloria at the Magick Lantern in Pt. Richmond in March.

I saw both Generation War films on successive afternoons in March at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinemas.

I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel in late March at the Stonestown Cinema.

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Let's start with Gloria since I ventured all the way to Pt. Richmond to see it.  Is Pt. Richmond a separate municipality than Richmond?  It was my first time in Pt. Richmond which has a quaint, downtown area where the Magick Lanten is located.

I first heard of the Magick Lantern about a year ago.  I had been meaning to go but am rarely in that area.  Looking at transit options from Richmond BART, I decided that driving would be the best option.  That limits my opportunities to visit as I rarely drive across the bay.  In addition, the Magick Lantern only has six regularly scheduled screenings per week (Thursday through Sunday).

A few months ago, I read that the Magick Lantern is struggling one year after opening.  Although I'm hoping for its success, I thought it better that I make it a priority to get over there to see it in case it doesn't survive.  Owner Ross Woodbury states in the article "Right now (the theater) is being run as a charity...The films I show are really, really good, but they’re generally not as well known. There’s x-number of people who come every week, and I’m delighted with them and love them. But there just aren’t enough of them."

For the past few months (maybe longer), the Lantern has been screening San Francisco Noir films on Thursday nights at 7:30 PM.  Admission is free.  On Thursday, The Midnight Story (1957) with Tony Curtis is screening.  The Rocket is screening five times from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.  Admission is $7 (cash only).

What are my impressions about the theater?  As the news article states, it's hidden, on the left hand side of a hallway.  If I recall correctly, there was a sandwich board sign on the sidewalk advertising the theater.  From the street, it's easiest to find by looking for the prominent Starbucks signage next to it.  As I entered the theater, the first thing I noticed was an impressive collection of cinema related books on large bookshelves to the left of the entrance.  I believe the back of the bookshelves form the back wall of the auditorium and they don't quite reach the ceiling.  After purchasing my ticket, I perused the books as well as some VHS tapes and DVDs.  I'm not sure if the items were for sale.

The screening room consists of four or five rows of theater seats; perhaps 10 seats across.  In front of the first row of seats are some beanbags on the floor which were being used by some of the audience.  On the evening I went, an entire row of seats were taped off because they weren't securely fastened to the floor.  Turkish or Afghan rugs were hung on the walls as makeshift soundproofing.  The projection is strictly DVD/Blue Ray.  There is no space for a 35 mm projector (either platter or changeover).  I went to a 7:30 screening on a Saturday night and there were approximately 20 people in the house.

Gloria is set in Santiago, Chile.  Pauline Garcia portrays the titular character, a divorcée in her late 50s.  Benignly neglected by her grown children and bored by her life, Gloria explores the singles scene which the synopsis tell us is quite vibrant for senior citizens.  She meets Rudolfo (Sergio Hernández), a retired naval officer.  Their relationship quickly progresses but Gloria has her doubts.  Rudolfo claims to be divorced but his ex-wife seems unusually dependent on him.  He also disappears from a family dinner where she introduces him to her children (and ex-husband).

The relationship continues to deteriorate and although Rudolfo marital status is never confirmed, Gloria appears to believe he is still married.  Her final, dramatic break from him signals her rebirth which is visually punctuated by her dancing at a disco to the Spanish language version of Gloria (the Laura Branigan song; not the Van Morrison one).

Kudos to Garcia for her performance which features nude sex scenes.  She is in nearly every scene and continues to show a buoyant attitude that belies the realities of her life.  Not necessarily sad, she is definitely on the downside of a life that has had its share of setbacks.  However, it is Hernández as Rudolfo who powers the film.  Whatever complaints Gloria may have about the way her life turned out, Rudolfo would seem to have more.  His grown daughters have no income of their own and are entirely dependent on their father both financially and emotionally.  Rudolfo seems unwilling to change the clearly dysfunctional dynamics within his family.  Unwilling to commit to Gloria and unwilling to cut his children loose, Rudolfo wants to have it both ways and Gloria is having none of it.

The transformation in the film is not so much with Gloria but rather the audience's perception of her.

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I became aware of Generation War at the 2013 Mill Valley Film Festival.  At MVFF, it was screened as one film with a running time of 4 hours, 30 minutes.  I wanted to see it but the screening I was interested in was At Rush so I went for a bird in the hand instead.  Interestingly, I cannot recall which film I saw instead of Generation War.  The film was broken into two parts for its US release.

