First night at the Film festival complete and survived! Saw some great movies. Of course, in true French style there were WAY too many of us volunteers and nobody really had a sense of what they were supposed to do.. we ended up handing out voting tickets to everyone who entered so they could vote on the Audience Pick Award. It was great to see they types of people who come to this sort of event... and see who stays for the entire night! Someone said that there were more people this year than previous years, which is good. However, I don't sense too big of a change in town... maybe all of the festival goers are watching films or sleeping in preparation for watching more films. Who would have thought that sitting and staring at a screen would be so tiring?
So what films have we seen so far?
1. Devil by John Erick Dowdle. Written by M Night Shyamalan. A group of people gets stuck in an elevator and are tortured/killed by the devil. Who is the Devil? Why is he doing this? Ah, could he be a SHE? Great use of a small space and interesting use of black outs to keep the intrigue and mystery going just a bit longer. Loved that it took place in Philadelphia and the main character had a link to Bethlehem Pike.
2. Somos lo que hay- We are what we are by Jorge Michel Grau.
OH WOW. As gruesome and terrible this movie was to watch, I couldn't help but be completely taken in by the story line. A family who loses their father is at a crossroads as to how to continue their way of life. What is this way of life? It involves chasing people down, bringing them back to the house and performing some sort of ritual/rite.... aka they're cannibals. Full out I'm going to eat your face now, cannibals. The most terrifying aspect of this movie was that we never truly find out who they are and what they are doing- and of course, the movie ends with one of the family members surviving and going out into the street looking for the next victim. This story isn't over yet... For the most part, neutral, subdued colors and a very intricate set design for the family's home, clocks and boxes and jars (not filled!). And an unexplained stressful relationship between the mother and one of her sons.
3. The Troll Hunter by Andre Ovredal.
Took me back to my childhood books of a girl living in some Scandinavian country and dealing with the naughty trolls. But so much better! These trolls come in all shapes and sizes. They are controlled by the Secret Troll Control Bureau (the Norwegian government), who doesn't want the general public to know about the trolls, so they make up fake stories, like bear attacks (complete with fake bear prints!) to give people an acceptable story. This group of young people meet the only troll hunter, who takes them on a journey to find the trolls and see how they work. Well, the trolls smell people who believe in God- so beware- they'll eat you. High tension wires are actually used to contain the beasts. And to make sure the trolls don't smell humans, they have to rub nasty troll gunk all over their body and clothes before entering the forest at night. The story line kept me going the whole time- it was humorous, frightening and all around interesting to think about how brainwashed we could potentially be by our governments. Also, SUCH a great storyline for camp games! Can't wait to whip something up to scare the kids.
All three of these films are in the Competition category of the festival. Can't wait to see if any of them win!
Today working the festival 12+ hours! And most of the films will be with the jury- so that's super exciting!
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