Independent Film Festival of Boston Reviews: Song Sung Blue, Second Skin, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

Andrew Osborne — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Song Sung Blue: In this documentary about “Lightning & Thunder,” a husband and wife Neil Diamond/Patsy Cline tribute band, the appeal of the group’s success is attributed to the fact that, like Diamond, they and their Milwaukee fan base are “normal.” That adjective, however, may not be the first that springs to mind when viewing this quirky, moving and often harrowing depiction of the rewards and hard realities of low-level show biz dreams. Director Greg Kohs makes the most of his (sometimes uncomfortably) intimate access to his subjects’ lives, capturing a real world soap opera of triumph, tragedy, and the unexpected magnanimity of Eddie Vedder.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie: And while we’re on the subject of seemingly whimsical but ultimately depressing depictions of American eccentrics, this barely feature-length documentary follows a pair of hard-luck backwoods Sasquatch enthusiasts who invest so much of their time and self-esteem in pursuit of the titular monster that I began to wonder if the whole movie was not actually some kind of giant Blair Witchy scam. If not, then the likeable, desperate true believers depicted here by director Jay Delaney (more or less without exploitive condescension) really need a more productive hobby (but then again, as an underviewed, D-List blogger, I suppose I’m hardly one to judge)!

Second Skin: And speaking of questionable hobbies, this interesting but seriously overlong documentary by Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza utilizes geek-tastic computer graphics, talking head experts and a likeable ensemble of misfits to offer a relatively comprehensive survey course on the positive and negative societal and individual aspects of spending way, way, way too much time online playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft and Everquest. But, like a marathon session playing actual video games, the initial enjoyment factor here eventually gives way to numb-ass claustrophobia and a nagging awareness that you should probably be doing something better with your time.

(For a second opinion, be sure to check out Scott Von Doviak’s SXSW review of Second Skin.)

Slamdance 2008

Phil Nugent — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:30:00 GMT

The Sundance Film Festival has wrapped for the year, which means it's also time to check for survivors in the debris at its snaggle-toothed cousin, the Slamdance Film Festival. Begun in 1995 by a posse of spirited malcontents who were relative pioneers in the growing field of regarding Sundance as compromised and cut off from the "real" independent film scene, Slamdance — held, like Sundance, in Park City, Utah — concentrates on showcasing first-time filmmakers, with a special love for anyone or anything who tried, and failed, to get into Sundance. It started small but has since produced its own roster of notable discoveries, including Christopher Nolan's Following, Marc Foster's Monster's Ball, Jared Hess's Napoleon Dynamite, and the crowd-pleasing documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. This year's festival "received over 3,500 submissions from 25 countries for less than 100 programming slots." The big award winners this tear include Tom Quinn's The New Year Parade (Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature), Ryan Piotrowicz's The Project (Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature), and Greg Kohs's Song Sung Blue (which took both the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature). Jonathan Lisecki's Woman in Burka claimed the "Spirit of Slamdance" Award, "for exhibiting passion and talent as a filmmaker, commitment to the independent community, and enthusiastically embracing all Slamdance has to offer." Among the screenplay awards, Tony Mosher's script for The Punished snagged the plum award for Best Horror Competition Screenplay: it comes with a pledge by Angel Baby Entertainment and Maverick Films to actually get the film produced.

The Screengrab : greg kohs

Independent Film Festival of Boston Reviews: Song Sung Blue, Second Skin, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

Slamdance 2008