Father Geek here, taking a break from packing, etc... for the trip to Spain and the SITGES FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA DE CATALUNYA that Harry will be judging from Oct. 2nd thru the 14th. He'll be staying at the "Melià Gran Sitges Hotel" sooooo any of you that want to meet up just leave messages there and he'll try to hookup with you sometime during the fest. Now... here's Flu's 2nd report from the RIO FILM FEST...

Hey, everybody, The Flu here, with the second day of the Rio Film Fest.

Well, today was a bit better. The sun was shining, there were no problems with buying tickets and I could really say that, as of this day, the Fest has TRULY started. I don't know what it is, exactly, but yesterday... It didn't really feel like a festival. Today just felt different. Maybe because there was no stress or rush to get from one movie to another. That and, well... I was lucky enough to watch Hable Con Ella for free! Yes!

I bumped into an old friend of mine this morning who's working at the Fest, and she invited me to a screening. As I am no idiot, I accepted without even thinking twice. Luckily enough, I didn't have any other movies scheduled for that time, so I didn't miss anything.

The movie is wonderful. You can see Almodovar is far from losing his touch. Actually, that may have been one of the very few problems with the movie. I had a feeling of dejávù. I don't know, but Almodovar's last few movies have had the very same style. That's not particularly bad. All About My Mother is, in my opinion, his best movie. By far. Maybe that's why I didn't like Hable Con Ella as much. You expect too much of him. It happens all the time. Hable Con Ella is a brilliant film. It tells the friendship of Marco (played almost to perfection by Dario Grandinetti), whose lover has just fallen into a coma, and Benigno, a nurse at the very same hospital Marco's girlfriend's at. Benigno is in love with one of the patients at the hospital, problem is, she's in a coma too. Their friendship starts from there, and doesn't crumble one bit, even with Benigno's almost crazy necrophily (I'm not sure how it's spelled, so spare me...) for his patient, which finds no boundaries at all. Well, it's a good movie, sure. But I think Almodovar needs to change his style a bit before we start to get tired of it.

Next up was Moonlight Mile. That was another bit of a dissapointment. I loved the premise, about a guy, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who, after his fianceé dies, goes to live with his in-laws, and doesn't know what to do when he falls for another girl. I was expecting more after watching The Good Girl. Jake Gyllenhaal is, without a doubt one of the best actors of his generation. In this movie he's only okay. Didn't manage to top his Holden character in The Good Girl. But by as the movie reached the first hour, it did get much better. The introductions were about done, the whole awkwardness amongst the characters was dissapearing... And there was a light of hope. It ended the way it was supposed to. There were no surprises there. But, OH MY GOD, how beautiful is Ellen Pompeo?!?! Almost TOO beautiful. Too bad beauty doesn't equal talent, otherwise she would have the whole package. She just didn't have an extensive collection of expressions. Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman (him in particular), on the other hand, were great. They gave that feeling of security, sorta like parents, but they also let themselves grief for their daughter, which made them extremely vulnerable.

Finally, on end the day, there was the documentary Cinemania, about five New York moviebuffs. They were unbelievable. These people watch like, 3 to 6 movies A DAY. They live everyday what I am living right now with the Fest! It's just crazy! There was one problem with the movie: it was great, very funny, but it didn't tell much about their everyday life. It focused only on their moviegoer lives. It didn't tell much about their jobs, or how they got money to afford a place to live, food AND watching up to 6 movies a day. But it didn't bother me all that much, because the movie is so unpretentious, and these people, these characters, are so lovable, that you just sit there and you make yourself like it!

Anyway, tomorrow will be a calmer schedule. Only two movies: Spirited Away in the afternoon and The Bourne Identity at night. Unless, of course, I get another lucky break and watch another movie for free! I've planned to watch Spirited Away twice in this Fest. No, I'm not crazy. I just know that it'll probably never be released here after the Fest. That's what happened to Ghost World. Good thing I watched all of its screenings last Fest. Good thing there's something called DVD Region 1.

So I'm gonna go get some rest right now, 'cause tomorrow is very promising. The next couple of days after that will be a bit slower.

So, for now, The Flu's gone.