After missing out on a live event last year, CIFF decided to take it’s festival to the virtual world by calling it CIFF Streams this year! Hey, no skin off my back. I still get to participate, and I get to do it all from the comfort of my home! Not as many titles jumped out at me as Sundance did this year, but I still made some solid and pretty exciting choices. Let’s get reviewing!
Edge of Seventeen – In the past I had only heard of this film in passing, but when I learned that writer/director Todd Stephens was going to premiere another film at this festival, I figured now was a great time to give it a go! Not only that, but I learned that this film that came out 23 years ago was actually the first in his “Ohio trilogy.” The film follows a music obsessed Eric as his lives out the summer and his last year of high school trying to figure out who he is in Sandusky, Ohio. Back then being gay was still very taboo, but I’ve got to give Eric some credit for having understanding friends and a mentor in fellow employee, and Fruit and Nut Bar regular, Angie. Despite having people in his corner, there were still hard moments that accurately portrayed moments from that time. Sometimes Eric gave me anxiety, but he ultimately decided to live his truth, and you can’t fault him for that!
Gypsy 83 – Next up in the Ohio trilogy is a film that follows Gypsy Vale as she tries to live out her dreams, inspired by her deceased mother and Stevie Nicks. Gypsy and her best friend, Clive find out about a night in New York dedicated to Nicks, so they decided to make the trek. Along the way they get side-tracked bya hitchhiker, a fraternity, and get bullied before they show up late to the event. Gypsy is still allowed to perform and she chooses a song dedicated to her mother. Afterwards, Gypsy decides she’s going to stay in New York to pursue her dreams. This wasn’t my favorite, but I was beyond shook when I learned that Gypsy was played by actress Sarah Rue – she looked almost unrecognizable!
Swan Song – The final film in the Ohio trilogy was this story about a real life hairdresser named Pat Pitsenberger, although the events in the film are fabricated. Pat is first seen living a curmudgeonly existence in a nursing home until one day he is asked to be the hair dresser for a recently deceased past client. At first he refuses but then makes a break for it and starts a long walk to the funeral home. Although he’s on foot for most of the way, it has a road trip type feel to it because of all the characters he meets along the way. Pat is hard up for cash with a list of items he needs, but plenty of friendly old and new faces find it hard to resist helping him out. At the heart of the film though is the grief Pat is still experiencing over his lover, David, who died some 25 years prior from AIDS. Aside from Udo Kier just crushing it as Pat, Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Urie makes some delightful cameos. Speaking of delightful cameos, for those who have watched the whole trilogy, expect another appearance of the Fruit and Nut Bar (is there anything better named?)!
Games People Play – I kept thinking this Finnish film reminded me of something else, but maybe it was just because it’s characters all seemed so natural and familiar. A group of old friends gather at a seaside villa to celebrate Mitzi’s 35th birthday, just like they did ten years prior. Even though everyone is older, they all tend to revert back to how they all were in the past, no doubt aided by the copious amounts of alcohol. Their bond is so distinct and unique to themselves that it’s hard for newcomers, Ulla and Mikael to ever fit in. Aside from partying hard, there are some uncomfortable trips down memory lane and you can tell those memories should probably just stay buried. Like I said, this film had a very familiar feel to it, and even though none of my friends are this chaotic, I still found comfort in watching their shit hit the fan a little bit.
Sound of Violence – Off the bat, this horror film had such a unique concept, but it is truly one of the strangest films I may have ever seen. At the age of ten Alexis gets her hearing back while watching her family get brutally murdered. During the incident, she experiences seeing the sound, which is euphoric for her. In her late twenties, as a music instructor and experimental musician, Alexis stops at nothing to recreate that feeling. This leads to some seriously gruesome sequences, but they are so unique it’s hard to look away. With the threat of losing her hearing again looming, Alexis goes to extreme lengths that even love cannot repress. Certainly this is not for everyone, but if you want some fun beats to accompany some brutal murders, then by all means add this to your watch list!
Mogul Mowgli – Riz Ahmed is on a hot streak right now, so I’d be a fool to miss out on his most recent and highly acclaimed outing. Sadly, this film missed the mark for me, but it was certainly unlike anything I’ve seen before. Ahmed plays Zed, an aspiring rapper who on a visit home learns he’s got a rare autoimmune disease impacting his muscles. Throughout the film, Zed flashes between the conscious and unconscious, all the while resenting and trying to identify with his Pakistani roots. For me, the hallucinations were so hard to follow. It was also a bit painful to watch how awful he was to his parents at times. As I said, not for me.