A Serious Misconception

            I heard on an episode of Sex and The City once that “hiking is really just walking.” Said by one of Carrie’s many boyfriends, I should have known not to trust it. This particular relationship didn’t last and if I remember correctly, it’s because he was in an insane asylum.

            Still, it seemed a logical enough concept to me. So, when my friends decided they wanted to go to Chique Terre, Italy for our travel weekend, I was down. “It will be beautiful,” they say. They list off activities like cliff diving and beaches and I’m even more excited. They add, “yeah, and you can hike between the cities if you want.” Hiking? Wait, what? Oh, I don’t have attire for that… or the physical ability. My roommate says, “Girl, I’m out of shape too. And I’m just going to wear my Chaco’s for shoes.” I look down at her feet. They look kind of like basic sandals. With this encouragement and the revelation I recall from sex and the city, I’m convinced this is something I can do. And with that, I pack a bag with some shorts, tank tops and a pair of my 2 for $20 Urban Outfitters sneakers and head to the train station.

            At this point you’re probably thinking I’m an idiot. Eh, that could be true. But, if you’d be so kind, I’d like to chalk it up to a serious misconception on my part, as opposed to blaming it on my stupidity.

            Some hours later, Austin, Ali, Hannah, Alex, Nick and I arrive in Vernazza, one of the five cities in Chique Terre. To say it’s beautiful is an understatement. They’ve somehow built these colorful towns on top of mountains. There are wine vineyards as far as you can see and the people in the town are the friendliest I’ve encountered on this entire trip.

            What to do first becomes the question. Well let’s just walk over to the city of Monterosso. This is when I realize I had no idea what I was in for. 

            We get to the entrance of the trail. All I see are stairs. I start to climb (instead of cry which is what I want to do). There are six of us and I immediately fall to the fifth spot. It could be because I really felt like I wasn’t going to make it or because I’ve been reading The Hunger Games this entire trip, but I knew whoever was behind me was going to be my support.

            Still climbing… I look back.

            Austin. Austin will be my ally. Although he’s not nearly as tired as me, he’s stopping to take in the scenery and I’ll take whatever reason I can get. He says, ”I just don’t understand the point of hiking unless you’re stopping to take in the view.”

            At this point, I’m seeing spots and I’m bent over with my hands on my knees, so I can’t see anything, but this is no time to disagree with him. The distance between the other four and us is increasing.

            “Yeah, I agree…” Gasp for air… “It’s… like…. the whole reason we’re hiking… is to see the view.” Gasp for air.

            Still climbing… but the path is leveling off. But, this trail is supposed to be two hours and we’re only 45 minutes in.

            By some miracle, Austin and I make it to the point where the trail is mostly downhill. Hannah is with us at this point too. She claims Alex is literally running down the mountain. I absolutely believe her. This part is obviously easier on my leg muscles but my no-traction shoes are coming up a little short on the descent. Still, I’m thankful that it’s down hill because if I can manage not to slip and fall to my death, this hike is almost over… We’ve been hiking about an hour and 15 minutes.

            After climbing down what had to be 700 stairs at least, we make it to the other city.

            I can’t deny the feeling of accomplishment; it’s indescribable. We go to eat dinner and then I proceed to figure out how we can take the train back… This is when I realize I’m, once again, not on the same page with everyone else. Some of them want to hike back.

            True to form, Austin is on my side. “I think it might get dark guys, and that’ll be really dangerous.”

            I’m concerned less about the danger than my physical competence. But I agree with Austin’s reasoning.  “Yeah… that doesn’t seem safe.”

            I can see everyone considering it… then Nick says, “I mean, we came here to hike guys. If we do it at the same pace we came, we’ll finish before it gets really dark anyways.”

            I’m back in Hunger Games mode. Nick is my worst enemy. I’ll probably have to kill him.

            Well, who can argue with Nick’s logic? Everyone proceeds to agree we should just walk it back.

            I’ll definitely have to kill him.

