the film festival is picking up.

and as promised here's my tiny reviews of *everything*

The Grudge
Cool japanese low budget horror. i really liked it, if only to see how scary you can make things just by editing things together well. worth it for the shower scene & the lift scene.
House of 1000 corpses
odd rob zombie horror. bright & slightly unpleasant, but nowhere near scary...just kind of odd, but there's no way it'll get a general release so worth seeing.
Afghan Alphabet
documentary about schools in afghanistan. interesting to see a world where a 12 year old girl won't remove her burka because it's a sin.
And Along came a spider
documentary about a bloke in afghanistan who killed 16 prostitutes. interviews with his family, friends and the families of his victims. creepy because he was proud of what he'd done, and people seemed happy with it. his son proclaimed that he'd like to be like his dad when he grew up.
La vie nouvelle
dull french film, with little dialogue, and no internal structure. it was only when i came out and someone mentioned to me that it was the story of orpheus and eurydice that i made some sense of it.
Sex is comedy
good french comedy about a director trying to film a sex scene. funny for the film insights & dealing with actor problems. :)
Wilbur wants to kill himself
odd & slightly disappointing dark comedy set in glasgow.
Woodenhead
really, really odd new zealand film where they recorded *all* of the audio and then shot the images to match it. when it worked it was brilliant, but where it didn't it was poor. the work of a madman!
Love Liza
conventional story of loss & addiction, made bearable by phillip seymour hoffman!
Spellbound
documentary about the72nd national spelling bee in the states, following 8 kids. strange, funny and occasionally uncomfortable.
Principles of lust
trainspotting meets fight club meets every other 30-something not sure if this is what i want from life type story. set in sheffield. competent, but not mind-blowing
Rage
beautiful french-asian film about star-crossed lovers & illegal thai boxing. slow, but wonderfully shot.
Yesterday
dull korean sci-fi actioner. i fell asleep :(
Man of the year
dark comedy about a guy who dies his hair blonde and then kills someone. one of those stories where every little step is believable, but at the end you look back at where you've come from and are a bit worried :)
Fiction shorts
good. makes a nice change to see some short films that aren't trying to be comedies. only really one weak one about a blind american swimmer getting lost swimming a channel.
All the real girls
WORST FILM OF THE FESTIVAL!!! well so far, but i don't know how they could make it worse. it was as though the writer/director took every story he's ever been told about relationships and, rather than have the actors act them out, he just has them tell them to each other.
Dragon inn
hong kong actioner that it turns out i'd seen before. killer ending though.
The sea
really good character drama about a small fishing village in iceland, the family that runs it, and the children returning home. from the director of reykyavic 101.
May
good. bit light on the gore, and a little slow to get started, but the last 20 minutes are GOLD!.

things have been a bit average this year :( hopefully things will pick up with the remaining films. cabin fever tonight miss noodle.