From the Reel World: The Nashville Film Festival
Well, the 2010 Nashville Film Festival has now wrapped up and Collide was there throughout the week to see some of the best films on the festival circuit. Here are some that we felt were particularly noteworthy.
The Festival opened with “Nowhere Boy”, a full length bio pic about John Lennon’s years before The Beatles. While I felt the movie was a little long and the score didn’t quite work, the cast gave some of the best performances I have ever seen. This is not really a film that tells much about The Beatles and it is not an overly cheery tale, but if you’re ok with that, it was definitely worth seeing. This movie is set to release in theaters in October.
“I Can Speak Swedish” is a short film about a woman with social issues and how she overcomes them, at least for a little while. This was a very humorous story that had me giggling throughout. At this point I don’t believe you can see it anywhere but festivals, but if you happen across it, make a point to see it.
“Dear Lemon Lima”, a full-length narrative about an awkward girl in Alaska getting in touch with her Eskimo roots. This story is a little bit “Napolean Dynamite”, a little bit “Northern Exposure” and a little bit “Dead Poet’s Society”, but it is smart and funny and although the graphics are a bit distracting at times, they make for a great feel to the film.
“Feeder” is an innovative short film that amazingly tells a story through the view of a camera inside someone’s mouth. Warning: Not for those with a weak stomach! : )
“Wisdom Teeth” is another short that makes you question whether or not you should really be laughing. This one is animated and some of you may recognize the style of Don Hertzfeldt. He has done several films along this line. Disturbing but hilarious, definitely track this one down.
“TiMER” is a full length narrative that proposes the question, “what if we could know, down to the exact second when we would meet our soul mate?”. Even though this is pretty much a romantic comedy, it is funny and clever and thinks out of the box. If you live in Nashville, it is showing on Comcast on demand under the Tribeca Film Festival section. We actually missed it at the Nashville festival and cheated and saw it in the comfort of our own living room!
“Hipsters” is a Russian musical about teenagers in the 50′s… enough said. : ) We missed this one at the festival too, but I have no reservations about recommending it to you all. It won best narrative in Nashville and everyone I heard talk about it just loved it.
I have attached links to all of the trailers I could find online so you all could check them out for yourselves. Just a side note, most of these are not kid friendly. If you want to take the kids, we did see “The Secret of Kells” at the Belcourt. There are a few scary scenes, but man, if you can choose to see only one of these films, go to this one. It is animated and each frame is more beautiful than the last!
Until next time,
-Becky Tucker