            I’m silently saying a prayer as I approach the beginning of the trail. The lovely descent I faced on the way has turned into my enemy. Some billion stairs in, I realize Hannah is slowing down too. Good. She can join our alliance.

            I’m through with all of my pretenses that I can do this. My leg muscles are literally contracting and I know I’m in trouble. I can push through exhaustion and pain but I know I won’t be able to make it if my legs start cramping up on me.

            My attention then shifts to me now hoping that every step I take will not trigger a muscle contraction. Distracted by this, and a never-ending story about Austin’s childhood, I manage to make it back to our hotel room.

            With the fortune of hindsight, I’m so thankful that’s what my travel weekend turned into. While it’s true that I still can’t even think of taking a step without my calves screaming in resistance, I did something completely out of my comfort zone and I got to experience it with really amazing people; because despite what I said, they were all looking out for me and it’s nice to know you can trust people you’ve known for only less than a month.

            But you'll definitely catch me on the train tomorrow. 

"There's no TV and no Internet..." "Are there forks? I might need to stab myself in the face..." (Film Review - Your Sister's Sister)

            “I can’t believe you slept with my sister! You only met her last night! …And she’s a lesbian!”

            This exclamation, shouted by Iris (Emily Blunt) during the climax of the movie, doesn’t do justice the peculiarity of the ridiculous love triangle at the center of this film.

            Written and directed by Lynn Shelton, Your Sister’s Sister is a complex, modern twist on an old story. It’s an intriguing spin but is poorly executed and had me rolling my eyes at this comedy more than laughing.            

            Iris is secretly in love with her best friend Jack (Mark Duplass). Not so strange. We’ve all been there, am I right? However, instead of following this revelation with typical conflicts (he has a girlfriend, he doesn’t feel the same way, he’s dying), Shelton decides to take you some place different.

            I appreciate this. I’m all for innovation. But where we end up is just not where I wanted to be.

            The movie opens at a wake. Jack’s brother has just died and he is, understandably, not handling it well. Iris suggests he go to her family’s cabin for a while to get away as she thinks isolation will help him with his grieving process. After some less than believable reluctance, he agrees to go.

            When he arrives, to his surprise, he finds that the cabin is not vacant as Iris’ sister Hannah is staying there to get over a recent breakup with her long-term girlfriend.

            Against all odds, Jack and Hannah get drunk and have sex that night. I don’t really foresee a problem. Meaningless sex between a man and a lesbian seems like something they should just be able to forget.

            However, in the next scene, we learn Iris has managed to get off work and is on the way to visit. So much for that whole, “you need to grieve by yourself, Jack” idea.

            She arrives and is surprised and ignorantly ecstatic that her sister and best friend finally get the chance to meet. Meanwhile, Jack is freaking out, begging Hannah not to tell Iris about their night.

            At this point, it seems the writer is making a dramatic movie about nothing. I can’t imagine Iris would care that much about her lesbian sister sleeping with her best friend.

            This is before I knew what Shelton had in store for me.

            True to Murphy’s Law, we discover Iris is in love with Jack… but that’s not all. Within 10 minutes we also find out that Hannah so wants a child, she sabotaged the condom they used that night in the hopes that she would get pregnant.

            Now, I cannot say we’ve all been there.

            At this moment the plot just seems ridiculous. Character development is lacking so it’s hard for me to believe real people have these problems.

            We learn a little about Iris’ and Hannah’s childhood, but Shelton really only spends enough time on it to explain away the fact that Iris, played by Blunt, has a British accent while her sister doesn’t.  Thanks for that. I was wondering…

            Now resolution is difficult. Hannah is obviously crazy and in the wrong for tricking a man into impregnating her. Iris should probably just go off with Jack and live happily ever after. But wait, Hannah is family so we can’t really have Iris choose sides like that. Perhaps she should just let Jack go as her friend because now it’s just so strange. But she’s in love with him. Right.

            Not to worry, Shelton has a plan that combines the two.

