I saw 17 features at the 2012 Cinequest, and the best were:
- the unsettling Slovak Visible World – creepy even for a voyeur film;
- King Curling, the Norwegian comedy about a curling star who must go off his psych meds to win the big match; and
- the nightmarish fable about American high schools Detachment, which sneaked on to my Best Movies of 2012.
Other movies that I really liked were:
- the hipster screwball comedy Percival’s Big Night;
- the zany Chinese action film Let the Bullets Fly; and
- the Argentine modern-day spaghetti western Salt.
I also commented on these Cinequest films:
- Children of the Green Dragon, a Hungarian culture clash dramedy;
- Come As You Are, a good-hearted Belgian coming of age/road trip comedy;
- Dorfman, a wretched American indie wannabe dramedy;
- Faust, a strikingly original slog through the classic tale;
- Forgetting the Girl , an off-putting comedy turned slashfest;
- Four Lovers, a French sex drama (emphasis on the sex);
- The Ghastly Loves of Johnny X, a campy sci-fi musical comedy; and
- Happy Birthday, Grandma!, a very, very dark comedy from Spain.