These ticket vouchers were my best friend during the festival.
The festival is now long gone. Left is only ticket stubs, memories and half eaten popcorn boxes that could probably feed Norway for 2 days.
I’ve given this festival a lot of time and thought and what better way can we say goodbye than a “Best of” post here on the blog.
First I want to tip my hat to the festival workers. This year was smooth as silk with very few delays. Most of these delays were because of a surprise Q&A or Face2Face and how can you be mad at that? That’s like being pissed off for coming late to work because you found a bag of money on your way.
So what was my favorite film? I thought this was going to be a close call but the more I think of it the more I loved 50/50. This film also won The Audience Award so I’m not alone on this one. The way director Jonathan Levine balances humor and drama in this film about a 27 year old guy who gets a 50% chance of survival is truly masterful.
Mark my words, within 5 years Joseph Gordon-Levitt will win an Oscar. If not, I will be the guy that storms the stage and steals it from Rusell Crowe after he’s won his 17th.
Favorite documentary goes to How To Die In Oregon. This HBO produced film is about death. Plain and simple. Oregon was the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide and we get to follow a couple of people that has chosen that path. Let me tell you, I’ve never been in such a quiet movie theater as this one. This film sucks you right in and definitely leaves its mark.
Best looking film for me was easily Simon & The Oaks. This is a film I’ve already written about so if you’ve missed it, you can read more about it here.
The actress that stood out the most for me was the lead in Martha Marcy May Marlene, Elizabeth Olsen. Not only is she stunning but her role as a woman that tries to break out of a cult left me wanting more. But let’s all forget the fact that she’s the little sister to The Olsen twins.
For best actor I have to go with Michael Fassbender. I know, safe bet, but his role in Shame was just incredible. Personally I didn’t think Shame lived up to its own hype but the acting in the film was a symphony.
Best director for me was hard. I truly think Ruben Östlund did a fantastic job directing young kid actors in Play but Tomas Alfredson’s work in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is just pure gold. On the other hand with actors like Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Colin Firth the question is how much do you really need to direct? More on this film soon.
And now the lows. It’s always fun to end with the bad stuff. The absolute biggest thing I think the festival missed was an easy one, language. They had seminars that were marked “In English” but was presented in Swedish and they showed Swedish films without English subtitles. I understand the fact that the majority of festival visitors are Swedes but how will the foreign cinema lovers experience Swedish film? And isn’t film always best at festivals?
The people have also spoken. The Cage was crowned by a jury but then we have the peoples vote. And as I consider myself more of a man of the people than a man of the jury (wow, that was very John Grisham of me) I found this result more interesting. The winner of the Audience Award for best international film was Tussilago. When I heard that I gave myself a mental high-five. I was worried that my predictions in my previous post would crumble like a house of cards but when Tussilago by Jonas Odell was called out it was all good.
On the Swedish front the winner for best film was Not Panic (Ingen Panik) by Elisabeth Marjanovic’ Cronvall. Once again, a film I really enjoyed but thought nothing else to it. However after seeing it again I really understood what the jury meant with their motivation:
The Swedish Audience Award went to Miss Remarkable And Her Career (Fröken Märkvärdig och Karriären) by Joanna Rubin Dranger. This is an animated film that really got loved by a lot of people. Was it my favourite? No but it’s still a damn good film and I’m very happy for the director.