Generation War follows five young Germans from 1941 to 1945.   Wilhelm (Volker Bruch) is an officer in the Wehrmacht and has already seen combat when the film begins.   Friedhelm (Tom Schilling) is Wilhelm's younger brother.  He has not served in the military before and in contrast to his brother, he sees no honor in warfare.  Charlotte (Miriam Stein) is naive and secretly in love with Wilhelm.  She volunteers as nurse and is stationed on the Eastern Front, not far from where the brother are stationed.   Katharina Schüttler is Greta, an ambitious singer who has an affair with an SS officer in order to advance her career and save her Jewish boyfriend Viktor (Ludwig Trepte).  Unbeknownst to Greta, the SS officer double crosses her and arrest Viktor.  He escapes his fate at a concentration camp and falls in with Polish resistance fighters.

Originally a German television miniseries, Generation War as epic reach which sometimes exceeds its grasp.  The five actors are in one scene together.  After that, they appear apart in pairs, trios or even quartets.  For me, the plot lines concerning Wilhelm and Friedhelm were the most compelling.  Wilhelm begins the film as patriotic and duty bound.  As Wilhelm is weighed down with his responsibilities as a platoon commander, he begins to realize the inhumanity of war and in particular, the brand of war the Nazi fought.  Meanwhile, his younger brother Friedhelm, who serves in his platoon, slowly loses his sense of morality as the atrocity he watch have an opposite effect on him than his brother.  The attitudes of the two brothers slowly come together and then diverge as they end at extreme opposites.  Wilhelm becomes a deserter, is captured and forced into a penal battalion where his unit is given the most dangerous missions.  Friedhelm becomes foolhardy in combat before eventually falling in with some fervent Hitler Youth defending against the Soviets during the final weeks of WWII.

Charlotte grows up fast in the field hospital she works at.  Seeing death on a regular basis and even turning Jewish staff members, she becomes a capable nurse before failing to evacuate and being captured by the Soviets.  She escapes rape and possibly death, courtesy of the Jewish woman she turned in (who is now an officer in the Soviet Army).

Greta becomes more ambitious as the war progresses.  She lives in luxury as her SS benefactor paves the way for her success.  However, when she threatens to expose their affair to his wife, he sends her on a tour of the Eastern Front where she reunites with Charlotte and the brothers.  Assuming the convoy will wait for a big star like her, she is left without transport back to Berlin and must make her own way.  When she finally returns, she takes revenge on the SS officer by exposing their relationship to his wife for which she is immediately sent to prison where she remains for the rest of the war.

Finally, there is Viktor.  I'm not sure how many Jews were left in Berlin in 1941 and hindsight may be 20/20 but it seem ridiculous for him and his parents to stick around Germany and I doubt he would have greeted his Aryan friends on the street of 1941 Berlin with "Shalom!"  His transformation from nice Jewish boy to resistance fighter seems most extreme.  He is continuously forced to hide his Jewish background from the partisans as they are as rabidly antisemitic as the Nazis.

I won't reveal who survives the war and who doesn't.  Each of them face and escape death at least once.  The film was a little melodramatic and contrived.  It definitely felt like a TV miniseries.  It also treated the five Germans as complicit victims of the Nazi regime.  It's a balanced portrayal but each of them can claim victimization by the Nazi regime which four of them openly serve.  Viktor of course, is the odd man out.  At most, he was a little too passive when his girlfriend starts screwing an SS officer to gain his travel papers.

By the way, that SS officer (Mark Waschke) is one of the best roles in the film.  Pure villain, he abuses his power as an SS officer and rather than face his comeuppance, he burns his uniform at the end of the war, assumes a new identity, escapes de-Nazification efforts and lands a job working for the American occupation forces.

Decidedly middlebrow and filled with false or at least, faux insights about the German people of WWII, Generation War has a fervent energy which propels it for most of its 4.5 hours.  It's hard to make a boring film about Nazis and WWII.

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I've become a bit of a Joe Swanberg fan since the Roxie held a retrospective of his work last year.  I was anxious to see his almost latest film, 24 Exposures, at the Roxie.  Swanberg premiered another film at this year's Sundance Film Festival in January.

