Still Life (Stillleben )
We all do thinks that we aren’t proud of. We all have our demons. But what if those things we kept locked away in the tool shed come out of the dark and are too damaging to handle? That’s the scenario that a father is put in when his son, Bernhard, discovers a letter written to a whore to act as his sister – his father’s own daughter, Lydia. After confronting his father at an AA meeting while battling other demons, the father just leaves. This doesn’t just expose one problem but unravels the family from within. Watching how each character deals with the situation is curiously engaging as no one can figure out what to say or do but they’re actions show exactly what they think.
seductive still to get you enticed to see the film...it works
The acting of the father from Fritz Hörtenhuber is strong. His eyes can’t hide the misery that he’s caused and the void in his mind in finding the solution to this problem. Daniela Golpashin plays Lydia, the insestual love interest that had no idea she was literally the love of her father’s life. More interestingly, though, was the relationship between her and her brother who somehow always knew what was going on. If you want to see human emotions take a different course than you’re used to…check this one out. Still Life plays again tomorrow at 9:30pm at the Roxie.
Beside My Brother (Neben meinem Bruder)It’s hard to find an original idea in films today. Thankfully, indie films take the risk and surprise us. The synopsis of Beside My Brother was so original to me that I couldn’t wait to see it. Two identical twin brothers are raised as the same person by their troubled father. They switch off going to school, they answer to the same name, and they even sleep in the same bed. The film depicts an interesting scenario that the boys just never grow out of. How do you think they will interact with the world after they leave their father’s home? Even though they are identical, their personalities are somewhat polar and their most significant similarity, art, is what brings them together and breaks them apart.
This Austrian project worked on by film students is an excellent piece keeping you on your toes throughout the movie. You can’t stop thinking how Thomas will handle different situations like relationships, work, and one getting sick or wanting to do something the other doesn’t. Both the young Thomasas and old Thomasas are played by a single actor so it’s always fun to see how they shot the scenes where both of them are involved. The story arc is a bit abrupt in the end but there are a couple twists that make it worth it. Beside My Brother plays Sunday, February 19th (5:00pm) and Tuesday, February 21st (7:15pm) at the Roxie.
The FPSet in a world where people wear whatever they find in their closet and battles are settled on a Dance Dance Revolution imitation called Beat-Beat Revelation, The FP is one of the weirdest movies I’ve seen thus far this year. I can’t say that I enjoyed it but know that a lot of others have. I had a pretty overbearing problem with the language of this film as they took hipsters and had them saying broken ghetto slang. It was obviously trying to be funny but it came off brash. In any case, the fundamental story is a hyperbole of all those train yourself to become better and avenge your brother’s death type movies. In that respect, the movie is hilarious as it takes its main character JTRO (Jason Trost) and trains him to beat his brother BTRO’s killer L Dubba E (Lee Valmassy).
It's like Zoolander in a videogame made by douchebags
KCDC (Art Hsu) is the obnoxious hype man while BLT (Nick Principe) is the sen say and Stacy (Caker Folley) is the girl next door love interest. They flip everything about the genre on its head and deliver an unconventional triumph story set in the boonies. It’s loud and it’s proud as the movie is freight train of off the wall acting, terrible dance movies, and a storyline that doesn’t go anywhere you don’t expect it to. You’re either going to love it or hate it but if you’re interested, this only screens once at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival on Friday, February 17th at 7:15pm and is followed by its own Dance Dance Revolution Throwdown! Party at 518 Valencia.
This post is part of our IndieFest coverageFor the 14th year in a row, SF IndieFest presents an awesome abundance of awesomeness with a mightily monstrous mix of maverick movies and mayhem.Visit SF INDIEFEST’s Official Website
Tags: Beside My Brother, Neben meinem Bruder, San Francisco Independent Film Festival, sfindie, Still Life, Stillleben, The FP
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
