Festival: Stockholm International Film Festival
I managed to watch three movies today at The Stockholm Film Festival. However I have a hard time justifying sitting through the first one - Electroma. Some kind of sci-fi roadmovie by Thomas Bangalter, one of the members of the French popgroup Daft Punk. The music score by the same group and others were quite alright but it wasn't enough of it. Even together with the sometimes great images it wasn't enough. Tideous and pointless in my opinion. Having said that I must point out that I can appreciate poetic and slow moving pictures but you have to give me a reason! I'm angry at myself for not walking out of it. But after having watched two men/robots in shiny helmets walking for an hour I guess I was too tired of walking...
The second film was an American independent production by Mia Goldman called Open Window. A pretty strong drama about a couple and their struggle after the woman gets raped by an intruder. It makes a point by not lingering on the deed but on the aftermath. Also, to a large extent, we get to follow the events from the man's viewpoint and lets us understand that the repercussions of a rape might be different but just as severe for the man. It's a pretty painful movie but still it breathes of hope. (Cybill Shepherd and Elliot Gould have supporting parts).
Third and last I downed the French picture Them (Ils) by David Moreau and Xavier Palud. In the countryside outside of Bucharest, Romania, French teacher Clementine and her man Lucas are restoring an old mansion. The couple without a care in the world are suddenly one night flung into a nightmare. There are sounds outside the house and then inside. Who are the intruders and what do they want? The festival catalogue draws some paralells to The Blair Witch Project, The Descent and "a little spice of Wes Craven". This is probably true. They continue to say that the makers of the film "...have created an intense, claustrophobic universe" which sounds about right. I'm no horror movie expert but I guess it's a decent shocker. Edit: Oh, I forgot - "Based on a true story"!