Interestingly, the Roxie's website did not prominently mention that 24 Exposures was directed by Swanberg.  The copy mentioned "Vaseline-lensed sense and sexability of an early ‘90s Zalman King production..."  That doesn't sound like Swanberg whose films don't shy away from sexuality but strives for realism with mumblecore dialogue and recognizable situations.

24 Exposures is about a photographer who shoots models in mock death scenes (think crime scene photos) with an eye towards the erotic aspects of dead, topless women.  He and his girlfriend also likes to engage in ménage à trois with some of the models.  In parallel, a suicidal police detective is investigating a series of murders where the victim are dead, topless women.

Adam Wingard is Billy, the photographer and Simon Barrett is Michael, the cop.  Alex, Billy's girlfriend, is portrayed by Caroline White and indie film queen Sophia Takal is one of the models who looks impressive in a pair of red stretch pants.

Much of the dialogue, particularly Michael's, seems awkwardly delivered and artificial.  I can't believe Swanberg was unaware of that.  Swanberg must be commenting on the genre or perhaps the audience's expectation of his films.  In the end, Swanberg plays an book agent who critiques Michael's memoirs of the murders.  Swanberg ticks off a number of shortcomings in the draft which could easily apply to the film which then leads the audience to think the film is an adaption of the faux memoir which the book agent is rejecting.  It's a little too meta for me.

24 Exposures isn't a horrible film but of the half dozen or so Swanberg directed films I've seen in the past year, it is my least favorite.

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7 Boxes is a Paraguayan film; perhaps the first Paraguayan film I've seen.  I see so many films, I can't keep track the country of origin.

Celso Franco is Victor, a 17 year old boy who dreams of being famous and on television.  To achieve these dreams, he needs a cell phone.  I'm not sure why he needs a cell phone to achieve stardom.  Anyway, he gets a job to move 7 boxes several blocks in Asunción.  He has to deal with stolen cell phones, criminals, cops, a girl and the unknown contents of the boxes.

7 Boxes has thrills and some black humor.  It's one of those films where multiple plot threads come together and then apart as the story progresses.  It's clever and entertaining but didn't leave much of a lasting impression.

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The Great Passage was Japan's submission for the Best Foreign Language film at this year's Oscars.  It did not make the list of final nominations.

Ryûhei Matsuda is Mitsuya Majime, a book publishing company employee.  The film begins in the 1980s when Majime is a struggling salesman.  He is quickly recruited by the editors on a project to publish a new edition of a dictionary.  Despite being a thankless and likely money-losing proposition, Majime, a linguistics major, quickly shines in his role as researcher and ultimately editor of the dictionary.

The film spans about 20 years during the which the dictionary is compiled and goes through several edits.  During this time, Majime meets a woman, gets married, assumes more responsibility on the project and ultimately shepherds it to completion.

A little too sentimental for my tastes, The Great Passage is far from the best Japanese film I've seen in the past few years.  At nearly 2 hours and 15 minutes, I thought 30 minutes of editing could have made the film a better product.  It couldn't have been all bad because I can remember two scenes 3 months later.  First, define "left" without using the word "right."  How do you define your left hand without referencing the right hand?  Second, define "love."

Two Lives was Germany's submission for the Best Foreign Language film and it didn't receive a nomination either.  The film is set in the early 1990s as the Berlin Wall falls.  We see a woman (Juliane Kohler) using disguises and false papers to sneak into East Germany.  We later learn the woman is Katrine Myrdal, a Norwegian housewife and new grandmother.  Her husband is a submarine captain in the Norwegian navy, her daughter is a college student who has decided to have a child out of wedlock and her mother is Liv Ullmann.  Katrine was taken by the Nazis as a baby for her Aryan features, raised in East Germany after the war, became a Stasi spy and escaped to Norway as a young woman.  There is more to the story than that but I'll omit the major surprise element.

Evocative of a John le Carré novel, Two Lives recalls the end of the Cold War made personal by viewing the emotional toll Katrine has paid after having lived her life as an undercover agent.  The story is a engaging although the multiple deceits and frequent flashbacks make the film more difficult to follow.  I can only image that, like Generation War, Two Lives resonated more with German audiences where the specter of post-WWII politics, reunification and familiarity with Stasi activities are more keenly felt than in the US.

