MIFF 2004 FILM FESTIVAL NOTEBOOK
By Joel Johnson
DAY 5
The fifth day of the Maine International Film Festival begins for the Johnsons with a terrific dinner at one of Waterville’s downtown restaurants.
While enjoying our entrées, we compare notes with our fellow diners on films
already seen and plot out our near- and long-term strategies for
movie-watching. We then head off to the Waterville Opera House for Wild
Parrots of Telegraph Hill. We pat ourselves on the back for our virtue
in refusing dessert, though the credit truly goes to the obsessive need to
get in line early to make sure we get “our” favorite seats. We will then
complete our film viewing with a screening of two films that fall between
feature length and a short. The Eccentric Artists Tour (46 minutes)
and Faces of Myth (61 minutes) will be shown together.
WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL
USA, 2004 83 Min. Video in
English
Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill introduces us to Mark Bittner and the
flock of parrots for whom he has acted as an unofficial caretaker.
Considering Mark’s presence and care for these parrots, it is understandable
that some observers may find the designation “wild” difficult to believe.
However, the parrots are a non-native species existing on their own in the
San Francisco area (Telegraph Hill) after either being released by or
escaping from pet owners. The birds have been “in the wild” long enough to
reproduce so that some have only known this “wild” existence. We learn that
some of the birds have established a close bond with Mark, but many others
are totally independent of him. One mystery that is not fully addressed is
how does this seemingly able-bodied man who spends his entire day looking
after the parrots supports himself. He has been fortunate that his landlords
have allowed him to live with several birds for about three years in a
rather attractive apartment rent-free, but that doesn’t explain how he pays
for food and all the other things one needs in daily life. Mark describes
how he has gone from being a curious observer to becoming a self-taught
parrot expert. Along the way, he introduces us to several parrots by name
(Connor, Olive, Mingus, Picasso, Sophie, and Pushkin). It becomes clear that
each individual parrot and Mark have a relationship that reflects their
personalities. These relationships and the relationships between the birds
seem to evolve just like the relationships between people. The most powerful
part of the film, however, is when he talks about his relationship with
Tupelo, a female parrot that died. After hearing him tell his story, one may
never look at birds or animals in the wild in quite the same way. The film
has both a wistfulness and a hopefulness to its ending as Mark has to move
from his apartment and stop being the parrot caretaker. Both he and the
birds move into new phases of their lives, though not without some tears.
This shot-on-video feature has excellent camera work, and the colorful birds
make this a beautiful film to watch. I must confess that I don’t normally
seek out shows or films about animals—my wife who does chose this film. That
said, I also have to admit that I found this film quite emotionally moving by
its end.
ECCENTRIC ARTISTS TOUR 2003
USA, 2003; 46 minutes; video; in English
1/2
The Eccentric Artists Tour is basically a home video taken during a bus
trip (The Eccentric Artists Tour 2003) by a group of artists and art
fans visiting the homes and worksites of several central Maine artists. The
bus tour participants freely admit that it may be a toss-up as to whether
those on the bus or those waiting for the bus to arrive are more eccentric.
As befits a largely unscripted video record of the day’s events, the result
is very uneven. The visual look is jerky with occasional dizzyingly wide
sweeps corresponding to handheld, amateur camera work. The cluttered
working environment probably did not help to make this visually smoother.
Some of the artisans take advantage of the opportunity to show their
creativity, and a few even explain exactly what they do for art. Others
manage to demonstrate that they would be fun people to visit even if one
isn’t clear on exactly what their art looks like. It may be said that some
of the tour participants similarly shine as unique and entertaining
personalities, though not everyone is eager to be on camera. There are some
sites that simply appear to be junkyards and show the evidence of the
owner’s “acquisition disorder.” It is undeniable that the individuals all
have very powerful and unique creative impulses, but artistic taste is
extraordinarily individual. I’m not sure I have a place in my home waiting
for some of the creations we saw, and I’m not sure our car “Midnight” wants
to be made over into an “art car” with swatches of fabric stuck all over
it, even though the result is quite striking. I suspect that the film will
certainly incite a lot of interest in The Eccentric Artist Tour 2004.
Just based on the film’s visual look and consistent narrative flow, I have
to give it a one and one half star rating.
FACES
OF MYTH
Canada, 2004 61 Min. Video in various
languages with English subtitles
1/2
The final film is Faces of Myth. In the festival program, the film is described as an
art-documentary filmed in Crete, and that is a good
description. The camera work focuses on the landscape—particularly rock
formations and individual rocks. There is considerable postproduction work
layering and mirroring images. There are also interview sections with
artists from different countries who have all been drawn to the
Mediterranean island. Subtitling streams across the bottom of the film in
varying colors. Some of the subtitling seems to reflect the statements of
the artists speaking in their native tongues, but others seem to be the
filmmaker's own statements. Sometimes there are two streams of statements.
Crete’s location in the eastern Mediterranean has given it a unique place in
the myths of antiquity as well as in the early development of Christianity.
Imagery both natural and man-made refers to this history. There is also
imagery of the filmmaker. Several shots are included of him trying
unsuccessfully to negotiate a water-set rock formation. This is a very
challenging piece of filmmaking. The artist wants us to be aware that art
can be a naturally occurring phenomena and that we should be receptive to
its magic. There is imagery of visual beauty, yet the imagery frequently
seems repetitive. The meaning derived from this exercise is truly
subjective—one feels that one is dealing with a very abstract artistic
expression even if the medium is solid rock. This visual storytelling is
much different from what most audiences are used to. Appreciation of it is
directly related to whether one has “gotten” what the filmmaker intended or,
more importantly, to whether one thinks one has “gotten” it. I am under no
illusions that I “got” it. I don’t know that I would ever completely “get”
it were I to see this film several more times. Considering the rather
free-flowing exodus of filmgoers from the theater, I don’t know that many in
the audience were “getting” it. The appreciation of the film may have been
undermined by image quality problems as the projected DVD images varied from
appearing just out-of-focus to somewhat short of completely out-of-focus.
During this showing, the filmmaker leaves the theater in some degree of agitation over the
projected images. Even though the film shows a fairly high degree of both
technical sophistication and artistic creativity, I find it to be a tough
slog.
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