7th Annual Secret Film Film Festival.

 

My wife and I just got back from the 2012 Secret Film Festival at the Del Mar Theater. This year had another fine selection of soon-to-be released films.
The festival itself is apparently not a secret to the locals, like last year, it was sold out. The real secret is that the line up of films is unknown. The host gives a few spare details just before the projector rolls.
In some cases, a second feature starts upstairs, five minutes after the main feature. The festival runs from midnight until noon.
Before the festival a show of hands revealed that only one person in the audience had been at all seven Secret Film Festivals (I guess it was called something different years ago.)
The only negative that I found at the festival was that vocal pockets of the audience complained loudly at having to watch so many films with subtitles. I'm not sure what they expected, but I straight up heard complaints at having to read, at least a half dozen times. Some complaints bordered on racism. "I don't speak foreign!" one fuckface yelled.
If you read this and are thinking about going to The Secret Film Festival, if you don't like subtitled films, stay home!

There were 6.1 films downstairs and 2 separate films upstairs. The links embedded in the titles should take you to the respective film's trailer on YouTube.

• God Bless America - Falling Down meets Super. Just be nice and you won't be killed. Bobcat Goldthwait directed and Joel Murray stars as a guy brought to the edge. It is a fantastic film. Mean and wonderful. Joel Murray's acting is solid. The film doesn't get hung up on technicalities and police work. It just follows a pair of spree killers trying to save the world. Good stuff.

• Pac-Man - This was the .1 film. A short film about scientists making a Pac-Man game/simulation/real life digitial version. It was cute. Click on the link to watch the short.

• Morgan Spurlock's San Diego Comic-Con documentary - I'm too lazy to look up the actual title. It's what you would expect.
  If you're interested in this kind of a thing, just go to an actual comic, anime, GI Joe, Star Trek, whatever con. You don't need rich and famous people telling you how to feel. If you're not interested in this kind of thing, you won't go see this movie anyway. A perfectly good waste of time.
  Penumbra - This played upstairs and I did not see it. A gentleman in front of us said, "So bad, dude, so bad." He ended up putting down all the other films, hated foreign films, and made racist comments about showing English only films (he's not the one who made the "I don't speak foreign!" remark.) So, I have no idea about this one.

• Juan of the Dead - A Cuban zombie/comedy. Started out very unfunny, but picked up quickly. The characters are dimensional and super well conceived. Juan is not dumb, he is a smart rascal (there is that latino hero-type again, I've written about it before, I'm too tired to look it up.) There is an amazing scene with Juan and his best friend sitting on a rooftop waiting for the sun to rise. Just hilarious. It's a great mix of lowbrow and smart.
  Beyond the Black Rainbow - I have wanted to see this film for months but it didn't work out. I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to see it. Afterwards, whenever the host mentioned the title, everyone booed, so it's probably a great film.

• Sound of Noise - This Swedish film was a shocker. It should never have been made, it's just slightly off beat. It's not Lynchian weird. It's not crazy. It's not dark or strangely upbeat. It's not surrealistic or abstract. A tone deaf cop from a family of famous musician/conductors gets on the trail of a group of criminal, avant garde musicians. They conduct large scale crimes in order to create percussive music. It's a blast. The film is smart, a touch confusing, and fun. Like I said, it's not normal and it's not crazy, it's just odd enough to make you do a second take at what you're seeing. It will get looked over, but I recommend it.
  Kill List - I didn't get to see this showing of it. Before you get too sad, read on.

• The Raid - My dear friend, Derrick, has been on about this film for the last few years. He was waaay ahead of the curve on this one. That being said, I didn't watch it. HA.
  The film actually came out to local theaters today, a week early, so I will see it, I just didn't see it here. Instead, the programmer asked if anyone wanted to see anything else upstairs since The Raid was released a week early and some people had already seen it. We voted for....
  Kill List - Oh yeah, baby, I finally got to see it. Matt did a write up about this fine film HERE. Go read it.
  This was my favorite film of the fest. It's a hard one to explain without ruining it, but let's just say it builds and builds and builds. What a fine film. The music cues are fantastic. Oftentimes they mislead and build inappropriately. The story is confusing and debatable, but I have it mostly figured out for myself, and that is fine. It is super slow, then super violent, then super confusing. In other words, super duper. Bring your strong stomach and watch it.

• Goon - What was left of the crowd (about 75%. Less people made it through than last year) met up in the main theater for the final film. The host said, "It's an easy movie." It was. I never would have seen Goon myself. It's a hockey film about a horrible player, who can barely skate, but packs a mean punch. The film is based on a true story and there are even clips of the real fella during the end credits.
  Goon is really good. The script is super well written with awesome dialog. You will laugh and relate all the way through this thing. Seann William Scott is fantastic. He is wound way down for the role and he pulls off this team-first, honest, slow, guy, just amazingly. The film is worth seeing just for the dialog. I'm not into hockey, but I didn't feel like a mark. I got it. Worth your time.

After the films there was a raffle. We didn't win anything and that was all right. We did see local artist Frank Trueba and Lauren from Marini's there.
Thus ends another Santa Cruz Secret Film Festival. Thanks to the Del Mar and our host, Scott. They did a fantastic job. I can't wait until next year.

Crime algorithim.

"The police department in Santa Cruz, California, has begun an experiment that uses a mathematical algorithm to predict when and where certain crimes will be committed, and puts police on the scene before they happen.

