A friend won a pair of party passes and shared with me, which means I went to four more movies than I had expected.
* The Walker. It was the Opening Gala, so clearly the programmers thought a lot of it. I didn’t love it. It was a very cold film. Woody Harrelson gave a very studied performance, but I felt that was in keeping with the character, who essentially performed as NonThreatening Gay Best Friend for DC society ladies. Here’s the thing I liked about it, though — whether it worked or not, it was a political thriller first, with a gay lead second. That is still rare enough to be comment worthy.
* Shelter. The folks sitting behind me thought *this* should have been the Opening Gala film, and they may have a point. I saw an awful film at SIFF a few years ago about a gay tagger, and this is everything that film *should* have been and a bit more. It still didn’t make it all the way up to objectively good, but the issues the lead character was dealing with had less to do with being gay and more to do with his co-dependent relationship with his sister. Which is a nice change.
* The Witnesses. Realistic & believable — though cold — film about the start of the AIDS epidemic. Well-acted, but there was just something missing. And I found the American character at the end really irritating because he had a strong Italian accent. Fail.
* The King and the Clown. This was easily my favorite of everything I saw at the festival.
* Eternal Summer. I didn’t love it. I wonder if I would have liked it better if I had *not* come straight from The King and the Clown.
* Itty Bitty Titty Committee. I really wanted to like this, but I kind of hated most of the characters. Sadness!
…I am so tired of mediocre gay cinema.
wicked jaws 