            Iris confesses her love to Jack and he reciprocates. Hannah says something to the effect of, “sorry I did that whole crazy impregnation thing. I’m just really sad about my breakup and I really want a kid. Also, I did not know you were in love with him so you can’t really blame me for wanting his sperm.”

            Iris and Jack accept this apology. They apparently decide to wait to see if Hannah is indeed pregnant and if so, they’ll all just take care of it together!

            They then embrace in an awkward three-person hug in which Iris and Jack are kissing while they all lay hands on Hannah’s stomach. It’s weird to say the least.

            This extreme plot line along with only mediocre acting had me ready for the film to end.  Apparently the director and I were on the same page because what followed was an ending so abrupt it belongs in the category of films like Drag Me to Hell and The Devil Inside.  

            We still don’t know if Hannah is actually pregnant so in the last scene she is taking a home pregnancy test and just as we are about to see the result, the film cuts off.

            Don’t get me wrong, ambiguous endings can be appreciated. Cliffhangers in movies like Inception serve a purpose. Christopher Nolan cuts to credits before the top does or does not fall to show its irrelevance. Cobb is happy to be home with his children and is no longer concerned with whether it’s real or not.

            Shelton’s cut, however, just seems like a copout because she was either too lazy or too scared to make a decision.

            While Blunt’s charm is probably the best things about the film, it’s unfortunately not enough to carry the entire movie on it’s own.

  

Every time I come back here, I just want to leave again...

            La Playa DC is a dramatic film that captures the struggle of an afro-Colombian teenager as he moves out of his mother’s house into the city of Bogotá.

            Tomas (Luis Carlos Guevera) needs a way to make enough money so he and his brother may leave Bogotá. However, he realizes getting out may be harder than he thought as he discovers the city is full of exclusive gangs and racist citizens.

            The natural cast and brilliant acting make up for a slightly lacking screenplay and allow you to believe their story and be sympathetic to their harsh reality.  

I feel like I've been in a tornado for the past two weeks...

And now it's spit me about and I'm realizing this trip is almost over... 


So I meant to blog more regularly during the festival but it was so time consuming I didn't have the chance. Yes, WAS because the festival is sadly over. Sunday was the last day. And although I've never been more tired in my life, I'm heartbroken. I'm fairly certain I will never  have the opportunity to do what I just did ever again. Even if I come back, which I fully intend on, I'm certain I won't have 12 free days to solely watch movies. I just don't think that's real life...


Anyway, let me try to recap these last few days.


I got to see The Paperboy with Zac Efron. I thought it was amazing. It definitely belongs on the list of movies that I've genuinely enjoyed here. A lot of my fellow programmers do not agree... I judged them and moved right along. Just kidding... sort of.


It was directed by Lee Daniels (director of Precious) who I got to meet which was cool. I agree that I wasn't crazy about some of the techniques he used but the story was very intriguing and the acting was good. I don't need much more in a film.


This premiere was especially significant to me because what I thought were a series of unfortunate events resulted in me sitting but a nice lady who's trying to make a shift from lawyer to movie producer. We talked about life and goals and she mentioned she had a friend who writes reviews for an online publication. We traded contact information and she said she'd be happy to put me in touch with him... Who knows what will come of it but I was so happy I met her.


Other than that, the last few days of the festival kind of run together... so many movies.


But, our professors set up some more talks for us the last few days which I got more out of than I expected.


We had the opportunity to meet with Philip Kaufman, Jeff Nichols and Michael Phillips. The former two are directors. Philip Kaufman had a movie at the festival titled Hemingway and Gellhorn. I saw it before I went to Cannes. It was pretty interesting but a little long for my attention span.


Jeff Nichols is the hero I never knew I had. I want to be him when I grow up. I wish I could have videotaped his talk with us. This kid is 32 years old and has written and directed three films, all of which were well-received at various prestigious film festivals. His third film, Mud, premiered at Cannes the second to last day of the festival. I absolutely loved it. I'm not going to lie, I might be bias because I got to meet him and he is the prime example of good guys can finish on top. Still, I think anyone could agree the movie was very well done.