So far police have arrested five people using this technique of "predictive policing" and the rates of certain categories of crimes in the city have dropped significantly, perhaps as a result. The program has correctly predicted 40 percent of the crimes it was designed to monitor.

Police departments have said that programs such as these, if proved to be reliable, could help them to deploy their resources more efficiently.

Unlike Philip K. Dick's novel "The Minority Report" or the film inspired by the novel, the program relies on algorithms, and not mutants to predict the likelihood of something happening."

read more at talkingpointsmemo

Surviving the Santa Cruz Secret Film Festival.

Well, the secret is out.

Nyteschayde and I went to the sixth annual Santa Cruz Secret Film Festival last night/today and it was packed. We arrived just at midnight with a line to the end of the block, and were told that there were only 12 tickets left. The Del Mar Theatre was FULL. We got the couch style two-seater in the center very back, just where we wanted to be, which was rather lucky. I brought snacks, he bought popcorn and drinks.

The quirks of the festival are that it runs from midnight until noon with only ten minute breaks between films. Also, patrons have no idea what films they will be seeing. I ruined that last quirk for myself.

The gentleman who runs the festival is named Scott. I met him through email when I posted here about the film Rubber and asked why Magnolia Pictures was advertising an opening for the film in Santa Cruz while the Del Mar's website said no such thing. After some prodding, he broke the "secret" and told me that Rubber would be at this year's festival. Damn, I always ruin surprises for myself. I did get to meet Scott at the show and we chatted a bit. Nice fellow.

• Super - What a great film to start the fest. It was funny and super brutal. I felt like it was a Kick Ass for the 30-somethings. Less flash and style but much more heart (sorry that sounds so lame to say but it's true) and grounding. I don't watch The Office but the main actor was just awesome. Ellen Page lit up the screen in every scene she was in. Her character was just so damn excited abut everything, a very fresh "uncool" character. Lloyd Kaufman was in it briefly. William Katt from The Greatest American Hero was also briefly in it.
• The Legend of Beaver Dam - A twelve minute short. A seventies slasher, campfire song, comdey, musical. Super funny. Try to find this film.
• Hesher - I had never heard of this film. Confusing and scattered but very good. The dude from Super is the dad. The guy from Inception who had the zero g fight also the kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun, you know the guy, played the title character. Hesher drops into this kids life and fucks it up but acts as a sort of an eye opener, enjoy what you have kind of guy. The more I'm thinking about the film, the more I'm liking it. The guy who plays the undertaker has one of my favorite minor roles of all time in Wild at Heart, cool to see him. Natalie Portman is in it as a middle class, work-a-day chick. This bugged the hell out of me. She is now Hollywood royalty and has been an actor since she was a little kid. To think she related to her character at all is a HUGE stretch. Just really bugged me seeing a princess act like one of us commoners for a paycheck.
• I Saw the Devil - A goretacular revenge flick from Korea. Serial killer murders a chick. Her boyfriend gets revenge in an unusually long and drawn out, cat and mouse fashion. An alternate, less disturbing film, played in an upstairs theater, for those that could not handle the "intesity." It started twenty minutes into this one. After ten minutes, some people were literally running for the door.
  The cast of characters is super strange in this film. The world primarily consists of police, women, and serial killers.
  The pallette is beautiful and a touch over saturated which made the whole film sort of jump out at you.
  The film upstairs was Win Win.
• Rubber - So, a film about a psychic tire waging war on mankind is a great idea. Who can argue with that? But adding a layer of jackasses on a hill watching the film as it happens, knowing it's a film, but being in our film just threw the whole thing off. It was needlessly surreal and the basic premise would have been enough. If the director would have forgotten flash and gone with subtlety, he could have made a film like Gerry, one of my favorites. Disappointed. The poster is so kick ass, though. 
• Stake Land - I tried to hate this film. Honestly, I tried. A second rate post-apocoloyptic vampire movie. A boy (everyone keeps calling him a boy, but he looked twenty-something to me) and a guy travel the land killing vampires and steering clear of cannibals and religious nutcases. My early notes say, "No one here to like." But by the end I actually did start caring. The film is super duper Hollywood with not a new thing in it, but it does it's job pretty well. I was liking it. UNTIL the fuckers straight out broke their own vampire rules and committed an unforgivable foul in my book. If you've seen every other post-apoc film, and are looking for something to watch, check it out.
• The Troll Hunter - From Norway. Everyone will compare this to The Blair Witch Project. A group of students are shooting some footage on bears and catch up with a government sanctioned troll hunter. Now, you will probably chuckle at the site of a troll at first, it's just funny, but they are so well done and so cool, you may fall in like with this film, as I did. The earnestness and professionalism of the troll hunter is perfect without being to much like all the other surly old experts in every Hollywood film. This guy is likeable, serious but friendly, and above all, interesting. The students are not annoying at all. There may be a little too much down time, but it was hard to tell as it was around 10am when we watched this. I loved it.

There was a raffle with some pretty cool DVD's, posters, t-shirts, and midnight movie tickets. I didn't win anything but managed to scrounge up a Rubber poster, a 13 Assassins poster, and the poster pictured above.

It was a great time. Scott and the good people of the Del Mar put on a fabulous show and I would guess that 75-80% of the movie goers were still there when we were let loose at 12:30 this afternoon.

I will definitely be there next year. But now I am amped after walking home. Think I'll watch some old Italian Hercules movies.







Man, this trailer for The Troll Hunter does not do it justice. You should really try to see it in the theater.
On the topic of small screens not cutting it, here's David Lynch: