Picking movies
About 8 years ago, living in this same city, I had a great idea. Why not pick a film from the 80 or so films at the Denver Film Fest, and invite a group of friends to go along? Unfortunately for them, I had several friends who agreed with this plan, although my taste in film was not tested. The result, a truly awful film called Frankenstein’s Children was so bad that I tried to sleep through it to lessen the pain. I was unsuccessful, and my friends let me know afterwards in no uncertain terms that the poor quality of the film did not escape their notice either.
Since then, I’ve made friends with several film buffs, and had opportunities to see lots of really good, really interesting films – including seeing at least 10 films at last year’s SLIFF. (You rock, Rob). I’m MUCH better at picking films, and my friends in Colorado have short memories, right?
That’s what I told myself as I again organized a group of friends to see a film at Denver’s film fest last night. Everyone was excited, and I was especially glad to find friends who are also interested in film. Besides, I chose a series of shorts, all about adventure. Everyone knows shorts cover your bets better – not ALL of them can be truly bad.
No sooner had we joined the line, however, before my former roommate mentioned Frankenstein’s Children. In fact, her memory of it was even sharper than mine, remembering another friend who came up with many ways to describe just how bad the film was, and just how awful every aspect of the production was. She even admitted a little concern that I was picking films again. Great. The reputation followed me.
Luckily, once all nine of us got in and seated, the similarities stopped. While three of the shorts were OK, the other three were especially funny and well done, and we only argued about which one was the best. (The Windfisherman gets my vote. And not just because the lead character had a mohawk. As Ryan said, “Whimsical AND charming, bitch!”) So I have high hopes that I will get more chances to drag friends to new films…and only get minor teasing in the end.
Thursday 15 Nov 2007 | m. | Personal