Day 2: September 10

A truncated day, with a wedding to attend tonight. A single film, and not a very good one at that. Still, the fest is a buzzin', as more and more people show up. It's quite ridiculous how packed the first weekend is, with basically must-see films crawling atop of one another. That lovely, quiet sense of panic, that you are missing the good for the bad, is always in the pit of your stomach. Still, today my choice was clear - a night with good friends at a celebration, and back to the fold tomorrow.

Phil the Alien
Directed by: Rob Stefaniuk

Grade: D-

Oh, Canada.... why must your films be so shitty so often. The talking Beaver sounded like a fine idea. Shots of the Falls? Hey, that'll work. Instead, we get a feature that looks like it was shot on weekends by a bunch of student, a loopy, derivative story and poor performances. Oh, and a talking Beaver. Did I mention that already?

Silver City
Directed by: John Sayles

Grade: D

A simple talking, funny-accented greying conservative politician is shown to be a moron. Who knew? Mixing Bob Roberts with Chinatown, and not in a good way, this is a messy film that gets worse the more I think about it. A big disapointment from a fine director.