FUNdance 2009!

 

The Clone Returns Homes (2.5 out of 5)

A Japanese oddity. A film with extremely long takes, very slowly paced, beautiful cinematography, philosophical ideas and subjective images. It asks questions like…Where does the soul go after you die? Where does the soul go if the body was brought back as a clone? Does it stay to haunt its new rejuvenated self? Do the scars of our past life never go away, even after we are reincarnated? Would you like to carry a spaceman on your back? I felt mixed up when I left the theatre. K was inspired and mentioned making some astronaut decorations for our Christmas tree this year. Bizarre.

Cold Souls (3.5 out of 5)

What is the shape and size of a human soul? Does it look like a chickpea? A jellybean? A pet rock? And if you could somehow extract your soul from your body, what would be left? Would you still be you? Cold Souls is a metaphysical smart comedy. To me this is the best Sci-Fi Sundance this year (I haven’t seen “Moon” though). The director breezed through the Q&A telling the audience that this concept came to her in a dream and how she managed to get her script into Paul Giamatti’s hands. Interesting stuff.

Paper heart (2 out of 5)

A documentary that isn’t a real documentary? I would have given this movie a higher mark if I hadn’t listened to the Q&A after. The movie itself is charming and funny and cute and sensitive and SCRIPTED! Yeah…I thought I was watching a love story play out in front of me only to find out that it was FAKED? WTF? That’s right…a quasi non-fiction narrative…I was disappointed. The music sounded like it was on some Juno 2 type of ISHT, sucky.

Good Hair (3 out of 5)

A SOLID documentary about the business of black hair by Chris Rock. For kicks, just google or youtube the term “Bonner Brothers International Hair Show”. Awesome huh? I laughed hard watching this…I laughed harder when Rock came out for the Q&A after and worked the room for like 20 minutes. The guy is just SO quick witted and dope.

Big Fan (2.5 out of 5)

A well made subtle character study with subtle comic elements. The movie couldn’t decide if it was a comedy or a drama…maybe it’s a Dramedy? I don’t know. During the Q&A, Siegel mentioned he wrote this five years ago and with the recent Plaxico/Giants fiasco it seems that art does imitate life down to the exact same strip club featured in the film and in the real world that Plexiglas shot himself at.

Black Dynamite (4 out of 5)

A hilarious throwback to the blaxploitation films of the 70s (Dolemite, Black Belt Jones, etc). Michael Jai White (Spawn!) kicks some serious ass and brings us a new cult classic. I heard that this was already picked up by Sony and slated for a Summer release. That doesn’t surprise me. I will see it again, get the DVD and hopefully a Black Dynamite action figure (Can you dig it?)…it has the potential of being another “Austin Powers” like franchise only funnier. Also, the music was stellar.

Dead Snow (3.5 out of 5)

A Norwegian Nazi zombie horror film. Need I say more? I read that the filmmakers used over 450 liters of blood to create this little beauty. It’s kinda broken in two pieces…the first half kind of pretends to be a serious horror movie and the second filled with zombie carnage that pushes pretty far in the campy territory. Why would Nazi zombies need their gold? Who cares it’s just fun. Mindless horror comedy. They showed a 16 minute short called “Treevenge” at the beginning of the session….think Christmas trees finally even the score for decades of living under the axe of mankind. And…Facts gets annoyed by the Broadways’ eccentric concessions.

It was a HELLUVA week and probably the FUNNEST time I’ve had at the dance yet.

Peace, DAG!

PS...The only celeb I saw on the street was Benjamin Bratt? Law & Order I think...yeah, fresh huh?