MD Film Fest 2009 Picks: Eric Hatch

Thursday May 7 -  Sunday May 10
11TH ANNUAL MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL
The Charles Theater. 1711 N. Charles St.
"Station North" Baltimore.

Each year, the MobTown Shank is fortunate to get picks from the Maryland Film Fest programmers - a list of personal favorites - to help guide our way through all there is to see over the several days chock full o' cinematic goodness.

This year we'll present these picks in 2 installments.

Part 1 is a list of picks from Eric Allen Hatch.

Part 2 (which we'll run tomorrow) is a list of picks from Skizz Cyzyk.

I'm very proud of this year's line-up, and it's hard to single out a few picks. I think it's the most diverse line-up we've ever offered. By this I mean not only that we have far more foreign-made and foreign-shot films than ever before (Shortly  I'll have posted a run-down of all our foreign films here), but we have tons of underground and avant-garde fare, some great dark comedies, even a Hollywood film or two.

I really hope people will jump in and see a lot of films this year. Skizz and I have worked hard to program a weekend that, like much-larger festivals such as SXSW or Toronto, give you a wide variety of experiences of very high quality that are best appreciated if you jump in and immerse yourself. But when someone asks me for some friendly insider tips, here's about a dozen films that jump to mind (in alphabetical order):

ALEXANDER THE LAST
Some people have criticized director Joe Swanberg for focusing too much on the love lives of hipsters. Hey, write about what you know, right? And I don't mean that derisively; Swanberg keeps honing, refining, and expanding what he does, moving from his lo-fi beginnings more into the tradition of American dark comedy a la Alexander Payne, Todd Solondz, and Noah Baumbach (who produced this film).    

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO
An exquisitely shot, intuitive documentary about Japanese insect collectors, and the centuries of fascination Japan has had with insects.  

BLIND LOVES
This playful documentary from Slovakia about blind couples actually finds new things to say about the subject of love. It's also one of the most playful films in the fest -- in close collaboration with the director, this "hybrid" doc includes reenactments of key events in its subjects lives and even an animated action-adventure sequence starring one of our heroes. Totally unique. 

DAYTIME DRINKING
A young, hip comedy from South Korea about a hapless guy whose girlfriend dumps him. To cheer him up, his best friends arrange a getaway to a beachfront resort motel during its cold off-season -- but when he arrives, no one else is there and everything's closed. What else to do but drink -- and meet the crazy characters that populate this offbeat little town? 


INVISIBLE GIRLFRIEND
This documentary about an outsider who believes Joan of Arc (or "Joanie") is his "invisible girlfriend" -- and then bikes hundreds of miles to New Orleans to determine if his favorite bartender there might just be Joan of Arc in the flesh -- is a raw, emotional roller-coaster ride that really stuck with me. 

IT WAS GREAT, BUT I WAS READY TO COME HOME
A novella-length character study directed by and starring Kris Swanberg, concerning two female best friends who travel together through Costa Rica and the subtle ups-and-downs they experience together. This quiet drama hones in on very specific emotions and thoughts with startling precision. If you like films like Old Joy, Hamilton, and Wendy and Lucy, check this one out! 

LIGHTNING SALAD MOVING PICTURE
A film inspired by Dan Deacon's music (really). This film is a real love-hate proposition, but I loved it. The plot? Two young men live and play together in an attic, receiving daily video messages from "Zemeckis"; this morning, they're charged with making the movie Back to the Future 4 --with the warning that if they fail, "Zemeckis" is going to give the project to "Hanks." They then proceed to do just about everything imaginable except make Back to the Future 4.  If you're into the warped and deep-fried view of the 1980s as seen by people too young to remember that decade, run don't walk to this one!   


MAKE-OUT WITH VIOLENCE
What might've emerged if The Virgin Suicides had been made in collaboration with George Romero after a "Twin Peaks" marathon. To be fair, the zombie element of this film probably won't satisfy horror fanatics -- this isn't Shawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later. Instead, it's a real genre-bender that's hard to describe. Maybe it's best said as follows: If a twenty-something indie-rock couple asked me to recommend a date movie, I'd point them here. 

MUNYURANGABO
If you like intense, poetic foreign films, allow me to steer you to this Rwandan film about two young friends whose lives are scarred by the older generation's actions during the genocide. And if you're still reading this paragraph, you'll also want to check out Eat, For This Is My Body, an experimental, surreal narrative from Haiti with shades of Luis Bunuel and Claire Denis.


NINA SIMONE: LA LEGENDE (guest-hosted by IAN MACKAYE)
I approached Ian about choosing a film to present, and after bouncing around an intriguing array of titles, he arrived at this early-90s French documentary about Nina Simone. The portions of the film I've seen (including exciting 60s interviews and performance footage from Simone) are extraordinary, and MacKaye's passion for her as a performer and personality is at the highest level.  

NOLLYWOOD BABYLON
A doc about Nigeria's gotta-see-it-to-believe-it, straight-to-VCD movie world, now the world's 3rd-largest film industry despite no theaters showing these films. Fela and other Afrobeat type soundz on the soundtrack.


NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD
Not to be confused with the above, doc about Australia's 70s exploitation cinema, which produced the Mad Max films, but also hundreds of other extremely fucked-up action/horror/sex-comedy films. A cinematographer friend told me this was one of the most inspiring films he'd seen about filmmaking, seeing the way these B-movie-makers risked life and limb in pursuit of cult-film greatness.

Although I haven't seen everything Skizz has programmed, I second plenty of the films he mentions. Some that stand out are Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, Rocaterrania, Strongman, and the shorts I've seen in the programs "Return to the Planet of WTF Shorts" and "This Is Your Brain on Shorts".

Don't forget -- we've also got a 3-D film (Inferno), the silent Man With a Movie Camera with Alloy Orchestra playing their score live, the new films by Shane Meadows and French New Wave legend Agnes Varda,  two Bobcat Goldthwait events, and John Waters presenting the bi-sexual French musical Love Songs. Dig in and enjoy!

--  Eric Hatch, MFF

Comments

[Greg]

I am really curious for the discussion after the Nina Simone pic.

[Chris D.]

Thanks Eric! It seems like the Swanberg stuff gets better every year. It will be interesting to see this iteration.