Directed by: Tao Ruspoli
Starring: Shawn Andrews, Olivia Wilde, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Tao Ruspoli, Dedee Pfeiffer
This year’s Twin Rivers Media Festival’s award-winning feature film, Tao Ruspoli’s Fix, is probably only about two-thirds as clever and hip as it thinks it is, and it definitely suffers from an ending that you’ll probably see coming from a mile away. But at the same time, Fix is an engaging work of no small charm—and one of the few exercises in first-person narrative filmmaking I’ve seen that really works. Plus, this second is interestingly achieved.
In the first place, it helps enormously that Ruspoli avoids the current trend in handheld clichés by manning the camera as if he actually knows something about filmmaking and is trying to make the film look as good as he can. In light of the modern mania for handing the camera to someone who shoots every scene like a chimp with palsy in the name of “realism,” Ruspoli’s approach is decidedly refreshing. Also in its favor on this score is the film’s use of an array of cinematic techniques—including classic Godard-style jump cuts—to keep things from bogging down into that dismal pseudo-stream-of-conscious approach that’s supposed to mimic real time. The story covers a stretch of about 16 hours, which are reasonably sized down to 89 minutes of movie.
The fact-based tale feels more like a fact-based anecdote, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it probably works in the film’s favor, since much of its success lies in the darkly quirky humor of a situation that’s really almost nightmarish. Everything revolves around filmmaker Milo (Ruspoli) and his partner, Bella (Olivia Wilde), trying to get his drug-addict brother, Leo (Shawn Andrews), into rehab before 8 p.m. If they can’t, Leo goes to jail. It sounds simple, but there’s a catch: Rehab costs $5,000 that none of them have. The upshot is a mini-road-trip movie around nearly every area of Los Angeles as they try to come up with the money—finally deciding that the only route is to buy a pound of marijuana and make a quick profit on it. That, too, is easier than it sounds. The movie doesn’t entirely work—some of the scenes drag—but there’s a nice feel to it all and several good characterizations that make it more than worth a look.
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I’d like to add to this to note that the Twin Rivers Media Festival also has -- Experimental/Narrative Films—Sat May 3, 1-3 p.m. Animation—Sat May 3, 3-6 p.m. Short Dramatic Films—Sat May 3, 7-11 p.m. Documentary Films—Sun May 4, 2-8 p.m. I’d pay particular attention to those Short Dramatic Films. Why? Because short films—which tend to get overlooked at film festivals—are often quite the best things out there. Far too many burgeoning filmmakers jump into making features too soon, which is understandable, because features get most of the attention. The shorts are often far more accomplished. |
Apr 30, 2008 |
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Thanks Ken,
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carlos May 01, 2008 |
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oops, Make that Western North Carolina Acheivement Award presentation at 8pm Friday night, May 2. The film will show at that time and also on 3pm Saturday. |
May 01, 2008 |
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When will you publish the complete awards list of the festival? |
sten May 05, 2008 |
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If Carlos will get me a list, I’ll post them. |
May 05, 2008 |
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Here is the film list of the award winners and Official Selections--Thanks
!Wild and Free: A Screech Owl Named Pinkey, (8:22 , Asheville, NC)
Fix –Feature Film Award Winner 2008—Review by Ken Hanke
Feature Films: To be scheduled and reviewed on Friday World Cinema Series at the Courtyard Gallery
Second Place—Commute
Third Place—Pose Down
Fourth Place—He to Her and She to the Books
Fifth Place—Yesterday Was A Lie
Honorable Mentions:
Experimental/Narrative Films
First Place--Rakugakiiromachi (30m, Japan)
Second Place--Ancestor Eyes (15m, LA, CA)
Third Place-- Hollywood Jerome (11m, Chicago, IL)
Fourth Place--Forced Perspective (5:30m, Brand Rapids, MI)
Fifth Place--Hungry God (9m, Oviedo, FL)
Sixth Place-- Victims (23m, Austria, Sweden)
Seventh Place-- The Gifter (17m, Miami, Fl
Honorable Mentions
Elegies to Lessons Learnt (5m, (Chapter 3) United Kingdom)
Animation
First Place—24 Frames (18m, Saegertown, PA)
Laura - in Action (15m, Denmark)
Third Place--Dinner Table (3m, Glendale, CA)
Fourth Place--Obsession (4m, Berkeley, CA)
Sixth Place-- Até ao tecto do mundo (74m, Portugal)
Seventh Place--Permutation (3m, MI,U S A)
Eighth Place--Beetle Blasphemy (12m, Rochester, NY)
Honorable Mentions:
TRANSREXIA (1m, NY,NY)
Short Drama Films
First Place--Clouded Billy Cuff (31m, Las Vegas, NV)
Second Place--Cecilia Rose (12m, Calbasas)
Third Place__D’entre les morts (29m, France)
Fourth Place--Regular Guy (35m, Saratoga Springs, NY)
Fifth Place--Previous Tenants (15m, NY,NY)
Sixth Place--Double Talk (5m, Switzerland, U S A)
Seventh Place--Counting Waves (13m, Flushing, NY)
Eighth Place—Prometheus (17m, Asheville, NC)
Ninth Place—Extreme Me (23m, Ireland)
First Place Student--Rabia (24m, Avon, CO)
Second Place Student--Roofless Street (9m, Czech Republic, Greece)
Third Place Student--KEYS (23m, LA,CA)
Fourth Place Student-Yom Hafifa (26m, Petach Tikva, Israel,)
Honorable Mentions
Gangster’s Crib (23m, NY,NY)
Documentaries and Outdoor Films
First Place--Finding Kraftland (75m, Hollywood, CA)
Second Place--Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philanthropy (78m, LA,CA)
Third Place-- Woven Ways (50m, Stockton, NJ)
Fourth Place--The Unseen Face of AIDS in Romania (21m, Hungary)
Outdoor Films
First Place--Karearea: The Pine Falcon (49m, Auckland, New Zealand)
Second Place:On the Down Low. (20m, Asheville, NC)
Garden Insects (50m, Burkesville, KY)
Honorable Mentions
Appalachian State Football: A Date With Destiny (13.22, Atlanta, Ga)
Commercial Films:
Official Selections:
Junior Trends, Red Carpet, Ladies Night, and The Beach
Channel 3 Promo 2
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May 05, 2008 |
