Rockland Independent Film Festival
Posted by Patrick on Sunday, July 01, 2007This weekend Kate and I each chose a rental film that we hoped would be cool and different from the usual action flick or rom-com. We ended up spending two nights watching strange and unusual independent films that probably should have been really good, but just were kind of meh.
On Friday we watched the film that I chose, Science of Sleep. I had moderately high hopes for it, since it was made by the guy who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which was pretty good.
The movie is about a European fellow named Stephane who returns to his childhood home in (I think France), and tries to get his apartment neighbor Stephanie to like him. The story is told from his perspective, sometimes inside his own head (this reminded me of Herman's Head a little), as he tries to deal with his heartache, crazy typesetting coworkers, mother, and the fact that his dreaming seems to put him in danger. At one point he writes a letter to Stephanie in his dream and sleep-walks it over to her. At another point he manages to fall asleep with his feet in a small freezer and wakes up with ice on his toes.
The stop-motion animation was cool, but the movie just sort of dragged in some parts.
On Saturday we watched Kate's pic, The Squid and the Whale, which was a little better then Science.
It's the story of a dysfunctional family in 1980's New York city, dealing with bad parenting and sociopath children. Jeff Daniels (yes, him) stars as almost the worst dad ever, and the mom (Laura Linney) isn't much better.
A more interesting story, compared to Science of Sleep, but a little painful to watch in some parts and one of those strange movie endings that kind of leave you wondering what the heck just happened.
Speaking of movies, the Simpsons movie should be coming out soon. They have a cool thing on their site that lets you create a Simpsonized version of yourself. While it's not nearly as accurate or time-consuming as making a Wii "Mii", it's still kinda fun. But no glasses option? And where's the option for a full beard?
Labels: flicks
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