Sunday’s movie was The Great Buck Howard about a law school dropout played by Colin Hanks and his experience working for a has-been “mentalist” played by John Malkovich. Hanks’ character is partially based on writer Sean McGinly’s own past dropping out of law school to become a writer and getting a job as personal assistant to The Amazing Kreskin, upon which Malkovich’s Buck Howard is based. Malkovich does a marvelous caricature of the magician carrying on past his prime. And while that storyline kept me interested, I never quite figured out the point of the film. It was about Hanks’ character, this was made clear by the narrative voice over by Hanks. But there were no dyamics with his character, there was no “aha!” moment.

Tom Hanks, whose company produced the film, is on screen for a few minutes as the younger Hanks’ father.

Writer/director Sean McGinly was on hand afterward for a short Q&A. This is where I learned that he also made the extremely low-budget film Two Days, starring Paul Rudd as a failed Los Angeles actor preparing to commit suicide, and by far a better film this new one.

TZ joined me for a showing of Good Food, a documentary highlighting organic and sustainable farms of the Pacific Northwest. There were some shots of beautiful produce and some fuzzy-wuzzy cattle, but it wasn’t a cinematic feast. The filmmakers had farmers and a few ranchers explain why they were organic, how they were doing it, and their relationships with their customers. All very interesting. But as far as film making goes, it left quite a bit to be desired, and came across as extremely amateurish. Yet, the two people who made it have apparently been making documentary films for a couple decades. I suppose to them the message is more important than the delivery. Our conclusion, though, is that, sadly, this film is preaching to the converted. The chance that someone who doesn’t already know the benefits of organic, sustainable, local farming, someone who isn’t already incorporating those values into their lives, the chance is very slim that they’ll see this film.

After the film and its Q&A session, TZ and I headed to Moe Bar to experience the SIFF Lounge. I am pretty sure we were the only people there who had attended a festival film.

I haven’t time traveled. I am only counting the days I see films in the festival. Tuesday and Wednesday, I took the days off.

But I returned to the fray yesterday for August, a film so new they hadn’t even tacked on the end credits yet. Josh Hartnett does a great job playing an arrogant jerk-face running a dot-com business with his genius brother on the brink of a burst. The film includes a lot of pop culture references to solidify the time setting of August 2001. How significant is that? You tell me. There is a great deal of tension built as Hartnett’s character is in denial of the impending doom of his company, while his brother, the COO and CFO all wait to see how the chips fall. The mostly electronica score added to the unease as it never really let you relax. This movie made me angry, but perhaps that was the point.

Tonight’s fare was Bill Plympton’s new feature Idiots and Angels. The story follows the antagonizing protagonist, a bully whose life changes course despite his best efforts to prevent it. The film was completely hand drawn by Plympton, and each frame was digitally scanned and manipulated on a computer instead of photographing cels. The artist drew 25,000 frames to make the total film. Mr. Plympton was in the house for a quick introduction to the film and a Q&A afterward. On our way out of the theatre, he presented those of us willing to wait a signed card with our very own little drawing done there on the spot.

Today’s feature was The King of Ping Pong, a Swedish film about two middle-school brothers and their parents. I suppose it’s mainly about the elder son, Rille, and his relationships with said brother and parents. Most of the story takes place during the boys’ spring break, but you’d hardly know it with all the snow and ice. Vistas of snow-covered mountains, snow drifts, and frozen lakes abound. Rille is bundled up for most of the film, and when his parka is on, so is his backpack. Always. There is a showdown near the end, but if you’re expecting a Table Tennis Battle Royale (as I was) you will be disappointed.

I wonder sometimes when I watch films from other countries, if some things portrayed make more sense within the culture which is portraying them. I somehow felt a little got lost in translation to me in this film.