RIFF

I was waffling for a while about whether to buy a pass to the Reykjavík International Film Festival, and then I thought, WHY THE HECK NOT? So I picked one up, and that’s one of the reasons why there haven’t been any blog posts in the past couple weeks. Overall, it was a good decision—I ended up seeing fourteen films, and they were mostly pretty worthwhile.

Some of the highlights (I included a link to the trailer, when possible):

Soul Kitchen (Germany) I would not say that this German comedy was a great movie, but it was a nice movie. One might go so far as to say, “cute.” The plot is predictable, but I enjoyed its goofiness, and the opportunity it gave me to refresh my Deutsch a little bit.

Fake Orgasm (Spain) Spoiler Alert…this film is not actually about fake orgasms. There was a Q&A with the director after this one, and he said that he had wanted it to be called “Faking It,” instead, which really would have been a much better title. The actual subject of this documentary is a female-to-male transsexual who uses various forms of performance art to raise awareness about society’s attitudes towards gender. As long as you’re comfortable with the vast amount of nudity, it’s a pretty fascinating piece, and certainly thought-provoking.

Kings of Pastry (US/UK/Netherlands) I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone eat a cream puff with so little joy. This doc follows three men competing for the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France—a three-day ordeal in which they create fabulous, creative, and horrifyingly fragile works of art in order to join the ranks of the French pastry chef elite.

Big Man Japan (Japan) Well, it’s a mockumentary about a schmuck who periodically grows into a giant to defend Tokyo from giant monsters. That’s all you need to know. Probably the strangest movie I have ever seen. Loved it.

Oil Rocks: City Above the Sea (Switzerland) I only saw this one because it was paired with The Mermaid’s Tears, but it turned out to be quite fascinating. Oil Rocks is a town the USSR built out in the middle of the Caspian Sea to drill for oil, complete with apartments, restaurants, a casino, and a public pool. It’s an incredible work of engineering, and I had no idea it existed until I saw this film. Kind of like Tipoca City, only dingier and with more Soviet propaganda.

The Mermaid’s Tears: Oceans of Plastic (France) This movie will break your heart. It’s about how much plastic is being washed into our oceans, and the effect it’s having on the animal population. Recycle, kids.

Earth Keepers (Canada) This documentary followed a young Canadian environmental activist as he traveled the world learning about what different cultures are doing about sustainability. I’m not sure how I felt about the intense French environmental aphorisms that get chucked up on the screen every few minutes (you can see some of that in the trailer), but overall the graphics were very slick and it was a nicely executed documentary, with a lot of interesting ideas. Also, Wangari Maathai was featured—she spoke at Wooster last year, and I can say that she is probably one of the coolest people in the world.