It was a fabulous Friday at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. The fest runs through Saturday with more great films ahead and the mountains are beautiful, too. Drive on up!
A Still Small Voice
An absolutely riveting, superb documentary following the residency of Mati, a hospital chaplain; her supervisor; and the courage and sorrows of the patients at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Such a strong and deeply moving film, it’s rare to see such a beautiful evocation of faith, loss, life, death, and personal struggle presented on screen.
Along with ministering baptisms, emotionally supporting suicidal relatives, and those dying of illnesses and age, Mati must deal with her own personal grief experience and a disconnect with her supervisor.
Glowingly photographed, incredibly intimate, and thoroughly absorbing, it’s a soaring, passionate, and at times devastating work.
Luke Lorentzen is a brilliant filmmaker who has made a compelling film touching on profound topics, and this is a must-see film.
The film was accompanied by a dreamy, gracious doc short about life in a small Southern grocery store, From Fish to Moon directed by Kevin Contento.
Shorts Block 2
A mixed bag of experimental and more narrative delights. Highlights:
Chiaroscuro – Clair Obscura
Director Elias Djemil-Matassov works mainly with dance subjects, but was approached to work with a contemporary puppet theater for this beautifully shot film. Creating the all music film involved puppeteers and a professional dancer to create the movements for this elliptical piece about the memories contained in each part of the body – including the life in the hands of the puppeteers.
The Actress
Filmmaker Steve Collins created an amusing story about a manic actress, her put-upon brother and his chef girlfriend. The sister’s surprise visit triggers an upheaval in the sparkly three-person cast, who clearly shared in the fun of their production.
Filling Holes
A Flatbush slice of life between two roommates, an a/c, and a boyfriend. Triangle? Dynamics of moving in and friendship and surviving romantic loss? All of these plus best friends supporting each other, finding family, a go-pro camera depiction of moving chaos, and parental relationships in the mix.
Juice (Saft)
Viscerally animated slug-like creatures ooze green goo and absorb red bugs. Visually stunning look at acceptance.
Other shorts screened included a statement of faith and race relations, Blind Color, and a wildly visual Fellini-esque film about two women and their relationship to a violent male photographer, I Love Pictures, awash in reds, blacks, and noir
I Said Daddy I Said
Filmed at Bombay Beach by the Salton Sea, (but passing for Texas) there’s a mysterious object in the water that might just cause time travel. Living near it, there’s LaLa, who wants to leave her abusive drug-dealer lover, the massive hammer-wielding Daddy, but is hampered by the fact that someone’s watching her every move.
A tense, fresh score and smart direction – both by Sebastian Karantonis, create the terrific vibe of this gritty thriller, where the frightening elements of being trapped in a terrifying relationship meets sci fi, and psychological horror.
Nut Jobs
Artfully shot in black and white, this French- Canadian film is both a noir comedy and a reconciliation love story. In it, a motley crew of “nice terrorists” try to take down a right-wing radio station using mind control to destroy the world. The reconciliation is the framework for relating the twisted tale of the attempted radio station takedown, which sounds like a crazy fantasy, but is definitely not. There’s a gorgeous cat named Harriet and a hypnotizing record involved in Alexandre Leblanc’s film, too.
The feature was paired with a comedy short, Carol & Janet.
Set at a jewelry warehouse, work friends Carol and Janet receive a truly surprising delivery from the UPS man who can’t tell them apart. The result is a bright nine minutes of friendship and laughs from Andrea Rosen.
Short film Mahogany Drive is an absolutely hilarious comedy about three Black men on a comedy tour who awaken in an Air B &B and discover an apparently dead white woman. As bodies pile up and one of the trio assumes the house must be cursed, the perfection of the comedy tension builds to a terrific surprise ending.
Originally a part of a network pitch for a comedic Twilight Zone, the three stars including director and co-writer Jerah Milligan also have a podcast live in LA titled Black Men Can’t Jump. Los Angeles – do go see them at UCB Franklin June 4th, or the first Sunday of any month this year – they’re brilliantly funny.
Love Dump
Parodying Hallmark movies, this is a quirky and absurd romp about Jessica Dump, a junk shop owner, and Todd Barkley, a canine lawyer, who fall in love. The Chicago-set romantic comedy also include a dump owner who is Jessica’s long-lost dad. Along with bursts of dancing, dogs – that per the star and co-writer Jesse Kendall were a bit of a challenge for him and director Jason Avezzano – love gets played with crazy absurdist glee.
A great day at the cinema and more to come tomorrow!
– Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke and provided by the filmmakers and festival