Hey folks, Harry here with the latest from that ladykiller Rav! He's still in Palm Beach and is indeed still performing at the 5101 BAR nightly til 3am, otherwise he'll be in theaters prowling about for films to record into the iFilm brain of his. And is it just me, or does Rav's description of this fest just make it seem like the most bizarre fest ever?

It's day six in the Biff and people are starting to drop like flies, this was the first Dave Poland-less day of the festival. Oddly enough the festival is beginning to take a turn for the good, I haven't seen a genuine bad movie in the past twenty four hours and with good word on RX and Checking Out, it looks to be that this years festival will end, at least for me, with a good bang




The first film "X, Y" I had been really interested in seeing after hearing it's programming came from a Brandon Judell/Indiewire tip-off, meaning it would be absolutely nothing like any of the other dreck programmed. As well as the director Vladimir Pritikin proved to be a rather kooky personality around the gulfstream with his sprawling tales of the much fabled "Burt Reynold's and Friends Museum," it's true his tales were never that amazing, but I couldn't help but amuse myself with thoughts of the "friends" in the title being little magical cartoon gnomes, you know the type that make cereals and stuff. I dunno...I entertain myself rather easily. Vladimir was a really nice guy and it worried me a bit, as sometimes the nicest people at film festivals tend to be the most untalented, usually making up for it with their endearing social skills.




I was hoping for the best, but I was also bracing for a possible very bad little movie. Thank god that wasn't the case, for me its in the running for downright coolest movie of the festival. The film starts out very sort of cheesy with a stripper convinced she has switched bodies with a man. For the first ten minutes I was beginning to worry myself in this mediocre adult freaky friday throwoff, it was a very good thing that the real film slowly began to come out. It's truly a bit of a mindfuck. It balances squirm-in-your-seat gore and arthouse drama, nicely creating a flick that can rival recent fare like In My Skin. Very reminiscent of Cronenberg at times, Vladimir should be proud of his little fucked up, psychotic gem. Someone needs to pick up this low budget movie god damnit, I really want to bring a copy home to my friends that love a good horror/drama. I think there's a trailer at the official website .




The next film I saw was not exactly a great movie (Mass Of Angels), but I'm really weird in that the musical end credits sequence is enough to warrant notice. The guys that made mass of angels, wherever you are, thank god for your bizarre ghost-dead-girl sing-a-long song. I truly love you, it nearly redeemed the movie for me. As of the movie, it was a valiant effort, but the girl and the lynchian cowboy guy just never really worked for me. I wish the film the best of luck, it had it's heart in the right place, it'll be interesting to see what the future brings of your work.




The third film of the night was one that the local community came out to support like mad, John Daly's The Aryan Couple. I really didn't read much through the festival blurb on the movie, they had me sold at "Cast: Martin Landau," Landau's sheer presence can get me to sit through anything. In this film Landau plays a Jewish industrialist, in Nazi Germany, who is given an offer by the German's for him to give them all of his assets in exchange for safe passage for his entire family to Palestine. The title refers to their to their housekeepers who in a predictable random plot twist turn out to be Jewish members of the resistance hiding under perfect Aryan pseudonyms. Their lives are thrown into turmoil by the Nazi attention which could undoubtedly uncover their true identities at any moment. My only complaints with the film is that it's a bit generic, though this film sheds the robotic nazi storm trooper for a bit lighter take on the Nazis. This isn't Downfall where you have a real humanistic potrayal of them instead Himmler is more or less a "good guy," helping the key characters out at a few given moments. Perhaps it wasn't intentional given that the Nazi's were also raping the assets of the Krauzenbergers at the time, it's just the way it felt to me. Check out the trailer here , it's not exactly a brutal movie, it's a WWII adventure movie for the whole family to enjoy. Yepee.




The last film I saw was really good for the most part, but the print I was watching cut-out in the last five minutes of the movie, so I'm going to refrain from talking about it in depth. This film was Les Temps Qui Changent starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu, directed by Albert Techine. For the most part what I saw was very delightful and any film where someone has to result to voodoo to try to woo the one they desire is a good one. I'm sure this film will get distribution, so look for it further in the year.




And with that I'm off, last night we lost the Nic, director of Duck, the festivals really winding down, ack. And again with all the previous muck I've been throwing their way, I should mention the festival is improving vastly, the programming is light-years ahead of the previous festival, Hal Axler's slowly but surely crafting this into the festival it's supposed to be. As well as I really can't complain much now that I've finally seen a few good movies. Onward to the last day!...Also, by popular request, "HOORAY FOR CAROL MARSHALL!"




later-o,




Rav


If you want to drink the shower water from my body's chiseled features - merely submit to my rule!