...of charm and strange: the blog

Every year, one of the movies at SIFF seems to become the talk of the festival, news of its greatness spreading like wildfire, its popularity eventually leading to its winning the Golden Space Needle Audience Award. It then goes on to receive a proper theatrical release, where it becomes a "little movie that could" and everyone who saw it at SIFF recommends it to their friends with passive-aggressive undertones that say, "Yeah, I saw it before it was popular. I am just that hip. But now that general audiences are allowed to see it, you should totally check it out."

Every year, this film evades me. I try to pick 15 or 20 films out of 200 that I think will be good, and I'm usually pretty good (there have been "incidents," of course), but I always seem to miss out on The Little Movie That Will. I have too many recollections of being approached by fellow SIFFers and having to endure, "Did you see Whale Rider? It was sooooooooo good! I cried sooooooooo much! I can't believe you didn't see Whale Rider!" So this year, I am determined to identify The Little Movie That Will, see it, and be snotty to other people six months from now when it comes out in multiplexes.

Is The Little Movie That Will included in my SIFF schedule this year? I think a lot of my films are too fucking weird to make it big. I mean, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space. Seriously. If the IMDb plot summary doesn't already make you a little nervous, check out the official site, where a mission statement reads, "The Tamala 2010 Project is a general term for the various unit projects developing from the super heroine Tamala at the core. This project will grow into a grand scale pop culture and merchandising business..."

The Python is about someone pooping in an attic, with a beaver and a monkey (but not a python) somehow involved. I'm not sure this one will be infiltrating any multiplexes anytime soon. Raspberry Reich is a self-described "porno-political-palooza." Something tells me this isn't the right track either.

The "light and charming comedy" Danny Deckchair is a more likely candidate, considering the fancy website, and the fact that it's Australian, which means it has the general appeal of being in English but nobody will feel guilty about it having no depth because everyone is speaking in accents so it counts as "world cinema." A recipe for success!

Garden State, Open Water and Primer are good possibilities because I'd heard about their success at Sundance before this festival. Twin Sisters was an Oscar nominee. Marianne tells me that Bright Young Things was well-received when it was released in the UK.

The search continues...