CQ21 Drama Preview

According to a well known encyclops a drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Translate that to indie film and drama means people smoking while looking out a window or a moving car window. Overdub some plaintive acoustic guitar and we've got ourselves a movie!

Here's of our preview of the dramas at this year's festival.


22ND OF MAY
What Is It About: A bomb goes off in a crowded shopping mall. A security guy is confronted with feelings of guilt about what he did and didn't do.
Why We're Seeing It: Director Koen Mortier's first feature EX DRUMMER was easily one of the most twisted films we watched last year. Expect this film to be visceral, surreal and not for the faint of heart.


3 BACKYARDS
What Is It About: A look into three lives of suburbanites over the course of a single day.
Why We Might See It: Well, it's got Elias Koteas in it. He was amazing in WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER as the insane Vietnam vet sweater fondling cook. Otherwise it doesn't seem like our thing.


80 DAYS ( 80 EGUNEAN )
What Is It About: Two women reunite and resume a friendship after fifty years apart. They come to terms with how different their lives turned out and wonder what would have happened had they stayed close.
Why We'll See It: Excellent rating on IMDb, trailer looks sharp and the story just sounds like it's worth watching.


ALL THAT REMAINS
What Is It About: Four people on a road trip, lives intersecting. The road, it's a metaphor you see...
Why We're Skipping It: Unless the buzz is really strong we're just not intrigued enough by the video clip or synopsis. That phone sure is green, though.


AMERICA
What Is It About: Rosalinda is missing. Where is she? Maybe America knows. America is the name of both a place (real) and the main character (not real). Which one are we referring to? Both. Did we just mindfreak you?
Why We're Seeing It: Eddie James, tropical scenery, trips to NYC. We're all about it. Should have spoiler alerted that screengrab. Sorry about that.


AMONG US
What Is It About: To be honest we're not totally sure. We know there's an accident, and it's serious, but then look at that screengrab. They are smiling. Swedish people having emotions. It's almost too far fetched, even for fiction.
Why We Might See It: The freshly bearded Michael Nyqvist (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 1, 2 & 3) felt underworked by those adaptations. Maybe he puts in an honest days work here. Still can't believe those smiles. One can only suspend belief so far.


APART TOGETHER ( TUAN YUAN )
What Is It About: A man returns home to mainland China after decades living in Taiwan to avoid punishment by the Communist party. His wife is like "hey," and he's like "sup?"
Why We Might See It: We're kind of Chinese history nuts so the political framing of the story caught our interest. It seems like this aspect doesn't really factor into the film much, so we'll see how other people rate it before locking in.


THE BLIND
What Is It About: Bad people have bad relationships, badly. Badness ensues.
Why We're Skipping It: The synopsis sounds vaguely antagonistic. Shot in 12 days. Emergency casting sessions. Couldn't find a trailer online.


DESERT FLOWER
What Is It About: The true story of a woman who went from African nomad to an international top model.
Why We're Seeing It: Looks like a quality adaptation of a unique story. The trailer plays up the comedic moments early on before getting into the poignant and weighty scenes. Have a feeling it will be an audience favorite. Buy your tickets early.


DESERT RAIN
What Is It About: The synopsis calls it a modern day Bonnie & Clyde road trip.
Why We Might See It: Feel like the acting will make or break this movie. Puts a lot of pressure onto the shoulders of the leads, doesn't it?


FALLING OVERNIGHT
What Is It About: Boy meets girl one night before surgery to remove a brain tumor. As the sun rises they try to figure out where to go from here.
Why We Might See It: Once again it's the two main leads that will carry this feature. Gotta see the trailer before we can decide.


 
A KISS AND A PROMISE
What Is It About: Based on a true story of a bed and breakfast with a dead body problem. Wonder if that hurt their Yelp rating?
Why We Might See It: The description sounds suspiciously like a thriller but the guide has it as a drama. Hmm... That alone provokes investigation.



KOSMOS
What Is It About: A Turkish man rescues a child from a river. A film heavy on parables, symbolism and beauty.
Why We'll See It: We love to sit in the dark for 2 hours in total confusion, emerging afterward to debate our friends the meaning of what we just watched. That's Cinequesting, baby.


LIMBO
What Is It About: Cultural tension collide between businessmen and their wives in the tropical setting of Trinidad.
Why We'll Skip It: Knowing the struggles of the people of Trinidad it's hard to give a shit about these privileged outsiders.


THE LIFE OF FISH (LA VIDA DE LOS PECES )
What Is It About: Dude lives abroad for 10 years then dude goes home for someone's birthday party. That's why he went back? Really?
Why We'll Skip It: We're just not buying the premise. Send a gift card dude. Or admit you're there to hook up with her.


LITTLE BABY JESUS OF FLANDR
What Is It About: A very different take on the story of the Magi. We'll leave it at that.
Why We'll See It: The guide had us at "three drunken beggars stumble upon a couple with a newborn baby, the Baby Jesus perhaps, and experience a spiritual conversion."



THE LITTLE ROOM (LE PETITE CHAMBRE)
What Is It About: An unorthodox nurse and a cranky old man try to out stubborn each other.
Why We Might It: This was Sweden's official entry to the Oscars Best Foreign Film category. Seems like that's a plus.


LIVING IN SEDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES
What Is It About: A simple revenge flick placed into, oddly, in the drama category. A woman tortures a man for reasons that are ever-so-slowly revealed.
Why We Might See It: The vagueness of the write up could be to prevent spoilers or to hide a shabby plot. We can't figure out which it is yet.


MAKE A MOVIE LIKE SPIKE
What Is It About: Set in Los Angeles, this is the story of two friends making a film together before they are deployed in Afghanistan.
Why We Might See It: We like to see young actor/directors cutting their teeth on a contemporary story.


