Just got back from wonderful days spent in Locarno watching many many movies!
As any festival goer knows, one feels like a bit of a vampire at screenings considering the beautiful weather others are enjoying by the lake....:-)
Film is just another art form, so I must admit that I have seen some pretty bizarre movies....some with spectacular scenery, and others leaving you with a simple "wtf?&*(*&????"
One needs to take into consideration the fact that atmosphere plays a very big part in any film festival...and apart from listening to directors speaking about their movies with passion, emotions, excitement as well as humility, or having the impromptu DJ Icka (main character in Berlin Calling) performing after the screening on the main stage, or watching movies in open air under the stars with 8000 other viewers makes the Locarno experience truly magical.
I have seen way too many movies to write a review on all of them...but my top 5 list in order of preference would be the following: (Synopsis taken from festival catalogue):
1. Nordwand - Germany - beautifully filmed and intense
To be the first to climb the famous, notorious Eiger North Face – that is the dream of many mountain climbers from all over Europe in the summer of 1936. The two ace climbers fromGermany, Toni Kurz (BENNO FUERMANN) and Andi Hinterstoisser (FLORIAN LUKAS), also can't think of anything else. They're convinced that they can make it, even though many attempts to scalethe "Murder Wall" have ended fatally. But for those who make it to the top first, there's not onlysocial prestige waiting for them, but Olympic Gold as well…
2. Nulle Part Terre Promise - France - great acting
THREE INTERCONNECTING JOURNEYS ACROSS TODAY’S
A young manager supervises a factory relocation.
A student films a reportage while she waits for a call from her absent lover.
A Kurdish man and his son are trying to reach
Heading east or west, in trucks or in business class,
hitchhiking or by train, with or without official papers;
each is seeking their promised land in contemporary Euro
3. Berlin Calling - Germany - fab music and very modern day
Berlin electro composer Martin (Paul Kalkbrenner), called DJ Ickarus, is touring the dance clubs of the world with his manager and girlfriend Mathilde (Rita Lengyel). They are about to release their biggest album to date. But when Ickarus gets high on drugs after a gig and is taken to a Berlin psychiatric clinic, all of their plans go awry. A tragicomedy set in today's Berlin.
4. Choke - USA - hilarious
CHOKE, which ran away with the Special July Prize for Best Work by an Ensemble Cast atthis year’s Sundance Film Festival, is not only a cathartic and romantic satire about uncontrolled lust,lost faith, childhood trauma, mad addictions, bizarre fantasies and blockages both emotionally and literally, but also about second chances, redemptive moments and true love – that is, it’s about modern life.
5. Sonbahar - Turkey - deep
The Locarno filmfest goes on till next Saturday.....well worth the visit...
Happy viewing everyone :P
