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20th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival Coverage 2011 Part 2 of 3
JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME Family stuff and life in general is getting in the way of seeing as much as I want, and writing as much as I see. Which is why as great as it is to have a big film festival in your own backyard, it would be better to be here on vacation and experience all the films without so many interruptions. I was glad to make the second screening of Jeff, Who Lives at Home, particularly since the director was available for another Q & A. Well, co-director, this film is by another team of writer/director brothers. Not the Farrelly Bros. or the Coen Bros.…
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20th Philadelphia Film Festival – A Dangerous Method
I had seen the trailer for A Dangerous Method months ago and was highly anticipating its release. My excitement increased learning I’d get to see it early as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival. But just like when you’re in a restaurant and there’s an item on the menu that sounds perfect, you envision how it will come presented, the moment of satisfaction when it hits the pleasure center of the brain… but upon arrival to your table, it’s dry or watery or small or tasteless or just not what you had in mind. And such was the case with David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method. In my opinion, the film…
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20th Philadelphia Film Festival – Melancholia
If I owned an incredibly elegant, picturesque, stately castle with an 18 hole golf course and stable full of horses, I’d too would be sad and scared to see the end of the world, because you gotta figure life on the other side might not be as good. In writer/director Lars von Trier’s film, Melancholia is a planet that has been hiding behind the sun for eons and has suddenly made its appearance known as it starts traveling through the galaxy. During its rotation, it has come close, but not hit other planets in the solar system; therefore, the scientist on earth predict Melancholia passing by the earth will be…
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20th Philadelphia Film Festival – SHAME
by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor Michael Fassbender has a Dirk Diggler size schlong! And an Adonis rear-end. Beyond that, I don’t remember anything about the film Shame. Just kidding. Well, about the film’s resonance, not about Fassbender. In actuality, the film stayed with me for quite awhile. Seeing two people in so much pain with no clue how to get relief, yet basically from the outside, look as if they are managing the day in and out of life. Director Steve McQueen (Hunger), (why doesn’t he go by S. McQueen or use his middle name, Rodney or Stephen?) has created an intense character study of a sex addict without really…
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20th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival Coverage 2011 Part 1 of 3
LIKE CRAZY Everything appeared to go as planned last night at the opening of the 20th Anniversary Philadelphia Film Festival. The spacious Zellerbach (Annenberg) theater felt full and the mood was light as we were welcomed by PFS Executive Director Andrew Greenblatt, Artistic Director Michael Lerman and Mayor Michael Nutter. The film chosen to set off this milestone occasion, would seem an insignificant choice by the description – basically a romance involving two recent college grads, Anna an accessibly pretty, unaffected young woman (Felicity Jones) who is in the US on a student visa from the UK and must return upon graduation. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) is an adorable, curly-haired, furniture maker. The…
