BEST OF THE INT'L SHORT FILM FESTIVAL at Raven Theater in Healdsburg

The BEST OF THE FILM FESTIVAL was held in Healdsburg at the Raven Performance Art Theater on the last Sunday in February. There were 3 time slots; 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Each screening offered 6 short films from various international filmmakers and a Q&A, "talk back" with festival founders Pamela and Kirk Demorest following each series. The films cannot be longer than 15 minutes to qualify. One of the films, "Angst" submitted by a local, Santa Rosa filmmaker was one 1 minute. (I felt it was 1 minute too long.) The various genres included drama, comedy, dramedy, animation and documentaries. In addition to local submissions from Petaluma and Santa Rosa, foreign countries were represented: Russia, Spain, South Africa, UK, Germany, France, Nepal, Finland, Sweden and Italy. I attended the 4:00PM screenings. I will describe the 2 short films I felt were preeminent. The first film was from a local, Petaluma filmmaker. It was the animated, "Lightheaded" which was 5 minutes long and the documentary with mixed live footage and animation, "Wild Salmon" which was 14 minutes in length. "Lightheaded" was visually stunning. Anthropomorphic candles  illuminating billowing desert sands provided a keen sense of shadowing, melting, and humor. Astral objects zoomed past 3 candles who looked at each other questioningly. The most adventuresome decided to pursue what looked like a shooting star to where it was headed. Curiosity snuffed out the pursuing candle as it melted down. The 2 hesitant candles decided to investigate their mate and its fate. One candle derived  dire consequences but the one who went to school on the other two and with resourcefulness managed to find success. There was no dialogue, nor was it needed in this clever and luminous animation which conveyed wonder, dismay and ingenuity. My favorite film was the last one shown (probably it was considered foremost by most of the panel). It was "Wild Salmon from the UK," directed by Karen Arieli and Saul Freed. Listed in the program as a doc., I would clarify it as a nature/fantasy film, following the dramatic and harrowing life and consummate life cycle of wild salmon in human form. Marianne Faithfull passed away earlier this year. Faithful, a British actress and singer narrated the film. She's considered among the 1st female artists of the "British Invasion" and known as Mick Jagger's partner (1966-70). Her haunting voice adds to this hypnotic, unique film which begins enigmatically. It's not clear what we're witnessing. We discover we're watching a female, wild salmon from its nascent being into a salmon in human form through her life cycle including her spawning and demise. The film navigates us through lush natural habitats and into terrifying and often gruesome deaths that befall salmon in the wild. The anthropomorphic salmon is part fish and part scuba diver replete with engorged red lips and expressive eyes which conveyed strong emotions and determination from behind her scuba mask. I contend this is a film that advocates for being vegan.  I didn't know it at the time I saw the film, "Wild Salmon" won the Grand Jury Prize at the Healdsburg Film Festival.  In addition, this ingenious film won this year's Fantasy Filmfest, and Animation Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Pain d'Or for Best Short Film. It won my awe and continued vow not to eat any fish, meat or fowl.

THE BRUTALIST-Artfsy Film that is More a Bore than Anything Else

The award season just culminated with the Oscars on Sunday. The post-WWII epic THE BRUTALIST is the type of film which appeals more to critics and Film Academy than the general public. THE BRUTALIST was one of this year's top 10 films and received the most combined awards and nominations than any other film from 2024. However, of the 10 Oscar noms., the Brutalist won only 3; for Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Film Score. I applaud the award given for its cinematography and brilliant musical score by British composer Daniel Blumberg. Brody took home his 2nd Oscar for playing two similar characters; both roles were Jewish artists and survivors of the Holocaust. Brody gave a heartfelt portrayal, the original music was moving and the crafty cinematography mesmerizing, but the 3 1/2 hour+ movie is not as moving as intended. Lazlo Toth (Adrian Brody) is a visionary architect whose career and family life were destrhoyed when they were sent to the concentration camps. The film beings in 1947 when Toth first arrived in NYC and moved in with a cousin living in Philadelphia. Toth's wife, Erzsebet (a miscast Felicity Jones) was separated from her husband. She's in a displacement camp and receives news of her husband's survival. The film's unnecessary intermission bifurcated the movie. The first half is about Toth's adjusting to life in the US and his seemingly fortuitous introduction to the wealthy HarryVan Buren (Joe Alwyn) requesting him to design and construct a library for his father, Harry Van Buren Sr. (a formidable Guy Pearce). Following the interruption of the intermission, the Toths are reunited and  learning to readjust to each other. Erzsebet. unbeknownst to Lazlo, relies on a wheel-chair due to malnourishment. Erzebet brought Lazlo's deceased sister's daughter, Zsofia, to the states with her. The horrors of war rendered her shell-shocked and mute. The movie's time-line is an epoch that draws on a crucial period post WWII. The film focused on the aftermath of the war, the euphoria and sorrow of having survived and the myriad struggles to adapt, assimilate and build a future in a foreign country. The black/white cinematography is particularly arresting especially when show casing architectural structures. Toth's emergence as a modernist architect and his sense of his talent was notable. The Van Burens were portrayed as stereotypes; rich people assuming themselves entitled and superior. The storylines of addiction and racism are backwashed and more references given to historical events would have given the film a stronger structure. THE BRUTALIST is a prototype of filmmaking that stands up to be admired but this one relied too much on pure aesthetic values and had diminished emotional strength. The Acad. was right to recognize it worthy of recognition and not crown it with Best Picture, Best Director or Best Screenplay honors.

