I write reviews for a website called Wildsound. It’s an alright gig. I figure I watch a lot of movies anyway, I might as well write about them. I write about “classic” movies, which is cool because I’m not too hip on the current slate of films being offered.
Wildsound runs this monthly film festival. Come to think of it, they run a monthly everything it seems like. Anyways, this is a unique experience as they play the films, and then the audience, which is lead by an industry moderator, offers feedback and critiques of the film and talks about it. Sounds like fun. I entered on a lark anyway, with no real expectation of the event.
Bill, Kyle, Bills fiancé Leanne, and I, head out to Toronto. Wouldn’t you know it, we get circled around some bullshit construction and get stuck in some event while trying to make our way to the National Film Board’s Cinemas. We were probably going to be late anyways, this just solidifies it.
We manage to find the building and I jump out as I’m about to unleash Niagara Falls from my bladder while Bill and Leanne find some place to park. We all get into the place, and Matthew Toffolo, the dude in charge, says it’s a weird night as the theatre seems to only be half full when it’s normally packed. Cool, less people I’ll have to tell they’re wrong to about my movie.
We walk into the theatre towards the end of the first flick that’s playing. We’re not as late as I thought we were going to be. We stumble around in the pitch black abyss of the theatre until we’re signaled to an area. It’s Steve, his wife Cheryl, and a couple of friends they brought.
Now the way this feedback event goes, is they play a block of films, the house lights come up, and the moderator leads discussion about the films; the first discussion about the first film in the block, then moving onto the second film in the block and so on. Our film is in the second block.
I’m a little worried as I think something is wrong with their projection system. The animation ones look fine, but some of the live action films don’t look so hot. The one film looks gross. It looks like handycam footage that’s been significantly brightened up in post, and everything is washed out, milky, grainy, and no contrast. I’d later look it up on youtube and it looks 100% better. I couldn’t enjoy the flick at the time because I was so distracted by how bad it looked on the screen. Watching it on youtube it’s a cool little short.
Anyways, the first feedback session begins. Now, I love movies. I love making them, I love watching them, I love writing them. Certain aspects of the whole thing I don’t like though, and that has to do with some of the people that watch them for varying reasons. Getting into this first feedback session sets off some alarm bells.
Alarm bell 1) I realize that this feedback system isn’t something I’m going to enjoy. I thought it was more like a Q&A type thing, where people comment or ask questions, and the filmmaker gets to respond. This isn’t like that. The filmmaker is anonymous and people can shit all over your film and you don’t really get the chance to flick some of it off. The whole thing is built around “constructive criticism,” and if you start telling people what you intended, you’ll be labeled as someone who can’t take criticism. I think a Q&A session would be more beneficial to everyone, because I would have liked to ask the dude if his film was that washed out on purpose or if it was a problem with the projection system. I found out later, like I said, the projection system.
Alarm bell 2) film breeds film snobs. It’s the nature of the beast. People like to feel smart, and as a result, they’ll start over analyzing the shit out of certain things. They read too much into things.
A few years ago I was in a conversation with a couple who had a son in a university film course. They were droning on and on about how their great son would analyze movies and tell them what everything meant and how he just watched movies differently than other people. This conversation seemed to go on forever; so long that even a mime would tell them to shut the fuck up about their great intellectual film version of Steven Hawkings who can see the cosmos in a frame of film and depict it to give you the meaning of life.
I decided I had enough and told them about an interview I read with Martin Scorsese. The interviewer asked how they came up with the idea to end Goodfellas with Ray Liotta addressing the camera directly and walking towards it in the court. Marty’s answer was simple enough. “Gotta end the picture somehow.” That’s it. That was the sole reason to end the movie that way. Sometimes a red door is a red door because the green one didn’t come in time. Not because it represents envy or anger or whatever else.
So back to our story. Imagine being trapped in a theatre with a bunch of people like this couple’s son. This is irritating hearing them try to nitpick and analyze everything in every film.
I don’t want to get too much more into this story, but basically our film got shit on. After every film, Bill would be the one leading the charge with the applause. After our film played, Bill decided he didn’t want to do that, and no one picked up the slack. Our film got the worst reception of the night.
The last film played, and I guess it won their monthly screenplay festival, and the rule is, the winning screenplay gets made into a film and automatically gets put into the feedback series. They decide to talk about this film first. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the moderator of the night was one of the ones that selected this script to win. Wow, you think that will create some bias?
Anyways, the film was terrible, but the moderator feels the need to defend it, at least the script anyways. I didn’t see what was so special about the script, but I will apologize again for the remark I made about the film.
They decide to talk about our film, and the moderator is pretty adamant about not saying anything positive about the film. More than likely because the film he selected ended up being a wash and he either wanted it to look better by putting down the next film, or taking his frustrations out on the next film, or he knew me and knew which film was ours and didn’t appreciate the comment I made.
Wes Berger, another good guy in the Wildsound outfit, basically has to plead with the dude to get him to say anything positive. He eventually relents and says that Logan is a good looking guy, and that I knew where to put the camera. Fuck you very much buddy. Don’t strain that good bone in your body too much. The guy tries all night to find good parts and go on and on about them with every other film, but for ours all he has to offer is the lead actor was good looking? Shiiiiiiiit. Maybe I should’ve just entered Logan’s headshot then.
Now this could sound like I’m being a whiny little bitch, but anyone who knows me, I’m pretty sure will tell you that I’m not. I can take criticism when it’s constructive, and if you don’t like my flicks, that’s fine, there’s no accounting for taste. But most people were in agreeance that the moderator wasn’t up to snuff and was largely inconsistent for the points he brought up throughout the night.
Props to you Wes for coming to my rescue and trying to salvage me from the verbal raping our film was getting.
Afterwards we bounce around a few restaurants and I get my drink on. Bill asks Steve to join our team and he says he’s in. Sweet deal.
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