Sunday, November 8, 2015

Jason goes to Holehead--Opening Night

My favorite week and a half of torture (in more ways than one) started last Friday with two films.

SLEEPWALKERS kicked off Another Hole in the Head Film Festival 2015 in a way that perfectly fits the festival. That is to say a good idea, mostly executed okay, but not perfect. So let's start with the "not perfect" part--acting, editing, and sound. These are things no-budget indie film fans, and especially Holehead regulars, have to learn to not expect much from. So noted, but I'm not bothered by it. So let's go into what it does have going for it--a good story. Actually, come to think of it, it's not exactly a complicated story and doesn't exactly break new ground, it's just fun. Kids on a vacation in the woods. Some evil presence out there. It only comes out at night, hence the title. The evil presence kind of coincidentally facilitates the escape of some prisoners. Toss in a convenience store owner and you've got a nice cast of victims, and a good, exciting story of surviving the night...or not. Mostly not, of course.

And then the second show of the night was NINA FOREVER, a fucked-up fairy tale from the UK. Holly is studying to be a paramedic and working in a grocery store. Robb also works there, and is still getting over the tragic death of his girlfriend Nina. In fact, he kind of tried to end it all. Anyway, they hook up. The problem is, whenever they have sex, Nina shows up and just makes everything awkward. And I don't mean she shows up as a ghost, she shows up as flesh and blood. Lots and lots of blood--she still has her injuries from the car crash. So Holly tries to deal with that. Accept her? Incorporate her into the love-making? Nothing seems to work. And meeting her parents (whom Robb is still very close to) also doesn't help. It's a pretty obvious allegory for all the past bullshit we take into relationships, and also how we push that bullshit onto other people. And it uses the genre to good effect, while also telling an engaging story about characters I immediately had an affinity for. And the sex scenes--blood and all--are pretty damn steamy. Great way to start the festival.

Total Running Time: 193 minutes
My Total Minutes: 408,433

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