Jeff Nichols... in the collared shirt.

Star from a columbian film I saw. He was so cute. Oh and the movie was good.

The roomie and me!

George Lucas

R. Patts and the cast of Cosmopolis. The movie was so bad. Oi vey...

We also got to meet Michael Phillips. He is the movie critic for the Chicago Tribune. If you know anything about my ambitions, you know I was freaking out. I was frantically writing down everything he said about writing good reviews. I learned a lot and he was a very nice guy as well.


My teacher said it best when he said it takes a different type of person to be willing to speak with students when there's so many other things they can be doing. I was so thankful these people agreed to speak with us about their lives, journeys and accomplishments.


The last day of the festival was the worst weather we've had here... and the weather has not been that good. That meant no closing ceremony because I found it hard to beg for tickets in a dress and heels when it was pouring rain, thundering and lightening. Amour won the big prize, though. I saw it and see how it won although it wasn't my favorite.


Things have slowed down since the festival has been over. I go to class at 9am everyday and we get out around 1:30 with a half-hour break in the middle.


I was originally inspired to apply for this study abroad because of the critical writing class I knew I was going to take. I knew I wanted to be a film critic. I wasn't even sure what the other class was, nor was I concerned.


However, the more I sit in the other class, the more I enjoy it. I find I'm increasingly excited to attend that class more than the critical writing. The class is about the business side of film. It focuses on the publicity and advertising aspects. I never thought I would be interested in this as much as I am... I continue to learn things about myself here and I love it.


Only about seven days left now. I know it'll be bittersweet when the time comes to leave. I'll never have an opportunity like this again but I really miss my family. I missed Kyle's birthday and Kris' graduation so I'll be happy to see them whenever I return and we can celebrate in the flesh. Miss my padres too! And all of my friend girls... Oi.


Still, I'm going to try to get everything out of this last week. Here goes...


As always, I'll try to keep y'all posted.


More reviews to come...


From Cannes, with love


KD

"I heard you can never count on a woman loving you..."

            Mud is not an epic. It’s not a film about a major war, star-crossed lovers or the end of the world as we know it. It doesn’t have a star-studded cast, nor is it directed by someone of Steven Spielberg’s status. It’s one of the simplest movies I have ever seen, yet one of the best.

            Jeff Nichols wrote and directed Mud, a story about the birth of an unlikely camaraderie between two young boys and a fugitive on the run.

            Nichols is a young director whose résumé consists of only three films (Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter and Mud). The first two were well received at film festivals and by viewers. If my opinion is any type of consensus among audiences, Nichols will be three for three with his latest film, Mud. 

            Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) play two best friends. The film starts with them on a boat in the river. They reach land and are looking for something. Their relationship is effortless and you can tell they’ve been friends for a long time. They come across a boat in a tree and you know this is what they have been looking for, a place to call their own where they can escape. The elation is short lived when Ellis sees evidence that someone is already living in the boat. The head back to their boat but see footsteps along the way. When they get to their boat, they see an unkempt man. He tells them the boat in the tree is his boat but he’ll be out of their way soon enough and if they could bring him food in the mean time, he’d much appreciate it.

            Neckbone is unconvinced but Ellis sees something in the man that he cannot abandon. He takes food back to him later that night. The man is thankful and introduces himself as Mud. The bonding begins.

            The casting director deserves some type award for finding the Sheridan and Lofland to play the roles of the best friends. Although the name of the film is Mud, they play a slightly larger role. I respect Nichols for not relying on the celebrity of McConaughey or Witherspoon. He really allows the children a chance to shine in the film and they rise to the occasion to beautifully. Their performances are well beyond what I would expect from child actors.

            Ellis goes into town with his mother when there is a roadblock. They stop and the patrol asks them if they’ve seen this man and shows them a picture of Mud. The boy denies seeing him and when he gets home he retrieves Neckbone and they proceed to warn Mud people are looking for him.

