Latest / Nashville Movie Dispatch / Vick's Flicks, Ep. 183: The 2026 Atlanta Film Festival

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Vick's Flicks, Ep. 183: The 2026 Atlanta Film Festival · Nashville Movie Dispatch

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Speaker 1: Reviews, news, deep dives into filmographies, and really whatever the
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Speaker 1: hell we want to talk about from the movie world.
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Speaker 1: This is the vix Flicks Podcast on Nashville Movie Dispatch.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of the vix Flick podcast
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Speaker 1: right here on Nashville Dispatch.
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Speaker 2: I'll be your host for the show, the eic.
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Speaker 1: At Sobros Network, Big Natural Stoney Kiley. You can follow
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Speaker 1: me on social media at Stony Keiley, collectively at Sobros Network,
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Speaker 1: and of course you can check out all of our
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Speaker 1: work at Nashville Moviedispatch dot substack dot com. Joined today
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Speaker 1: to talk about the twenty twenty six Atlanta Film Festival.
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Speaker 1: Through our Anyway is the star of the show himself,
1:03
Speaker 1: the man whose Namesakered bears. He is a board member
1:06
Speaker 1: of the Music City Film Critics Association, he is a
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Speaker 1: member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, and he's our
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Speaker 1: resident film critic here at Nashville Movie Dispatch. Mister big
1:17
Speaker 1: shot himself Brandon Vick. Brandon, how you doing today, my man?
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Speaker 3: I'm good man. Fifty years this was the fiftieth anniversary for.
1:25
Speaker 1: These I know, man, and it is Do you realize
1:29
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure the first Atlanta Film festival we covered
1:34
Speaker 1: was in twenty nineteen.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I might have even been twenty eighteen.
1:40
Speaker 3: I want to say it was twenty nineteen. And it's
1:44
Speaker 3: when I went down there by my lonesome and for
1:50
Speaker 3: people that don't know, I was standing in line from
1:54
Speaker 3: Miles Davis documentary and saw Paul Giamoni. That's my claim
1:59
Speaker 3: to Like, that's what I remember the most is seeing
2:01
Speaker 3: him and just wandering around, like I mean, this was
2:05
Speaker 3: not like a red carpet thing. He was literally like
2:09
Speaker 3: I think he ended up sitting upstairs. Someone told me
2:11
Speaker 3: who worked there, but yeah, and I think it's when
2:15
Speaker 3: he was filming Billions that showtime show.
2:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:18
Speaker 1: But that's the thing about this festival, man, is they
2:22
Speaker 1: they always seem to have a headliner down there.
2:24
Speaker 3: They get legit people.
2:26
Speaker 1: Paul Giamatti is a headliner. Keep your smart ass comments
2:29
Speaker 1: to yourself. Like this year they did a screening of
2:33
Speaker 1: Weapons with Josh Brolin there.
2:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they had a movie with with Daniel Brooks
2:40
Speaker 3: who was in The Color Purple. Yeah, and it has
2:42
Speaker 3: been in a lot of different stuff and I mean, yeah,
2:46
Speaker 3: they had like I think the director of Spectacular Now
2:50
Speaker 3: or the writer of Spectacular, Like they have all kinds
2:54
Speaker 3: of different people. I'd say James James, I wish James
2:58
Speaker 3: Brolin of the son Josh there to Atlanta. But Josh
3:02
Speaker 3: Brolin would have been awesome, and he received some kind
3:04
Speaker 3: of award from them too, so that that would have
3:08
Speaker 3: been neat to see.
3:09
Speaker 1: As long as we've been covering this festival, which you know,
3:13
Speaker 1: from US, it's only about a three and a half
3:15
Speaker 1: four hour drive down the road to Atlanta for this festival,
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Speaker 1: They've always kind of stood out for these marquee events
3:25
Speaker 1: and it's been to me.
3:27
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I don't know what you would say.
3:29
Speaker 1: You're probably more well versed and well immersed in this
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Speaker 1: world than I am. But Atlanta kind of feels like
3:36
Speaker 1: one of the tent pole film festivals at least in
3:39
Speaker 1: the Southeast every year.
3:40
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's that's one hundred percent right going there,
3:46
Speaker 3: because they also did some virtual stuff obviously during COVID
3:49
Speaker 3: and everything. But going there, I love how the setup is.
3:54
Speaker 3: So the Plaza theater is like the main one and
3:58
Speaker 3: it's a it's a fantastic theater, but around the corner
4:02
Speaker 3: like they have different stuff. It's all very walkable. It's
4:05
Speaker 3: not in the heart of Atlanta. It's on the outskirts
4:07
Speaker 3: of it. You're not. It was so easy. I think
4:10
Speaker 3: it's like a publics or a whole foods. I would
4:14
Speaker 3: park there every day and you just got on the
4:16
Speaker 3: sidewalk and there's pizza places, Mexican restaurants, and I mean
4:21
Speaker 3: there's all kinds of stuff Like I really I hope
4:24
Speaker 3: they never change the location. You know, we've talked about,
4:27
Speaker 3: you know here at home in Nashville's crazy venue. Yeah,
4:35
Speaker 3: it's from one Nashville to another, and I think one
4:38
Speaker 3: is in Chattanooga Aquarium. But I love, I have always
4:44
Speaker 3: loved the way Atlanta had it laid out, and we
4:48
Speaker 3: were really looking forward to go in this year, but
4:51
Speaker 3: we gosh, I think we put in around January and February,
4:55
Speaker 3: but unfortunately we got we received actual confirmation I think
5:01
Speaker 3: maybe nine days before the festival.
5:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:05
Speaker 3: That that's tough when you have day jobs.
5:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're supposed.
5:11
Speaker 3: To get a hotel within eight days. That's a that's
5:14
Speaker 3: a little tough too.
5:15
Speaker 2: Well. And we had every intention of going down there.
5:20
Speaker 3: For some of it. We now we we can't take
5:22
Speaker 3: off for a whole two weeks and that's a nice
5:25
Speaker 3: that's a good little chunk for a film festival, and
5:28
Speaker 3: you know, Nashville kind of used to do that, and
5:29
Speaker 3: they've gone down to eight days. Maybe I think it's
5:34
Speaker 3: a little less than a week, but but yeah, I mean,
5:37
Speaker 3: I would have loved to just gone down there, even
5:38
Speaker 3: it was just for a few days to enjoyce, like
5:41
Speaker 3: you said, some of these special presentations marquee things, because
5:44
Speaker 3: they had I Love Boosters, which is Boots Riley's new
5:47
Speaker 3: flick that comes out at the end of the month.
5:49
Speaker 3: They had I Want Your Sex, which was a big
5:51
Speaker 3: thing from Sun Dance with Cooper Hoffman, Olivia Wilde, the
5:57
Speaker 3: what was that power ballad? The Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas,
6:02
Speaker 3: the new Carney movie who you know he directed once
6:05
Speaker 3: in Sings Street. So that's a good.
6:08
Speaker 1: One obsession everybody seems to get talking about, Oh.
6:12
Speaker 3: I would I really want to see that one that
6:15
Speaker 3: that looked that looked good.
6:16
Speaker 1: And then Over Your Dead Body, which is playing in
6:19
Speaker 1: theaters now.
6:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, actually I think I just saw a thing where
6:22
Speaker 3: mcash saw that.
6:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was man, I was I was looking
6:28
Speaker 1: forward to going for a couple of days, but it
6:31
Speaker 1: is kind of tough to pull off. Like we started
6:33
Speaker 1: having the conversation like I guess we're not I guess
6:37
Speaker 1: we're not in and.
6:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true, and then listen if so, that would
6:42
Speaker 3: be fine.
6:43
Speaker 2: Yeah it is there.
6:44
Speaker 3: Kind of have accepted it. But then when you do
6:47
Speaker 3: get it, and it's a very exciting email to get,
6:50
Speaker 3: then reality sets in.
6:52
Speaker 1: It's like, uh, I remember having those conversations in late
6:56
Speaker 1: March and being like, man, haven't heard from him.
7:00
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is going.
7:01
Speaker 1: To happen, and then thinking like, well, what if this
7:04
Speaker 1: isn't eleventh hour thaing, I've got to at least give
7:07
Speaker 1: my day job two weeks notice if I'm going to
7:09
Speaker 1: take time off.
7:10
Speaker 2: And I didn't want to book.
7:12
Speaker 1: Us a hotel room to go down there and then
7:16
Speaker 1: not get accepted but not know in an acceptable window
7:20
Speaker 1: to cancel.
7:21
Speaker 2: So we were kind of stuck.
7:23
Speaker 3: And nobody want to pay for a visit. You don't
7:26
Speaker 3: you don't get to enjoy.
7:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, we got kind of stuck there, and it's stunk
7:31
Speaker 1: because I think I can speak for both of us
7:34
Speaker 1: when I say this is usually a pretty well curated festival.
7:38
Speaker 3: I mean I, oh, yeah, I love when I when
7:40
Speaker 3: we have done it, it's been it's been great. Now
7:45
Speaker 3: I will now, I will say all things, all things,
7:50
Speaker 3: you know, all things said. I do like like when
7:56
Speaker 3: the email comes in, they give you a whole thing,
7:59
Speaker 3: and we're very lucky to have a lot to choose from,
8:03
Speaker 3: even before the festival started. And I really liked how
8:06
Speaker 3: they did that. And I think that's sort of what
8:09
Speaker 3: you're speaking to as well, is that I love the
8:11
Speaker 3: way they do things. I very they would just send
8:16
Speaker 3: that confirmation email a little earlier. That's all. That's really
8:20
Speaker 3: the bottom of it is. I would have loved to
8:21
Speaker 3: have known at the beginning of March or April. Sorry,
8:26
Speaker 3: I actually forget, like brim May, but even beginning of
8:29
Speaker 3: April gives us some time to ask off and things.
8:33
Speaker 3: It's just things like that that and listen, maybe we
8:37
Speaker 3: were at the bottom of the barrel and they needed
8:38
Speaker 3: more people. I mean, you know, there's people out there
8:42
Speaker 3: who may have gotten the confirmation email on Valentine's Day,
8:46
Speaker 3: so I don't know. I don't know. I would have
8:50
Speaker 3: loved to have getten more to I mean, I'm on
8:52
Speaker 3: like three weeks earlier would have been nice. Into March,
8:57
Speaker 3: early April.
8:58
Speaker 1: Uh.
8:58
Speaker 3: I think we could have done something. I think we
9:00
Speaker 3: could have gone down there and been, you know, in
9:03
Speaker 3: the action. But anyway, we were able to get some
9:07
Speaker 3: stuff and we were able to watch it here in
9:09
Speaker 3: our homes, and I think we did a pretty good job.
9:13
Speaker 1: So yeah, our coverage is virtual this year, which we
9:19
Speaker 1: can just jump right into the films that we were
9:21
Speaker 1: able to see here. Brandon, I'll start us off with.
9:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I did see yeh. Go ahead, Well, I was
9:29
Speaker 3: going to say I saw I saw nine films total.
9:34
Speaker 3: I think most of them were features, and I think
9:36
Speaker 3: three of them. I think three of them were documentaries.
9:40
Speaker 3: But you you actually watched some of the shorts, so
9:43
Speaker 3: I was gonna let you kind of talk about those
9:46
Speaker 3: because I did not get to see any of those.
9:49
Speaker 3: But but before we get to that, at the Gas
9:51
Speaker 3: Station Attendant, which I got to see last year, but
9:56
Speaker 3: you have a fantastic review on Nashville Movie Dispatch about it.
10:00
Speaker 3: I know you're a big fan of it.
10:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just wanted to mention that in passing because
10:04
Speaker 1: I know that you and I talked about it a
10:06
Speaker 1: little bit when we saw it at last year's Nashville
10:08
Speaker 1: Film Festival. Yeah, I've told you this before, Like I
10:13
Speaker 1: love going to festivals, but there there is a drawback
10:17
Speaker 1: to them when you see something that you really love
10:21
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm probably never gonna see this movie again.
10:25
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty seven, you might well listen. It just goes
10:30
Speaker 3: to show you that. And I had, like, I literally
10:34
Speaker 3: got a film to watch that comes out in a
10:38
Speaker 3: couple of weeks that was a big hit at south
10:43
Speaker 3: By Southwest in twenty twenty five. Dang, And there's stuff
10:48
Speaker 3: that I'll get emails about that one, stuff from like
10:51
Speaker 3: Can and Sundance last year that is now finding its
10:55
Speaker 3: way to an audience. So I mean, yeah, and I mean,
10:59
Speaker 3: and these are some bigger titles perhaps, And anytime I
11:04
Speaker 3: think you kind of you're in yet you're discussing documentaries,
11:09
Speaker 3: that's an iffy thing too. I Mean a lot of
11:11
Speaker 3: that does end up on streaming, and even actually some
11:13
Speaker 3: of the most popular ones, like like the Alabama Solution
11:19
Speaker 3: for instance, a lot of these Academy Award nominated ones
11:23
Speaker 3: are actually end up streaming, like Netflix had the Perfect Neighbor, Like,
11:27
Speaker 3: some things just are streaming anyway, and they're the ones
11:31
Speaker 3: that you know, kind of get the most. You know
11:33
Speaker 3: people are talking about but what are the odds that
11:35
Speaker 3: it's gonna come out in a theater?
11:37
Speaker 1: That's well, yeah, yeah, And I look at a film
11:40
Speaker 1: like Porcelain War, which we saw at the next oh yeah,
11:44
Speaker 1: and it like got a little traction. But even then
11:48
Speaker 1: it still wasn't like I don't remember it ever screening
11:51
Speaker 1: in a theater somewhere, I stream.
11:56
Speaker 3: Somewhere, but yeah, I think it did make it so
12:00
Speaker 3: but I do remember, and actually I want to think
12:03
Speaker 3: it was like even like a PBS type thing because
12:06
Speaker 3: it dealt with Ukraine and stuff, and that obviously is
12:09
Speaker 3: still an ongoing thing. But but I mean, look, I mean,
12:14
Speaker 3: here's the thing, the gas station Attendant. We saw it
12:16
Speaker 3: in September. Here we are still talking about it in May,
12:20
Speaker 3: so that just goes to show you it's on a
12:23
Speaker 3: hell of a run.