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With each film Wes Anderson releases, I enjoy his work a little less.  That trend continues with The Grand Budapest Hotel.  I can't say I disliked the film but his filmmaking style is wearing thin for me.  Whimsical, fantastical elements, deadpan deliveries - they are all there in Budapest and the visual composition and plot are meticulously planned.  It's a well made film but I guess I'm fatigued by the Anderson Touch.  His style has become equally or more important than his substance.  I'm sure Anderson's fans will disagree and gobble up Budapest but I just didn't feel it this time.   I should go back and watch The Royal Tennebaums (my favorite Anderson film) to see if my enjoyment of it has cooled.

Plimpton & Swanberg at the Roxie

I saw two films at the Roxie recently.

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself; documentary; directed by Tom Bean & Luke Poling; (2012) - Official Website

Drinking Buddies starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick & Ron Livingston; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2013) - Official Website

I recall watching Paper Lion (1968) on television around the time I was 10 years old.  Alan Alda played George Plimpton.  I was surprised that he could play a role other than Hawkeye Pierce so well.  I'd be very interested in seeing Paper Lion again to see how it holds up to a second viewing 30 years later.

For those who are unaware, the late George Plimpton had two careers.  He was the long-time editor-in-chief of The Paris Review.an influential literary journal.  Paper Lion was based on his other job - he would compete in professional sporting events and write about his experience.  Frequently he was on assignment for Sports Illustrated but he published several novels from his experiences.  Paper Lion was about his experiences at the Detroit Lion preseason training camp.  Not a particularly gifted athlete, Plimpton wrote from the perspective of an amateur and these works were quite popular evidenced by the fact that his association with Sports Illustrated lasted several years.  He called this "participatory journalism."

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself sheds light on the man behind these stunts.  He was born to a prominent New York family.  He went to the ultra prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy before being expelled his senior year.  Despite this stain (the details weren't too clear), Plimpton was admitted to Harvard.  It was probably there that he met Robert F. Kennedy.  It turns out that Plimpton and the Kennedy family were great friends.  In fact, Plimpton's brother speculates Plimpton dated Jacqueline Kennedy (née Bouvier).  Plimpton was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when RFK was assassinated and is credited with helping to wrestle Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after the shooting.

It's clear that Plimpton led a fascinating life.  His parties in 1960s and 70s are famous and the photos show a Who's Who of literary greats of the era.

The film, like the man, is enjoyable and clever but seems to be superficial and a waste of talent.  Although his work at The Paris Review is discussed, most of the film focuses on his athletic endeavors and famous acquaintances.  I doubt that people unfamiliar with Plimpton would be interested in the film although I suspect that if forced, tricked or wandered into watching the film, most people would say they enjoyed it.

Earlier this year, I saw four films directed by Joe Swanberg at the Roxie.  Swanberg was in attendance.  I enjoyed those films and at the time, he mentioned his latest film starred Olivia Wilde.  Roxie programmer Mike Keegan chimed in that the film would play at the Roxie.  That film was Drinking Buddies and it opened at the Roxie the Friday before Labor Day.

Filmed in Swanberg's homebase of Chicago, Drinking Buddies follows two couples.  Olivia Wilde & Ron Livingston are Kate & Chris and the other couple is Jake Johnson & Anna Kendrick as Luke & Jill.  Kate & Luke are co-workers at a microbrewery.  They are close friends; actually they are closer than "close" they are comfortable and intimate (in a non-sexual way) with each other.  I'd be suspicious of them if I were Chris or Jill.

The two couples spend a weekend together and tensions develop.  Chris is attracted to Jill and the attraction between Kate & Luke has been established since the opening scene.  I thought they would switch partners but Swanberg takes the film in a different direction.    After the weekend getaway, Chris immediately breaks up with Kate.  It is alluded to that he makes tentative moves towards Jill but she isn't ready to move on.  Jill wants to get married and Luke is dragging his feet.  Trying to force a decision, Jill decides to take a trip to Costa Rica or somewhere.

This leave Kate & Luke alone for a week.  Kate doesn't seem to mourn her relationship with Chris.  The next day, she sleeps with one of her coworkers and this bother Luke.  Ostensibly it is because of various other reasons but you must suspect it bothers him that Kate slept with a co-worker not named Luke.

