Waiter, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox & Paris je t'aime

It was a mostly medicore 3-film day, I'd say.

Waiter is getting a bunch of comparisons to the Will Ferrell movie Stranger Than Fiction that came out last year, only it's from The Netherlands and a bit more wishy-washy. It uses a similar plot device in that the characters somehow discover they are being actively narrated then seek out their author and interact with them. It is here where Waiter departs from the Stranger Than Fiction comparison by immediately getting to this device and then continually revisiting it throughout the entire film. One thing that irritated me about Stranger Than Fiction was just how long it took to actually get to the point that we all knew was coming from all the trailers. The slow to start script made it a bit grueling. The other thing is that Fiction is a more subtle movie I think, and written most likely to showcase Ferrell's more dark humorous side (though I'm not sure how well that worked). Waiter is more outright goofy, sometimes violent, and overall fairly plotless. It instead focused entirely on the character/narrator device and overall character development. But the former seems a bit cliched, and the latter was sort of scatterbrained and not particularly fulfilling in any way. I just felt the whole thing was a little fluffy. And though I admittedly kind of like the overall cliched idea and was hoping maybe a foreign film would progress it beyond just simply being another of the same, it failed in rising above all that to anything actively interesting.

Several hours after Waiter, the next scheduled film was Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox over at the SIFF Cinema. So like a total slacker, I chilled out at home and waited until the last minute to head out downtown in the midst of all kinds of Folklife Festival traffic. I arrived at the theater about 5 minutes after its start time and was able to get in, breaking my #1 audience rule and of course, completely not caring because I really wanted to see it.

I wouldn't say Dr. Bronner was worth the traffic battle, few movies probably are, but I found it entertaining if one could look past its poor production qualities. The documentary is about the man behind those wacky soap containers you see at the store with all the finely printed labels spewing all kinds of random things on them. It's about who he was, what kind of person he was to others, and about his legacy which continues to live on by his children. One of those children actually happens to be quite outspoken about his dad and a bit of an eccentric like him as well. The movie's strength comes from the sheer luck of finding unique people with which some great footage was obtained, such as one humorous scene where the son is talking about his father in the car and manages to drive past a large sign that says BIG and then DADDY, at which point the car stops in traffic and the word DADDY is framed perfectly in the background. Talk about a perfect shot! And then there is the totally great stoner-pianist guy who is so totally honest with the camera and his interaction with Bronner's son that I assume the director had no choice but to just include it even though it had little relevancy to the story. The movie just kind of floats along like this with more of the same little peculiar or funny tidbits here and there that overall make it a fun watch, but nothing totally mind-blowing or great.

Last on the list for today was Paris je t'aime - A Collective Feature Film. 18 short films about love in Paris by 18 different directors. Rather than go through each one, which I physically can't because time is short, I will just note my favorites:

14th arrondissement by Alexander Payne: A totally hilarious yet somehow very touching story of an American woman who (poorly, in french with subtitles) narrates her trip to Paris. Totally great idea and done very well.

Tuileries by the Coen Brothers: A little tale about a sadsack man (Steve Buschemi) who becomes the subject of a couple's amusement during his wait in the train station. Shot really well and Buschemi is great as always.

Place des Victoires by Nobuhiro Suwa: A mother has lost her son and has visions of him. Another excellently shot movie with the always excellently depressing Juliette Binoche.

Faubourg Saint-Denis by Tom Tykwer: I have to admit, anytime I see Natalie Portman somewhere I cringe, but I really liked this one for some reason. There is an excellent time-lapse montage towards the end with narration to describe a small relationship timeline that was really unique and great.

The other shorts were not bad at all and there were none that I actively disliked save for another Nick Nolte scraggly-guy role, these are simply the ones that stood out in my mind.

Audience Watch: As I mentioned above, I was a prime offender here so I'd be a little hesitant to point out any issues today, but really there weren't any problems at all with any audiences of these movies so I guess the whole thing works out. Perhaps I'll show up in someone else's Audience Watch!