12:24
Speaker 1: That's why when I saw that it was not only
12:28
Speaker 1: a part of the festival, but that it was available
12:31
Speaker 1: for advanced viewing the press credentials, I was like, man,
12:36
Speaker 1: I want to watch this again, and this time I
12:39
Speaker 1: wrote a full review of it.
12:41
Speaker 2: I was able to get it up.
12:43
Speaker 1: Before the screening, so you know, I don't know if
12:45
Speaker 1: we sent anybody from Nashville down there, but hopefully people
12:50
Speaker 1: aware of it. It's a great just salt of the earth,
12:55
Speaker 1: portrait of a life documentary that I don't know it
13:01
Speaker 1: just it really rocked me the first time I saw it,
13:03
Speaker 1: so I was happy to write about that. That is
13:06
Speaker 1: available up on Nashville Moovie Dispatch dot substack dot com now,
13:11
Speaker 1: so we won't spend too much time all and over
13:15
Speaker 1: and again if you just if you just can't get
13:17
Speaker 1: enough of this film, you can go back to our
13:20
Speaker 1: episode recapping the twenty twenty five Nashville Film Festival to
13:26
Speaker 1: listen to us talk about that. But you mentioned the shorts, Brandon,
13:30
Speaker 1: and I'm a big fan of the shorts. I always
13:33
Speaker 1: it's always something I try to pick out a few
13:36
Speaker 1: to watch whatever festival because I kind of feel like
13:42
Speaker 1: they can be overlooked sometimes.
13:44
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's not like I get.
13:46
Speaker 1: It, and it's not like you can just pick and
13:48
Speaker 1: choose I'm gonna go watch this, but not that like
13:52
Speaker 1: you're usually watching them in blocks where it's like, hey,
13:55
Speaker 1: here's several of them, and it's I mean, I get it,
13:59
Speaker 1: but it's awkward when you want to see one of
14:02
Speaker 1: the shorts. But you've got to sit through like three
14:04
Speaker 1: or four of them before you get to the one
14:06
Speaker 1: you want.
14:06
Speaker 2: So whenever we get the.
14:08
Speaker 1: Little the little list of what's available ahead of time
14:12
Speaker 1: to the press, I always try to pick out a
14:14
Speaker 1: few to watch.
14:17
Speaker 3: I always it always gets to a point where I
14:20
Speaker 3: will see something and I'll think, oh, well, what's this about?
14:23
Speaker 3: And then I realize, oh, it's actually like a part
14:27
Speaker 3: of a whole thing with shorts. When I think, oh,
14:31
Speaker 3: maybe this was a documentary or a feature length, it'll say, oh,
14:36
Speaker 3: it's a part of it. And we were I was
14:38
Speaker 3: looking at stuff on the Virtual Cinema and some award winners,
14:41
Speaker 3: and I realize, oh, that's actually a part of the
14:45
Speaker 3: whole shorts thing. But I'm really bad about not watching
14:49
Speaker 3: those and I should and I know, like from previous
14:53
Speaker 3: film festival runs to but you and I have talked
14:58
Speaker 3: about and but you are you're a lot better than
15:01
Speaker 3: I am. I really focus on features and dogs, which
15:04
Speaker 3: I did this year as well, but I'm always interested
15:08
Speaker 3: in seeing, like, oh, you know what I should I
15:11
Speaker 3: should try and catch that, or especially those that end
15:14
Speaker 3: up making their way, like as we start talking about
15:16
Speaker 3: award season and things like.
15:18
Speaker 1: That, yeah, So I watched three from kind Of Film
15:23
Speaker 1: Festival twenty six. I watched one eight hundred Get Sexy,
15:27
Speaker 1: which is man, it's one of those things you put
15:31
Speaker 1: on and it's just it's a vibe in and of itself,
15:35
Speaker 1: very stylistic, very humorous. We kind of get a taste
15:40
Speaker 1: of life as a phone sex operator. We kind of
15:43
Speaker 1: tap into what it means to escape the mundane in
15:47
Speaker 1: favor of our deepest desires.
15:50
Speaker 2: It's a it's a.
15:51
Speaker 1: Pretty fun, easy fifteen minutes that kind of I don't know.
15:56
Speaker 1: I watched it and kind of felt like this is
15:58
Speaker 1: the sort of creative spirit that is highlighted when you
16:03
Speaker 1: can take subject matter like this and kind of cram
16:06
Speaker 1: it into such a short time.
16:08
Speaker 2: It's very thought.
16:09
Speaker 1: It was very vibrant, funny and nice, nice and tight
16:14
Speaker 1: at fifteen minutes too. I watched one from Ivy Reading
16:20
Speaker 1: called in the Garden, which was a very very moving,
16:24
Speaker 1: very beautiful documentary short.
16:27
Speaker 3: This is a documentary one.
16:30
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:30
Speaker 1: This is basically reading kind of giving us a snapshot
16:35
Speaker 1: of her mother's life.
16:36
Speaker 2: It's told via long form poem.
16:39
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, connected, discussing themes like connecting with our roots,
16:45
Speaker 1: like the love of our family, what home feels like,
16:50
Speaker 1: to borrow a term from Tracy Lawrence, time marches on,
16:53
Speaker 1: like how the hell yeah it is? It is set
16:59
Speaker 1: to the sights and sounds of the South during the summertime.
17:04
Speaker 1: And again I come back to the skill it takes
17:07
Speaker 1: to create some of these shorts. Ivy Reading manages to
17:11
Speaker 1: fit a lifetime into an eleven minute short, and it's
17:15
Speaker 1: done so in touching fashion. So that was one that
17:17
Speaker 1: was really easy and really impactful. But I think my
17:21
Speaker 1: favorite of the three that I watched was a short
17:25
Speaker 1: from Anthony Prince Leslie's called By a Hare and it's
17:31
Speaker 1: about two people in the city whose paths kind of,
17:36
Speaker 1: you know, just barely cross at multiple times, and you
17:41
Speaker 1: never really see them come together until well, they come together,
17:47
Speaker 1: but then you kind of relive all of the moments
17:50
Speaker 1: the stories could have touched and intersected, but they didn't,
17:54
Speaker 1: and it's very well done. I loved how it kind
17:59
Speaker 1: of balanced this cosmic narrative of chance encounters and how
18:06
Speaker 1: powerful connection can be if it's made. But like, what
18:10
Speaker 1: could we miss out on if it's not made? To
18:14
Speaker 1: be so big and to say so much in just
18:20
Speaker 1: about ten minutes, I was really impressed with this one.
18:24
Speaker 1: It was one that was a fun, cute story that
18:28
Speaker 1: it successfully made me feel something that was a lot
18:31
Speaker 1: larger than its runtime was. So I mean, it's like,
18:36
Speaker 1: I think about a lot of the shorts that I've
18:38
Speaker 1: watched throughout the years at these film festivals, and By
18:43
Speaker 1: a Hair and in the Garden specifically were two that
18:47
Speaker 1: really stood out because of how effective they were in
18:50
Speaker 1: such a short run time. So I was impressed by those.
