MSPIFF

It's that time again.  The Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival is in full swing. 

I missed a few things for AWP 15, catching translated poetry and discussions of book reviewing imstead.  Saturday night after AWP, however, we caught "The Royal Road, Jenni Olson's latest film.  Being Minnesotan in origin, she was there for the showing with her daughter in tow.  An added plus.

"The Royal Road" used still shots of San Francisco and Los Angeles street scenes, held for two to three minutes, and voiceover to tell stories about CA history and butch longing.  It was surprisingly effective, and affecting, though maybe because I have nostalgia for those sights.  And for butch, the concept/identity that had a different and more solid meaning than its more recent uses.

I caught "52 Tuesdays" midweek, an Australian film about a 16 yr old (IIRC) girl whose mother transitions and makes her live with her formerly distant dad for a year.  Family roles change, girl rebels in a bipoly teen drama, and videos get made.  Situation implodes. 

The film was trying very hard to be quirky, but it succeeded and moved along at a good pace to real emotional and plot-point destinations.  This is always welcome to me in queer cinema, as are high production values.  "52 Tuesdays" had good sound, lowkey visual flair, and decent music.  Win win win.

"The Russian Woodpecker" was sold out, being the recent Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner and in Russian to boot.  (Big Russian speaking community here that shows up for MSPIFF.)  We had tofu and pickled eggplant instead.

This Sunday, we got the last few seats for "The Grump," a Finnish comedy about a grumpy old farmer from the sticks who has to stay with his daughter-in-law in the big city.  She's trying to woo Russians as real estate clients.  The old man earns his title.  It's really funny, at least for us Nordlanders who know this guy all too well. 

The comic timing was perfect, especially between him and the daughter-in-law, and the Russians, with one of them translating for the others.  The father-son fight in his tiny antique Ford car was painful and hilarious.

"Why would anyone go to Belgium?"

Here is The Grump/ Mielensäpahoittaja Trailer. Directed by Dome Karukoski, based on a novel by Tuomas Kyrö.


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