            Mud is not surprised to hear this. He says a lot of people are looking for him but still appreciates their concern. He regrets to tell them he needs the boat to get out. He’s really only there to find his girl, his love Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). They, of course, ask him why people are looking for him. He declines to tell them at first but then admits Juniper got in with a bad guy a while ago and he continuously beat up on her. The last time Mud got fed up and killed the man.

            This is when I realized what an amazing screenplay the film comes from. Throughout the film, there has been a theme of love and what it means to love someone. Ellis is young. He is experiencing his first taste of love through a crush on an older girl. His parents have also just informed him they’re getting a divorce.

            When we hear Mud say he’s doing all of this for a girl, we already know Ellis is going to be moved to assist. Mud mentions he could use some help gathering supplies needed to get the boat running.

            A couple well-used montages later, the boys have gathered most of the things Mud asked for.

            Filmed in Arkansas, Nichols takes advantage of the beautiful scenery which makes for an aesthetically pleasing film. You can tell Nichols is a native of the state, as his directing techniques show he knows how to truly capture its splendor.

            This is how it should be. I love being able to see something about a director/writer in their work and Nichols’ work is very telling.

            At a plot twist, Ellis realizes Mud has been lying about something crucial and we question Mud’s motives and being. However, he immediately proves himself when Ellis is in a precarious situation and Mud risks everything he’s been working toward the entire movie to save him.

            Ellis survives this accident and Mud makes it out of the city with an old friend, alive and undercover in the boat. The boys are alive and well and are although they will probably never meet Mud again, they are all better for knowing each other.

            This is the simplicity I enjoy. This film is just a small part of the characters’ lives. Mud obviously had a long history before and has an adventurous future; the boys have their whole lives ahead of them. We get to watch this one moment in each of their lives when these characters paths cross and we get to see a beautiful story.

            I’ve never understood people that have problems with happy endings, anyway.

Everest Entertainment and FilmNation Entertainment presents a film written and directed by Jeff Nichols, produced by Sarah Greene. Running time: 135 minutes. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Laflane.

"I didn't know how to wait on you..."

Directed by David Lambert, Beyond the Walls shows the importance of timing in the context of love, and the devastating consequences that can occur if you miss your chance.

            Paulo (Matila Malliarakis) and Ilir (Guillaume Gouix) are two lovers seemingly on their way to happily ever after when an incident veers them off course. Paulo and Ilir appear to have found each other at the perfect time in each of their lives but when Ilir leaves for a short trip, he’s arrested for drug possession. What should have been a brief vacation becomes a yearlong waiting game for the both of them. Paulo struggles as he finds that maturing might mean leaving Ilir in his past.

            As director and writer, Lambert’s debut film is a success. Although the film is about homosexual lovers, Lambert doesn’t focus on the social acceptance aspect found in a lot of films about gay couples. There is a touch of awkwardness between the characters that creates a realness rarely captured in on-screen love stories. An intriguing plot and cohesive score tie together with this authenticity to produce a film that will have you invested until the very end.

Frakas Productions, Boreal Films and Les Productions Balthazar present a film written and directed by David Lambert, produced by Jean-Yves Roubin and Daniel Morin. Running time: 96 minutes. Starring Matila Malliarakis, Guillaume Gouix, Melissa Desormeaux Poulin and David Salles.

"She's perfect, more than perfect. Somehow, she's more than human..."

“Antiviral” This intelligent, satirical film comments on celebrity culture and the growing obsessions people have with them. Syd March lives in a world where people so desire to be connected to superstars, they’ve taken to acquiring diseases identical to their favorite celebrity. Syd acquires the mysterious disease that killed superstar Hannah Geist and must now uncover the secrets so he may save his own life. A smart idea, but no introduction to this bizarre world in the film will leave you playing catch-up while the plot takes off without you. Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, starring Caleb Landry Jones.