Make Mine Mike

Movies is magic, baby. Had our screening of “Consumed” on Saturday. It was part of a collection of short films, so there were 8 or 9 others playing, too. The theater was full; I suspect the crowd was mostly the people involved with each film and their friends.

The audience seemed to genuinely laugh at the right moments; my friends said they really enjoyed the short, even after I grilled ‘em for honest opinions. And it was cool to be recognized afterwards by strangers, being told “hey, great job”. The film turned out pretty good, but it’s hard to critique our own work -- Bags gets aggravated at some tiny aspects of his directing choices, Brian our music guy hears little things most of us don’t, so you could imagine how I felt seeing myself on a giant screen.

It’s a little easier to analyze the other films, and it makes me wonder about how other people perceived ours, because, sorry to say, I wasn’t crazy about a lot of them. A couple were quite enjoyable, but the rest had weak stories or virtually none at all. I’m not that picky about production value or acting or even editing problems, but when the narrative is watered down for the sake of swirling hand-helds of brewing coffee or fetishized close-ups of feet putting on slippers, I say stop trying to imitate Scorsese or David Fincher, go back and re-think the script a little. Still, I know how much work it takes to make a film, even a short, so I applaud the efforts -- mostly first films for the directors.

Bags said this film festival isn’t the most discerning -- 40% of the applicants get accepted. My friends who were lawyers said hey, that’s about the rate people pass the California bar exam. But I’m not sure if that’s a compliment...