Fargo Film Festival

The two of us decided to head out to the Fargo Theatre on Friday to watch the evening movies playing as part of the 8th annual Fargo Film Festival. We screened a total of five films, which consisted of two feature length films and three short films. Four of the films were followed with a small Q&A session with directors and actors.

Being our first time taking in the festival, we were amazed at the small turnout on hand for the start of the session. Granted, the festival has grown in size over the past few years and now includes a second downtown theater location for films. The 2-minute film competition was going on at the other location during that time, so a large portion of the crowd may have been watching that instead.

As our luck would always have it, even with a half empty theatre, a trio of people who had the aroma of a whiskey factory decided to sit down right in front of us, which put a damper on the second feature film, but we still had a fun time at any rate.

Here is the list of films that we viewed as well as some of our thoughts on them.

Fear Leaps Out
- 2 minute film directed by Jeff Solylo
A hitchhiker (Brent Neale) gets picked up by a truck driver (Ed Sutton) who is hauling a strange cargo. Dark memories are stirred up within the hitchhiker during his eventful ride.

Jason’s Thoughts
The description of the movie sounds a lot better than it was portrayed on the screen. The film is only two minutes long so there isn’t a lot room to work with, but even so I was expecting to have a little more come out of it than what did. I did, however, enjoy the fact that there was no dialog to speak of during the two minutes.

Crystal’s Thoughts
I tried to keep an open mind, but really, how can a movie be a movie in two minutes? I guess when I think movie, I want to sit down to a bowl of popcorn and some Sour Patch Kids and just relax. I don’t want to be analyzing anything as I do enough of that with school. I know that was the key to this movie, letting it in and really thinking about the deep meaning. Sorry, it just didn’t happen for me. Not after a long day of work. I did love the area they chose to film (near Lockport, Canada I believe) as the scenery and background noises were very effective for the movie.

Catharsis
- A short film directed by Daniel Sanchez Chamorro
A man and a woman talk about their relationship in separate interviews. Two hearts and two ways of seeing life. They seem to face, but little by little it is discovered that they are not so much.

Jason’s Thoughts
I enjoyed this movie even though it was spoken in German and used subtitles. The two characters in the movie were elderly, but they had a tendency to speak as a younger version of their stereotypical opposites. It has some comedic parts at times, but you could tell that no matter how much they disagreed, they still needed to depend on each other.

Crystal’s Thoughts
OK, so maybe a movie can be short (though I still argue, two minutes, no good). I loved this and will admit that I was probably more drawn to it as the characters spoke in German, a language that I know pretty well. For those of you who don’t, don’t worry. It included subtitles, another fondness I have in movie watching. Within 10 minutes, the lives of the man and woman were completely revealed to us. Perhaps it fits a stereotypical love affair, but in the end, what mattered was love itself. No matter what trial and tribulations the couple had faced, there they were in their Golden Years, seated across from one another, one playing cards, the other counting pills. But still so in love with one another.

Hollywood Dreams
- A feature length film directed by Henry Jaglom
Hollywood Dreams follows the journey of a young woman from a small town in Iowa, Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick), who arrives in Los Angeles deeply scarred by certain events in her childhood and profoundly obsessed with a life-long dream of achieving fame and stardom. As Margie’s fate seems to have suddenly changed and her goal appears finally within reach, her romantic involvement with an exciting, complex up-and-coming young actor (Justin Kirk) challenges her ideas of success, fame and love.

Jason’s Thoughts
This movie had potential, but there were too many quirks in it to make it thoroughly enjoyable. For example, the acting from the lead character seemed to get on my nerves at times, especially during her unstable moments. This may have been intentional, if it was then it worked great.

Aside from the acting, there were other things that bothered me, such as the reoccurring jagged editing and bad audio dubbing in places. The movie is due out on DVD soon if the description appeals to you. It wasn’t the worst movie I have ever seen, but it seemed to need a little more work.

Crystal’s Thoughts
At the beginning, I sat thinking I am never going to make it through this movie – it’s too strange. At the end, it was my second favorite feature of the evening. You really need to let this movie into your soul. While it doesn’t need some deep understanding, you do need to try to relate to the characters and put yourself into their shoes.

Before this movie, I will admit, I never stopped to think about what an actor/actress must go through to “make it big.” I am guessing we’re all a lot like that, only seeing a star after they are a star and not thinking about how they are real people too. I don’t want to spoil it in case you ever do get the chance to see it, but yes, the ending was disappointing. But I cannot wait to see the sequel (which I’ll probably be watching on my own)!

Say I Do
- A feature length film directed by Ron Vignone
Ben and Sydney set out to have the perfect wedding. They just never planned on it being by the side of the road. You are cordially invited to join Bride & Groom, their Best Man, Maid of Honor and oddball French limo driver David on a wedding day journey to happily-ever-after... and the detours along the way.

Jason’s Thoughts
This movie gives the allure of being shot by the wedding videographer the entire time (think Blair Witch Project without the horror) and the camera catches every emotion, every fault and everything else that comes along with it when your plans for the perfect day tumble like a house of cards.

This film also featured a lot of quick, jagged editing, but unlike Hollywood Dreams, it was done in a way that made it interesting to watch. Although, it would be nearly impossible to shoot the video that way with a single handheld camcorder, not to mention the battery life wouldn’t last nearly that long. I am willing to look past that, though, as the movie was fun to watch.

Crystal’s Thoughts
This is the movie that made me pick Friday evening as my top viewing night for the Festival. Perhaps it’s the feminine side of me, loving anything that involves a wedding. With that said, this was way different than I imagined. It was strange, humorous, sad and romantic all wrapped into one. I myself was saddened when the crowd in the theater chooses to laugh at parts of the movie that I didn’t find humorous at all, quite the opposite as I found them heart-wrenchingly sad. But, anyone who knows me knows I am a bit dark and jaded, so I’ll give those viewers a break. And hey, the movie did have a happy ending, so all’s well that ends well.

The Lost Road: Penis Stab-Match
- A short film by Travis Lynn Mattick
A young man finds himself among strange beings in the distant reaches of outer space. He is lured to an alien cock-fight by his companion Squidy and finds something he did not expect.

Jason’s Thoughts
This was the last film of the night was submitted by a MSUM film student and it was a huge let down. I think to enjoy this film you either have to know the director or have to be a MSUM film student, which excludes me. I will give it credit for its use of CGI and stop-motion animation, but its praises end there.

Crystal’s Thoughts
I knew how much Jason wanted to see this movie so even though it was well past 11pm and I worked the next morning at 8, I gave in and we stayed. He had to compromise though in moving away from the whiskey distillery (who, I may add then left). Mind you, I am not fond of the Sci-Fi world. I did find the costume of Squidy amazing, especially as this film was made off of a grant. Kudos to the designer. While I know a lot of work went in to the animation of the cock-fight, it was just too animated for me and took away from the movie. I knew it wasn’t part of the movie anymore as it felt quite fake, and I felt detached then from the movie itself, though that didn’t take much.

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