With most of the excitement happening around the opening and close, film festivals often tend to be quieter in the middle, which is a relief for those of us working throughout. This year's GFF was no exception, but what days Five and Six lacked in celebrity glamour, they easily made up for on the big screen.
Tuesday was a strong day for European film, with Storm exploring the legacy of conflict in the Balkans, particularly as it affected women, whilst Expansive Grounds looked at Berlin's memorial to Jews murdered during the Holocaust. Both films have been highly acclaimed and were popular choices for critics attending the festival, with the latter markedly less grim than you might expect. Meanwhile celebrated Quebecois first feature I Killed My Mother greeted audiences at the GFT. Not quite what it says on the tin, it deals with a teenager's resentment of his mother and provides a litany of all the ways she has let him down, from her cooking to the way she does her hair.
Eye For Film's Andrew Robertson was in Cineworld for a late night screening of Wake In Fright, which Nick Cave has referred to as "the best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence" - quite a recommendation from a man who starred in Ghosts... Of The Civil Dead. Andrew agreed, adding that it's visually stunning, with a remarkable opening shot that creates a sense of emptiness and isolation few films can match. It was the best-attended film in Cineworld that night, very nearly sold out, and has added to calls for the Out Of The Past strand to be expanded next year. Andrew notes that one of the big problems he has with cinema today is that there are so many good films already made that are just begging for re-release, films modern audiences may be unfamiliar with but would almost certainly love.
That evening, Stuart and I went to Mono to see New Yorker Thomas Truax perform music from the films of David Lynch. Like Blade Runner's JF Sebastian, Truax likes to make friends - mechanical ones, that is, who act as the other members of his band. There's drum machine Mother Superior, who does complicated things with spoons, and the Hornicator, a medium for distinctly peculiar vocalisations. At first the audience didn't seem sure what to make of this, but such eccentricity seems perfect for a Lynch interpretation, not to mention that Truax himself bears an odd resemblance to Twin Peaks character Harold Smith.
Mono proved excellent hosts, running Fire Walk With Me in the background and helping to coordinate a cleverly referential light show. Addressing my concerns about disability access, they provided me with my own reserved table, and could not have been more helpful, so I could sit up on the balcony in my blue velvet dress and watch Truax clamber around the stage and - later - all around the room, encouraging audience members to contribute to his vocals. He performed a superbly creepy take on Eraserhead, and impressively different cover of Julee Cruise's Falling (the theme from Twin Peaks), and, latterly, a bit of the Roy Orbison we'd all been waiting for. The candy-coloured clown they call the Sandman, and all that.
Fortunately I didn't have to be in early the following day, which also gave us the worst weather of the festival, with a swirling wind blowing snow all over the place. I was relieved to make it safely to the CCA to see the film I had most been looking forward to throughout, the deliciously titled Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo. It's not the monster movie you might expect - rather, it's a thoughtful, poetic documentary on Japan's obsession with insects, beautifully filmed, Of course, the Japanese sometimes kill what they love, reminding me of Truax's song The Butterfly And The Entomologist, about a beautiful insect fleeing a collector. Shades of John Fowler. But that different attitude to life and death is also part of what makes the film fascinating.
Unfortunately the CCA's response to the snow outside was to turn the heating up to maximum inside, so that it actually became hard to breathe during Beetle Queen, and most of the audience looked sleepy. The other problem with watching films there is that because it's just a tiny place and doesn't seem to be perceived as a 'proper' cinema, people often talk through everything. Still, it was rather delightful to hear younger attendees cooing over insects like the Japanese kids onscreen, even if it made their parents look nervous.
That was it for these two quieter days, but things are looking lively for the next few, so watch this space for more news and gossip about everything from the big stars to the tiny creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
