#Cinequest Film Festival day five
One of the great things about attending a film festival is the opportunity to speak to the people involved in the making of the film. Like the conversation I had with lead actor Jessica Cummings about the movie “Astraea” and why its departure from the typical post-apocalypse survival story made it so special. I was able to spend five minutes with her talking about speculative fiction and why this movie feels so different from all the other movies that use the same premise. It’s this type of opportunity that will have me attending Cinequest next year.
Film #11: “Astraea” tells the story of a brother and sister as they make their way in a apocalyptic post-plague world to where their last known surviving family might be. On their journey they meet a woman and man who at first appear to be husband and wife but are in fact cousins. Yet it eschews all of the tropes that this genre typically employs. In reality it is a meditation on the human condition. I rate it 5 of 5 stars.
Film #12: “Milwaukee” is interesting. For the first ten minutes I was convinced I was going to dislike the movie. The opening scenes show a lot of superficial behavior and emotions and leave you wondering if there will be any substance to make you think. Then, thanks to the outsider, things take a turn that could have lead to a predictable screwball sex farce. Instead it becomes an engaging exploration of societal constraints on sex and relationships. The actors explained in the Q&A why this works far better than you might think: all the actors except the “outsider” were in real-life close friends. The “outsider” character was therefore able to make what would have otherwise been an unthinkable proposal while the remainder of the cast was able to convincingly portray who it affected their relationships with each other. I rate it 4 of 5 stars.
Film #13: “Barco Escape: Shorts” is a look at a new way to tell stories via the “film” medium. It employees the usual screen plus two additional screens attached at an angle to the primary frontal screen. The additional screens can be used to provide a wide-angle panorama effect or show distinct scenes. This series of shorts provided many examples of both techniques. Only two of the shorts, “Burning Man” and “Withdrawal”, made really effective use of the concept. Also, when in panorama mode the transitions between the screens wasn’t nearly seamless enough. This may have been (and probably was) mostly due to adapting an existing theatre in a matter of a few hours with the screens and projectors needed for the effect. Still, it is an intriguing glimpse at what may lie in our future. I think this is more likely to succeed than the so far mostly lame attempts at 3D. Nonetheless because most of the shorts shown were uninspiring I rate this only 2 of 5 stars.