Raindance is coming up,

And it's looking good. Much as I love the BFI London Film Festival, and shall be endeavouring to attend as much as possible, Raindance has a special place in my heart as the first film festival I ever attended. I worked there as a volunteer in 2004 (I think...) and it was an awesome experience, I got to hang out around loads of cool people, see loads of great films for free, and learn a ton about the film/festival industry. 

Raindance was set up in 1992 to support British independent film making, and since then they've been running courses, offering advice and support, and showcasing the best work around in the annual film festival. 

This year's lineup looks awesome, I wand to see, in no particular order: 

'Colin' a horror movie shot on 45 pounds, 

'Exam' a movie about the worst job interview you can imagine, 

'Hotaru' a Japanese movie about a love affair between a stripper and a potter (oh Barney where are you to guide me through this film?), 

'I think We're Alone Now' looks like a pretty disturbing documentary about two stalkers of the 1980s teen sensation Tiffany, 

'Philosopher Kings' is about the things seen and heard by the janitors of Ivy League.

'A Necessary Death' has garnered a LOT of attention. About a documentary film maker who puts out an advert for a person who wants to commit suicide, then documents the lead up and event.

'The Girlfriend Experience' closes the festival, so I probably won't be able to get a ticket, i'll still find a way to see it though...

Go see.

2. Hip/Indie/Difficult. for better or for worse.

I am a film student after all, I can't help that I love Zooey Deshanel more than my own mother, that Ellen Page is going to sing at my funeral, or that the meer mention of a Chloe Sevigny makes me talk kinda funny.
I'm PROGRAMMED PEOPLE.


Whip It. I know I want to like it, i also know that it's terrible. I mean, Drew, sweetie, I love you, 4 eva, but seriously, just because you switch cheerleading with rollerblading, and make the love interest kinda icky looking, it does not an 'alternative' film make. A controlling mum? really? an understanding dad? is there a marginally less kooky side kick? there is?! oh good! You can't just throw Juliet Lewis at a movie and expect the cool to stick.


I'll probably still see it though.







Michael Cera Is every indie film's wet dream. and every alterna-chick's fantasy fuck. I don't really find him sexually appealing but I do find him bloody funny. Youth in Revolt is gratuitously Michael Cera, (it enters the world with nothing but a child like sense of wonder). So it's gratuitously porno/sexual/funny, depending on your perspective. If you like Clark and Michael then you'll love this. And no. I won't give a cursory summary.


and that was a bad intro. but here's the trailer.







Lying looks kinda like the Virgin Suicides, but without all the suicide. except Lying is actually about the women in the film. Three women alone in a secluded house for a weekend, usually spells horror. or porn. this is neither. It's an intensely human narrative, just, women, together, being human. I don't really know what it's about but i know i want it.





Last in this category is The Men Who Stare at Goats, based on a true story (no really) about CIA experiments in mind control, it looks like a now standard Clooney funny politico movie. That is to say, funny... but also political. clever huh? I like the approach actually, I mean Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib was hideous beyond measure, but really, by laughing at the situation surely we can only divest it of it's power? instead of simply lying down in the awfulness and howling in misery, lauging reveals the gross absurdity of the situation. 


...or something.