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.

Nantucket Film Festival: Day One

Well, it's that time of the year again. I'm here at the 16th Nantucket Film Festival. I will be seeing 17 movies in 5 days. Day One was a light day with only two movies. The splashy opening movie was Cars 2 only a couple of days away from it's opening. And the second film was Buck, a documentary which was a Sundance selection and has quite a bit of buzz. It has opened in NY and LA and will be going into more theatres as the summer progresses.

Cars 2 is a sequel to Pixar's Cars. In general, I love Pixar movies like Finding Nemo, Toy Story and The Incredibles. But I didn't like Cars. For some reason, I have no problem with fish, toys and super heroes coming to life but cars? Anyway, Cars 2 is more of the same except that the main character this time is the broken-down tow-truck, Mater. This sequel which involves a round the world series of races and some international intrigue is a real snoozer. I had a nice nap in the middle. The only interesting thing in Cars 2 is that they introduce the Bond car voiced by Michael Caine as a member of the British secret service. He is great. I was sitting in the same row as Vera Farmiga and her husband and kid. She had an Oscar nomination as George Clooney's love interest in Up in the Air, and has her first try at directing opening later in the festival.

Buck is a really nice film. It is about the life of Buck Brannaman. He was the technical advisor on Robert Redford's film, The Horse Whisperer, starring a 13 year old Scarlett Johansson. But Buck is the real deal, an actual horse whisperer. This film follows him around the country as he gives clinics on "starting" colts. He doesn't use the word, "breaking." It also details his childhood when he and his brother were trick ropers trained by their abusive father. Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl, is very well put together. It is heart-warming, to say the least, but it also shows Brannaman as a 3-dimensional character, even showing him failing to train a difficult horse. You should see this one if comes to a theatre near you.