Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns live and in-person March 7, back in downtown San Jose, with screenings March 7-17 at the California Theatre and the Hammer Theater. Selected films from the program then move to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy from March 21-31..
I’ve already seen almost twenty offerings from Cinequest 2024, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. I’ve also included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest”.
MUST SEE
- Pain and Peace: This extraordinary and emotionally powerful documentary begins with the story of Rais Bhuiyan. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, an attacker who was looking to kill Muslims, any Muslims, shot two convenience store clerks to death and then entered the workplace of Bangladeshi immigrant Bhuiyan and shot him in the face with a shotgun; Bhuiyan somehow survived and then, perhaps even more remarkably, began a campaign of forgiveness for his perpetrator. What follows is an exploration of forgiveness as a necessary prerequisite to reconciliation and ending the cycle of demonizing other people. Bhuiyan interviews other survivors of hate crimes, many of the highest profile, like the Georgia church shooting, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting, and more. It’s riveting when they retell their experiences and talk about forgiving their attackers. Pain and Peace is the first feature for director Mark Feijó. World premiere.
- The Invisibles: In this engrossing dramatic parable, Charlie (Tim Blake Nelson) has become so disengaged from his job and his marriage that he becomes invisible – at first metaphorically and then literally – to those around him. Charlie is finding this disturbing enough, but then he finds himself in a parallel dimension of invisible people like him – who have experienced a loss and given up on life in some way. Can they return to the world of the visible? And do they want to? There’s no more emotional pain in the invisible world, and their hangout is a hub of merrymaking. Charlie and his wife Hannah (Gretchen Mol) have suffered a grievous loss; Hannah has been working hard to recover, but the grief has paralyzed Charlie into a toxic mire of denial, avoidance and apathy. As Charlie finds himself torn between his love for his wife and the comfort of the invisible world, The Invisibles explores the how people react to the pain of loss and the painful process of getting beyond it. Tim Blake Nelson has never been better. World premiere.
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
- Same Old West: This contemporary Brazilian western begins with two men slugging it out over a woman, before they start hiring gunmen to take out the other. Same Old West takes us into a Brazil that is neither Rio de Janeiro nor the Amazon rainforest. This is a flat and arid land, a backward place where hired killers are still called gunmen instead of hit men and use their hunting rifles instead of automatic weapons. Literally, the plot of Same Old West sounds male-oriented – a bunch of guys hunting each other with gun violence on their minds. But, it’s really about men who have been rejected by women, and their inability to understand it or to move on. They’re aspiring to toxic masculinity, but they’re too laughably pathetic to achieve it. If you like your humor as dry as the landscape, Same Old West is downright hilarious. It’s also visually striking and richly atmospheric, with hints of Sergio Leone, World premiere.
ROMANCE
- Falling into Place: This absorbing Scottish romantic drama begins on the Isle of Skye when two visiting London creatives meet outside a rowdy pub and flirt. Kira (Aylin Tezel), a theater set designer, is on holiday. Ian (Chris Fulton), a musician, has grown up on Skye and intends to shoehorn in an infrequent visit with his family. Kira is trying to get beyond a recent breakup, while Ian’s relationship is in its final throes. When Kira hears that Ian has a girlfriend, she puts in the brakes, but she’s drawn enough to Ian that she accompanies him as he faces some family drama. Then, Kira and Ian return separately to London. The audience soon wants these two to get and stay together, but they’ll need to get past some trauma in Ian’s family, his current romantic entanglement, Kyra’s feelings for her ex, an attractive boss with his eyes on Kira and some bad timing. Utterly devoid of the tropes in conventional movie romances, Falling into Place is profoundly authentic. This is the first feature for writer/director Aylin Tezel (who also stars as Kira), and it’s a very strong and promising debut. US Premiere.
COMEDY
- Human Resources: In this dark, dark Argentinian comedy, Gabriel Lynch (Pedro De Tavira) is an alienated office worker, in an absurdly alienating workplace. Gabriel is a low-level supervisor on an anonymous lower floor of a corporate hive with too many layers of management and an oppressive, top-down culture. It’s also oversexed, with a carousel of Inappropriate office liaisons. Gabriel, an Iago with a sick sense of humor, begins a ruthless, unhinged campaign against those who offend him. I’ve rarely seen a more cynical comedy. US premiere.
- Puddysticks: In this good-hearted and original comedy, Liz (Megan Seely) is a puddle of anxiety. She is a workaholic game developer for an enterprise whose company culture, despite its mission statement, could not be more anti-fun. Liz stumbles on a self-help group, led by the ever blissed-out Sylvester (Dan Bakkedahl of Veep, Sword of Trust), where each participant must reveal their innermost secret. It’s cultlike and filled with psychobabble, but it seems to work for Megan and the others. And then Megan learns someone else’s secret… Puddysticks is a scathing satire of tech workplace culture and the self-help movement, somehow without a hint of meanness. Puddysticks is written and directed by Megan Seely (who also stars) in her first feature. World premiere.
- Check out even more Cinequest comedies in my Laughs at Cinequest.
THRILLER
- The Island Between the Tides: In this supernatural thriller, a young girl wanders away from her parents on the isolated British Columbia coastline and returns seemingly the same. As a young woman, she disappears again, and this time returns 20 years later, but at the same age as when she left. She’s trying to figure out what has happened, as is the family who has been grieving her loss for twenty years, not to mention her son, who is now older than she is. They and the audience are bouncing between the unsettling possible explanations of delusion and disassociation, ghosts or a dimension where beings move to and may be trapped in different times. The story is based on the play Mary Rose by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, which I’ve read that Hitchcock wanted to adapt, but couldn’t overcome studio suits finding it “too troubling”. Impressive feature debut for writer-directors Austin Andrews and Andrew Holmes. World premiere and Cinequest’s opening night film.
DOCUMENTARY
- Quixote in New York: This charming documentary follows the 82-yer-old Spanish flamenco dance master Carrete, who wants to cap his career by performing in a major NYC theater. Carrete himself is a hoot, funny AF and even makes rehearsals fun for everybody. There’s a Can’t Miss scene, where Carrete dances in front of a projection of Fred Astaire, mirroring Astaire’s moves in a flamenco interpretation. US premiere.
ART FILM
- Giant’s Kettle: If you’re looking for an unadulterated art film, this stark Finnish drama is your pick. First-time directors Marku Hakala and Mari Kaki make one bold artistic choice after another – no human dialogue, a static camera, shots of very long duration with very little action. Giant’s Kettle is an exploration of alienation, loneliness and yearning in a world hostile to connection. Kirsi Paananen, in what is essentially a silent film performance, is heart-breaking, especially in long shot. Giant’s Kettle is intentionally slow-paced, but is only 71 minutes long. Nevertheless, it’s not a movie for everyone. US premiere.
HACKING CINEQUEST
Cinequest resumes its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California and the 550-seat Hammer – all within 1600 feet of each other.
At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets.
As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2024 page, with links to all my coverage.
Here’s the trailer for Pain and Peace (world premiere):