FILM: “Still Life” by Sebastian Meise.
SYNOPSIS*: A father pays prostitutes to play the role of his own daughter. The discovery (surprise!) tears up the family.
HE SAID: “If my thought dreams could be seen, they’d probably put my head in a guillotine.” — Bob Dylan
From the synopsis, you figure “Still Life” is a movie about incest. It is, but Sebastian Meise’s first feature film uses incest to explore a different theme: the culpability of fantasy.
Dad has obsessive sexual fantasies about his daughter for more than 20 years. The daughter testifies that, despite his dirty mind, Dad has never touched her. There is no suggestion in the movie that he ever acted physically with her in any way. The only “acting out” of his fantasies that we know about is his masturbating over old photographs and paying a prostitute to pretend she’s the daughter during their sessions. It’s not until his son learns of Dad’s secret and reveals it to the family that issues of guilt and transgression are raised. And boy, are they.
It’s a small film that asks a simple though complex question and offers no simple answer. Kudos to Meise and the cast.
SHE SAID: It can’t help but be bleak. A favored son discovers his father’s secret and for the next 77 minutes of studied slow motion we watch the family absorb the new view of Pop. The son wastes no time in telling his mother and sister, but there’s little melodrama — the characters are credible, it’s shot well and lives up to its title in dissecting one event.
Showing again Sat. 2/16 at 9:30 p.m. at the Roxie.
FILM: “Casserole Club”
SYNOPSIS: A dark comedy about ’60s housewives.
HE SAID: If you want to see sexual fantasies acted on in a way that directly affects other people, see “Casserole Club” — but you might want to consult your libido first. The movie evokes the soft porn days of “Valley of the Dolls” and “Peyton Place.” Too bad I’m not 14 — at that age I might have found it titillating, even edgy. I might have confused the melodrama that engulfs swinging white suburban America with real tragedy. Finally, if I was 14 I probably would not have found myself wondering, as somebody goes down on somebody else, why was this film made?
SHE SAID: Dark comedy? No. Bad food, bad sex and vacuous characters. Mark grabbed my program as we left and said, “How do you get into this festival?” Apparently, all you have to do is make a movie.
Showing again Monday 2/13 at 7:15 p.m.
FILM: “Snowtown” by Justin Kurzel, 2011.
SYNOPSIS: A stark journey into the feral subculture of welfare dependence, addiction, domestic violence, brutality and sexual abuse. Oh fun!
Sorry, we just couldn’t.
*Mostly the synopses are copy-and-paste jobs from IndieFest’s website. Yes, we’ve done some editing, but mostly for brevity and — in line with the festival it seems — dark humor.
SF IndieFest runs Feb. 9 to Feb. 23. Check here for the schedule.