Ever the loyal & dependable friend, Luke helps Kate move from her apartment.  She hasn't even cleaned up her apartment much less prepared for a move.  If Luke was the irresponsible one in his relationship with Jill, he is the responsible one in his relationship with Kate.  I think this is very telling about him.

Anyway, Kate seems offended that Luke has not taken any opportunities to sleep with her while Jill is away and they have a fight.  When Jake returns home, he finds Jill has returned early from her trip.  It is deliberately left vague as to the reason for her return.  One interpretation is that she was actually meeting Chris and it didn't work out.  Regardless, the events during their separation seem to have renewed their relationship.  The film ends ambiguously with Jake and Kate at work, sharing food and seemingly poised to renew their oddly intimate friendship.

This film reminded me of my youth.  It explores the boundaries between various types of relationships young people of opposite genders have.  Kate & Jake have been cheating on their significant others but rather than sexual betrayal, they have engaged in emotional betrayal.  In some sense, they got from each other what they couldn't get from their respective partners.  Looked at rationally and politely, the two are simply friends but given a glimpse their partners are not afforded, it is clear Kate and Luke are more than friends.

You see these kinds of intergender relationships frequently in school.  At least, I did in college and high school.  As one ages, this kind of behavior seems juvenile and unhealthy.  It usually evolves into something else where the sexual act is consummated or banished or the two parties stop having contact with each other for various reason.  As the film ends, my first thought was that Kate should get a new job; preferably far from Chicago.

Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson are tremendous in their roles.  Childish and at times selfish, you get the sense both will turn out to be great spouses in five years time (Luke more than Kate).

Drinking Buddies rang true to life which I'm sure was Swanberg's goal.  Another spot-on detail which I recognized was the copious amounts of beer they drank.  Out of school, most young people can drink amazing amounts of beer...amazing to someone my age.  Older and allegedly wiser, I have to wonder how much of their relationship troubles would be solved by not being in a constant beer induced haze.

Olivia Wilde's fiancé Jason Sudekis (Saturday Night Live) has a small role in the film as Luke and Kate's boss.

Drinking Buddies has enhanced my opinion of Swanberg's work.

2013 San Francisco International Film Festival (4 of 2)

Every year, I notice several films screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) get a general distribution deal.  Frequently, their distribution deal is signed at the time of the festival and there is a flyer at the information desk with a listing of these films.  It makes me wonder if I should see so many films at the SFIFF since I will be able to see them at a more leisurely pace later in the year.  The problem is that I don't know all of the films which will be distributed at the time I buy the tickets.  If I waited until the festival started to make my better informed choice, I may not get tickets to the films I want.

Since the 2013 SFIFF ended in May, I have seen eleven films which screened at the festival.  The number may be higher as I didn't fully cross-reference every film in the program.

I have already written about

The East
Frances Ha
A Hijacking
Much Ado About Nothing
The Spectacular Now
Venus and Serena
The Way, Way Back
What Maisie Knew

I saw another three films in August which were on the 2013 SFIFF program.

Blackfish; documentary; directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Official Website
Computer Chess; directed by Andrew Bujalski;  Official Website
Twenty Feet From Stardom; documentary; directed by Morgan Neville; Official Website

I saw Blackfish at the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley, Computer Chess at the Landmark Opera Plaza and Twenty Feet From Stardom at the Balboa.

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Before I say anything about Blackfish, I should admit that I am of the opinion that zoos and marine parks like SeaWorld are inhumane.  Keeping wild animals in enclosures is a form of animal cruelty.  Some parks keep them in large enclosures which I suppose is akin to being kept in a large and spacious prison cell at as opposed to a small and cramped prison cell.  These organization do animal research so there is some benefit but I don't think the scales are equal.

However, I am also of the opinion that when human development encroaches on areas where dangerous wildlife exist, we have to eradicate those animals for human safety.  Those two positions may seem diametrically opposed but I am able to feel comfortable with both.  I guess I could go a step further and say that I think humans have developed enough land to live safely but housing developments mean money so I don't expect massive urban infill developments.  My father lives in Las Vegas.  When he first moved into his house, it was two blocks from desert wilderness.  He says he saw coyotes in the area.  As development grew in the area, the desert gave way.  The desert area closest to my father is now elementary and jr. high schools.  There is no place for a coyote in the area which would be safe for children.

