WAITING FOR GODOT

Five Minutes of Heaven by Oliver Hirschbiegel, was the "surprise" closing movie of the 2009 Love and Anarchy festival. This film also happens to be about Ireland but a very different film and world than that of the first film of the festival I saw (Kisses). Five Minutes of Heaven is a fictiononal account about two men confronting one another other in the present day. Liam Neeson plays the adult UVF member Alistair Little who twenty-five years earlier killed Joe Griffen's (James Nesbitt plays the adult character) brother in 1975 Belfast. The film finds it a bit hard to balance the drama surrounding the meeting of the grown up characters and the flashback events in 1975, The film however does bring across the strong feelings and emotions felt by both characters, however it falls short of trying to capture the impact the events over the past 30 years have effected the lives of so many in Northern Ireland. 

New York City Girls by Yseult Digan, is a documentary that examines the lives of various international women living in  New York. The grafiiti artist, bike messenger, breakdancer, hand ball player and others are women who live and work in different environments that are predominately male dominated. This social documentary is an easy view and pleasant to watch, the glimses into these womens/girls lives are interesting. The film leaves this viewer with a pleasant view of New York, the characters themselves are part of the tableau that is New York and a part of one most diverse cities in the world.

VALENTINO THE LAST EMPEROR, Only manages to scrape the surface of Valentinto the man, the designer and icon. The documentary primarily revolves around the 45th anniversary celebrations of Valentino as a designer. Valentino is happy to pose with his dogs and models and at times to give some insight to his career. But unfortunately this documentary doesn't manage to manage to give us any real insight or depth. Matt Tyrnauer the director only seems to have have limited access to Valentino and the majority of the film focuses on the preparartions of the 45th anniversary celebrations, this is a shame as it would have been far more interesting to have sen him delve deeper into the actual history of Valentino's career and the man himself.

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE by R.J. CUTLER

Everybody Dies But Me by Valeria Gai Germanika.

HUMPDAY by LYNN SHELTON, proved to be a true surprise and one of the funniest films of this year's LOVE AND ANARCHY festival. It tells the story of the reunion of best friends Ben (Mark Duplass) who is settled down and married and the free rambling Andrew (Joshua Leonard), who after a drunken night decide they will make a man on man non gay porn movie, both start with the desire to prove that they are open minde, free spirited and unihibited. The contradictions that ensue are hilarious. The leads are superb as is Ben's enduring wife Anne (Alycia Delmore), in what sounds like a premise for a silly teen movie (shits and giggles), proves to be agreat insight into the complexities of the modern urban man.

HUMPDAY by LYNN SHELTON, proved to be a true surprise and one of the funniest films of this year's LOVE AND ANARCHY festival. It tells the story of the reunion of best friends Ben (Mark Duplass) who is settled down and married and the free rambling Andrew (Joshua Leonard), who after a drunken night decide they will make a man on man non gay porn movie, both start with the desire to prove that they are open minde, free spirited and unihibited. The contradictions that ensue are hilarious. The leads are superb as is Ben's enduring wife Anne (Alycia Delmore), in what sounds like a premise for a silly teen movie (shits and giggles), proves to be agreat insight into the complexities of the modern urban man.

IN THE LOOP by Armando Iannucci had all the potential to be a great poilitical satire, but is unfortunately let down by its actors. Only Peter Capaldi can really hancele the excellent dialogue, all the other leads seem lost, like an amateur thertre group struggling with something out of their range, even James Gandolfini gives a poor version of Tony Soprano in therapy session of a performance . Despite the disappointment in the performances, this still makes for an interesting couple of hours of viewing due to a wonderfully faced paced script.

Having missed out on the festival's first two days due to migraine, i was pleasanttly surprised by the first film i saw, KISSES by Lance Daly. having grown up in Dublin in the 70s and habing moved away (to Finland) in the early 90s and missed out on the boom and currrent bust I can easily relate to the harshness of the film's setting. This film which tells the story of two preteens Dylan and Kylie who live in the poverty and abuse who escape from home. The film follows their adventure as they escape from home and shows their encounters through Dublin during the course of 24 hours. The use of black and white picture by and color night, may almost seem pretentious at times, but works effectively. The acting by the leads Shane Curry and Kelly O'Neill is superb as is the chemistry of the characters, making the kiss all the more special. Having spent the last several days watching a lot of films, this proves to be true gem of a movie. Highly recommended.