WIFF

I was fortunate to be able to attend this years Wisconsin International Film Festival(WIFF) a couple weeks back. Over two days I went to screenings of The Park, dir. Lichuan Yin, Getting Home, dir. Yang Zhang, and Mongol, dir. Sergei Bodrov. Ranked in personal preference, I'd have to say that Getting Home came out on top, followed by The Park and Mongol.

Getting Home was the story of two construction workers who spent their days drinking, until one of them died. The other man, Zhao, had promised to see his remains home, which is across China in Three Gorges. Though it sounds like something Chevy Chase would have done in the late 80's, the film becomes more than just a black comedy or buddy film. Beautiful imagery abounds throughout the film, with the director unafraid of letting a certain amount of silence exist. The people met upon the duo's journey are a fascinating cross section of humanity, from the good (a young man biking to Tibet who helps carry the load up a hill) to the bad (robbers and cruel restaurant owners). The film is sad, no doubt, with it's questions of mortality and futility, but by the end of the film, the viewer is left with what can only be described as a warm feeling inside, filled with the thought that perhaps humanity does have a hope after all.

As a review? 5/5. The only real flaw was that the festival was unable to show a 35mm print(it was held up in customs) and the audience was shown a digital version that was more of a promotional copy, with a time-stamp and image quality lower than a true 35mm print.

The Park was a touching story of a young woman and her father, set in a world where old values and youthful vitality and views are at odds with each other. A fascinating, well shot and acted film. As for a personal rating, I'd say 4.5/5.

Mongol could be described as the big budget film of the festival, as far as I am aware. It seemed like something Hollywood could and would pump out. An attempt at an epic retelling of Genghis Kahns childhood and rise to power, the film was nominated for something like 10 Academy Awards. It was an interesting film, but to flashy at times for it's own good. Had they shot it in two parts and focused more, rather than allowing the quick, at times confusing jumps in time, I feel it could have been much stronger. Not that it was bad by any means, it just lacked the charm of Getting Home and the emotional investment of The Park. Numbers again...4/5.

So, there we have it. A brief, nutshell retelling of the WIFF from my personal point of view. Any time you get to go out and see a bunch of foreign movies AND have some drinks equals a great time in my book.

Teh Maths!

Generally I, like most art students(hehehe), have something of a phobia towards math. I've certainly taken math courses through my high school and some of my college career. However, I've never felt any fondness for math. Watching Benning on Monday, I felt something I haven't really felt before towards math. Interest. He explained the basics, gave great definitions, extrapolated out from them, hinted at the wider world of higher math. It was truly fascinating how he chose to present his demonstration. He also didn't spend too much time cramming his opinions on how math and art can be paired, how our art can be improved by math. Small comments of his, such as how he thought certain formulas and proofs were elegant and beautiful did more than any direct pointing out of how such and such a theorem applies to one of Bram's pieces ever could

Spiral Jetty

One element of the film by Smithson that seemed to stick out most to me, to catch my attention was the focus on crystals and their relation to the shape of the jetty. Had the artist simply decided out of the blue with no reason to make the jetty in that shape, it still would have been impressive. However, his relating the grand sculpture to the tiny shapes that are found all around it helped me to explore new avenues of thought during and after viewing the film. It's fascinating to me that this spiral shape is found everywhere in nature, all appearing to adhere to the golden ratio, the Fibonacci Sequence. Something that is so simple being found everywhere, from the small salt crystals to mollusk shells is incredibly thought provoking. Smithson's land sculpture is a celebration of this pervasive natural design, in my eyes and mind.

Jeezy Creezy Visits the Dinosaurs

It's not that I was aiming to be blasphemous, I just like Dinosaurs and Jesus cutouts. I was inspired by a stand-up bit by Eddie Izzard where he talks about Jesus visiting the Dinosaurs and them biting his head off. The reason I chose to do the style I did was that I thought it would be amusing to use recycled products and have a sort of D.I.Y. air to the project. Scavenging materials from the rubbish bin ended up giving an interesting visual style, I thought. However, it would have been good to take it a few steps further, use yarn and natural items such as branches or dried weeds. I was also inspired by the music video by Cat Solen for the Bright Eyes song A Bowl of Oranges, which can be seen here. Video.

The intention of the video was to be humorous and intentionally "low-fi". A tabletop video is the place for experimentation, absolutely, but it is also an extremely limiting venue for a performance. You have to get creative, and I thought that the strength of my piece was perhaps no in the performance, but in the props that were used.