A place for everything…

Another night, another film program :) this time it was Shorts: Cold Feet, another solid collection of thought-provoking and thought-nonvoking (is that a word?) films. Just me this time, sitting on my lonesome, one leg on the other knee, stroking chin and reclining… Films can be pretty addictive I guess, since essentially you’ve parked your arse and are simply allowed to shut up and concentrate entirely on what’s in front of you. I don’t seem to get that chance to focus during any other part of my normal day; it’s not like you can sit down for an hour to listen to some great music on a gorgeous pair of headphones without finding a hundred other little things to do.

Anyhow, in a really strong lineup, three films really stood out for me:

• When I Become Silent is a subtle, melancholy story told between two lovers who seem to recognise, slowly, that their relationship, like all relationships is unlikely to last - not because of the outside factors of difference in job status (one is professional, the other a writer) nor because they’re same sex in not-so-tolerant Japan, but because it simply may not work. Very nicely told, gorgeous camera work and apparently is one of three stories to form a feature length from this director.
• Irish Twins is a very well acted, very snappily written little story about two brothers pretty much avenging their father’s missed opportunities and weaknesses. Felt like a proper film, and this guy who looked so familiar during the screening turns out, after a ~2.65 second search on IMDB to have been Shawn Hunter in Boy Meets World, which I remember as a staple 6pm Channel 4 show waaaaaay back in the 90’s, weird that these TV people actually exist!
• Sikumi is an utterly bleak, barren, whited-out, sparse film set in the most northern part of Alaska and it had such a soporific effect on me I fell in love. I think I’m a kid from the North at heart; sun-drenched beaches are pretty dull at the end of it - much more interesting to have the virtual whiteout and perpetual light / dark of way high in the Arctic. A very minimal film in dialog, screen dressing etc, no extraneous fluff and a really sobering story of murder and danger. Would you have the balls to effectively arrest the guy who you just witnessed killing your friend, when it’s just you both out there on the ice? If you get it wrong no-one will ever know how or where you died. Harsh in every sense.

More again tonight!