Thursday 11 June 2009

Worldwide Short Film Festival 09: I Knew It Was You

I enjoyed the variety of films in the Picture is Up! program; however, the gem in this collection is I Know It Was You, the piece on actor, John Cazale. Who? John Cazele. Who? Okay, the mousy guy from Gene Hackman's film, The Conversation. He was in the Deer Hunter with Robert De Niro... Still doesn't ring a bell? Let me try again... He was Al Pacino's nervous boyfriend in Dog Day Afternoon and...he first worked with Pacino in The Godfather...Pacino's older brother. Fredo. Fredo Corleone. Yea. That guy. I'm not going to say anything else about this film because I want you to get to know this incredibly talented actor through clips of his work (on screen and stage), and recollections by some of Hollywood's major talent.




What lies behind these images of an idyllic summer at the beach?
The mystery methodically unfolds before us as we watch these recorded memories and play detective with the narrator. The film is US (NOUS).







More than JUST A PITCH (JUSTE UNE PITCH) is at stake when you are a screenwriter of Indian heritage being confronted by Parisian custom's officials in a post 9/11 world. This satire takes the interogation process to a differenct and unexpected level.






I wish Don LaFontaine, (the movie trailer guy) was still around to voice KING CRAB ATTACK. This extended save-the-world-from-disaster film/trailer cries out for Don's booming voice to say, "In a world where...giant crabs attack, one man and his mother's teeth, dares to stand alone in a desperate attempt to save the world and the woman he loves from a crustacean-loving megalomaniacal billionaire. " The French filmmakers didn't have Don, but their use of a deliberately bad English dubbing track, and scenes of hyper- emotionality get the job done in this homage to sci-fi B-movies.





I'm getting better at appreciating experimental films. I just let them speak to me instead of trying to figure out what every frame means. I go with the flow, and allow the film to continue to speak to me for as long as it needs to once the screening is done. LAST OF THE KODACHROME 40 FOR A NIZO S800. The title means nothing to me right now; for photographers/filmmakers it will mean everything. I liked it.

Screening Date: Friday, June 19th, 7:15 PM at the ROM

Tickets/Info: www.shorterisbetter.com

Photo Credit: www.shorterisbetter.com

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