Full Frame Dispatch. 3.

"It's entertaining. It'll get butts in seats. But does it belong at Full Frame?" This question sums up the divided response to American Teen. Nanette Burstein's documentary, showing out of competition at the festival, was one of Saturday's big draws and a guaranteed conversation-starter.

Another was Werner Herzog's look at the professional dreamers who gravitate to the McMurdo base in Antarctica, Encounters at the End of the World [site], also showing out of competition. Die-hard Herzog fans could be heard happily trading favorite Werner voice-over gems afterward, such as when the filmmaker announces up front that he traveled to Antarctica as a guest of the National Science Foundation, "even though I would not come up with another film about penguins."

Unfortunately, midway through the screening, the technological bad luck plaguing the Carolina Theatre's Fletcher Hall this year struck again, and the presentation was marred by every programmer's nightmare: a buggy tape that pixilated the image. Many in the audience took the staff's opt-out offer, but the cinetrix chose to stick it out and is glad she did.

In-competition flicks also held their share of surprises. Chuck Tryon spoke highly of world premiere Life. Support. Music. [site], which chronicles the recovery of musician Jason Crigler from a brain hemorrhage that left him a vegetable. The cinetrix, a little leery of yet another movie about a Mardi Gras and white class privilege, was pleasantly surprised by The Order of Myths [site], in which filmmaker Margaret Brown takes a nuanced look at the black and white celebrations in Mobile, Alabama, home of the oldest Carnival in North America.

Another divisive and distinctly Southern subject was the focus in Boogie Man [site], Stefan Forbes's film about the late Republican bagman Lee Atwater. Even though the doc is reportedly not quite finished, with time codes still popping up on some archival footage, Boogie Man prompted a spirited discussion among South Carolinians attending the festival for its balanced but still incendiary story of that state's notorious native son.

But the night's most rapturously received film had to be Man on Wire [site]. A definite front-runner for the audience award, James Marsh's film tells the tale of Philippe Petit, the French tightrope walker who crossed the chasm between the Twin Towers eight times in August 1974. The director explained afterward how fortunate he was that the players in this plot had never really spoken about the stunt, but the true happy accident was discovering color footage of Petit and his friends as they practiced in France that had never been developed.

As for the other award winners, I'll report back after the awards BBQ...

Posted by dwhudson at April 6, 2008 8:03 AM