GORGE Will Make You Swoon then Gag Stars Miles Teller/Anya Taylor-Joy

GORGE a sci-fi, action thriller. It starts as a star crossed lover tale of two who were meant to be together. However, the couple must construe how to connect across a mysterious and ominous gorge. Levi (a sexy and appealing Miles Teller) is hired by a cartoonishly evil exec., Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver) for a  year-long secretive mission as a lookout overlooking a gorge which poses an ambiguous threat to the unwitting, western world. Levi was solicited for his stealth with weapons. He's hired for the position by Bartholomew after their interview. Levi was questioned whether he had any family, partner or attachments to which he replied, "no one." After accepting he's transported without any further information to a remote location and told to parachute out. Upon landing, Levi was met by J.D., the only person in this isolated post for the past year as the guard Levi was hired to replace. Elated to have contact with another human after a year long hiatus from society, J.D. happily shows him the ropes and the portentous, seemingly bottomless pit. Levi spots the lookout station on the opposite side of the gorge. J.D. informs him it's someone from the Soviet Block and contact is strictly forbidden.  J.D. bids Levi a fond farewell and gets hoisted up to a helicopter that whisks him up and away and then fatally shot at the top. The groundwork has been set for a furtive mission that doesn't bode well for Levi. Well, meanwhile Levi occupies himself for a few days before his curiosity leads him to spy on his counterpart across the way who turns out to be a gorgeous woman. The woman Drasa (a winning Anya Taylor-Joy) is caught watching him watching her. So, they begin an unsanctioned flirtation impressing each other with their expert marksmanship, mastery of chess and various stages of undress. Their courtship was very romantic; two like-minded beautiful people who first get to know each other through a meeting of the minds. "A Fine Romance with No Kisses" won't do so Levi contrives to transport himself over the smokey gorge with ingenuity stemming from desperation. Unfortunately, their appealing love story soon hit a rough patch. Climbing up from the gorge are hideous, mutant creatures whose features resemble grotesque treelike beings not unlike those in HBO's "The Last of Us.". After Levi fell into the crevice combatting cretins, Drasa parachutes in after to save him. After her leap the movie takes a dive downhill quickly.  Both Teller and Taylor-Joy are convincing action heroes and captivating on screen. They had me at their hello's to each other via signs held up across the abyss. The two stars were extremely watchable but the movie becomes a big miss once they unite to fight to save the world from destruction. Either pass altogether or  only watch the first half of this action flick which soars as a charming handsome guy meets gorgeous girl across a mystic gorge.

Neil LaBute's Play THE SHAPE OF THINGS-What License does Artistic License Allow?

American playwright Neil LaBute's "The Shape of Things" (2003) is a somewhat dated, somewhat timeless drama that raises the tenable topics of what allowances are granted given artistic license. It also considers boundaries in relationships, censorship and sociological agency. By sociological agency I'm referring to the capacity of an individual to make self-choices that structure their lives and their responses to social structures. LaBute is a prolific playwright having garnered 3 Tony Award nominations. He received an honor from the Amer. Acad. of Arts and Letters  in 2013. He's been described by critics as misogynistic and disagreeable to which I disagree. I've seen several of his plays On and Off Broadway and found all his plays (especially "Reasons to be Pretty") pretty remarkable for being clever, chuckle worthy and provocative. Furthermore, his plays are under-scored by a ludicrous look at morality and accepted  norms of behavior. The final weekend performance for "The Shape of Things" was held at The 222 in Healdsburg. The 222 which is by day an art gallery and doubles as a culture venue in the evening made an apropos setting for a play which began in an art gallery. Evelyn, a self-proclaimed sculptress and grad student, is poised to spray paint a sculpture when she's confronted by Adam. Adam is an undergraduate and P/T security guard for the gallery.  The choice of Adam and "Eve" as names for the main characters was heavy handed. Nonetheless, LaBute's literary references of classic writers: Shaw, Shelly and artists such as Botticelli and DaVinci are learned references that resonate with the play's formidable plotting.  Evelyn manipulates Adam who lacks a backbone when coaxed by Evelyn what to do. This One Act, 4 character play featured another romantically linked couple, Jenny and Phillip; Adam's roommate. Jenny and Phillip are undergrads at the same small-town college that Adam and Evelyn attend. Evelyne initiates a  flirtation with schlubby and shy Adam. AdaAdam succumbs to Evelyn's  nudging for transforming himself to become better looking and more worldly. Jenny and Adam spent 3 years in the same classroom although Adam failed to note her interest in him outside the classroom. Phil picked up on Jenny's good looks as soon as Adam introduced them. Sparks of attraction and resentment ebb and flow among the 4  characters culminating in Evelyn's final PhD. presentation at an art gallery. in town. Evelyn, it turns out, is a performance artist and not all that she seemed. It seems Adam was her pet project in the form of human clay which she shaped and formed to suit her. The unsettling questions appeared as to whether art ever crosses the line of morality and who is to say. In addition, what are the boundaries between acts of love and one's agency? There's no question this is a provocative play that lingers long after the performance.  I appreciated the minimal staging, earnest performances, especially Terrence Austin Smith as Austin and LaBute's perceptive and penetrating writing.