Dispatches from DFF48, Part 2

I attended the 48th Denver Film Festival, and here's what I saw.

It’s technically still the last day of the festival as I write this. I ended up going to about half of the festival, seeing eleven films (fitting, I guess). Here are some of the superlatives of my experience at the festival, which I’ll structure like awards for some reason.

Best Score goes to Johan Lenox’s unforgettable horror-ish music of The Plague. Charlie Polinger’s film is a harrowing tale of tween social dynamics between boys at a water polo camp, helped along by the heavy-handed music. Asked on Letterboxd why I cited the music so highly, I argued that the music is like a character in itself, reacting and observing; the film is a masterclass in how music can change our perception of anything.

For Best Cinematography, I’m also citing The Plague, specifically Steven Breckon’s marvellous photography which, like the music, speaks to how angle is everything. Breckon transforms a water polo camp into something out of a wartime drama. The psychological power plays are apparent in every shot.

In the category of Best Editing, I turn to a film that was almost my top pick of the whole fest: Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors, edited by Danielius Kokanauskis. I was struck by the film’s long takes and static cameras, and just how powerfully Kokanauskis is able to use limited cutting to ratchet up the tension. Exquisite.

Best Actor (Gender Neutral) goes to Ubeimar Reimos of A Poet. As the lead actor, he carries with him and unforgettable face that he uses to amazing emotional effect. Every inch of this man’s life, including the events we’re watching, are almost carved into his visage. Rios displays an extraordinary range in imbuing Oscar Restrepo with sensitivity and malaise. We can sympathize and empathize even as Oscar makes a series of bad decisions that spiral out of control.

I’ll award Best Director to Paolo Sorrentino for La Grazia. While I don’t think La Grazia is the best film I saw all week, I was perpetually struck by Sorrentino’s technique and the way he directed all of his actors, particularly the minor characters, to outstanding performances driven by subtlety and nuance. And it’s a series of unconventional choices that led to my favorite moment of the whole festival (more on that later).

My Best Picture choice is, maybe surprisingly, the silly comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Out of everything I saw, somehow this silly Canadian time travel comedy has stuck with me above everything else. The film is ridiculous and heartfelt in equal measure, with a subtly unique filmmaking style (the filmmakers are character? like the main characters interact with the non-characters holding various cameras) that mixes Guest-ian mockumentary with old-school vérité or even something like Man Bites Dog. I can’t praise this film enough, and I’m glad that coming out of a festival I can honestly give top marks to a weird comedy; I have hope that the future of cinema shines with all sorts of brilliance.

But my favorite moment of the entire festival has to go to a single scene in La Grazia: when the Italian president meets with the Portugese prime minister, the latter begins a long walk towards the former, in full slow-motion, as the rain and wind bombard him. Set to out-of-place techno music, the whole thing feels otherworldly in all the best ways.

I can’t think of a better note to end on than that.