SLIFF 2019 (Part I)

Since I mentioned SLIFF in my last post, I guess it's time I tell you what S and I did during my favorite local holiday!

As I mentioned, Marriage Story was one of its featured films.  The problem was that in order to attend that, you also had to buy tickets for the opening night party, which I had no desire to attend.  So we skipped over to day 2 of the festival and saw Doc Shorts: Method M.  It was a collection of short films directed by students at Mizzou's Center for Documentary Journalism.

First up was 37-64-97.  It was made in substantial party from archival footage that the director's grandmother had filmed.  It was pieced together in such a way as to attempt to explore the relationship between the grandmother, the mother, and the director.  It met with some success in that regard, though I would consider it more of a tribute piece to honor the (now deceased) grandmother as much as anything else.

HorseGirl was our second selection, which was my favorite of the bunch.  It profiles a young horse trainer who left home as a teenager with her horse, and the two of them had to find their way in the world.  Eventually she found work doing what she loves and working with rescued horses, training them so they can be ridden again.

Jack (and Joe) would have been wonderful, if things had worked out right.  The director's long-time friend had a severely autistic brother, and the film is a tribute to him, and also to all the people who care for him.  The problem was with the film's audio; apparently there was a narrative track that was supposed to be playing over parts of the movie, but it was missing.  So something was certainly lost, but it was a sweet film even without it.

Qualm & Quietus was an odd one.  It purports to explore death and impermanence.  It seemed like more of an exploration of the pagan religion followed by its main (and really only) character.  There were some interesting, zen-generation snippets of reflection about death, but mostly it seemed to miss the mark because of the strangeness of everything else in the film.