Pre-teens, rubix cubes and 30 years were shared themes at the end of my second day at the Woodstock Film Festival. Two of the three films I saw to finish out my day starred characters either aged 12-13, featured rubix cubes and were set about 30 years ago.
But before I get to those, let’s talk about the one pretty much everyone is going to be talking about: “Gospel Hill.”
Here’s a video of the introduction:
Everybody is going to be talking about “Gospel Hill” for several reasons. One, it’s one of the festival’s hottest tickets – I had to sit in the corner front row. Two, it has an all star cast including, but not limited, to Danny Glover, Angela Bassett and Julia Stiles. Three, it’s the directorial debut of local actor Giancarlo Esposito. Four, this was the world premiere. And five, it’s pretty damn great.
The basic story is, forty years after the murder of a civil rights activist in South Carolina (played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson) the town is hoping to host a memorial for him. At the same time, racial and economic tensions are still flaring up because a corporation wants to displace the community to build a golf course.
Esposito’s years of acting with some of the best directors in the business truly pays off as he almost seamlessly blends together a huge cast of characters - never once making us feel like we’ve left one for too long before coming back. And all the stories come together quite nicely thanks also in part to the perfectly understated performances from top to bottom.
“Gospel Hill” is a pretty remarkable directorial debut. And while I would have loved to see some of the messaged played out with a tad more subtlety, the overall power of the film worked out none the less. The film should enjoy a limited theatrical run early next year.
But would you believe it? “Gospel Hill” was the third best film I saw this afternoon. The two that topped it (barely, mind you) were “32A” and “Let the Right One In,” two vastly different takes at life as a preteen.
“32A” was written and directed by Marian Quinn, sister of local resident Aidan Quinn who plays a small part in the movie. It’s a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up as a 13 year old girl in 1979 Ireland told simply and perfectly. There’s no bells and whistles here – just a little story told with extreme expertise and truly great performances from four first time actresses.
Maeve (Ailish McCarthy) and her best friends including Ruth (Sophie Jo Wasson) are at the age where they need their first bras, hence the title of the film. At that age, boys are just becoming part of the picture and friendships are increasingly important as each person learns more and more about themselves everyday. The friends go through a rough patch when Maeve falls for the local, older hunk and Ruth is reunited with her deadbeat father. But ultimately, the film always stays light and fluffy. The happy tone is a very welcome change from most films out there and though there are several allusions to darker things, Quinn keeps her movie positive.
Here’s Quinn (left) with festival guru Martha Frankel (and some dude’s huge head):
Amazingly, this film has no distribution deal whatsoever and that’s a shame. It’s a truly great movie that, despite some deep Irish accents, kicks the pants off any other sisterhood movie out there. Highly recommended if you can find it.
Finally, my day ended with a 10 p.m. screening of the highly buzzed about genre film “Let the Right One In.” The programmer who introduced the movie voiced his praise at the 65% full crowd saying that usually genre movies at Woodstock do not play well. “Let the Right One In” isn’t the typical genre movie, though. Imagine “The Lost Boys” but with the cast of “The Sandlot,” set during a Swedish winter.
The main character is a young boy named Oskar who is obsessed with murder and has no friends. That is, until, a new girl moves in next door. This girl just happens to be a vampire. The two develop a unique friendship as the director Tomas Alfredson simultaneously explores childhood innocence and vampire folklore. It makes for a fascinating juxtaposition.
Though the film moves very slowly, the pacing helps make the action, effects and violence that much more jarring. And, without giving it away, the money shot of this film is probably my favorite shot in any movie so far this year.
Coming into the film, I had very high hopes for “Let the Right One In” and those hopes were met. I would have liked them to have been exceeded, but maybe on a second viewing that doesn’t occur after over 12 hours of work, that’ll happen.
“Let the Right One In” is scheduled for limited theatrical release Oct. 24 and a DVD release in March. Plans are already underway for an American remake directed by Matt Reeves (”Cloverfield”).
And that my friends – was day two. Check back in tomorrow (or, more likely, later today as I’m posting this at 2 a.m.) for more action live from the Woodstock Film Festival.