Cinequest winds up today. Here are the films in the program that I hadn’t posted about yet:
Daddy: This dark sci fi comedy is set in a future where only a limited number of men are approved by the government to father children. Four guys apply for the privilege and are isolated in a mountain lodge to wait for the expert evaluator, who doesn’t immediately show up. As they try to figure out what’s going on and what they should do, they succeed only in demonstrating how unfit they would be as parents – until things get all Lord of the Rings. It’s a very funny skewering of both male overconfidence and male angst. Second feature and first feature, respectively, for for co-directors/co-writers Neal Kelley and Jono Sherman, who play two of the guys. World premiere.
Everybody Wants to Be Loved: This German dramedy is a triumph of the harried mom genre. As a psychotherapist, Ina (Anne Ratte-Polle) spends her workdays listening to whining and naval-gazing. Then she goes home to her self-absorbed boyfriend and her teen daughter – and the job of teenagers is to be self-absorbed.-Nobody is most narcissistic and entitled than Ina’s mom. It’s the mom’s birthday, and she is rampaging with demands. The daughter is threatening to move in with Ina’s ex, and the boyfriend wants to move the family to Finland for his career. As Ina is swirling around this vortex of egotism, she gets some sobering news about her own health. As everyone converges on the birthday party, what could possibly go wrong? First feature for director and co-writer Katharina Woll. Second screening in the US.
Catching the Pirate King: The enthralling Belgian documentary is two movies in one. The first is a play by play of the hijacking of a Belgian ship by Somali pirates and the negotiating of their ransom. The second is about the Belgian law enforcement’s dogged campaign to bring the pirates to justice – in Belgium. We meet the ship’s captain and crew, the shipping company’s negotiator, the cops and prosecutors and even some pirates. Absorbing, exceptionally well-sourced and very well-crafted. US premiere.
Under the Influencer: This the second film by Alex Haughey, whose debut Prodigy, a psychological thriller with paranormal elements, was one of the top films at the 2017 Cinequest. World premiere.
Brothers Broken: The documentary Brothers Broken contains a singularly refreshing aspect on a familiar phenomenon – the breakup of a 60s rock band. But here, the band breaks up, not because of drugs or ego, but because of a cult. And the estranged band members are brothers. The band doesn’t last long, but the brothers’ arc covers a 58-year arc. Fitting for Cinequest, the brothers and the band are from San Jose! First feature for co-directors Geoff Levin and Lily Richards. US premiere.
Under Water: This dark Dutch dramedy (or extremely dark Dutch comedy) starts out as the insistent effort of a pushy woman and her estranged husband to get her aged mother into residential care. The mother, a paranoid survivalist, resists every entreaty by the woman and her estranged husband to leave her isolated, condemned house – and even imprisons them in her basement. The husband’s role evolves, and we eventually see that this is a portrait of generational mental illness.
A Cautionary Tale: In this documentary, a Romanian man returns from 19 years in Turkey to find that he’s been officially declared dead; maddeningly, he needs a new ID to prove tht he’s alive, but the government won’t issue a new ID because he’s officially dead. The man is older and seems bewildered, and the movie seems like it’s going to be a real life The Trial by Kafka. But when the filmmaker tracks down his family, the story gets more complicated, finally even explosive. US premiere.
Sloane: A Jazz Singer: This is another laudatory doc on an overlooked musical artist. Now 82, she’s a lot of fun. I wasn’t wowed by an advance version that I screened, but I understand that revisions have since made this film very strong.
The Secret Song: This doc is an uncomplicated movie about a visionary and saintly public school music teacher. He has touched hundreds of lives; this movie won’t.
O Pioneer: This aspirational documentary samples the lives and work of three very nice Appalachian West Virginians – a creative, a traditional artisan and a spiritual leader, and tries to unify them as figurative pioneers. Grass grows and paint dries. World premiere.
This is the thirteenth year that I’ve covered Cinequest. My Cinequest coverage, including past festivals, is on my CINEQUEST 2023 page.
