Film Fests and more Film Fests, they're everywhere and Father Geek here loves it. We're gearing up for a major one here in Austin starting tomorrow and all of the Geek Headquarters crew is hot to trot and looking forward to filing many interesting reports for our readers around the world. Is there a fest in you neck of the woods? Its your chance to become a spy for AICN. Write up and file a report. If you don't we may never hear about your festival.
You asked for Film Festival reports? Well as a loyal pseudo-spy, your whim is my command!
The annual Vancouver International Film Festival sits in the shadow of the Toronto Fest. Whereas the latter fest features big stars, North American Premieres, and plenty of glitz and glamour, the former has a reputation for attracting smaller, quirkier, but always quality films. Personally I was praying to the film gods that I would finally have the chance to catch Apt Pupil, Very Bad Things, A Simple Plan, and (most of all) Six-String Samurai, but, alas it was not to be. Instead I am happy to report I will get to see four (hopefully) fine films, among them Harry's fave, Gods and Monsters. But first, I caught the British doc Kurt and Courteney on Monday night.
K&C, for those who don't know, is an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain, delving specifically into Courtney Love's role in the apparent. The film has been getting loads of free publicity as Love has been doing her darnedest to prevent anybody from seeing it, and she has prevented the movies creator Nick Broomfield from using any of Nirvana's music in the film, a fact which Broomfield doesn't let the audience forget. It is rather bizarre to watch photographs silently slide by on screen, and then have the narrator comment "I was going to play 'About A Girl' at this point, but have been prevented from doing so by Ms. Love's legal team."
Such comments are entirely in keeping with the surreal nature of the film. Broomfield parades an incredible real life cast of characters before the camera, allowing each of them to spout off on their opinion on who is responsible for Kurt's death. Among them are Courtney's father (says Courtney did it) and Kurt's aunt (says Kurt did it). But possibly the strangest character in all this is El Duce. El Duce is a heavy metal singer who wears an executioner's hood and plays in a band called the Mentors (their video for "Personal Sex Slave" is one of the highlights of the movie) and who claims to have been offered $50000 by Courtney to "whack" Kurt.
Throughout this all the true star is Broomfield himself. Practicing his peculiar brand of guerilla journalism, the filmmaker walks around L.A. and Seattle with his camera man trying to find any information to throw up on screen. The reactions he gets from his unwitting stars, including a worker at the lottery office at which Kurt used to shoot his pellet gun, are some of the finest, funniest moments of the film (my personal favourite is the exchange with a bellboy at an upscale: Bellboy:"Hey, what are you doing with that camera?" Nick:"Uh, I'm checking in."). All in all, Kurt & Courtney, despite its serious subject matter feels more like a mockumentary than an actual documentary. But damn if it ain't fun!
Hopefully coming soon: a report from a screening of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13.
Love, Agent Skully