That's a long way to say that before I saw Blackfish, I was predisposed to being against holding orcas captive.  The film focuses on the orca or killer whale named Tilikum.  As an aside, several years ago, I spent a very enjoyable summer afternoon at Tillicum Village on Blake Island in Puget Sound near Seattle.  The salmon they served for dinner was delicious.  I highly recommend the cruise to the island.  In fact, if I was in the area, I would get there early so I would have more time to walk/hike around the island.  I like the Pacific Northwest...

Any Tilikum is an orca that was captured at young age and has lived most of its life in captivity.  He first resided at a small independent marine park in British Columbia with two female orcas.  One of the trainers was killed during a performance although there are conflicting reports as two of the whales attacked her.  Soon after that, Tilikum was sold to SeaWorld where he has literally become the stud.  The film displayed a family tree which shows that most of the orcas held by SeaWorld at their various park can trace their lineage back to Tilikum.

While at SeaWorld Orlando, a second death occurred which Tilikum was involved in.  A naked man was found dead in Tilikum enclosure.  It appears the man hid in the park after closing.  What he was attempting to do in the orca enclosure or how and why he came to be naked is up for speculation.  It was suggested the man was mentally unstable.

The film really picks up steam when covering Tilikum's fatal attack on Dawn Brancheau in February 2010.  Brancheau was an experienced and respected orca trainer at SeaWorld.  By that point, they had established higher order behavior by orcas and some of the specifics of Tilikum's captivity.  They document that Tilikum's was attacked at a young age by other orcas and that he has spent long period in darkness and solitary confinement.  The films suggests that Tilikum may be suffering from similar to those found humans that are abused and kept in solitary confinement.

Blackfish definitely appears to have an agenda.  I think it is to expose SeaWorld's lies about Brancheau's and other trainers' deaths and attacks.  The film has a litany of incidents (with associated video footage) to back up its supposition that orcas should not be kept confined and that it is dangerous for humans to be in such close proximity to them.  Typically, such an overt bias in documentary would turn me off of the film. However, as I mentioned this film happens to coincide with my view.

That's not really the meat of the film though.  The film is set up much like Fruitvale Station.  It starts off with a clip which makes clear that someone is going to die.  Then the film proceeds to give the backstory of Tilikum in particular and orcas and their captivity in general.  Along the way, the talking heads talk about appalling incidents involving the treatment of the whales or the deaths and injuries of trainers.  This has the effect of ratcheting up the suspense of not the "what" but the "why."  I thought the film attributed too many human qualities to the orcas but that's kind of trivial.

The story of Tilikum and orcas in captivity is fascinating in a morbid way so Blackfish was likely to succeed as an engaging film.  Once you bite on that bait, you're hooked for the entire film.

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I'm very mild on Andrew Bujalski.  However, earlier this year I saw several Joe Swanberg films at the Roxie.  Swanberg is also associated with the mumblecore movement of which Bujalski is called the godfather.  One of my favorite films from the Swanberg retrospective was Hannah Takes the Stairs in which Bujalski acted in and contributed to the screenplay.  Based on this positive experience, I decided to give Bujalski another chance with his latest film, Computer Chess.  I have to admit that I like to play chess which partially rationalized my choice.  Also, despite not liking the film, I can recall a scene in Funny Ha Ha where Bujalski attempts to teach chess to Kate Dollenmayer's character.  The stars seemed to align so I gave Computer Chess a chance.

Computer Chess is set in the early 1980s.  Bujalski nails the era - the costumes and the clunky computers remind me of my youth.  I read that Bujalski used period specific video recorders to "film" Computer Chess.  Part faux-documentary and part nerds gone wild, Computer Chess is set at a weekend computer chess tournament.  Various computer programming teams compete against each other for a $7,500 prize.  Bujalski uses non-professional actors which results in awkward performance than perfectly match the awkward characters.  The film gets a lot of mileage from interactions between the various socially inept interactions.  One character even performs the knight's tour although I think he landed on the same square several times.

