Cool Aunt Dana and Film Fests

The Miami International Film Festival ended yesterday. I have some remorse because I only made it to one film this year. I could blame all the people who canceled on me, including my young nephew. But the reality is that I was too lazy to make the trek alone.

I was particularly disappointed that my nephew didn't go because I needed to redeem myself for the last film fest debacle. You see, I took him to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival in the Fall.  It was a chance to get him away from the cold plexes with 100 million dollar movies, and for him to see people and film in a new way.

Since he is a 13 year-old boy with 13 year-old boy taste I didn't want to overwhelm. So I picked a light picture that he would think was fun - Senior Skip Day. That choice was the first of a string of misguided ones, which earned me the regrettable honor of being "Cool Aunt Dana."Let me see... we had 2 hours to kill so I had a drink and a cigarette (he's never seen me do that before), which led to a long conversation with a man in a perpetual state of drink. I let it continue because Andrew was having so much fun with the immature guy who could speak my nephew's language. Most of all I didn't want to pass the long wait with a bored, self-pitying, preteen.

The next thing I know the man was sitting with us, drinking a beer, watching this college-aged super-raunchy picture, laughing it up with Andrew. Oh goody -- they had the same sense of humor! My brother-in-law later summed it up as Porky's meets Ferris Bueller. I never saw Porky's but suspect he was right. My sister asked what I expected from a 10:30pm movie.

Oh I'm so proud. Such a role model I am.

I thought I could seek redemption at the Miami International Film Festival. We were supposed see "Captain Abu Raed" --  an old man, who read a lot about the world but never actually left Jordon. The spin was a group of young boys who idolized him for his supposed worldliness. It promised to be charming.
 My secret revenge was that it was about an underprivileged preteen and get this -- it was in subtitles! Best of all, I knew Andrew would love it anyway and that I would be "cool Aunt Dana" in the most of respectable ways. Too bad we missed it.

I was not a big fan of the movie I did catch - an Indian film, translated as "4 Women". Supposedly it was about village women who stood out and challenged convention. In actuality it was a depressing film about these four women who got screwed in life - two of them nondescript and in arranged marriages.

It did have original production value though. The camera did not move with the actors' motion -- instead, people and things moved up and down, right and left, in and out of the lens. The technique made the scenes feel natural. The pace was tediously slow but made each moment relevant. Not so enjoyable, but definitely provocative.

On a last note, you know how much I appreciate the FLIFF, but MIFF is where I felt at home. The patronage seems more urban. When I look at them I feel like I have more in common - intellectually and lifestyle-wize. Too bad I'm not based in Miami right now.

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival www.fliff.org
Miami International Film Festival www.miamifilmfestival.com