Look around this week and you'll discover movies in practically every direction. And I mean movies that are actually worth investigating, not just the standard filler that passes through the multiplexes on most weekends like cheap grain through a goose.
Over in St Petersburg, Eckerd College's International Cinema Series continues to showcase films that no one else seems willing to take a chance on. This week's offering is perhaps the series' biggest and boldest coup yet: David Lynch's Inland Empire, a reportedly inscrutable, three-hour epic that has divided audiences and critics more than any other Lynch project.
Shot on digital video, personally promoted by Lynch himself (by parading up and down Hollywood Boulevard with a cow on a leash), Inland Empire may be the director's masterpiece or it may be a massive accumulation of cow dung, but the only way to know for certain is to see it for yourself. The film plays one time only, 7 p.m. Fri., April 13 at Eckerd College's Miller Auditorium, 4200 54th Ave. S., St. Petersburg. This is pretty much a must-see event, and admission is free and open to the public.
April 13 is also the kick-off date for "Art Against Fear," a two-day explosion of unique art, music, film, fire, clowns and sword-fighting. On Friday evening and all day Saturday, dozens of Florida artists will converge on the Ybor Cigar Theatre (at the corner of 18th Street and Palm Avenue), highlighted by a performance by artist David Karave and his amazing, self-destructing robots (actual crash test dummies courtesy of the U.S. Defense Department). There's a lot going on here, so visit crashingart.com or call 813-413-4773 for the full scoop.
But wait, there's more! The week's biggest filmic bonanza, hands down, takes place April 13-22, when the ninth annual Sarasota Film Festival unleashes 10 days of fabulously eclectic, world-class cinema on appreciative movie lovers.
It's taken the better part of a decade to get it right, but the Sarasota Film Festival now runs like the proverbial well-oiled machine, and a massive one at that, delighting audiences with a diverse and carefully calibrated mix of movies both commercial and cutting edge.
In addition to the films, both homegrown and imports, there are oodles of celebrities (this year's guests include Edward Norton, Steve Buscemi and director Norman Jewison), lots of special programs (including kid-friendly events), and Q&A sessions following almost every screening. And as far as the social scene goes, the parties at SFF include some of the glitziest this side of Hollywood.
This is a big festival. With more than a hundred films and special events scheduled, there's no way that a single human, even one with unlimited time and dedication, could see everything that's going on during the 10 days. With that dilemma in mind, here are a few of the possible highlights (and lowlights) of this exciting but somewhat dauntingly hefty fest.
SFF knows its classic films, and this year's festival is screening some doozies. Among them is Roberto Rossellini's majestic ode to spirituality, Flowers of St. Francis (April 16-17), and two very different takes on architecture gone mad — Jacques Tati's gloriously chaotic comedy, Playtime (April 14 and 17), and Hiroshi Teshigahara's sublime documentary/tone poem, Antonio Gaudi (April 18 and 19). These films are all masterpieces, simply put, and will all be projected as 35mm prints, a rare and wonderful enough experience to qualify these screenings as must-sees.
Other highlights include the new film by Lars von Trier, Boss of It All (April 14 and 15), a nimble and relatively no-frills comedy miles from the politicized high art of Dogville and Manderlay; The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, another stately, fascinating look at Inuit culture from the makers of The Fast Runner (April 18-19); an utterly whacked-out one-man-show in which movies become the meaning of life, Pervert's Guide to Cinema (April 20-21); and Dark Matter, a small, graceful film about an overly dedicated Chinese student adjusting to life at a California college (April 15-16).
Then there's the late Adrienne Shelly's acclaimed study of small town life, Waitress (April 20-21); Further proof that Hong Kong cinema is alive and well, in Johnny To's gangster epic, Exiled (April 14 and 16); Philip Groening's poetic, three-hour meditation on life in a French monastery, Into Great Silence (April 14 and 18); Paris J'Taime, a collection of short love letters to the City of Lights, directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen, Gus Van Sant, Olivier Assayas and others (April 16 and 18); revivals of Michael Almereyda's wildly inventive modern-day Hamlet (April 16 and 18) and Jonathan Kaplan's brilliant look at bored suburban youth, Over the Edge (April 18); and new films by old masters Alain Resnais (Private Fears in Public Places, April 20-21) and Aki Kaurismaki (Lights in the Dust, April 18 and 21).
The news is not all good, of course. Hal Hartley's Fay Grim (which bombed at the recent Gasparilla Film Fest in Tampa) is the director's unhappy attempt at a more traditional take on his uniquely personal style (April 19 and 21). Other films arrive with major bad buzz — such as Zoo, a movie about a man who loved horses a little too much for his own good (April 19 and 21). Ditto for Raoul Ruiz's Klimt, a much derided biopic of the notorious Viennese artist in which John Malkovich is reportedly allowed to chew the carpet to his heart's delight (April 20-21). Never fear, though: There are bound to be some stinkers in the bunch, but how else could we truly appreciate how good all the good stuff is at this always welcome festival?
The Sarasota Film Festival takes place from April 13 to April 22 at Regal Hollywood 20 in Sarasota. For tickets or information call 941-366-6200 or toll free at 866-575-FILM, or visit the website at www.sarasotafilmfestival.com.
This article appears in Apr 11-17, 2007.