Fantastic Fest 2009: Jette's Photographic Wrap-Up
I'm feeling lazy this week, and the idea of writing capsule reviews of every movie I saw at Fantastic Fest, plus descriptions of the events and parties, sounds overwhelming. Therefore, I've taken the slacker's way out, fittingly enough for Slackerwood, and am offering a photo representation of my Fantastic Fest experience. Later on, perhaps I'll have enough energy to tell you how much I liked Bronson and Private Eye, although I'm not sure how long it'll take for me to clarify my thoughts about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
What was I doing during Fantastic Fest, you may ask?
Pushing my way to the front of a crowd of Gentlemen Broncos:
Enjoying Woody Harrelson's reaction to a zombified red carpet, before a wonderfully lively screening of Zombieland:
Experiencing the cloud of estrogen that surrounded Alexander Skarsgard after the animated film Metropia (my review):
Anticipating a "secret screening" while hoping it wouldn't cause local fests to collide again. Happily, it turned out to be Terry Gilliam's latest, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus:
[photo credit: Eugene Hsu via Flickr]
Enjoying a multi-course truffle-infused dinner while Truffe, a movie about a future where global warming has made black truffles as common as carrots. The course pictured below -- pork belly and truffle risotto -- was divine; the chocolate-and-truffle truffle, however, taught me that I have a limit on how much truffle I can stand:
[photo credit: Rich Merritt via Flickr]
Feeling pleasantly surprised by my reaction to the latest film from the man pictured below with Tim League, Uwe Boll. His film Rampage (my review) was not at all bad:
[photo credit: Rich Merritt via Flickr]
Giggling repeatedly during A Town Called Panic (my review) with Austinist writer Steph Beasley. The sheep and their jammies really made us laugh. Austinist's Anna Hanks, Steph and I posed outside the Alamo on closing night and you can see we are still standing.
[Photo credit: Anna Hanks]
And I haven't mentioned how much I enjoyed meeting filmmakers and festgoers from all around the world; trying new things on the Alamo menu so I wouldn't get tired of anything (root-beer cookies, mmm); having a lovely lunch with several fun women from Texas Film Commission; and seeing animated shorts and "extreme" horror shorts as well as a number of excellent feature films.
I haven't even told you about Blake Ethridge's unforgettable intro to the movie Bronson -- no droning or ranting about the film we were about to watch. He launched into a song-and-dance based on "Jailhouse Rock," which put us in just the right mindframe for the movie. The world needs more musical intros to special screenings.
If you want some different points of view on the fest, check out the wrap-ups from Debbie Cerda and Jenn Brown.