The 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival is finally here, and featuring more films than ever over five days, from Wednesday through Sunday. The festival is a remarkable opportunity for Madisonians to see a side of the indie film world that usually requires living in L.A. or New York, right here in our own backyard. To get your cinematic tastebuds salivating, I’ve selected the five films from this year’s lineup that have intrigued me the most:
“Somebody Up There Likes Me”
Have you been honing your woodworking skills in the hopes of impressing Nick Offerman— the man behind quite possibly the greatest sitcom character of all time, Ron Swanson, and one hell of a lustrous mustache—when he comes to the Union Theater to perform a standup set this Wednesday? You can look forward to yet another dose of Offerman this Friday, April 20 at 10 p.m. in the Orpheum Theater in his new indie flick “Somebody Up There Likes Me”. While I didn’t get a chance to catch the flick at South By Southwest this year, I’ve heard good things about this deadpan comedy following the life of archetypical everyman Max (Keith Poulson) and his wife as they confront the classical family issues—marriage, childhood, career success and failure—over the course of their life, providing snapshots of a long term relationship over time. And as expected, Offerman is said to be quite the scene-stealer.
“Compliance”
As another flick that’s been on the festival circuit this year with screenings at both Sundance and SXSW, “Compliance” currently holds a perfect score on Rottentomatoes.com, which is even more surprising given the film’s inherently unsettling nature. “Compliance” is based on a tragic true story that’s a real-life example of the connotations of the the infamous Stanford prison experiment—that otherwise empathetic human beings can do disgusting things when ordered by authority. The film follows what happens one afternoon in a fast food restaurant when someone claiming to be a police officer calls in to the manager, informing her that one of the teenage girls working has stolen from a customer. After detaining the girl at the request of the caller, the situation begins down a slippery slope, escalating to absurd and nightmarish heights, all in the name of submitting to authority. “Compliance” screens Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Union South Marquee.
“Without”
Even if “Without” hadn’t won a special jury award at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival—a festival started, for small indie films that had been rejected from the Sundance Film festival—as well as numerous other festival awards, its premise alone would be enough to intrigue me. This psychological drama explores the millennial generation’s constant connection and communication through cellphones and the Internet, by examining what happens when one teenage girl is cut off from all digital connection, while serving as a caretaker for a vegetative man on a remote island. The unaccustomed silence and isolation quickly begins to wear on her mind with eerie results. “Without” screens Sunday at 11:15 a.m. in the Bartell Theater.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation”
While many kids wanted to remake their favorite movies growing up, playing out the roles of their favorite characters, few, if any, had the ambition and commitment to follow through. But in 1982, three 12-year-olds set out to film their own shot-by-shot remake of their favorite film of all time, “Raiders of the Lost Arc.” It took seven years to finish, and many more to be discovered by the world at large. But in 2003 the boys finally got to meet their hero Steven Spielberg, after a VHS tape of their project found its way into Spielberg’s hands, and now their 100-minute fan film magnum opus is playing on the real silver screen, this Saturday in the Orpheum Theater at 1:30 p.m.
“Kill List”
Having premiered at last year’s South By Southwest Film Festival, this film has been in conversation constantly at the fest, as everyone seemed to be looking for the new-“Kill List”. This movie premiered out of nowhere, with no hype or expectation, only to blow audiences away and demand attention. The film has been called one part “Wickerman” one part “The Blair Witch Project” and follows the story of two former soldiers-turned-hit-men who find themselves embroiled in a mystery after a series of odd assignments. Considering its name has essentially become a synonym for “weird and unexpectedly awesome,” I couldn’t be more pleased by the opportunity to see “Kill List” not just once, by twice at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival, Friday at 10:30 p.m. in the Union South Marquee and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Sundance Cinemas.
What films are you looking forward to the most at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival? Let David know at dcottrell@wisc.edu.
