By Plus Gallery owner Ivar Zeile
The Starz Denver Film Festival is now over, and I'd like to give my own brief personal awards to the best films I was able to catch from a program dense with diverse films and cinematic pleasures.
By far the best film on the narrative end was the US indie Littlerock, which seems to be scooping up awards at other festivals and should muster enough attention to become a breakout hit. This tale of japanese tourists landing in small-town US on their way to a historic, deeply personal shrine, was extremely absorbing, well acted and simply felt like it crossed boundaries rarely seen in independent film today.
Previously reviewed, Marwencol was hands-down the most engaging documentary and also likely to be given greater screen-time outside of the festival, keep an eye out for it during Starz regular year upcoming programming.
And finally, the most audacious mainstream film concluded the festival on Closing Night. Darren Aranofsky's Black Swan proved to be another notch in a cinematic belt that really solidifies this direcor's auteur standing. From the very opening, you know it's an Aranofsky film, which in my opinion is a good thing, nobody seems to be able to make the camera move and follow action like Darren and his crew, you could watch it back-to-back with his riveting first films Pi, and Requiem for a Dream and make the connections. The narrative itself is over-the-top, and needs to be in order to drive home the point that confidence and talent breed multiple factors that can consume life, and humanity. Those with a broad world-view will make solid connections with the cavalcade of drama coursing through the film and it's context within the sphere of ballet. Those simply looking for a great performance will bask in Natalie Portman's oscar-worthy turn, there is unlikely to be one to top hers from this year's greater crop of hollywood films.
No comments:
Post a Comment