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It’s been another long and ridiculously hectic day here at CIFF — but we somehow managed to make it through another five movies.
After spending a restless night trying to get that irritatingly catchy song from the CIFF festival trailer out of my head — and being woken on numerous occasions by my upstairs neighbors — I woke up to the Doobie Brothers at 8:45. Michael joined me for breakfast at 9:40, and we took some time to sit and relax and enjoy the relative peace and quiet (and I enjoyed a fresh, tasty waffle) before heading back to the Tower.
Our first movie today wasn’t until 12:10 — and we arrived well before 11 — so we took a walk around the mall and checked out the art fest booths before making our way up to the hospitality suite when it opened at 11:30. We got a quick cup of coffee and a snack and were discussing our options for the day when someone sat down at our table, pointed at Michael’s program guide, and said, “That’s my movie.” And he wasn’t kidding. Cleveland native Gunnard Doboze was the composer for Connected — a movie that we’d been discussing just as he walked up. Talk about a coincidence! But that’s the fun of the hospitality suite — you never know who you’ll meet there. We spent quite a while chatting with him — until he was late for lunch with his mom and we were late for our first movie. But it was worth it. It was great to have met him — and to have the opportunity to talk with one of the filmmakers for a while.
Fortunately, we still managed to make it to our first movie before it started (we didn’t even miss the opening trailer, much to Michael’s chagrin).
Movie #1 was Red Light Revolution, a quirky little Chinese comedy about a lovable loser who opens a sex shop. It’s not as outrageous as you might think, though. It was actually a fun film — and, for the most part, quite tastefully done, considering the subject matter. Definitely a good way to begin another five-movie marathon.
After Red Light was over, we had just a short break. That’s pretty much how our day went today — I don’t think we ever had more than 35 minutes between movies. And it seems as though every movie got out later than expected — and we ended up having to scramble to make it to the next one. After the first movie, though, we had a few minutes, so we figured we’d grab a quick bite to eat at Dunkin Donuts — since we didn’t know when we’d get a chance to eat again.
Once we finished our snacks, we grabbed our drinks (chai for Michael, an iced latte for me) and raced back for our second movie. Hayfever was a sweet French rom-com about the staff of a failing vintage shop. With its quirky characters and sweet love story, it was a cute movie — but the ending had Michael and me in heated debate (he liked it; I hated it) all the way back up to the hospitality suite. We were going to sit down for a few minutes, but there wasn’t a single seat available (and there was a long line at the buffet), so we turned right around and left, giving us a chance to get good seats for our next movie.
Rubber was next — a French horror/comedy about a tire on a killing spree. Again, reviews on this one are embargoed, so I can’t say much about the movie. I can, however, say that, by that point, Michael was hitting the wall. The poor guy has never done a third day of the festival, so he promptly dozed off as the movie started. But he fought his way through and managed to come out on top. When it was over, though, we both knew that we were desperately in need of some nourishment.
As soon as the movie ended, we made a run for it. We were supposed to have 50 minutes for our next break, but it was more like 30 — and we needed to get dinner before the food court shut down completely. We ended up at the cajun restaurant, which actually serves some kind of mix between Chinese food and cajun food. I ended up with lemon chicken with Asian noodles and spicy potatoes. Definitely a strange dinner — but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about it. By the way, in case you love blender recipes and foods, check out the different recipes you can make here at buyblenders.com.au. Once again, we had to eat and run in order to make it to our next movie. We ate what we could, tossed what was left, grabbed our drinks, and raced off to our next movie.
Movie #4 was The Human Resources Manager, an Israeli film that’s pretty tricky to categorize. This one was especially difficult to follow, thanks to the two women behind us who just would not shut up during the entire movie. Apparently, they weren’t paying attention to the constant reminders that “there is no talking during film festival films.” If there was something to comment on (and even if there wasn’t), these women were commenting on it. After a while, it became so obnoxious that I almost turned around and yelled at them — but I just sat in my seat and fumed instead.
I’m actually starting to look forward to the drive home, though. Those two hours in the car without people yapping around me (or pushing or shoving or crowding around me or randomly stopping in the middle of the hallway, so no one can get around them) will actually be refreshing after being constantly surrounded by people for a few days. If I could go into hibernation for a few days after returning home, I would — but I’ll be back in the theater again on Tuesday night.
After the movie ended, I asked Michael how he was doing. You’d be surprised how exhausting it is to sit through 13 movies in three days. Throw in claustrophobic conditions, constant crowds, lack of nourishment, and sleep deprivation, and you’ve got a pretty grueling experience. And I was totally prepared to call it a day so Michael could go back to the hotel and collapse — but he said he was good to go for one more. Impressive. So, after taking a quick pit stop and checking out the CIFF merchandise (Michael bought himself a magnet, and I continued to debate my purchase), we made our way back into the theater for our fifth movie of the day.
For this time slot, we had no idea what to see. There wasn’t anything that we were dying to see, so we gradually narrowed down the options and eventually made a last-minute call to see Togetherness Supreme, a Kenyan film that takes place in the time leading up to the elections of 2007.
By the time this round began, things were quieting down at the festival. After all, it’s a school night — so not a lot of people were sticking around to see more movies at 9:00 at night. Still, I was surprised by how empty the theater was. It was maybe only half full — a huge change from the standby-only films that we’d been seeing all day. I’m glad that we stuck around, though. Despite the fact that I was slowly (okay…maybe not so slowly) fading, I found it interesting.
Once it was over, though, I was definitely ready to call it a day. Michael and I made our way through the empty parking garage to the car and headed back to our hotels.
It’s definitely been one heck of a long day. The lack of sleep last night didn’t help — and the lack of breaks today made it all the more exhausting. But I’m still sad that my time here at CIFF is about to come to an end for another year. As exhausting as it is, it’s one of my favorite weekends of the year — so it’s always with mixed emotions that I go into my final films.
But that’s tomorrow. Now, it’s time to get some sleep.
