CIFF wrap-up, Twitter-style

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The 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival ended Sunday and I only saw 16 movies during the 10 day festival. (I say only because a coworker decided to see 33 of the 317 films screened.)

Of course, day jobs, though helpful when it comes to paying the bills, do not make it easy to write about every single film seen. I was moved to write about Goodbye Solo, Sugar, Voy a explotar, Orz Boys, Ask Not, and Alexander the Last, but what about the rest? Well, my adoration of all things Twitter has inspired me to write flash reviews for the movies I didn’t get a chance to blog about. So in 140 characters or less…

@El Camino
This grim Costa Rican drama about human trafficking & sex abuse moves at dreary pace. The longest 84 min movie you’ll ever experience.

@Kisses
More abused children but more inspired. The color effect and a great performance for the lead girl makes you see the light in the darkness.

@Ciao
Terribly shot and as badly performed as it was written. Gay cinema at its worst. There was a good story somewhere in this so-called romance.

@The Necessities Of Life
The Canadian entry for the foreign film Oscar is a pre-packaged awards contender. Predictable and dull at best. Manipulative at worst.

@Leaving Barstow
A pleasant surprise. Funny, charming and poignant w/o overreaching. It’s not daring, but it’s better than most teen dramas you’ll see on TV.

@The End (Of The Word As We Knew It)
Maybe a good doc if you were a fan of what was Cleveland’s The End FM, but otherwise hard to follow and lacking an emotional hook.

@Treeless Mountain
Shot and told successfully from the children’s perspective, combined with cute, sad moments of kids logic. Slow at times, but worth it.

@The Brothers Bloom
An overly plotted Wes Anderson movie with a bad soundtrack. I disliked it more and more as the movie progressed.

These films were screened at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival.