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jfbEvery time you see a film at Cinequest they ask you to rate it from 1 to 5, so they can give out audience awards at the end of the festival. There are words on the card to tell you what the numbers mean, but like everyone else I have my own definitions. A 2 is a movie I dislike, and is getting less common as Cinequest gets better movies and I get better at screening out the ones I won't like. A 1 is exceedlingly rare (none yet this year), and means that I not only disliked it but could detect no sincere human emotion behind its creation.
Most of my ratings are cradled in the 3-to-4 range. A 3 means I didn't really think there was anything wrong with the movie, it just wasn't my thing. A 4 is a movie I liked. And a 5 is better than a 4.
I saw several 5s last weekend, and then not one all week--lots of good solid 4s, but no 5s at all. I was beginning to wonder if I'd unconsciously raised my standards, or if the sheer blur of so many movies had rendered me incapable of evaluating them. Then late tonight Miles Ahead reminded me what a 5 is: It's a movie that thrills me. Maybe not all the way through, but for some significant stretch it has a physical effect on me--my heart beats faster or I stop blinking or I can't remember to close my mouth.
Shot in Asheville and Waynesville, NC, Miles Ahead is a story about a young man with a lot of grief to get through. It's very much in the love-or-hate vein of The Thin Red Line--slow, luminous shots, non-linear structure, and dialogue that's refreshingly sparse and yet still a little too explainy when it comes. (Hey, Malick's movie is one of my favorites ever, but nobody's perfect.) It also features a great Thomas-Newmanesque score by Joshua Chase, augmented by a montage of Miles Davis recordings.
It's not a masterpiece, but if you like this sort of thing, it's awfully good. Official site, Cinequest page (with trailer), IMDb page.
Most of my ratings are cradled in the 3-to-4 range. A 3 means I didn't really think there was anything wrong with the movie, it just wasn't my thing. A 4 is a movie I liked. And a 5 is better than a 4.
I saw several 5s last weekend, and then not one all week--lots of good solid 4s, but no 5s at all. I was beginning to wonder if I'd unconsciously raised my standards, or if the sheer blur of so many movies had rendered me incapable of evaluating them. Then late tonight Miles Ahead reminded me what a 5 is: It's a movie that thrills me. Maybe not all the way through, but for some significant stretch it has a physical effect on me--my heart beats faster or I stop blinking or I can't remember to close my mouth.
Shot in Asheville and Waynesville, NC, Miles Ahead is a story about a young man with a lot of grief to get through. It's very much in the love-or-hate vein of The Thin Red Line--slow, luminous shots, non-linear structure, and dialogue that's refreshingly sparse and yet still a little too explainy when it comes. (Hey, Malick's movie is one of my favorites ever, but nobody's perfect.) It also features a great Thomas-Newmanesque score by Joshua Chase, augmented by a montage of Miles Davis recordings.
It's not a masterpiece, but if you like this sort of thing, it's awfully good. Official site, Cinequest page (with trailer), IMDb page.
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Date: 2004-03-15 01:11 am (UTC)Of course, they're different, too, so, well, never mind.
Anyway, re distributor, I don't know yet. Their world premiere was here, so it'll probably be a while before any general release. It's very high quality for an indie film--in terms of cinematography and sound, I mean--and it's got Ben Allison, who was in Cold Mountain, so he may be an up-and-comer. I guess I'd hope for a theatrical release, and expect it at least to hit DVD.