18:53
Speaker 3: I think that's what gets me. And you know, sometimes
18:56
Speaker 3: there are these stories where someone made a shit short
19:00
Speaker 3: film and they made it into a feature ling film
19:02
Speaker 3: and they say, you know, this was probably better as
19:04
Speaker 3: a short film, And that's what I'm amazed by with
19:08
Speaker 3: whether it's a feature of dock, it doesn't matter. But
19:12
Speaker 3: you know, eight minutes, twelve minutes, fifteen minutes to tell
19:15
Speaker 3: a story like that and to have the kind of
19:18
Speaker 3: impact that's possible, I am amazed that you can tell
19:25
Speaker 3: something and that short amount of time to get something going.
19:29
Speaker 3: And then there's then there's the other there's the other
19:32
Speaker 3: side of it that says, oh god, you know what,
19:34
Speaker 3: you know, fifteen minutes is not enough like you need
19:37
Speaker 3: And sometimes that's what gives birth to this hour and
19:41
Speaker 3: a half, you know, whatever it may be. But but yeah,
19:46
Speaker 3: and I mean, you.
19:46
Speaker 1: Never know you want to start digging into the features then,
19:50
Speaker 1: and then wouldn't.
19:52
Speaker 3: Features you want me to do the docs? I can
19:55
Speaker 3: do a couple of docs before we get into features
19:57
Speaker 3: if you want. Did you see any like you didn't
19:59
Speaker 3: see any documentary like feature lean films? Right?
20:02
Speaker 2: I have not other than the Gas Station Attendant And.
20:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, okay, all right, fair enough. Well there's one
20:08
Speaker 3: that I ended up. I wasn't. It wasn't initially I
20:13
Speaker 3: wasn't thinking I was gonna watch it, and then I did.
20:16
Speaker 3: But it's called Land with No Rider, and it is
20:19
Speaker 3: a it's very much where you were talking about, kind
20:22
Speaker 3: of assault of the earth, Like we are really just
20:24
Speaker 3: kind of being dropped off into this spot in New
20:29
Speaker 3: Mexico and they tell you that, like, you know, however,
20:33
Speaker 3: many years and years and years ago it was full
20:36
Speaker 3: of like cattle and it was really thriving, and now
20:39
Speaker 3: it's like it's so desolate and it's and even the
20:43
Speaker 3: people there, it's like it's it's it's really about isolation, loneliness.
20:47
Speaker 3: It's like this drought where it's certainly is not. The
20:51
Speaker 3: place is not what it used to be, and so
20:53
Speaker 3: you kind of see the different ways of way people
20:56
Speaker 3: kind of live off the land and who they are,
20:58
Speaker 3: and they sort of focused on these four guys and
21:02
Speaker 3: they're all very different, they're all at kind of different
21:06
Speaker 3: parts of their life. A lot of it obviously is like, well,
21:09
Speaker 3: you know, we have you know, we've got good land.
21:12
Speaker 3: And there's others that's kind of looking. There's one that's
21:15
Speaker 3: kind of the way farming's done now and how innovative
21:18
Speaker 3: it can be, but obviously it is not the it's
21:21
Speaker 3: not of the old ways on how you know they
21:25
Speaker 3: were able to do it, and it's a I liked it.
21:30
Speaker 3: I think for some it is very slow and there's
21:33
Speaker 3: not really I mean, there's a story there, but it
21:35
Speaker 3: really is just kind of getting the feel of who
21:39
Speaker 3: these guys are in a place that used to be
21:44
Speaker 3: something that it clearly isn't now, but sort of how
21:49
Speaker 3: either they've they've come to accept it or in one
21:53
Speaker 3: case with this one farmer who works for this family
21:56
Speaker 3: on this kind of innovative farming, like the this is
22:00
Speaker 3: the future, this is how it is, but clearly it's
22:03
Speaker 3: of a bygone era. It's of a way of life
22:06
Speaker 3: that a lot of us just don't know, couldn't identify with.
22:14
Speaker 3: It is I mean, there's some that really do live
22:15
Speaker 3: off the land. There's this one guy who's like it's
22:19
Speaker 3: kind of a running joke of how many wives he's had,
22:22
Speaker 3: but he goes to the pool hall every day and
22:24
Speaker 3: he drinks, you know, he has his but or you know,
22:28
Speaker 3: Miller Lite. That's like there's just it's it's really just
22:32
Speaker 3: sort of like a hangout film, but it but it
22:35
Speaker 3: does touch on the richness of the land and what
22:39
Speaker 3: it used to be and just of of of what
22:44
Speaker 3: time can do and what progress can do. But also
22:49
Speaker 3: it's sort of like we've lost the beauty of it too,
22:52
Speaker 3: and I think there's a very much of a kind
22:55
Speaker 3: of a recall of like, let's I wish we could
23:00
Speaker 3: still kind of have this. So it it's striking in ways,
23:05
Speaker 3: and then other times I feel like we're kind of,
23:07
Speaker 3: you know, we're kind of going back to the same thing,
23:09
Speaker 3: and they're kind of saying the same stuff and you know,
23:12
Speaker 3: but but it does it certainly represents of a bygone era,
23:17
Speaker 3: of a pastime that it's just not coming back. Uh,
23:21
Speaker 3: so that was Lamb's no writer.
23:24
Speaker 2: The slice of life stuff.
23:25
Speaker 1: Man, that that always hits me ten times harder than
23:30
Speaker 1: anything else.
23:32
Speaker 3: I mean, some of these guys, if they said that
23:33
Speaker 3: they lived in Gladeville, Tennessee, I'd say, oh, yeah, that
23:37
Speaker 3: makes sense. He can be at the Gladeville Diner. I
23:40
Speaker 3: could see that.
23:41
Speaker 2: So what else? Uh?
23:43
Speaker 1: What else did you watch from the documentary selection?
23:46
Speaker 3: Well, there's another one and again I did watch a few,
23:49
Speaker 3: but there's one that is about BF Skinner. Oh it's
23:54
Speaker 3: called BF Skinner plays Himself. Now, if you don't know
23:56
Speaker 3: BF Skinner is, he's basically this kind of ecologist all
24:01
Speaker 3: about the American behavior and sort of if you can
24:04
Speaker 3: train them to do if you there's a thing that
24:07
Speaker 3: he did with pigeons and that it basically he was
24:11
Speaker 3: very controversial and kind of what it was because it
24:14
Speaker 3: kind of deals against that free will that you think
24:16
Speaker 3: a person has. But you're almost you can almost learn
24:20
Speaker 3: to teach anybody anything and to do anything, So it's
24:25
Speaker 3: almost kind of like taking over the mind and making
24:28
Speaker 3: them do something that maybe they consciously are not aware of,
24:33
Speaker 3: but have repeated patterns and everything. So there's a whole
24:37
Speaker 3: thing on the And what's interesting is this is basically
24:40
Speaker 3: a docu old footage from a documentary that's supposed to
24:42
Speaker 3: be made, and it's funny because in this day and age,
24:44
Speaker 3: it's very much more a lot more common. But he
24:48
Speaker 3: had a lot to say, so in this documentary there
24:50
Speaker 3: were certain things that he could they he did not
24:53
Speaker 3: want them to show, and that there were things that
24:55
Speaker 3: you know, in locations and things that they were going
24:57
Speaker 3: to do and they're not going to show this, and
24:58
Speaker 3: if they do show it, this and needs to be
25:01
Speaker 3: portrayed in this way. But then there's also sort of
25:05
Speaker 3: this exploration of who he was and what he was
25:08
Speaker 3: trying to do, and then the people that would kind
25:10
Speaker 3: of challenge him along the way. The best thing I
25:13
Speaker 3: can say is I think this is a nice introduction
25:16
Speaker 3: to him if you just don't know anything about him. Sure,
25:19
Speaker 3: but obviously there is sort of at a kind of
25:24
Speaker 3: an arm length distance because he's still he. I mean,
25:28
Speaker 3: the whole you know, part of it is him controlling
25:31
Speaker 3: the narrative of who he is and what he's doing
25:35
Speaker 3: and everything like that. But it made me kind of
25:38
Speaker 3: want to go and like learn about other things, like
25:42
Speaker 3: learn more about him. This documentary kind of is just
25:46
Speaker 3: a nice introduction. I don't think you get a whole
25:48
Speaker 3: lot out of it, But if you don't know who
25:51
Speaker 3: he is, then yes, I think it's kind of like, oh, oh,
25:55
Speaker 3: that's funny that he was, like, you know, controversial in
25:59
Speaker 3: that way, and obviously what's been you know, built upon
26:02
Speaker 3: his thesis, ideas and everything else. So uh, there's a
26:08
Speaker 3: scene where he's in I don't know what talk show
26:10
Speaker 3: it is, but him and Dennis Hopper, and Dennis Hopper
26:13
Speaker 3: is very much into like he's the easy writer stage.
26:16
Speaker 3: But I love like their little back and forth and
26:19
Speaker 3: sort of what Skinner wanted to do and was hoping
26:21
Speaker 3: to do, And so it was interesting enough. I again,
26:25
Speaker 3: I feel like, I this is for people who really
26:28
Speaker 3: just don't have a clue about what he's about, what
26:31
Speaker 3: he's about.
26:33
Speaker 2: I will say that.
26:34
Speaker 3: Those are the two that kind of stuck out in
26:35
Speaker 3: my mind.
26:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a pretty cool feeling though when
26:39
Speaker 1: you do go see one of these documentaries that kind
26:42
Speaker 1: of inspires you, like, you know what, I kind of
26:44
Speaker 1: like to kick around, get some more info and learn
26:47
Speaker 1: a little bit more about this.
26:48
Speaker 3: And but but then at the same time, there's one
26:51
Speaker 3: that's like, there is a better documentary to be made
26:54
Speaker 3: about him. I like, I like the approach of taking
26:59
Speaker 3: this footage and then kind of showing like the way
27:02
Speaker 3: he was trying to control it, and so it does
27:05
Speaker 3: it allows that peek into sort of what he who
27:09
Speaker 3: he was, and also you know, trying to protect himself
27:13
Speaker 3: and and maybe you know, obviously to some extent his work.
27:17
Speaker 3: But it's not like it's it's a piece and it's
27:22
Speaker 3: it's not really the whole thing. But like I said,
27:24
Speaker 3: if you don't know much about him and stuff, then
27:26
Speaker 3: it's it's definitely worth watching. And I mean it's only
27:28
Speaker 3: I mean seventy something minutes or whatever, So I mean
27:31
Speaker 3: it's you know it, like I said, if you don't
27:33
Speaker 3: know who he is, then it's a nice little, nice
27:35
Speaker 3: little thing of like huh okay. And if it does
27:38
Speaker 3: lead you to like see what he's about and read
27:42
Speaker 3: his stuff, then I guess you know, it succeeds in
27:45
Speaker 3: that way.
27:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, So let's talk about a few of the narrative features.
27:50
Speaker 1: Then I'll start us off here as we shift gears.
27:54
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Mudville a little bit because
27:57
Speaker 1: I thought this was a really.
27:59
Speaker 2: This is one of those films.
28:01
Speaker 1: And I think depending on how you frame it when
28:05
Speaker 1: you say it's a quote unquote festival film, some people
28:11
Speaker 1: might think lean negative, some people might lean positive.
28:17
Speaker 2: I kind of look at it as.
28:20
Speaker 1: A festival film in the sense that it really is
28:24
Speaker 1: a testament to the true, unwavering spirit of creativity. I
28:32
Speaker 1: think the way that it is done is a celebration
28:38
Speaker 1: of the diy spirit as well. Okay, I think the
28:43
Speaker 1: story the premise is really gnarly, and I think it's like,
28:50
Speaker 1: when you read more about the film, this is something. Yeah,
28:55
Speaker 1: it was written by Adam Penny, and Adam Penny's family
29:01
Speaker 1: plays the actual family in the in the film, minus
29:05
Speaker 1: the lead.
29:05
Speaker 2: In Ray Patterson. But yeah, it is.
29:08
Speaker 1: The premise is basically which is also kind of one
29:12
Speaker 1: of those like festival ideas where you know, filmmakers just
29:15
Speaker 1: get free ring they're just gonna make their movie and
29:18
Speaker 1: they're gonna run it at the festival circuit and sometimes
29:21
Speaker 1: you don't know, like this might not have any mass
29:25
Speaker 1: appeal at all, but it's still really cool. And I
29:28
Speaker 1: think this is one of those instances where you kind
29:32
Speaker 1: of read about it and the premise is like a
29:36
Speaker 1: washed up baseball player that kind of threw it all away,
29:39
Speaker 1: is trying to get back to the big leagues at
29:41
Speaker 1: forty seven years old, you know, like he's an older
29:45
Speaker 1: guy hanging on to the dream, drinking way too much
29:49
Speaker 1: and just kind of languishing about life. But then this
29:55
Speaker 1: medical it's the film. God refers to it as a
29:57
Speaker 1: metaphysical event happen, and the film kind of teeters on
30:05
Speaker 1: these like supernatural elements without ever like leaning into it.
30:11
Speaker 1: You know, you hear that and you think, like ghosts
30:13
Speaker 1: and monsters and stuff like that.
30:15
Speaker 2: You never see anything.
30:17
Speaker 1: There's some imagery in some of like Native American film
30:23
Speaker 1: and stuff that kind of shows up. They show a
30:25
Speaker 1: lot of old movies in this, and it creates an
30:29
Speaker 1: uneasy feeling, but it's not like a ghost story or
30:32
Speaker 1: anything like that.
30:33
Speaker 2: And I thought it was a.
30:35
Speaker 1: Particularly effective meditation on what it means to have that
30:42
Speaker 1: sort of midlife crisis for any sort of creative And
30:47
Speaker 1: like I'm pushing forty myself to think, like should I
30:51
Speaker 1: still be doing podcasts and writing articles on like you
30:56
Speaker 1: you really feel the weight of that sort of depression
31:02
Speaker 1: where this is a guy that was chasing his dreams
31:05
Speaker 1: and it just hasn't worked out the way that he
31:07
Speaker 1: wants it to. And I think if you can hang
31:10
Speaker 1: with it because you are just hit with the brunt
31:13
Speaker 1: of that, it is a very sad, exhausting movie. And
31:21
Speaker 1: then you have this sort of thing that builds towards
31:25
Speaker 1: the climax where you're kind of you're not really sure
31:29
Speaker 1: like what's happened, what's going on anymore? It takes a
31:34
Speaker 1: turn that I think you can look at from a
31:37
Speaker 1: creative standpoint and say, I respect the hell out of
31:41
Speaker 1: you guys for just going for this the way that
31:44
Speaker 1: you did. But I think there will be some people
31:48
Speaker 1: that are leaving the theater saying I don't really get it.
