our final SFF day

so off we went to OUR final day for the Sarasota Film Festival-

here was what we saw on this day four (for us) -  we started with Crossing Bhutan because we loved Bhutan (Phil's #1 most loved destination) and the scenery was bound to be spectacular- but it turned out the film wasn't all that spectacular about Bhutan because it was mostly about the trekking thing - or rather the majority was - so we were kind of disappointed about that because there was so much they could have taught the world about Bhutan... but here is what it did do- it made Phil and I tear up about how lucky we are to have been there (now nine years ago) together and how incredible it is to look back on our time together and all we have seen and done since we met each other - coming up on twenty years ago! And also to look forward to the upcoming trips (more on that after we get settled back into a Chicago routine)

Then we went on to The Art of the Prank- along with its own short -

 read these closely- they are not real - they just look like they could be LOL-

The Prank Movie was unbelievably funny and worth seeking out - it has an important message (actually a number of them) buried in a coat of comedy and performance art that is of utmost importance in today's media overloaded world... seek this one out!  Added bonus Joe Skaggs was there with us in the theater and seemed truly thrilled by his reception.

then we went on to our final film together- along with a short-

We had been to the circus just this spring and LOVED pretty much all of it but were completely awed by Dolly Jacobs, so we found the Circus film really lovely - a loving portrait of those who have made lives and multiple generations of family a part of our country's circus heritage... The film is well done and the short was touching as well.  So that was our film festival experience this year - cut short by our trip north tomorrow- but still packed with a number of spectacularly well done films- and only one complete bomb...

now days later - my favorite film of the documentary group was "Nothing Left Unsaid" followed by "Breakfast at Ina's" and in the narrative category feature length - "Stevie D" and short a tie with the two "Rated" and "Piece of Cake" both being worthy with thought provoking humor in Rated and laugh out loud funny in Cake-

so that's a wrap! and you probably won't hear much from me over the next two weeks or so as we head north - pack and move our household into a storage facility and close on its sale... so check the blog later in the month for new posts!

three quarters

three quarters of the way through our four day intensive at the Sarasota Film Festival... today was my heaviest lifting- LOL- four film slots with a total of a dozen films (9 shorts and 3 features) so here is the run down with my comments -BTW it's late and I am tired - tomorrow more and then we are done because we leave for Chicago-I say this so you will understand that these are my opinions without a lot of supporting reasoning- I just have run out of time LOL

we started the day with Breakfast at Ina's and it began with two shorts-

Wow- - wish I had known Ina when she had the restaurant open- what a terrific lady and amazing story - worth seeing -

notice this one is ONE MINUTE long! but it managed to get its message across just fine Thank You!

this one was really really cute - about a young lady mistaken for a terrorist due to a set of circumstances that look very suspicious but are actually quite innocent...

 and then I went into the shorts selections while Phil went off to meet his trainer- and here are the seven films we saw- varying amounts of time - I LOVED Piece of Cake and Rated.. the Dynamic Double Standard was very short with an excellent message. Not so keen on Centrepoint Kidz but liked the Apollo81 (intellectually interesting)- Sumo Road was just plain stupid and Twisted was bizarre.... sorry I don't have time to go into them in further detail but look out for the two I really liked!

and then we got back together for two more films in the evening- the terrific and funny "gangster" picture with a body double plot line.

then the seriously unfortunate Elbow Grease- it was SO BAD we got up and left in the middle of the movie- just completely effing awful stupid people doing more stupid things - horrid- and the only one worth watching was the woman who actually seemed to be reasonably intelligent surrounded by a whole family of dumb f**ks- and the movie makers packed the audience with equally moronic folks who thought these characters were the funniest things ever.... I LOVED Napoleon Dynamite and thought this might have potential - boy was I wrong. STUPID STUPID STUPID...thank god my date felt the same way I did and we looked at each other and nodded and got up and left.

so a rather full day at the movies- and tomorrow is pretty much more of the same- we are headed to Chicago for ten days beginning Wednesday so we will miss the second half of the Festival and also that put us in a position where we had a really concentrated four days of films...so more to come before we are off to pack and move the household goods...

off to more movies!

So day two for us at the film festival- I had two films scheduled and while both were good, they weren't exactly what I was expecting-

The Miss Sharon Jones movie I misinterpreted the above blurb as her whole journey- but really this was more her journey through the cancer treatment.  She surely is an inspirational woman but I kind of would have liked more about her personal history to be included in the film.  She is one powerful woman!

This film was an excellent review of Norman Lear's professional and creative life with a bit of family info interspersed- wow what an influence he was and is on the genre of sitcom... it made me want to go out and buy his book... Even This I Get to Experience... really interesting life - and now at 93 you see a man at peace with the way things have come out and who relishes the loving family nuclear and extended (as he put it) he has to support him.

so overall as a film I liked the Lear film better but both subjects were inspirational and interesting - tomorrow a ig day with four films - actually waaaaay more than four films because I have three feature films and one group of shorts and a couple of the films have shorts before them - so here is what it looks like- seven plus three plus two more shorts with Breakfast at Ina's for a total of 12 films of varying lengths in total...

so stay tuned for more fun and games tomorrow-