BUFFALO

Monday, May 25, 1998

I was debating about seeing the Frank Lloyd Wright documentary as my first movie today. The person I had hoped would join me for it wouldn't be there; there is a second showing this Wednesday; it will be on PBS at some point. But I decided to see it all the same.

So I was surprised when I saw the signs: "Theater Change." The print had arrived in a 16mm format, so it couldn't be shown at the Egyptian theater. I didn't feel like walking to the Harvard Exit, and indeed, I heard later that some folks were turned away from that smaller theater. So I decided to stay where I was, and see the movie that was showing.

Voyage to the Beginning of the World
I would call this movie tedious! An actor, actress, and director (Marcello Mastroianni's last role) take a drive in Portugal, doing research for a movie they are making. The director is taken back to memories of his childhood, and the actor contacts long-lost relatives (his father left Portugal at an early age). The conceit of showing the rear view out the back window of the car (because they are thinking about the past, get it?) is clever, but goes on and on. The plink-plank noodling score by Emmanuel Nunes also bugged me.

The next movie, at the Broadway Performance Hall, was delayed to give folks a chance to arrive, since the Frank Lloyd Wright documentary was a long movie and was showing at the farther theater. A--- and I discussed my personal life and family stuff, while we were waiting.

Reno Finds Her Mom
This will show up on HBO, I'm sure. Comedian Reno does a personal investigation to find her birth mother. I've seen her before, but I'm not particularly a fan. Ninety minutes is a lot to take of Reno at full volume. Some funny bits.

A--- and I had dinner at Bill's Pizza and Pasta. I go there about once a year during the festival; the pizza is good, but the place isn't one of my regular haunts. While splitting a pizza, we got caught up on our Fool Serious ballots. This is a project of some dedicated movie fans. Full series pass holders rate every movie they see, then the guys compile the info at the end of the festival. When we walked into the Egyptian, where A-- had stepped in earlier to save our seats, we were shocked, shocked, to see two of our movie friends sitting in them! The objects that A--- had left had disappeared! So we put A---'s platinum pass to use for the first time and sat in the special reserved section. They let me sit there as well! We felt quite glamorous in the VIP seats. Another crisis averted.

Memories
Three Japanese animated shorts, supposedly with a common theme of problems caused by technology. I don't think they really had anything to do with each other. I loved the opera connections in the first segment, "Magnetic Rose." The second part, "Stink Bomb," was pretty blah, although there were a lot of explosions if you value that sort of thing. The third part, "Cannon Fodder," was the most interesting graphically, but I'm not sure what the idea was, beyond war is bad, which I think is pretty non-controversial.

Buffalo '66
Best film of the day! Vincent "Palookaville" Gallo wrote, directed and starred in this comedy/drama about a young man who wants to impress his family after getting out of jail. Christina Ricci is a young woman who helps him out. This will play theatrically; I highly recommend it! Very funny and unusual in tone.

Looking back over the first four days, I'm happy with the level of movies I've seen since the festival started. I laughed out loud when A-- told me that some years he has a "crisis of faith" in the first few days, when he has seen bad movie after bad movie and wonders why he bothers. Then something surprising, original, and good will come along, and restore his enthusiasm. The festival is like life!