In 2019, the middle of my week at the Atlanta Film Festival was interrupted by food poisoning, forcing me to sit out Wednesday and Thursday. Last year, I got to everything I wanted to see, but learned that the movie theatre I had worked at for 19 years was closing permanently. This year, I got into a car accident Sunday, but still managed to see the films I wanted to online. Dealing with the car situation further during the week was a priority, but would I FINALLY have a relatively quiet week of screenings?
Monday, April 26
My hope for this week was to focus on online viewing from the virtual catalog, as well as any interviews I was interested in. Monday was more about dealing with my car accident. My wife and I watched Netflix’s “Stowaway” in the morning, and I had to do other stuff before the night’s screening.
Monday night saw a screening of Ben Sherrock’s “Limbo” at the Plaza. I watched it via screener the week before, and it’s a meandering but interesting look at refugees at a center in the Scottish Highlands while they await word on their asylum status. It’s slow but our patience is rewarded at times with offbeat humor and a lot of heart. It comes out today, and it’s worth checking out.
With “Limbo” already watched, I decided to take in Timothy Hall’s “Landlocked”. Hall is not a stranger to the festival, and I can see why; his film is a smart and engaging and empathetic in the way it approaches the story of a son who makes a journey with his estranged, transgendered father to St. Simon’s to scatter his mother’s ashes. The film approaches difficult questions about multiple sides to the dissolution of a family and forgiveness with the complicated care they require, even if I feel like it takes a short cut to the ending it’s trying to land. It’s still a worthwhile exploration of its subject.
Tuesday, April 27
All of my screenings this week were 8:30pm drive-in screenings. In a show that, truly, I am not as young as I used to be, I basically had to put aside my chances of writing my reviews for each film I saw during the week that night early on; even with short run times, by the time I was home in Kennesaw, I was ready for bed. But tonight made writing a review hard for another reason that was entirely out of my control.
I’ve been a projectionist for basically 17 years. Naturally, I’m going to be sympathetic when projection issues arise when I’m watching a movie at a theatre not my own. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a bit aggravating when this evening’s drive-in screening of Nicole Reigel’s “Holler” had a multitude of issues, first with the sound, then with the picture. The story of a young woman trying to earn money for college in Southern Ohio, it was a movie I was looking forward to prior to the festival, and it was unfortunate that its screening was marred with technical issues, especially considering how successfully they have managed to do this for about a year now. As such, I opted not to do a full review of “Holler” (that will wait for when IFC releases it in June), but I still wanted to say something about the movie, which can be watched below.
Screening at the Plaza at 7pm on Tuesday was a short film block entitled The Great Beyond, a collection of experimental short films. Without really thinking about it, I watched this block before heading down to Atlanta on Tuesday, and oh boy would it have been great to see this on the big screen. I don’t regret choosing “Holler” instead, but The Great Beyond‘s eight short films were completely up my alley. The films sometimes told definite stories, but in unusual ways, and were mixes of philosophy, music and images that made a strong impression on me. My clear favorite in the block was “New Mexico Death Wish Diatribe”– about the evolution of man, and the creation of the atom bomb- but a favorite short from Sundance was also included in “The Fourfold”; a man’s unique philosophy on life was explored in “The Universe According to Dan Buckley”; and life and death and Black existence was brought to fascinating life in “Spirit Never Dies, Only Transitions”. Even if it wasn’t a successful night of watching “Holler”, I was still able to see a wide range of compelling cinema in one form or another.
Wednesday, April 29
In addition to screenings and reviews for the festival, I do still have movies to watch and review for regular coverage on Sonic Cinema, and it just so happens that one of those films coming to VOD on Tuesday, May 4 was part of last year’s Atlanta Film Festival. It’s called “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot”, and as you’ll see by my review, it is just as wild as that title suggests.
