It pains me to admit it, but my cold has gotten the best of me once again. Still feeling under the weather for the second Friday evening of the Philadelphia Film Festival, I chose to skip out on the highly touted foreign film Holy Motors. My coughing fits have not only been wearing on me, but I'm sure they've distracted the multitude of movie goers surrounding me in the theatres. I did, however, bite the bullet for the 10pm showing of Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral. As the son of famed director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises and A History of Violence), Brandon's debut feature closely examined the over-obsession our culture has developed for celebrities. In a world where everyday people pay to be injected with the exact same strands of viruses as their favorite celebrities, Antiviral takes a magnified look at this imagined compulsion. What Cronenberg's first feature lacks in believability and realism, he makes up for it with intrigue and psychological madness. And although Antiviral proves to be a sluggish and drawn out movie experience, its aura of destruction and mayhem make it seem as though you're watching a car accident in the slowest of motions. Believe me, you can't look away.
A Look At Today:
While today marks the unofficial "Closing Night" of the Philadelphia Film Festival (there will be screenings all day tomorrow as well), I plan on getting a full day of movies under my belt. First up is the astonishing documentary Brooklyn Castle. Perhaps one of the films I was most eager to see, Brooklyn Castle takes an in-depth look into a public middle school where over 65% of students live below the poverty line. However, this same school is home to the most winning Chess team in the entire country. Although these students have been drawn to chess as a door to a better life, state budget cuts have threatened the school's ability to keep the program alive. Check out the trailer for Brooklyn Castle below.
My second feature of the day comes in the form of A Late Quartet, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken and Catherine Keener. Then, after a short break and reception party with special guest Robert Zemeckis, I will flock to the Zellerbach Theater on the University of Pennsylvania campus to see the director's newest film Flight. Starring Denzel Washington as an airline pilot who miraculously saves his plane from crashing after a major malfunction, Flight stands as this year's Closing Night feature. Check out the trailer for Flight by clicking below, and remember to keep coming back for recaps of what the festival has offered.
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