For most of the film, Computer Chess is an interesting if not inspiring film.  If 1980s fashion and technology is not one's milieu, I would think the film would grow tiresome quickly.  Just as Computer Chess ran out of steam for me, it took weird turn into artificial intelligence and technological singularity.  An old school, text-only RGB monitor displays a sonogram and a man has sex with a woman who reveals herself to be a cyborg.  The questions and implications are valid and interesting within the context of the film and in real life but the film completely stepped out of reality for the period.  Bujalski had spent the entire film recreating the 1980s and then he broke from that convention at the end which left me bewildered.

I didn't really like Computer Chess that much but I will say that if I was forced to watch a Bujalski film, I would pick Computer Chess.

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I love Darlene Love.  Perennial guest on David Letterman's final show before his Xmas vacation, Danny Glover's wife in the Lethal Weapon movie series, ghost singer on several Phil Spector produced songs including "He's a Rebel" and singer on one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live skits.

Darlene Love figures prominently in Twenty Feet From Stardom, a documentary about rock-n-roll backup singers.  Mostly black females, the backup singers profiled in the film have incredible singing talent but for reasons that vary, they are backup singers.  Some accept their role with grace while others (including Love) aspire to be front and center.  The movie features musical clips from some my favorite songs including the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter and David Bowie's Young Americans.

Love's story is particularly inspiring.  Signing with Phil Spector, she was relegated to backup vocals with her band.  She sang lead on He's a Rebel but Spector released the song under The Crystals and Love's contribution was kept secret.  This would happen repeatedly as Spector would release Love's vocals under another band's names (usually The Crystals).  When her contract ended and she signed with another record label, Spector simply bought the contract from the other label and brought Love back into the fold.  At that point she quit to start family.  Years later, while working as a maid, she heard one of her songs on the radio and decided she had to return to singing.  Since then, her career has flourished.

Other singers featured in the film have different stories.  Some "settled" for backup singing, others could crack the barrier to stardom.  In the film, Sting states that luck plays a large role in determining who becomes famous and who becomes a backup singer.

Twenty Feet From Stardom was a very enjoyable film which told the story of a group of people whose contributions to music and even existence are frequently overlooked.

Sexual Politics: The Occasionally Autobiographical And Always Personal Films Of Joe Swanberg

The 2013 San Francisco Independent Film Festival's closing night film was Joe Swanberg's All the Light in the Sky.  The next day, the Roxie kicked off a three day, 12 film retrospective of Swanberg's work.  I was able to see four of the 12 films in the series.  I was impressed by all of to varying degrees.

Uncle Kent starring Kent Osborne, Josephine Decker & Jennifer Prediger; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2011)
All the Light in the Sky starring Jane Adams, Kent Osborne, Larry Fessenden & Sophia Takal;  directed by Joe Swanberg; (2012)
Hannah Takes the Stairs starring Greta Gerwig, Mark Duplass, Kent Osborne & Andrew Bujalski; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2007) - Official Website
Nights and Weekends starring and co-directed by Joe Swanberg & Greta Gerwig; (2008) - Official Website

Swanberg was present at all the screenings.  Kent Osborne was also in attendance for his films.  Jane Adams showed up after All the Light in the Sky.

Last year, I enjoyed How to Cheat at Cinequest.  Kent Osborne starred in that film.  His character cheated on his wife with a woman who lived in a house that was memorable.  She had a nice view of the LA skyline and used stairs to access her door.  One year later, I can still remember the house.  In Uncle Kent, Kent Osborne lived in that house.  I'm surprised I remembered that.

In Uncle Kent, which I suspect to be partially autobiographical, Kent Osborne play Kent.  In real life, Kent Osborne is an animator/cartoonist (he worked on SpongeBob SquarePants) and co-wrote the screenplay for Uncle Kent.  In the film, Kent is an animator on a television show.  He has just turned 40 and has planned a weekend with a bisexual woman he met on Chatroulette.  I'm not too hip on the internet so I had never heard of that site but subsequent research and conversations lead me to believe there is a negative connotation associated with that website.

Kate (Jennifer Prediger) seems like a nice enough woman and there seems to be chemistry between Kate & Kent but there is also an awkwardness.  Both Kate and Kent have their shortcomings; Kate has a boyfriend and Kent snoops on Kate's digital photos.  Unable or unwilling to consummate their relationship by traditional means, the pair hatch a plan to have a threesome and quickly enlist Josephine Decker (I don't think her character's name was mentioned).  In a memorable sequence, Decker serves as the proxy or intermediary between Kent and Kate.  After the deed is done, the awkwardness is only worse between Kate & Kent.

