we're off...

so yes - we are off to the races - no really it is the ten days of the Sarasota Film Festival and yesterday we saw ten short films and two full length films- and have mixed reviews....

love this years Sea and Be Seen logo series- part shown above -

first we saw the ten short films - and loved more than half of them-

we really loved - RETURN TO SENDER, ILLEGAL MOVE, GRAVEYARD SHIFT and LAST SHOT

the GRAND ILLUSION was really fun...

We both loved the sweet RETURN TO SENDER-

we really hated PIGSKIN - horrid violent movie where a woman tears out her abdomen yuck! and on the scale of up from there- but still in the bottom ranks we agreed we couldn't really see the point of either THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LINE (about a crappy 70s building that is now a graffiti covered ruin) or KLASSE (a holocaust- outsider-immigrant story told in modern dance).  We put SWEET LOVE in the positive reviews because we liked the guy and the film had a number of good laughs.

next we saw GLORY which had a despicable woman lead who thought only of herself and a lovely male lead -playing a railroad lineman - a simple honest man driven crazy by the self centered woman who stole a watch his father had given him... he kept bunnies so of course I was rooting for him the whole movie but he was up against the system and it did not end satisfactorily (clearly not a Hollywood film LOL)

the final film we saw was SARASOTA HALF IN DREAM-  a tedious and pretentious film about the grittier side of SRQ- I liked about 1/3 of it - the vintage footage of tourism films for the area were a hoot... the ten minutes of filming a single abandoned factory was just plain boring regardless of the pedantic voice over telling the "deep thoughts" of the film makers.  This would not play well enough to make the showing at any other film fest but the local one - two thumbs down on this one...

then we had dinner at the Rosemary - another good meal there- 

I am off right now for four more films and will report back later! 

withdrawal sypmtoms

So I am home for an hour or so before returning to the SFF for the Closing Film... and already having some serious withdrawal symptoms... saw two films this morning - one a fairly well done standard Hollywood fare with two pretty leads (Guy Pierce and Cobie Smulders) who finally get together in the final scene- and which you knew pretty much from the opening scene that it would work out that way- but it did have a kick butt performance by the guy who played Danny...Kevin Corrigan... rent this one if you are looking for pretty standard rom-com fare.

 

the second film was better- not predictable and quirky with several excellent performances by the lead actors Jennifer Prediger and Jess Wiexler- who apparently have made movies together before- really fun and funny and quirky, arty film - look for this one - the scene which is the basis for the photo from the catalogue is hilarious---

down to the final film- guess it is a good thing I have theater tickets for tomorrow to help ease the pain of withdrawal.... LOL

and still turning over in my mind- my pick for the grand prize winner---

so I am heading back downtown to the opera house for the final film along with GA... more later-