MAMAS and PAPAS
What Is It About: Four couples deal with becoming parents in the Czech Republic.
Why We'll See It: Director Alice Nellis previous film LITTLE BLUE GIRL was one of our favorites from Cinequest 2008.



MAMMA GÓGÓ
What Is It About: An autobiographical story of an Icelandic director's relationship with his aging mother.
Why We'll Skip It: Way too heartfelt. Our heart just can't take that much felt.


MARROW
What Is It About: Deeply felt wounds of family dysfunction abound in this "wrenching drama."
Why We'll Skip It: Synopsis vaguery and no trailer online.



MEDAL OF HONOR (MEDALIA DE ONOARE)
What Is It About: An old and isolated man receives a medal for an act of bravery he can't remember.
Why We Might See It: We trust Charlie Cockey, who wrote the description for this film, he knows his European cinema very well.



NANNERL, MOZART'S SISTER
What Is It About: A musical prodigy attempts to step out from behind her brothers shadow.
Why We'll See It: Love the angle and story here. Really want to see how they craft the views of feminism of the time period.



NEW YORK DECALOGUE
What Is It About: An exploration into the lives of 12 young people living in New York.
Why We'll Skip It: Fucking  hipsters. We mean that with love.



OXYGEN (ADEM)
What Is It About: Suffering from cystic fibrosis doesn't stop Tom from enjoying all that life has to offer.
Why We'll See It: Highly recommended by a friend and fellow Cinequest blogger.



PIRAN-PIRANO
What Is It About: Returning home to the seacoast town of Piran, Italy a man encounters someone from his past. They share their experiences and perspectives in an effort to reach a peace and understanding between themselves.
Why We'll Skip It: Is "guy comes home" the new "boy meets girl"? Seems like this year's lineup is overrun with this type of story.



PURE (TILL DET SOM ÄR VACKER)
What Is It About: A "sad and sexy" story about a young woman working as a secretary at a concert hall. An affair with the conductor "awakens her to the romantic possibilities of life."
Why We Might See It: Feels a little like BLACK SWAN, without the madness and dancing. If there's two things we really hate it's madness and dancing.



QUESTION IN DETAILS (KÖNTÖRFALAK)
What Is It About: A bad date is the start of an interesting friendship. Set almost entirely in one room with a cast of 3, this "chamber drama" focuses entirely on dialogue and acting.
Why We Might See It: Going to have to play this one by ear. Sometimes you're just in the mood to see stuff blowing up, y'know?



RAAVANAN
What Is It About: A retelling of the an ancient sanskrit epic called the Ramayana (we looked that up) by Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam.
Why We'll See It: Whenever the guide says "a blinding cornucopia of love, jealousy and vengeance, full of powerful archetypal images, whirling brilliant colors, non-stop excitement, action and music" we're so there.



ROSA MORENA
What Is It About: A single gay man in Denmark is denied the right to adopt a child. He decides to go the clandestine wrote and explore the adoption black market in Brazil. There he meets Maria, a poor pregnant mother who considers selling him her unborn child.
Why We'll See It: Wow. So many contemporary social issues being tackled here. Why can't American films be this timely and challenging? Oh yeah, no Burger King tie-in possibilities. We forgot.



SAMUEL BLEAK
What Is It About: A mute man is discovered living alone in a cabin in the woods by Ruben Ramirez (Detective Bautista from DEXTER). The man is moved to a mental hospital and there the mysteries of his past are slowly unraveled.
Why We Might See It: The Dexter connection made us throw down to see SKYLINE which was terrible. Will we suffer a similar fate here? Probably.


THE SENTIMENT OF THE FLESH (LE SENTIMENT DE LA CHAIR)
What Is It About: An "erotic physical obsession" between a doctor and medical student erodes into a Cronenberg-style exploration of the human body and mind.
Why We Might See It: Waiting for the buzz on this one before taking the plunge, so to speak.


SINESTESIA
What Is It About: A film divided into four chapters of romance, thriller, comedy and drama. The story revolves around Alan, his mistress Michela, his wife Francoise and his best friend Igor.
Why We'll See It: Another recommended film from a fellow blogger, we're interested in how they use the different genres as a framing device.


SNOW
What Is It About: Parvati's life in Sri Lanka is ruined by a tsunami, forcing her and her family to move to Canada to live with relatives.
Why We Might See It: This film wins the dubious honor of being hardest to Google. Blame the country wide blizzard. Blame Global Warming.


TOGETHERNESS SUPREME
What Is It About: Exploring the lives of three kids living in an East African shantytown.
Why We'll See It: The tagline is great: "Slumdog without the millionaires."


TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER (JUTRO BEDZIE LEPIEJ)
What Is It About: Three more homeless kids (noticing a theme yet?) this time set in the Ukraine.
Why We'll See It: The third film shown at Cinequest by director Dorota Kedzierawska.They say good things come in threes.


TROUBLEMAKER
What Is It About: Rehka is a fiery woman who quits a job as a waitress to travel to Seattle to confront her estrangled father. He owes her in more ways that one.
Why We'll Skip It: Couldn't find a trailer online, kind of a deal breaker at this point.


WAR GAMES AND THE MAN WHO STOPPED THEM (GRY WOJENNE)
What Is It About: A blend of archive footage and dramatic narrative, this is the story of one man in the Polish army who learned how close the world was to nuclear war.
Why We Might See It: We're SJSU-trained history buffs so this story seems like it's right in our wheelhouse.


And that, dear readers, concludes our preview of every drama showing at Cinequest this year. Let us know which ones look good to you either in the comments below or on Twitter.

Now please excuse us, we officially need a nap.