31:52
Speaker 1: And that's where I go back to this is a
31:54
Speaker 1: festival film, Like if you go into it with an
31:56
Speaker 1: open mind, I think you'll enjoy it. If you're looking
32:00
Speaker 1: for it, like head on to get some sort of
32:02
Speaker 1: straightforward resolution. I don't know that you're gonna get that
32:06
Speaker 1: out of this film.
32:07
Speaker 2: I do think it is.
32:10
Speaker 1: Some of the shots really linger, and it really puts
32:13
Speaker 1: you in the moment where you're just in the funk.
32:16
Speaker 1: You are feeling this sort of depression from our main character.
32:21
Speaker 1: There there's a musical score that is very piano heavy
32:25
Speaker 1: that notes hanging in the air. I mean, this is
32:27
Speaker 1: a slow burn movie that really takes its time, and
32:31
Speaker 1: I respect it for that. I enjoyed it, while also
32:38
Speaker 1: saying I don't know. There were times I was checking
32:44
Speaker 1: my phone because it is like, man, we are taking
32:48
Speaker 1: our sweet time with this.
32:50
Speaker 2: But I liked it. I don't want I don't want that.
32:53
Speaker 1: To mar mar my review of this, because I did, really,
32:57
Speaker 1: I did really enjoy this.
32:58
Speaker 2: By the time we got to the end.
32:59
Speaker 3: Of were you so you were happy with the with
33:02
Speaker 3: the way that it concluded.
33:05
Speaker 1: I am happy with what it says about men of
33:10
Speaker 1: a certain age struggling to let go of the struggling
33:13
Speaker 1: to realize the glory days are behind them.
33:17
Speaker 3: Okay, okay. I saw one and it's one that actually
33:24
Speaker 3: I It was one of the first ones I thought, oh,
33:26
Speaker 3: I would like to check out. And it's called Montreal,
33:29
Speaker 3: My Beautiful and it stars as Joan Chin and I
33:32
Speaker 3: knew I knew that name now where I know her
33:37
Speaker 3: from and she played the mom in d D. Yeah,
33:41
Speaker 3: and it is a fantastic film. I highly recommend it,
33:45
Speaker 3: But just so we know, she was in an old
33:47
Speaker 3: ninety four Steven Stegall movie called On Deadly Ground. She's
33:51
Speaker 3: been in the Last Emperor, she's been in Judge Dread,
33:53
Speaker 3: the Stallone movie, The Wedding Banquet here recently, so but
34:01
Speaker 3: I love I love what she does here. Uh. She
34:05
Speaker 3: plays a Chinese immigrant who's in her early fifties that
34:11
Speaker 3: who's finally confronting her repressed desire for women and begins
34:15
Speaker 3: a secret affair with this other young woman and they
34:19
Speaker 3: meet on one of these kind of dating apps. And
34:23
Speaker 3: what I like about it, first of all, doesn't come
34:25
Speaker 3: out of nowhere. There's there's flashbacks of her in her youth,
34:29
Speaker 3: and it's one of those, and it's so beautifully told,
34:36
Speaker 3: but that it's she has to suppress it because of
34:40
Speaker 3: where she comes from, because of the culture, because of
34:43
Speaker 3: the tradition, and so even though she loves her family,
34:47
Speaker 3: she has two kids, she has, you know, her husband,
34:50
Speaker 3: But it's it's not it's a it's it's one of
34:56
Speaker 3: those where she's just has been forced into it. But
34:59
Speaker 3: she's kind of up to it. And there's a lot
35:01
Speaker 3: of hesitation at first on if she should act on this.
35:07
Speaker 3: There's a lot of confusion in there. But this is
35:11
Speaker 3: so much, and there is a there's in it, and
35:13
Speaker 3: it shows up a lot about kind of rebirth, and
35:19
Speaker 3: it is very much that it is a and especially
35:22
Speaker 3: for her, of kind of finding the woman she's always
35:26
Speaker 3: been but being able to accept it and be able
35:28
Speaker 3: to in many ways come out as this woman in
35:33
Speaker 3: this day and age, no longer oppressed but really kind
35:37
Speaker 3: of in her feelings and love who she wants to love.
35:42
Speaker 3: And Joan Chen is sensational and I really liked it, uh,
35:48
Speaker 3: probably the best feature feel my soul. I just I
35:54
Speaker 3: love that. I loved how they kind of played into it,
35:56
Speaker 3: and it's and it's very endearing and it's all but
35:58
Speaker 3: it's also it's all very like softly told where it
36:05
Speaker 3: does like everything makes sense, and it's not that she
36:08
Speaker 3: just wants to abandon the life that she has and
36:11
Speaker 3: that's not what it's for. And honestly, at the end,
36:14
Speaker 3: it's not even it is that relationship helps her, but
36:19
Speaker 3: it really is about her and it's almost like this
36:21
Speaker 3: whole kind of reinvention and self discovery and and it's
36:27
Speaker 3: I thought it was really I thought it was really
36:30
Speaker 3: beautiful in the way that that that they share this
36:34
Speaker 3: this story and it's of a woman that is in
36:37
Speaker 3: her kind of midlife, not a midlife crisis, but just
36:40
Speaker 3: something of like not truly being able to be who
36:44
Speaker 3: you are for so long and then having that courage
36:51
Speaker 3: to act on it. And obviously there's things going on
36:58
Speaker 3: at home that's not great either, and so I mean,
37:01
Speaker 3: you know, but it all kind of leads to this
37:05
Speaker 3: you know, explosion of like this is this is who
37:12
Speaker 3: I am, and it's sort of like kind of make
37:15
Speaker 3: up for lost time, even though her heart is very
37:18
Speaker 3: much with her family, and it's quite it's quite a
37:22
Speaker 3: struggle to see. And anyway, Joan Chen does a great job.
37:25
Speaker 3: So Montreal, my beautiful. I ay, I quite enjoyed.
37:31
Speaker 1: Any other of the narrative features that you wanted to
37:35
Speaker 1: mention before, I think we talk about a film I
37:37
Speaker 1: think we both liked quite a bit.
37:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's one and I ended up watching this instead
37:43
Speaker 3: of that mud one that you were talking about, uh huh.
37:49
Speaker 3: And it's called Party USA, and I first read it
37:52
Speaker 3: and it's basically about this girl who can't get her
37:55
Speaker 3: shift covered after she finds out her father is dead,
37:59
Speaker 3: and it's very much of trying to be sort of
38:01
Speaker 3: a it really tries to balance tone because it's at
38:06
Speaker 3: first it seems like it's kind of a it's kind
38:10
Speaker 3: of low rent comedy. You know, you kind of have
38:14
Speaker 3: some eccentric characters, and then you know she's kind of
38:18
Speaker 3: a wild one, and then something happens and it and
38:22
Speaker 3: a murder happens, and you know, it's it was it's
38:28
Speaker 3: sort of funny, but then it also feels like it
38:31
Speaker 3: kind of wants to be more than what it is,
38:33
Speaker 3: and it's balancing. It's trying to juggle a lot of
38:36
Speaker 3: shit that it doesn't quite do justice to either side,
38:40
Speaker 3: like whatever kind of whatever kind of murder, thriller, comedy,
38:46
Speaker 3: it's it's a lot of things, but it's not great
38:50
Speaker 3: at any of them. And so I was a little
38:53
Speaker 3: disappointed by it because by the time it ended, it
38:55
Speaker 3: was and it also there's a lot of cliche stuff
38:58
Speaker 3: in this, and especially through the way it kind of ends.
