LATAURO DOES MIFF #2: Psychopathic Killers, Lost Boys, and Mumbled To My Very Core!
The Event: The 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival
The Protagonist: Latauro (AICN-Downunder)
The Mission: To try to survive a punishing schedule of great films and potentially-great films, and hopefully give you an idea of the best ones to look out for.
Today's Lesson: I didn't mean to book seventy-five films. I did fewer than seventy last year, and this year I decided to tone it down a bit. The problem is that some of the best films I saw last year and the year before were ones I picked on a whim, or wandered into because I had a gap in the schedule. These yielded unexpected and glorious surprises, and it's hard to shake that memory when it comes time to book. Every film suddenly jumps out at you as a potential favourite, and you think: "What if I missed STILL WALKING? What if I'd had lunch instead of seeing SILENT WEDDING? What if I hadn't bothered with THE MAN WHO CAME WITH THE SNOW?" Suddenly, you're filling every spare minute you have, and you're seeing more films in two-and-a-half weeks than most people see in two-and-a-half years. You start to arrive at the same conclusion that everyone else did: you are insane. But then you see films like those mentioned above, and you remember why you did this. You shout "Je ne regrette rien!" to the sky, which does little to dissuade your friends from the notion that part of your brain has fallen out. God, I love film festivals.
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