Brother Gordon -- it was just a 15 minute short, but a compelling view of a man who speaks eloquently of his conversion from a life of shady civilian/military contract killings to a life of Buddhism and bringing herion addicts back to a healthy life.
Rain on a Dry Land -- standard PBS/POV-style doc; illustrative of how immigrants can get chewed up and spit out by America, especially if they don't know English well enough to converse verbally; particularly illuminating was one scene where you could see how the system essentially encourages them to have more children because it'll solve their immediate money problems; this also illustrates the language problem because the state support mechanism was trying to communicate more subtle issues, but the "baby=money" message is what made it through the language barriers.
Rural Rock and Roll -- careening between insipid interviews and dopey fun, this documented an inbred indie rock scene located in an isolated corner of northern California (pot-growing hippies, contractor rednecks, students of local liberal arts college). Illustrates well one of my rules of life: The Scene Is Now. Don't wait for someone to tell you that you're in the midst of a larger movement or scene, because by the time it's recognized as such and the word gets out, it's dead and the energy has moved elsewhere. Make your own scene, do it now, and let someone else write about it later. By the epilogue at the end of movie, all of the bands in the doc had broken up.
Edge of Outside: Independent Filmmakers -- talking heads documentary about some key filmmakers who invented "independent": Cassavetes, Fuller, Peckinpah, even Capra. Produced by the staff of Turner Classic Movies, this will air on TCM on July 5th at 8pm and is well worth watching. I'll be watching it again to catch all the movie references and make my Netflix queue even longer ...
No. 2 -- writing was too pat, overwrought; but a nice slice of life in suburban (!) Fiji; adapted from the director's play, and she probably didn't (yet) have the skills to translate it to screen properly. Looks like I have a new actress to hate to take the place of Keira Knightley. I'm guessing that this got included only as part of the deal that brought Ruby Dee to the gala that preceded the festival.
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