The annual Philadelphia Film Festival is back, and in its nineteenth incarnation. Over the years, it has shifted in size, season, focus, and administrators. But following a big dust-up between two opposing factions vying for control of the festival –and a few abbreviated mini-fests over the last year–things seem to be on a normal track. Running October 14-24 throughout venues around the City of Brotherly Love, the 2010 version offers an impressive cross-section of movies for cinephiles of all interests.
There’s no doubt that some of the featured entries will play at theaters around the country. The highlights among the soon-to-be-released titles are Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan with Natalie Portman, the oft-delayed Jim Carrey–Ewan McGregor starrer I Love You, Phillip Morris, Tony Goldwyn’s true-life drama Conviction and Doug Liman’s Naomi Watts-as-Valerie Plame thriller Fair Game.
And then there’s local boy-makes-good-then-not-so-good M. Night Shyamalan, who will conduct a Q&A session after a showing of Unbreakable with Bruce Willis on the big screen.
Delve deep into the Philadelphia Film Festival’s catalog (or website www.filmadelphia.org), however, and you will a treasure trove of potential gems worth mining.
Among them:
Philadelphia Film Festival: Machete Maidens Unlieshed!
Four Lions: The writers behind last year’s acerbic political satire In the Loop cast their eyes on Islamic extremism in this comedy (!?) about a group of terrorists who can’t seem to get anything right. As expected, the film is already controversial, even though it hasn’t been released yet.
Boxing Gym: Maverick documentarian Frederick Wiseman (High School, Titicut Follies) offers a you-are-there study of the comings and goings at an Austin, Texas training site for pugilists.
Do It Again: Years in the making, this doc chronicles Boston reporter Geoff Edgers’ attempts to get the British rock group The Kinks back together by reuniting bickering band mates (and siblings) Ray and Dave Davies.
The Last Circus: Spain’s always interesting Alex de la Iglesia (Dance with the Devil) mixes the characters at a circus with the violence and treachery of the Spanish Civil War. The results? Sounds like Fellini meets Peckinpah by way of Guillermo del Toro.
Machete Maidens Unleashed: Last year’s Not Quite Hollywood, about Australian exploitation movies, was one of the most entertaining movies about movies ever. And this one sounds just as juicy: a survey of low-budget epics made in the Philippines in the ‘60s and ‘70s by the likes of Roger Corman, Jonathan Demme and Eddie Romero.
Café: A group of locals in a Philly diner talk, eat, drink coffee and eventually reveal what events lead up to the unsettling sounds of gunshots. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy head the ensemble cast.
Rubber: From France—a killer tire! Sacre bleu!