It's back! The Santa Barbara Film Festival begins its 10 day run today. This year, I'll be spending less time on the red carpet and more time in the darkened theaters checking out the movies, er, I mean films.
Ever since the schedule was announced I've been poring over the program in search of the must see movies at this year's fest. Here's what I've come up with.127 Hours. People in the audience have reportedly fainted during the scene where the main character amputates his own arm.
Despite my own well-documented squeamishness I'm going to try and see this one. Cross your fingers and let's hope I won't be asked to leave during the movie pursuant to the theater's crying baby policy.
Bringing King to China. A young American woman tries to educate the Chinese about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his message of non-violence.
Wonder if after the movie is over you will want to see it again in an hour?
Just Between Us. The official Film Fest guide describes this movie as "an indiscreet contemporary story about the whirling erotic passions that percolate beneath the dull, composed surface of everyday bourgeois life and manners."
Sounds like they should have called it, "The Real Housewives of the Mesa."
Last Man In Paradise. No, this is not about our newest city council member Randy Rowse.
You Are Here. At some movies they give the audience 3D glasses. Sounds like they ought to hand out GPS devices for this one.
Belvedere. Hey, I thought Chopin was the Film Fest's official Vodka sponsor!
A Deeper Shade of Blue. Wonder if the soundtrack will include that old Procol Harem hit, "A Whiter Shade of Pale?"
Confessions of An Eco-Terrorist. Hopefully, the main character was given his Miranda rights before they shot this film.
All Alone. As described in the Film Fest guide, "Two marriages are put to a fearsome test when things go terribly wrong on an overnight camping trip."
I get it. Somebody forgot to pack the toilet paper!
The Kids Are All Right. This comedy/drama tells the story of two teen aged children, conceived by artificial insemination, who get the notion to seek out their birth father and introduce him into the family life that their two mothers, a lesbian couple, have built for them.
A little known fact about this film is that the original plot was about a heterosexual black couple who, unable to conceive on their own, enlisted the help of an anonymous sperm donor and a Caucasian surrogate mother. The title of the film? "The Kids Are All White!"
See you at the movies.
© 2011 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
