By The last two weeks have been a blur. Jet lag, hangovers, exhaustion, and a cold had a way of merging together to create the ultimate physical breakdown. Good thing I was at an awesome film festival as it happened. A real f*cked-up film festival, too!
Every year Tim League (founder of Alamo Drafthouse) puts together one of the craziest film festivals out there. For nine days, film-lovers and filmmakers from around the world gather in Austin for some of the craziest parties and film premieres. Human Centipede 2 is the norm here, not the exception.
While this year lacked the big budget titles — the previous year had Let Me In, Buried and Red — I at least didn’t have to drive downtown, since all films were screened at the same location. I hesitate to say that any film blew me away as much as Enter the Void or Summer Wars, but I caught some good films this year that I’d like to revisit (if they ever get released in the States).
Here’s what I saw:
Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope
I also saw Comin’ at Ya 3D which I walked out of and Borderline which I hated. I also saw Take Shelter and Urban Explorer which I both enjoyed and will be posting reviews of later this month.
It’s hard to pick a favorite but A Boy and His Samurai, Extraterrestrial and Boys on the Run will stick with me for some months to come. Comic-Con is a great, entertaining film but one you quickly forget, for better or worse. I regret missing the premiere of You’re Next but other than that I saw everything I wanted to see at this year’s slightly less gruesome and populated Fantastic Fest.
Fantastic Fest is just the start of festival season, as Flixist writers around the country are getting ready for the big ones. I have Austin Film Festival to look forward to later this month so I’m going to try to rest now and see if I can recover. Here’s hoping I don’t have another Human Centipede 2-related nightmare.