The Great Hobnobben Festival Preview Pt. 2 by Ian Maxton

This is Pt. 2 (of 3) of my Hobnobben Festival Preview. You can view Pt. 1 below.

Hobnobben begins Thursday, and since I will be writing up the festival at the Cinema Center and Hobnobben blogs, I thought it might be a good idea to offer a preview of the festival.

The trouble with film festivals (and especially ones as stacked as Hobnobben) is that the average filmgoer will likely not have seen, or even heard of, many of the films being shown. And there are a ton of good films at Hobnobben. So where do you even begin?

Right here.

This is by no means the final word on what the festival has to offer. Like most of you, I have yet to see any of these films. So my excitement is based on three things: my previous experience with the filmmaker/cast, the distributor of the film, and word of mouth about the film. So feel free to follow or ignore my advice and, by all means, purchase a festival pass and see everything you can. But if you find yourself lost and wondering what the must-sees are, here is a completely subjective list of what I am most excited for this year.

SATURDAY

Must-See:

The Cannes film festival is held every year in the south of France. At the end of the festival, they give out their major award: the Palme d’Or. It’s all very exciting and inevitably leads to a firestorm of debate about the film that receives the award. The only problem with this is that, because of the way film distribution works, most of these films do not make it to American shores for many months and if you live somewhere that isn’t New York or LA, it may take over a year, if you even get to see it in a cinema at all.

This is why Hobnobben is essential to the film community here, because of Dheepan.

Dheepan won the Palme d’Or over a year ago at Cannes and I’ve been reading about it ever since. As with most films that win the award, Dheepan has been polarizing. This only makes me more interested in it. On top of that, the film is written and directed by Jacques Audiard, who also made A Prophet and Rust and Bone.

The plot description (per IMDB): “Dheepan is a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris.”

Dheepan is the very definition of a “must-see” at the festival.

Here is the film’s trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-vi4RcuE8

Dheepan screens at 3:30 at Cinema Center.

Dark Horse:

When most people think of documentary films, it is likely that they think of a serious film, tackling important subjects. Perhaps they think of interviews with experts. Maybe reenactments.

I guess you could say that NUTS! has some of those things.

From director Penny Lane (Our Nixon) comes (per IMDB) “The mostly true story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire with his goat-testicle impotence cure and a million-watt radio station.”

Read it again. Yes, it says what you think it says.

NUTS! is the most aptly titled film at the festival this year. Beyond the, ahem, nutty subject matter, the film blends standard documentary techniques like interviews and archival footage with animated reenactments, fictionalizations, and testimonies. It looks like if Max Fleischer made a sex comedy.

But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself in the film’s (sort of NSFW) trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5rMIjd1hBc

NUTS! screens twice over the weekend.

8:30 at the Parkview Physicians Artslab on Saturday.

And at 4 at Cinema Center on Friday.

SUNDAY

Must-See:

Taika Waititi may not be a name that is familiar to you, but he is about to become huge. The director broke through for most of us with his work on the TV series Flight of the Conchords. Since then he has delivered 2007’s Eagle vs Shark and last year’s What We Do in the Shadows. However, next year he will be helming Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and hopefully bringing his comic, distinctive voice to the often same-y Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In the meantime however, he has brought us Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Besides my potent Sam Neill nostalgia (due entirely to his turn in Jurassic Park), the film looks incredible. Waititi consistently brings the laughs without sacrificing the visual beauty of film.

Here’s the plot (per IMDB): “A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.”

And the film’s joyous trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Xvsjy57X0

There won’t be another film like this at the festival. In fact, it’s unlikely you will see anything quite like for the rest of the year.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople screens at 4:30 at Cinema Center.

Dark Horse:

The Innocents has a ton going for it. It’s directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel) and co-stars Agata Kulesza. You will likely recognize her from 2014’s Ida, which was distributed by Music Box Films, the same folks bringing The Innocents to Hobnobben.

Much like Dheepan, this is a foreign film that people can’t stop talking about. And for good reason. Here is the plot (per IMDB): “In 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor who is sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent.”

Like Ida, it seems that this film explores the moral fallout of WWII and the crisis of faith that many experienced in the aftermath.

Here is the beautiful and frightening trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go63ZVVwivI

The Innocents screens at 12 at Cinema Center.

Look for pt. 3 of the festival preview tomorrow, right here.

For more info on the festival, including a complete list of films and show times, head to hobnobben.org.