Father Geek here, still basking in the reflected glory of a totally Democratic victory here in Austin, Travis County, Texas... Think Globally... Act Locally... That's about all most of us can do... and if enough do that, it will all work out. Now here's what's happening in the Demo stronghole of Hawaii...

MORE HIFF FESTIVAL NOTES

by Albert Lanier

Sixth day at HIFF 2004. It must be something in the water or people are really in the mood to watch movies this year. According to an e-mail I got from a HIFF PR person, there have been 15 sellouts already. Now for a festival like Telluride where everything sells out immediately, this development would be miniscule but for a festival like HIFF which has good audience turnout every year but not necessarily multiple waves of sellouts, this can only be the icing on their collective festival cake.

Ever the skeptic, I doubted the number of sellouts this year though I did have to admit to myself that I had attended screenngs filled nearly to capacity.

First film of the day: SOUND OF COLORS, a sweet romantic comedy from Hong Kong which had its U.S. Premiere that day that was produced by Wong Kar Wai and directed by Joe Ma Wai Ho.

Ma focuses on two sets of couples-a young Taiwanese man who falls for a young Shanghainese woman in Shanghai, China while in Taipei, Taiwan, the owners of a matchmaking service gets involved with a thoughtful blind woman. There are some requisite twists and turns (but not too many as to seem stale) and Ma-who is credited with co-writing SOUNDS' script along with Cheng Pui Wah-spends more time on the Taiwanese story featuring HERO star Tony Leung as Mr. Ho, the matchmaker.

SOUNDS OF COLORS is cinematic cotton candy, taffy for the soul. There are some nice performances here especially by Leung and by Chang Chen as Chung Ching, the young lovestruck Taiwanese man in Shanghai and Ma does a fine job keeping the story light and breezy and not falling into the deep gorges and ravines of romantc melodrama canyon.

Next saw U.S. Premiere of GETTIN' SQUARE, an Australian comedy directed by Jonathan Teplisky starring Sam Worthington and David Wenham as Barry Worth and Johnny Spitieri, two ex-cons trying to go straight (or gettin square as they say in Australia). However, a slimy local crime boss named Chicka Martin (Gary Sweet) and his partner, a crooked local cop Senior Sargeant Deveers (David Field) as well a government investigation of an accountant who handled funds for ex-con and restauranteur Darren Barrington known as Dabba (played by Timothy Spall) complicate things for Barry and Johnny.

Dabba hires Worth to cook in his faux-western themed restaurant and Johnny "Spit" made cash dropoffs for Dabba to the accountant Warren Halliwell. Now that the Australian Government is tying Dabba to Halliwell, Dabba needs Johnny "Spit" to keep his mouth shut about the hidden moneys and Barry has been trying to keep his younger brother away from Chicka whom he believes help set him up along with Deveers to serve time in prison for murder.

GETTIN SQUARE is good, vulgar fun. Teplisky does a good job helming this feature and the performances from Worthington and Spall are top motch with an especially stellar comedic performance from Wenham as Johnny Spit.

Last film of the day was the documentary DOUBLE DARE directed by Amanda Micheli.

DOUBLE DARE profiles two stuntwomen: the aging but still indefatigable Jeannie Epper best known for her work as Linda Carter's stunt double on WONDER WOMAN in the 70's and Zoe Bell, a rising young dynamo from New Zealand who got her start doubling for Lucy Lawless on ZENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Micheli wisely chooses to shoot and structure her documentary as a bookended film and not a general history of stuntwomen in the film industry (though Steven Spielberg appears in the film and does talk briefly stuntwomen or the lack thereof throughout the history of the film industry). This allows us the chance to understand stuntwomen and the problems they face as they as the joys they experience a lot more effectively by looking at these two specific examples. Epper, for example, is in her sixties and still working on films as diverse as JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK and SIX FEET UNDER but finds her age and her sex still obstacles to be overcome in finding work (actually with her years of stunt experience, she should have been made a stunt coordinator by now but what can you do?).

The striking-looking Bell (who is absolutely gorgeous) has been racking up experience on ZENA as a young stuntwoman and winds up landing a big break-doubling for Uma Thurman on Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL. Bell and Epper meet during the course of DOUBLE DARE and this is perhaps the most rewarding part of watching this film: that the veteran and the newcomer genuinely interact and enjoy each other's company thus underlying what is so interesting about stunt performers in films.

DOUBLE DARE is well worth watching not just because it is about the curiosity of "stuntgirls" jumping from tall heights into huge inflatable bags because Epper and Bell are worth gettng to know and worth rooting for as well.

I saw only one film today (day #6) Ann Marie Fleming's THE MAGICAL LIFE OF LONG TACK SAM about her great grandfather, a Chinese acrobat and magician who traveled throughout the world with his own troupe of performers especially in the U.S, Europe, and Australia.

Director Fleming uses her doc as an investigative tool to try to deciper the real Long Tack Sam: where he came from in China, how he met and married an Austrian woman who later manged his troupe, where he went and performed on the road, how life in the west treated Long Tack Sam as an Asian man and performer, where he eventually ended up.

THE MAGICAL LIFE OF LONG TACK SAM utilizes a number of aging home movies, archival film footage, snapshots, animation and talking head interviews with relatives, friends and admirers to give us a colorful snapshot of Long Tack Sam. It is to Fleming's credit that she crafts a watchable film but in the end, THE MAGICAL LIFE OF LONG TACK SAM is a so-so effort, entertaining but empty.

What Fleming doesn't seem to understand is that her film is enjoyable but inconsequential. She seems to be trying to find a little more meaning in Long Tack Sam's life but I think Sam-like any great performer- realized long ago that you sell the fat along with the sizzle and not the steak. As far as Iam concerned, Long Tack Sam owed his audiences his showmanship and nothing more. Any attempt to probe further never improve on the wonderful entertainer he was onstage.

END