The Wisconsin Film Festival officially starts today, commencing with the American documentary “The Woodmans” at the Wisconsin Union Theater. Here is a bite-sized menu of just one intriguing film title per day for those, like me, whose inflexible schedules don’t allow for full-time movie watching extravaganzas for five days straight. These are my picks – keep in mind, I’m basing this off scrupulous textual research; I haven’t seen most of the films yet. PDFs of detailed descriptions of every movie, photos and a full calendar are available at www.wifilmfest.org.
Online ticket sales have ceased, but tickets are available until sold out at the location where they will be playing until an hour beforehand. Tickets will be $5 with a student ID and $8 for the general public – in cash.
Day 1, Today: The Robber. 9 p.m. Orpheum Main. In what sounds like an exciting and psychological blend of John Dillinger and Steve Prefontaine, Johann Rettenberger is a compulsive bank robber from Vienna who also holds a title for marathon running. Interestingly, an English remake is in the works for this subtitled film.
Day 2, Thursday: The Evil Dead. 9:45 p.m. Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. This one I have seen, at multiple Zombie-classic movie marathons no less. Directed by Sam Raimi, “Evil Dead” is macabre and truly historic. The film covers all the bases of techniques used in early horror cinematography, from buckets of fake blood to grotesque stop motion. And it includes the only known rape-by-tree incident ever caught on film.
Day 3, Friday: Armadillo. 9:45 p.m. Play Circle Theater. The war documentary “Armadillo” encompasses a group of Danish soldiers’ time fighting in Afghanistan, reminding viewers the U.S. was not alone in this fight. The film won the grand prize in Cannes’ Critics Week and was the only documentary ever to be screened in this category.
Day 4, Saturday: The New Year. 6:30 p.m. Wisconsin Union. About a teenage girl’s meandering through a humdrum point of life, “The New Year” was described by Variety magazine as “a film destined for later rediscovery by cineastes curious to see the first flowering of two serious talents.”
Day 5, Sunday: Project Nim. 7 p.m. Chazen Museum of Art. Possibly my most anticipated film of choice, “Project Nim” follows the story of scientists’ attempts to raise a chimpanzee fluent in sign language from birth. Starting with “a family of hippie academics,” the chimp named Nim went through a slightly tragic series of foster homes in his lifetime. I loved Marsh’s “Man on Wire,” for which he won an Oscar for Best Documentary, and the subject matter of “Nim” seems even more thematically appealing.
Honorable Mentions: “Slightly Unsettling Shorts” (playing 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and 9:45 p.m. Saturday at Monona Terrace) and “Shut Up Little Man” (playing 9:30 p.m. Friday at Wisconsin Union and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bartell Theater). “Slightly Unsettling Shorts” includes five brief films, all of which take a shocking, sickening or unhappily dark turn. “Shut Up Little Man” plays 9:30 p.m. at Wisconsin Union on Friday and 8 p.m. at the Bartell on Saturday. This film is what happens when two UW alums secretly tape their upstairs neighbors: a “flamboyant gay man” and a “raging homophobe.” Putting together the audio recordings of their time living in a hot-pink San Francisco apartment, it looks like Eddie Lee Sausage and Mitchell D have produced a concept film really worth seeing.
