Movie Reviews

Today is the last day of the Santa Fe Film Festival, so I thought I would update you on what we've seen so far! The best thing about the film festival has been that many of the film's directors, cast and crew have been in the audience and have participated in question and answer sessions following the films. It makes you feel much more connected to the movies. If you like the descriptions, put them on your Netflix list for when they eventually come out on DVD.

The first movie we went to was "Taos", filmed mostly in Taos, NM. It's about a young corporate lawyer from DC who becomes stranded in Taos on his way to Aspen where he is supposed to propose to his type A girlfriend. It's a great story line and the acting is reasonably good, especially the Indian auto-mechanic who is the sage of the movie. Some side-stories were cut out which makes those characters less well-developed, but it probably gave the movie more focus. The mayor of Taos was at the screening and views the movie as a great advertisement for the town!

On Saturday we saw 2 movies, both very serious but with some comic relief. "A Line in the Sand" was based on a play called "The Mayor's Limo" that played off-Broadway in NYC. It is about a homeless man who is arrested after pissing on the mayor's limo during a protest by the homeless over the sale of a shelter. The movie still has the feel of a play with most of the scenes in a jail/office of a police precinct. The plot revolves around the life of the homeless man and politics and police-work. The actor who played the homeless man was very convincing and it was an intense role to play. The play was written by an actor and he plays one of the police officers in the movie. He said it was based on the life of a friend of his and on having lived in the Bowery district of NY.

"2:22" is a heist drama, but with a lot of focus on the characters who take part in the heist. This one features gun battles, drug dealing and some blood, but it wasn't overly violent. The acting was superb in this movie and it's a gripping tale. It takes place in Toronto, Canada. 2:22 was written by 2 film students from a small school in Nagadoches (sp?), Texas that apparently is known for its film program. They said all the classes are taught by one professor! Anyway, they wrote the script in less than a month and directed and filmed the movie in 3 weeks or something like that. Apparently they wrote the script in part knowing what actors would be performing which parts.

3 more movies today - descriptions to follow!