I had one other future release to watch and write a review for prior to next week, but I did watch one of the virtual catalog films I was most interested in prior to the festival. Brielle Brilliant’s “Firstness” is an unusual film about three people struggling with life. Keith is a father who is part of an experimental therapy group; Tavi is a non-gendered teenager; and Julian is a young man who’s having a hard time finding work after being in prison. All of these characters are endearing, and Brilliant’s approach to this narrative is offbeat, and kind of difficult to get into, but it’s a rewarding experience made stronger by the festival’s inclusion of the short film “Frankie” with it. Both are about the need to communicate and connect, and they are worth your time.
To a certain extent, I kind of regret not attending the screening of “Dream Horse” at the Plaza on this night. That’s not a knock on the film I did see, but Timur Bekmambetov’s “Profile” has a lot of on-screen text from a computer screen, which was awkward to try and watch in a drive-in format. I’ll catch up with “Dream Horse”, though, and it was great to watch a thriller like “Profile” at the festival. Bekmambetov’s movie about online radicalization is a quick and compelling movie told entirely from the perspective of being in front of the main character’s computer screen, which would seem boring, but the ways in which Bekmambetov builds tension makes for an engrossing film. It comes out on May 14, and I’d suggest it.
Thursday, April 30
Thursday marked my final drive-in screening of the film festival, and (possibly) my final filmmaker interview. But before both of those things, I did another short film block. A Night at the Museum is this year’s animation short block, and it really challenged how I look at the art of animation, and how some films succeed over others. This is a strong selection of eight short films- on par with The Great Beyond and some real gems emerged. The two that stood out have two of the darkest stories (“Un Diable Dans La Poche” and “Crab”), but really, there’s a degree of sadness that weighs through the entire block (even ones as imaginatively animated as “Symbiosis” and “How My Grandmother Became a Chair” have dark undercurrents). Must have been setting the stage for the day to come.
The filmmaker interview I conducted on Thursday was with director Jared Callahan, whose film, “Clean Slate”, is one of the best documentaries in a terrific lineup this year. We discussed what drew him to the documentary form, how he came across his subjects, and the balance he had to strike as a storyteller. It’s another fascinating discussion with a chronicler of real life, and you can hear that embedded below.
If many of my favorite films of 2021 come out of the Atlanta Film Festival, consider this your early warning. Last year, one of the things I observed about the festival’s programming of its feature lineup is that it appears to center around empathy. I think that’s why the documentaries they program are what they are, and it’s something we notice in the narratives they show, as well. This year, I think the best example of that is “Moon Manor”. Written and directed by Erin Granat and Machete Bang Bang, the film follows the last day of Jimmy. Jimmy has Alzheimer’s, and he has decided to go out on his own terms, rather than let the disease ravage him. That is all I’m going to say, as the movie deserves to sneak up on you and catch your heart. The film is (partially) inspired by the life of its star, James “Jimmy” Carrozo, and Carrozo’s performance is a revelation. It’s heartbreaking, funny, sweet and filled with life, and leads us to a conclusion that is pre-ordained, but still impactful. Be on the lookout for this film.
That’s all I have to say about this week. I’ve got three days left at the Atlanta Film Festival and I’m looking forward to what’s to come!
2021 Atlanta Film Festival – The Reviews
“Alive”
“Raspberry”
“At the Ready”
“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It”
“Strawberry Mansion”
“Marvelous and the Black Hole”
“Sons of Monarchs”
“A Fire Within”
“Snowy”
“The Letter”
“Limbo”
“Socks on Fire”
“Akilla’s Escape”
“Clean Slate”
“The Sleeping Negro”
“Landlocked”
“Firstness” & “Frankie” (Short)
“Profile” (Review Embargoed Until 5/11)
“Moon Manor”
“Mogul Mowgli”
“Only the Ocean Between Us”
“The Dry”
2021 Atlanta Film Festival
Annoucement
What to See, Where to See It
Opening Weekend
Working for the Weekend
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
