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Friday, March 19, 2010
CIFF: Day 1
Last night was the opening film and party for the Cleveland International Film Festival. As passholders, we got tickets to see the film and attend the gala included in our membership, and since I really wanted to see that film, how could we pass it up? The film was slated to start at 7PM, but since they were doing introductory spiels in five theaters, it was probably more like 7:25 by the time we were able to get rolling. What I thought was interesting was that they started all the films at the same time rather than staggering their starts so that the exodus to where the party would be was not as congested. No matter.
TiMER was an interesting film. The concept is that every person can get a device – a timer – implanted into their wrist, and it will count down the days and hours until that person will meet their soulmate for the first time. If the person meant to be your soulmate hasn’t had a timer implanted yet, yours is blank. The main character has this very predicament. The movie explores the concepts of true love. Does it only happen once? Can a little device really determine whether you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with this one person? And if it can, do you wait around for that one person, or pursue other relationships in the meantime? Essentially, if you know you’re meant to be with one person for the rest of your life and your timer says you haven’t met them yet, how do you then go about living the rest of your life?
I really enjoyed the film. It was quirky and funny, with a touch of surreality and sci-fi. It got me thinking, too. (I love it when a movie makes me think.) After the film was over, I asked Johnathan, “Would you?” He wasn’t sure. I know at this point we both feel it’s moot. If this relationship isn’t the forever one and we’re not meant to last, would I want to know? Would I have wanted to know a few years ago? I don’t know. How would it change your relationship to know that you’re supposed to be in love with this one person? What’s to stop a person from bucking their one “true” path and going down a different one? There are so many questions inspired by this movie. I love it.
The opening gala was nice. There were a lot of people in a very little space, but there was good music and made some great people watching time. I had the first beer that I’ve had since we started this process – so my first beer in 2.5 months. It was very good! But then, Great Lakes usually is.
A few anecdotes:
- The man behind us kept ruining the moments in the film by stating what everyone KNEW was going to happen just seconds before it did. Dude, you’re totally killing the anticipation when you do that. And you’re doing it at full volume! Don’t be a jerk. Don’t talk during movies!
- The lady next to us seemed like she was maaaaaybe a little drunk. She couldn’t find her pop and instead of verifying that the one in between her and Johnathan was hers, she just drank from it. It was not hers. I gave mine to Johnathan and he kept it on the other side after that. (Then they left their cups in the theater! I hate it when people do that! We took them to the trash with ours.)
- A lady tried to walk off with our beers. It was pretty funny. She had ordered two Eliot Ness and we ordered to Dortmunders. He put up the Dortmunders first, and then grabbed the others – but hadn’t removed the caps from any – and she started walking away. It was kind of an amusing madcap moment.
- We got egg timers as our parting gifts! So cute. Now we have two egg timers. I guess one can never have too many timers?
Today is the second day – the first full day. We’re seeing six films today. See you tomorrow!
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