To me, going to the movies seems on par with going to the mall: expensive, often boring and repetitive, usually disappointing, and overall just a waste of time. I've just had it with forking out 12 bucks for two hours of overstimulation without any evident purpose. How many people did I need to see shot up, blown up, beat up, sexed up in an extremely patterned fashion before I got bored of main stream movies? Well, it took 20 years, hundreds of blockbusters, and a warehouse of popcorn, but I now paradoxically find the movies full of action, complex plot lines, flawless actors, to be dull and repetitive.
So when signs started popping up around the city advertising an independent film festival in Buenos Aires, I thought, "Oh neat, I wonder what this is all about." I then found the website for the BAFICI film festival, with 422 films, 10 pesos tickets ($2.50) and immediately contacted my film geek best friend to exlaim "OHH NEATO! CHECK THIS OUT!"
We started out seeing a Ukrainian film about competitive horseback riding teens who may be lesbians, but it's really about the nature of power in human relationships (as Natasha so finely extracted from symbolism of dog training whistles in the film ... film degrees are NOT useless, mom).
The next night we watched a French mom who never grew up get nixed from her daughters wedding invitation list, get a job in Brazil selling time shares, a nice boyfriend and finally an invite to the wedding. Then we watched her fuck up the job, boyfriend and the wedding. I think the message had to do with being yourself even when you don't fit into societal norms. I mean hey, she was happy the almost the entire movie.
Next, we sat through an hour and a half long meditation on the relation between individual humans, society and nature framed by Henry David Thoreau quotes. This Swiss film follows a young trouble maker around his rural neighborhood, as he wanders, makes mischief and comments on the completely normal lives of his neighbors. The film was slow, real slow. Minutes without dialogue, scenes with now apparent purpose, constant mental nagging to check the time. But the message was sweet, or the message I gave it...To me the film was about how the boy doesn't really like, or doesn't really get society yet. He wants to run through muddy creeks dressed in a tuxedo, pop car tires with salvaged parts of soccer goal post parts, and just about anything that rebellious "I didn't make the rules of the world", he says. The other people in the film then have different relationships with society in terms of success etc. and with nature. Through the quotes it becomes apparent that the film is about how we are al born into this crazy human world, where our species makes rules and customs that we have no choice but to abide by or live amongst, but we always have the patterns of nature to fall back on. When the world is falling apart (the human constructed one), we can always look up at the sky, find silence sitting in a field, or swim in a pond and remember that the rules are fake. Were just animals on a crazy, crazy planet. Beautiful message. But the after thought for me: what happens when we destroy this thing called nature, cover it in concrete and burn it to ashes? Hmph.
We kept the pajama party rollin' with a documentary about a mayor in Slovokia who thinks his town has two many single people. He organizes a party and plays matchmaker trying to get people to get down. His mission: failed. The film: success. Very funny, and anthropologically interesting to see a town in the middle of Slovakia. Let's just say I'm glad my parents didn't find real estate while backpacking through Eastern Europe. And I'm also glad to not be 40 and single (just banged on my desk).
The marathon finished on a euphoric note, with a film called "Run, Sister, Run" in which two teenagers get out of control, drinking, stealing, smoking, having sex and running away. The hard rock music and fast scenes took me right back to age 16, bringin up dusty memories of yelling fights with parents, overwhelming emotions, and the fun of not doing what you're told. Not sure if there was any big point, but it was fun to relive the glory days of pot smoking in cars and skipping class. (Mom and Dad: Julianna made me do it, don't worry)
Watching five movies in a week sounds like something someone who really needs antidepressants and a job would do, but I don't think I need either, and the films were great. Each one slow enough and different enough to make me think, and rethink some stuff I don't always think about. They were the opposite of the main stream predictable plots, with bizarre scenes, less than attractive actors, refreshingly real life characters, little to no violence, no naked people, and 1/5 the price. I came away from each film with a slightly different take on something, whether it be marriage, life in Brazil, or life itself.
I feel like movies can change lives, or the way people view life (which is really all we have). But so few films do. Mainstream films have become this odd escapism practice, where we go to some idealized reality, and be some idealized person, whether it be a sexy boss in the fashion industry with two boy toys or a detective who at night is a superhero blowing up bad guys, and then getting freaky with his two girl toys. I'm glad quality movies that make the viewers think, discuss and debate still exist; even if they make no money and are only seen my film nerds and losers like Natasha and I.
It was great to rekindle my love of movies through the BAFICI.
Now where THE HELL the the almost free indie film fests in the US? Oh that's right, they don't exist.
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