Indie-Lincs film festival

In its second year, the Lincoln film festival brings international films and premier showings to the university. This year the three-day festival ran from 16-18^th of March, with a promise that 2018 would be around the same time. 

Three features are shown both on the Friday and Saturday events, with shorts throughout the days and which are blocked between one to three hour slots so there are plenty of breaks between. Some slots might appeal more than others, for example, the morning of the Friday showings was aimed purely at sci-fi fans.

As much as I love my sci-fi, 9.30 in the morning seemed a bit early for me to delve into dystopian worlds. I chose to instead pop along for the Friday afternoon feature, followed up by under an hour of shorts which then left me a big break before the evening session. While I enjoyed everything offered in the afternoon session, the weather and laziness almost stopped me from coming back for what would be a four and a half hour slot. If you find yourself in a similar position at next years festival, suck it up and go as, in the end, the evening proved to be the most worthwhile.

I can only talk about the films I did see, though many more sounded interesting and from speaking to those who watched the films I missed, there were a few Black Mirror inspired shorts that went down very well.

Kidnap Me (directed by Ross Aitken and James Browning) is an entertaining comedy about a couple who, unhappy in their jobs, have a very adventurous sex life. This spirals out of control when a role-play kidnapping experience becomes a very real one.

It’s a watchable and engaging movie, mainly because of the chemistry between the lead actors (Daniel Curshen and Gemma Foden) who were cast after being seen together – also as a couple – in a theatre play. The plot is suitable for this type of comedy and many of the jokes play out well but you really have to fight against your better judgement and ignore each plot hole as it drifts by. The ending falls a little flat and will disappoint those excited by a strong female character who knows what she wants and is comfortable in her sexuality. Choices and revelations at the end are anything but empowering in that regard. Overall, an interesting experience that perhaps with a bit more commitment to its message might have made a more lasting impression.

Stream of Doubts is a French short that tells its story in a very interesting and non-artifice way. You begin to suspect early on what the meaning of the character (a young girl in tears on the phone and feeling as though she has no connection to life) might be leading to, but that doesn’t take away from any of the impact. Less than ten minutes long it holds a chilling conversation that could easily have gone the other way and been pretentious. In my opinion, it’s anything but.

A Hole to China, a USA film that like another short (What About the Rent) is really a conversation between a couple, with the female counterpart taking the lead. The dialogue is interesting and has a story-telling quality but that’s why I feel the film becomes less successful as it's stops being a character insight or a revelation about the relationship, and more a poetic telling of memories.  

What About the Rent, a UK film, has greater depth. It’s filmed in black and white, giving a bleak feel to this woman’s life as well as an impression that she’s not in the present, but dragged back to her past as the film is a short conversation she’s having with an ex-partner who isn’t letting go. We only hear her side of the conversation but get a strong feel for his character or rather the hold he still has on her. A lot of information can be drawn from the one-sided dialogue and there’s also very heavy emotion. You don’t know how the conversation will end, or the result in either of their lives but it’s a glimpse into something real, unexpected and heart-breaking.

Zero G is a German non-narrative, beautifully filmed documentary on parkour. I could have done without the poem read alongside clips of kids jumping from wall to floor or across park benches; it has a hypnotic feel to it and the poem was unnecessary in giving the film a flow, rather the action and the way it was filmed had a rhythm of its own. Parkour is all about the thrill - you get a sense of how nervous and excited the kids are who do it as well as the sense of community, even if you don’t get any interviews with them. An interesting contrast between the adrenaline rush from the people performing these acts, to the relaxing, memorising experience of watching it.

Blown Out of Proportion is a UK film that is very well executed and entertaining to watch, with many comedic moments and a great Baz Luhrman type bar scene (in a sort of Strictly Ballroom-esque style). Yet it’s nothing original and the “twist” is easy to read in the first minute of the just under seven-minutes length. The subject matter is still a fascinating concept to explore, but the way it’s shown here has been done in exactly the same surreal way many times over.

Pink Velvet Valley is a Belgium film set in Scotland and is really about an eccentric character who has an addiction to wearing Ray-bans. The monologue is brilliant, ironic and hilarious. If the short inspires a feature with this character in it, I’d definitely want to see that as the character has a lot of potential that goes beyond his mere five minutes of fame.

Our Wonderful Nature is a UK film that most certainly got the most laughs from the audience. An animation of a chameleon who is basically the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Just over three minutes long and very silly, but well done and I don’t think a single person, including me, didn’t crack up.

The Eggman is a German film, done in artful black and white. There isn’t any dialogue but the characters tell us everything in their expressions and reactions. A very funny concept that works for the most part - instead of a milkman, you have a guy come over with a chicken to lay eggs for you. It’s an oddball type comedy that is necessarily over-the-top.

The Pine Tree Villa is a German made animation that is utterly beautiful to watch. There’s a fantasy quality that makes you think instantaneously of Studio Ghibli, but also Pans Labyrinth and the idea of animals reflecting your soul is of course reminiscent of His Dark Materials or even the Native American culture. A creepy and surreal world that, although easy to list references to, watching it feels like seeing something very special and unique.

Silence is an Australian film about a musician who is losing her hearing. Fourteen minutes long, you get a real sense of character with sound and imagery of course very important in putting the concept together.

Even Lovers Get the Blues, a Belgium feature that has quite an understated synopsis (a group of friends come to terms with a death and try to live life to the full). In reality, the film is about relationships and what I found most interesting was that the director (Laurent Micheli) stated in the Q&A afterwards that each couple is a reflection of a relationship he has experienced at various points in his life. All the couples are interesting, dynamic and say something different about love and intimacy. 

Sex is used in most scenes which might feel overly explicit to some viewers but it isn’t done in a gratuitous way. Unlike a lot of movies, the sex scenes are all there to add to the story and of course to the characters. You understand character desires and their emotional struggles through their relationship with sex.

There wasn’t a single character or coupling that wasn’t real or engaging; a woman grieving after the death of her partner, another coming to terms with her partner cheating on her (and with a man), then the couple who are just so at odds with each other and want such different things but the connection is still there, right or wrong.

Though serious and sensual, the film is also remarkedly funny, it often turns laughter into someone a bit too real that you can’t help but find it both funny and uneasily close to home. One of the characters tries to spice up his sex life by dressing up as a fireman, only to end up arguing about the fact his partner won’t go on the pill and he can’t stay hard with a condom on. Another example is the ridiculous moment when one of the male characters gives a present to his partner of baby clothes, to tell her he wants to try for a kid. A joke of miscommunication or how unsubtle guys can be perhaps, but also tragically sad that they could be in such different places in their life yet still be in love.

I wouldn’t hesitate to watch this movie again. The complexity involved is really like watching a film about real people. Reality TV is so popular because of our deep-rooted interest in other people’s lives and, especially, relationships but there’s always an artifice in TV for entertainment that usually translates to movies as well. I don’t find that to be the case here. It certainly isn’t a documentary and some might not buy into the ending, but this film says something very true about love, for all its good and bad qualities.