In the words of Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) from Black Book (one of the very best movies of the past decade): “Will it never end?”
- The Alloy Orchestra: These guys are awesome!
I kid Indie Memphis, but as we enter Day 7 of a festival that will now stretch to 10 days, the goodness is starting to turn dedicated film fans bleary-eyed. The reason the festival is going an extra day now is that last week’s planned Levitt Shell screening of Elvis Presley’s 1968 “Comeback” television special and the Coen brothers’ beloved The Big Lebowski has been rescheduled for its original rain date of this Friday, October 16th, with a 7 p.m. start. Indie Memphis organizers didn’t want to commit to the date after the initial cancellation last week, but finally settled on it yesterday. The screening will mark a return to what used to be a regular fixture — movies in the park. It could also be a test run for future events, so, please Memphis, let’s pack the place out.
Now, Corduroy Wednesday, I’mma let you finish, but last night Alloy Orchestra had one of the best screenings of all time! The Boston-based trio performed their original scores live last night with screenings of new prints of Buster Keaton’s classic action-comedy The General and Dziga Vertov’s beautiful experimental film The Man With a Move Camera. It wasn’t a sellout (boo!), but the crowds were pretty good for both screenings. And those that were there were rewarded with a dazzling experience. If it wasn’t the best filmgoing experience I’ve ever had, it was certainly among the best. And I heard a similar sentiment from many others in attendance.
Now, onto today’s schedule with a quick, automatic-writing-style guide
Pick of the Day: The Conversion (8:45 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.)
- A scene from The Conversion
This year’s winner of the Hometowner Award for Best Local Feature, The Conversion is a 12-part, web-conceived series inspired by the recent analog-to-digital television conversion and by episodic television shows such as Lost and 24. The first nine installments have already debuted online, with full series showing for the first time here.
The film is the product of the filmmaking trio Corduroy Wednesday, lead by director Edward Valibus Phillips. The first screening tonight sold out long ago. As of late last night there were still some tickets left for the 9:15 show. (Preceding The Conversion is the short doc Chasing Daylight, a “making of” feature about the upcoming local feature Daylight Fades, from two-time Hometowner Award winner Brad Ellis.)