39:01
Speaker 3: I do. I did appreciate the the lead character in
39:05
Speaker 3: the way she was just like it just seemed like
39:08
Speaker 3: she just stepped in ship wherever she went and trying
39:10
Speaker 3: to cover it up and she and she does a
39:13
Speaker 3: pretty good she does a pretty good job at it.
39:17
Speaker 3: But but yeah, it's it was funny because like, as
39:21
Speaker 3: I'm reading it, it's sort of like, Okay, I I
39:23
Speaker 3: and and part of the beauty of film festivals is, right,
39:26
Speaker 3: you know, you don't quite know what we're getting into,
39:29
Speaker 3: and so when the first like kind of shocking thing happens,
39:34
Speaker 3: it's it's it's almost like a horror comedy type thing.
39:37
Speaker 3: But then when it tries to be serious, you're not.
39:41
Speaker 3: You're not there. You're you're not you're not engaged in
39:45
Speaker 3: what they're trying to do. But then there's things that
39:49
Speaker 3: like certain characters do that is that's more kind of
39:53
Speaker 3: fun or exciting. But then there's also these other parts
39:56
Speaker 3: where it's like, oh, I don't really one, I don't
40:00
Speaker 3: even know if it's necessary, but two it's almost like
40:03
Speaker 3: it's it starts to become more predictable, even though that's
40:09
Speaker 3: like that's kind of the charm of it is like
40:11
Speaker 3: you didn't know really where it was going to go,
40:12
Speaker 3: and then it seemed like you knew exactly where it
40:15
Speaker 3: was going to go, and then they do change it
40:17
Speaker 3: up a little bit on you at the end. But
40:20
Speaker 3: but yeah, so I don't know if I would have
40:22
Speaker 3: liked the Mud one as much, but I it wasn't
40:27
Speaker 3: quite what I what I thought it was going to be.
40:29
Speaker 3: But but yeah, let's get to let's get to the
40:32
Speaker 3: one that you and I both liked and I think
40:34
Speaker 3: we both would agree, is I think the highlight of
40:37
Speaker 3: our Atlanta Film Festival experience.
40:39
Speaker 1: I was about to say it feels weird to call
40:42
Speaker 1: a film the best of the fest when I only.
40:44
Speaker 2: Saw three features and three.
40:46
Speaker 1: Shorts, But uh, this was I'm telling you, man, I
40:52
Speaker 1: cried like three or four different times watching Me Too.
40:56
Speaker 1: We are we are talking about They Dream, the documentary
41:02
Speaker 1: directed by William D.
41:03
Speaker 2: Caballero. They Dream.
41:06
Speaker 1: This is from the Atlanta Film Festival's Film Guide, a
41:08
Speaker 1: deeply personal documentary presented in a variety of animation styles
41:13
Speaker 1: that examines the transformative nature of grief for the director,
41:18
Speaker 1: his mother, and other members of their tight knit Puerto
41:20
Speaker 1: Rican family in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I don't know about you, Brandon,
41:25
Speaker 1: this is one of the more artful movies that I've
41:29
Speaker 1: seen in quite some time. And for it to really
41:33
Speaker 1: have that creativity dialed up, the moving nature of the
41:39
Speaker 1: stories shared, this portrait of a family is equally as moving.
41:45
Speaker 2: So I was so impressed by this well.
41:48
Speaker 3: I remember watching it and texting you and saying, you.
41:52
Speaker 2: You gotta watch make time.
41:53
Speaker 3: You got it, you gotta, yeah, make some time for
41:56
Speaker 3: this one. And it's one of the first ones. But
41:59
Speaker 3: I I had heard about it before, and then the
42:03
Speaker 3: title kind of really kind of popped out at me
42:06
Speaker 3: because I remember seeing something about it from another film festival,
42:11
Speaker 3: and so it's definitely one that I knew I was
42:13
Speaker 3: gonna watch. And it is man. I mean, it's such
42:16
Speaker 3: a loving tribute to his family, and it's just of
42:21
Speaker 3: these generations that have come before him, and also him
42:25
Speaker 3: kind of exploring within his own family, talking about his
42:30
Speaker 3: mother and father. I also think it's so much of
42:33
Speaker 3: just a loving tribute of him just honoring his mother,
42:40
Speaker 3: and it's so sweet and there's such beautiful, exquisite animation.
42:49
Speaker 3: The guy's an artist, this filmmaker, he's an artist through
42:52
Speaker 3: and through, and there's so many different things, in different
42:55
Speaker 3: types of animation that he uses to tell this story.
42:58
Speaker 3: And there's even elements where he is showing you how
43:02
Speaker 3: he's doing it and he's having his mother get involved.
43:05
Speaker 3: I've found that totally fascinating and just that creation part
43:09
Speaker 3: of it, but the story he's telling and when he's
43:12
Speaker 3: kind of recreating his father. I mean there's parts that
43:15
Speaker 3: there's just it's either tragic or sad or it's joyous.
43:19
Speaker 3: But then there's times where like I found it rather
43:23
Speaker 3: haunting on some things when especially when he was his father. Yeah,
43:28
Speaker 3: it really, I mean, it's it's highly effective, but I also, like,
43:36
Speaker 3: I agree with you. I got teary eyed on several occasions,
43:40
Speaker 3: and and I and I and I parts of me
43:44
Speaker 3: wanted just wanted you to watch it because I have
43:48
Speaker 3: not experienced the death of a parent yet. Yeah, but
43:52
Speaker 3: I know you have, and we don't have to go
43:54
Speaker 3: into details, but I just thought the way that you
43:57
Speaker 3: kind of remember someone and the memory of the and
44:00
Speaker 3: even though things may have been rough or whatever, it's
44:04
Speaker 3: it was so lovingly on. It was just so lovingly
44:07
Speaker 3: on how he painted this picture of his family, even
44:13
Speaker 3: the struggles and everything that they went through. And then
44:16
Speaker 3: like you know, obviously as you get older, there's things
44:18
Speaker 3: that you're gonna see differently than when you were a
44:22
Speaker 3: kid and stuff, and I don't know, it was just
44:25
Speaker 3: it's just about a guy and his family, but it's
44:28
Speaker 3: told so it's just told so spectacularly and obviously with
44:35
Speaker 3: the with the creative ways he's bringing these people back
44:38
Speaker 3: to life. Yeah, it's it's it's amazing, But yeah, I mean.
44:43
Speaker 2: I thought it was.
44:44
Speaker 1: It was particularly effective that how he didn't really shy
44:49
Speaker 1: away from the complicated nature of some of his relationships.
44:53
Speaker 2: He didn't really.
44:54
Speaker 1: Shy away from some of the hardships that they faced.