Much of the film's "message" is unspoken and I was impressed by how effectively Osborne & Swanberg were able to communicate Kent's inner dialogue.  The characters Osborne played Uncle Kent and How to Cheat are very similar.

Uncle Kent was paired as a double bill with All the Light in the Sky.  I can see why.  In both films, the protagonist deals with his or her sexuality as they confront their age.  In All the Light in the Sky, Jane Adams plays Marie, a 40something actress who is starting to feel old.  With a beachfront house and paddleboard, she lives an idyllic life.  The arrival of her niece (Sophia Takal) seems to stir something inside Marie.  The presence of the younger woman is an actress who reminds Marie of her younger days.  She also appears to make Marie aware of her own loneliness.  I say "appears" because like all of the Swanberg's films I've seen, characters don't explicitly state their condition.

Marie begins exploring possibilities with various men - Kent Osborne shows up as a handyman/nice guy, Marie's long-time friend & neighbor (Larry Fessenden) has an awkward dinner moment and there are one or two men whom Marie interacts with during research for a role (or was it looking for a second career?).  There is never a great passionate moment for Marie.  Her niece's departure has the superficial effect of calming her as she resumes her surfboard paddling as the film closes.

All the Light in the Sky is a more subtle film than Uncle Kent.  There is no ménage à trois denouement.  As Marie paddles into the sunset, the audience is left to ponder the outcome.  She seemed satisfied when the film began, an externality in the form of her niece perturbs her and by the end of the film, she is back in a closed-loop state with all oscillations dampened out.  Excuse the systems engineering lingo.  This is far from a criticism.  I thought the entire was beautifully contemplative and understated.

In fact, I wondered why the 31 year old Swanberg would be so interested in the concerns of a fictitious 40something actress given the title of the retrospective program.  Then I saw that Adams co-wrote the screenplay for All the Light in the Sky.  I had my Eureka! moment.  Swanberg was bringing to screen the autobiographical aspects of Osborne and Adams screenplays.  Compared to the other two films I saw, I think Swanberg would do well to collaborate more often.

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Hannah Takes the Stairs stars Greta Gerwig as a young woman bouncing between men.  Her first boyfriend is Mark Duplass who quits his job and bum about.  When that puts a strain on the relationship, he ends it without much objection from Greta.  She then hooks up with co-worker Andrew Bujalski who is kind of weird.  Finally, she tosses him over for another co-worker, Kent Osborne.  Along the way, there are some humorous moments.  The finale feature Osborne & Gerwig sharing a bathtub while wearing swimsuits and playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on trumpets which is not the first scene she shares the bathtub during the film.  The quirky film gives Gerwig room to spread her wings and she gives an appealing and realistic performance as a young woman, unsure of how to proceed in her post-college life.

Nights and Weekends features Swanberg and Gerwig in a long distance relationship.  The first half features the passion but eventual breakup of the couple.  The second half, much more interesting in my opinion, takes place a year or so after the breakup.  Swanberg is in town for a business trip and sees if Gerwig wants to meet for dinner or to hang out while he is in town.  This puts Gerwig in a conflicted state.  She is at a low point in her life and a reconciliation sounds appealing but she is not sure.  Gerwig shines in this portion of the film.  This leads to a remarkable scene.  Swanberg is getting professionally photographed for his job and the photograph assume Gerwig is his girlfriend and ask them to post together in front of the camera.  Gerwig & Swanberg non-verbally convey, to the audience, the awkwardness of the situation as the photographer blithely shoots away.  The finale is an equally remarkable scene where the two attempt to have sex but neither is really eager for and it fizzles out...like their relationship.  If Hannah Takes the Stairs is a quirky comedy, Nights and Weekends is a cold postmortem of a doomed relationship.

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I would have liked to have seen more of Swanberg's films but several of them had late start times.  On Friday (February 22), Caitlin Plays Herself was scheduled to start at 10 PM and be followed by Marriage Material.  On February 24 when I saw Uncle Kent and All the Light in the Sky, they were running behind schedule.  I had planned to see Autoerotic at 9:30 PM and possibly The Zone after it but called it quits after All the Light in the Sky.