#Cinequest Film Festival day nine
It had to eventually happen: Today a self-centered asshole sat in front of me and decided he absolutely had to listen to something with his phone screen lit after the lights dimmed right up to the moment the film started. After I threatened to have him ejected from the theatre he called me a couple of names but turned off his phone. Sigh. Some people really need a proctology exam conducted using their phone.
Film #21: “WAX: We Are The X” explores the frustrations and dreams of three members of “Generation X” — the generation born roughly between 1970 and 2000. It does so in a unique fashion using images captured by one of the protagonists, an aspiring film maker, as the trio goes about their lives. Set in Italy and France the imagery is lush and the chemistry between the protagonists is marvelous. I rate it 4 of 5 stars.
Film #22: “Killswitch” is a documentary about privacy in the Internet era. This film should be mandatory viewing for every citizen who uses a computer (which includes the “smart” phone almost everyone owns). It focuses primarily on Aaron Swartz and Edward Snowden. It also features noted law professors Tim Wu and Lawrence Lessig who have been writing and speaking about issues such as net neutrality and Internet privacy for many years. I rate it 5 of 5 stars.
Film #23: “Operation Arctic” tells the story of three children who stowaway on a helicopter to travel to their father but end up stranded on an island near the North Pole. The oldest child is only 13 and her brother and sister are 8 years old. They make many mistakes and nearly die on multiple occasions. What makes this a far better film than the preceding description would suggest are the child actors and the Arctic environment. I was sorely tempted to rate it 5 of 5 stars solely on the basis of the marvelous performances by the children. Yet the relatively predictable story only deserves a rating of 4 of 5 stars.