44:58
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think that's where when you talk about
45:01
Speaker 1: losing a relative, like you acknowledge those things, but you
45:05
Speaker 1: still because of what they meant to you, you still
45:09
Speaker 1: want to honor their legacy in a way. And yeah,
45:12
Speaker 1: I caught myself thinking watching this film a couple of times,
45:15
Speaker 1: like this had to be some sort of cathartic release
45:20
Speaker 1: for this family. And I particularly loved how throughout the
45:26
Speaker 1: process of this film it struck me as William just
45:31
Speaker 1: kind of making art and telling the story of his family.
45:35
Speaker 1: But by the time we get to the end of it,
45:38
Speaker 1: he mentions that he kind of realizes that art was
45:43
Speaker 1: his way of controlling circumstances that he couldn't control, And
45:49
Speaker 1: there is a scene near the end where he kind
45:51
Speaker 1: of realizes how much of the life that he has
45:55
Speaker 1: and he refers to it as his liberation from those
45:58
Speaker 1: circumstances came from sacrifice from his mother, and I think
46:05
Speaker 1: that is something that really cuts to the core of
46:10
Speaker 1: a lot of us that you know, it kind of
46:14
Speaker 1: goes to show you that it doesn't it doesn't matter
46:19
Speaker 1: what you've been through in life, Like we've all we've
46:24
Speaker 1: all been better because of the sacrifices made by our
46:29
Speaker 1: parents and the generations before them as well. So it
46:33
Speaker 1: was just so like I said, it was, it was touching.
46:38
Speaker 1: You know, I am not Puerto Rican obviously, but you
46:43
Speaker 1: see instances of your own family watching William's story, and
46:48
Speaker 1: I think that was what was so particularly stirring about
46:52
Speaker 1: this one. But it was, man, it was it was
46:55
Speaker 1: easily Head and Shoulders my favorite of this this festival run.
47:00
Speaker 3: Mine too, and it's actually one of the best films
47:03
Speaker 3: I've seen this year. I I was really taken aback
47:05
Speaker 3: by a lot of it and and and his love
47:07
Speaker 3: for his family and especially his mother. Now I won't
47:11
Speaker 3: I won't get too much into the ending, but there's
47:14
Speaker 3: things like that where I think every child hopes they
47:18
Speaker 3: can do that. They it's it's it's it's the appreciation,
47:21
Speaker 3: but also to show like, hey, this is you're recognizing
47:27
Speaker 3: it in that moment, and and then that comes with
47:30
Speaker 3: time and age as well. And you know, I'm one
47:35
Speaker 3: of the things stuck out to me was one of
47:40
Speaker 3: one of the kind of more difficult conversations he has
47:43
Speaker 3: with his father about his sexuality, and he kind of
47:47
Speaker 3: refrains from kind of going back into it, and I
47:49
Speaker 3: think even says he wishes he kind of would have
47:52
Speaker 3: maybe stood up for himself more on it. But but
47:55
Speaker 3: but there's also but I think it it's more striking
48:01
Speaker 3: because as much as you may care for someone, love
48:06
Speaker 3: for someone, admire whatever, there's flaws and when you and
48:10
Speaker 3: when there's not that understanding, it affects you now. But
48:16
Speaker 3: the way that that he has been able to kind
48:19
Speaker 3: of explore this and sort of kind of, you know,
48:25
Speaker 3: look at it in a certain way, I think definitely
48:29
Speaker 3: goes back to the artist that he is, and then
48:32
Speaker 3: being able to kind of put you put yourself in
48:35
Speaker 3: such a vulnerable spot of where you are recreating scenes
48:41
Speaker 3: of your father who's not there and your mother who's
48:45
Speaker 3: I mean, it's very you know, and she's doing things
48:48
Speaker 3: of her mother who's not there, you know. But it's
48:51
Speaker 3: also I mean, I say, there's a lot there's there's
48:54
Speaker 3: quite a few funny parts, and it is, well there is,
48:58
Speaker 3: I mean, there is some humor things, but I was
49:00
Speaker 3: just amazed of just how much just emotion and feeling
49:09
Speaker 3: and it's it's just about someone's family. Then you think,
49:11
Speaker 3: you know what, there's a there's thousands of stories like that.
49:17
Speaker 3: You know that you'll never know and that you'll never
49:20
Speaker 3: be told, and no one's going to have the courage
49:22
Speaker 3: to do it, and especially in this way that he
49:24
Speaker 3: did and they dreamed. But I was, man, I was,
49:28
Speaker 3: I was so impressed by it. I was, I was truly,
49:32
Speaker 3: I was truly amazed of what he was able to
49:34
Speaker 3: do and then also just the meaning behind it all
49:40
Speaker 3: and just him him putting himself in that kind of
49:44
Speaker 3: space too. I mean that is I mean, you know,
49:47
Speaker 3: when you take a look back and you think of like,
49:49
Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot of loss in this film,
49:52
Speaker 3: but there's a lot of joy and happiness from it
49:55
Speaker 3: because of who they were and what they were able
49:57
Speaker 3: to do and they I mean, you know, I mean
50:02
Speaker 3: we're all of who the type of person they made
50:07
Speaker 3: and the type of person you are and that I
50:09
Speaker 3: am and that he is. It's it all comes from
50:13
Speaker 3: your family and these people that made such an impression
50:17
Speaker 3: on you, and the fact that there's such gratefulness within
50:22
Speaker 3: this documentary, not just about his mother, even though she
50:26
Speaker 3: rightfully deserves most of it, but from everybody. And I've
50:31
Speaker 3: it was it was very rewarding in a lot of ways,
50:37
Speaker 3: and so that's why I had text it. I'm like you,
50:41
Speaker 3: if you're gonna see at least one of these, check
50:44
Speaker 3: this one out. And I'm glad you did, because it
50:46
Speaker 3: was I'm with you. It's to me. Of the things
50:49
Speaker 3: that I saw, it's certainly the best of the fest,
50:52
Speaker 3: but also the things that I have currently up till
50:54
Speaker 3: now have seen in general, I also think it's one
50:58
Speaker 3: of the best of the year.
51:00
Speaker 2: Well said, very very well said.
51:02
Speaker 1: Uh, that's the end of our discussion, Brandon, You got
51:05
Speaker 1: any any parting thoughts as we wrap up another year
51:09
Speaker 1: talking about the Atlanta Film Festival.
51:11
Speaker 3: No, happy fifty years to Atlanta Film Festival. You know, hey,
51:15
Speaker 3: let's see what next year brings. But I just want
51:18
Speaker 3: to say, nashvillemoviedispatch dot substack dot com gas station attendant
51:24
Speaker 3: and you have your own loll recap. Yeah, a lot
51:28
Speaker 3: of the stuff that you saw that you were talking
51:30
Speaker 3: about today, so make sure you check that out too.
51:34
Speaker 1: A written recap of this discussion. In case you don't
51:37
Speaker 1: like listening to podcasts or you don't subscribe, read it podcast.
51:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can read it. So that's going to do
51:42
Speaker 2: it for us.
51:43
Speaker 1: Like Brandon said, all of our work is up at
51:45
Speaker 1: Nashville mooviedispatch dot substack dot com, subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch,
51:50
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you take.
51:53
Speaker 2: Your shows in.
51:54
Speaker 1: We are out in these internet streets, baby, But that's
51:56
Speaker 1: going to do it for us. For Brandon, I'm stony
52:00
Speaker 1: and until next time, you stay classy moviegoers,