We saw three features and a couple of shorts today at the Santa Fe Film Festival on Friday. Before we get to "Dangerous Highway," "Darkon" and "The Lives of Others," let's get an update on the buzz:

Who's up and who's down? I've heard no one with anything positive to say about "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer," which kicked off the fest Wednesday night. Too lengthy, apparently, and not enough zip. Too bad. Tom Tykwer has made some memorable movies in the past. I keep hearing good things about "The Gymnast." People who caught it on opening night liked the real feel of it. (It plays again Sunday morning 12/10.)

Celeb update: I drove back to Albuquerque tonight to regroup, so I didn't stay in Santa Fe and stalk Chuck D. Public Enemy was playing Club Alegria tonight. Heck, I would have settled for getting the time of day from Flavor Flav. (What's the B-movie equivalent for TV "stars"?)

OK, let's talk about movies.

I got a late start on the day. I headed out around noon and took a half hour for an interview with Michael and Mark Polish, the masterminds behind "The Astronaut Farmer." (See yesterday's review here.) More on that chat later at this URL and in the Tribune in the coming weeks. (The movie is scheduled to open nationwide Feb. 23.)

I caught a few of the shorts in the Love/Wicked Love program. I really liked "Pep Talk," a clever 11-minute quickie about a guy whose fiancee dumps him for another woman, setting off his quest to raise his self-esteem. The absurdity of it grows on you. Unfortunately it was sandwiched between two that clocked in at a bulky 23 minutes, and neither one seemed to go anywhere. "In Memory of Me," also with a lesbian theme, had a lot of dramatic dialogue. You either bought it or you didn't. I didn't have the patience to watch all of "Memories of a Sick Mind," a droll British film.

The first feature of the day was "Dangerous Highway," the sad story of Eddie Hinton, the musician and songwriter from the Muscle Shoals era. Technically, this one's a bit of a mess (a lot of poor lighting and audio, and in need of another edit), but the determination of New Mexico filmmakers Deryle Perryman and Moises Gonzalez wins out in the end. It's a fascinating story, and you might have to be a fan of that brand of '60s and '70s blue-eyed soul music to appreciate it fully. It's narrated by veteran bluesman Robert Cray, who volunteered his time with the project, Perryman said. According to Perryman, it was a chance meeting with Cray in an elevator in Alabama that planted the seeds of the film. When Perryman mentioned Hinton, he recalled, Cray replied, "Oh, what a tragedy." Indeed. Like most other films, this one's in need of distribution. "Marketing and selling it is probably more work than what we've done the past two years," Gonzalez said after the screening. ("Dangerous Highway" plays again Sunday afternoon 12/10.)

"Darkon" (catch the trailer here) is one of the best of the fest so far. The documentary explores the world -- real and imagined -- of adults in the Baltimore area who play live-action medieval-war fantasy games. "It's like watching TV," explains one of the gamers, "but you're the hero." The filmmakers play it straight and fair; there isn't a sense that they're mocking the subjects, who are very aware of what they are doing and how it looks to the rest of us living in the 21st century. The directors matter-of-factly cut from a dramatic battle scene to one of the participants, a house husband, doing a load of laundry. But it's an unblinking camera eye that doesn't judge. What knocked me out about the movie is how sophisticated the filmmaking is. Time after time I was amazed by how smart a shot was framed or presented. We get aerial shots that make sense and are done well. The pacing is excellent. The cinematographers were Karl Schroder and Killary Spera. And it has an original score (a lot of it somber music that accompanies the staged fighting and verbal parrying) by Jonah Rapino, who conducted an ensemble. This is a fascinating look at another world. The Santa Fe Film Festival, back on mission. ("Darkon" plays again Sunday night 12/10.)

Final note: We'll save "The Lives of Others" for another day. It's an amazing debut drama by German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, from the beginning right through to its perfect final line. It will be released in the U.S. in the coming weeks; it just won the top European Film award; and it's a front-runner for this year's foreign-language Oscar. All deserved. Put it on your list.

Posted by J.A. Montalbano at 12:02 AM | Permalink