Nantucket Film Festival: Day Two

It was a rainy day in Nantucket and therefore a good day to stay indoors and watch a few movies. The day started in 'Sconset at the Casino, where I saw Mia and the Magoo, which is a French animated film that has been re-dubbed into English. It tells the story of a young girl journeying to find her father who works on a construction site in the middle of nowhere. There are a few Avatar overtones as the villain in this film is building a resort which is destroying the pristine wilderness, and, in particular, the Tree of Life which grows upside down. Mia is aided by the Migoo (voiced by Wally Shawn), who are supernatural but low-IQ creatures, supposed to be watching over the Tree of Life. Mia and the Magoo has a few good moments but neither the animation nor the characters are three dimensional. Two beers.

 

The second movie in 'Sconset after a nice lunch on the beach at Codfish Park eating a Turkey Terrific (the best sandwich in the world) was Circumstance. This film follows two teenage girls growing up in Tehran today. It spotlights the difficulties of growing up as a woman in Iran. This film, shot in Beruit by female Iranian director, Maryam Keshavarz, is quite intense and compelling. Four beers.

After this, I moved to Nantucket High School for my last two films. They were both American dramas. The first, The Last Rites of Joe May, chronicles the last few days of the life of an aging scam artist (Dennis Farina). He comes home after two months in hospital to find a young single mother living in his apartment. Even though this film is straight out of the Indie-film playbook, and you can predict every plot twist, it works because the performances are so good, particularly Farina, and Jamie Anne Allman (The Killing) and Meredith Droeger who play the mother and daughter. Three and half beers.

The last film of the day was the best. Margin Call can't be called an Indie Movie since its cast includes Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Simon Baker, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore. But it has a great script, and Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons are under strict control by director, J.C. Chandor so they don't eat the scenery. Margin Call tells the story of the start of the recession of 2008 when a big investment bank realizes that its debts are greater than its assets, and they plot to sell everything before the clients catch on. Zachary Quinto (Spock in the new Star Trek) is very good as the young analyst who discovers the problem.  Five beers.