The Lonely Bliss of the Cannonball Luke
Luke returns home to a small town in Pennsylvania to launch himself back into the lives of his ex-flame Hannah and her daughter Elise. A subtle and bittersweet ode to a man who’s only grounded when he’s in the sky, featuring stunt work by world-record-holding human cannonball David Smith, Sr. (from the filmfest-guide)
Haha, I can’t think of anything deep or significant to write about this little story except that it was told very beautifully. I liked the characters and enjoyed this film very much! [imdb]
Maine Story
Shelly lives in a small town and works in the local factory, going through the motions as if her life hasn’t yet started. When Alex, her high school sweetheart, comes back to town, Shelly is forced to confront the things in her life that she’s been avoiding, including Kyle, her 12-year-old son. (from the filmfest-guide)
Maine Story is a very quiet and gentle portrait of its main character and the town she lives in. A few moments including its open end managed to surprise me. I would like to watch it again sometime with the filmmaker comments in mind. I enjoyed this film. [imdb]
The Aviatrix
A gleaming silhouette rockets through the cosmos. She is The Aviatrix. And she exists in the mind of Anne, a young woman battling cancer. (from the filmfest-guide)
This film demonstrates very nicely how there still can be room for laughter despite the horrors of a disease like cancer, and how humor can help to remove the walls around a sick person. I liked the humor, honesty and realism of The Aviatrix. [imdb]
First Bass
Abbey Jacobs is a 12-year-old upright bass prodigy whose true love is baseball. On the afternoon before an elite music-school audition, Abbey tricks her mom into thinking she’s practicing and sneaks off to a Cubs game with the boy down the block. But when she leaves the safety of suburbia and arrives at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, she discovers a truth about her divorced parents that changes her relationships with her mother and her instrument forever. (from the filmfest-guide)
Anther enjoyable story in this narrative shorts program.
Quick Feet, Soft Hands
A minor-league baseball player and his fiancée struggle to pursue the American dream. Starring Greta Gerwig (Hannah Takes the Stairs, Nights and Weekends, Yeast) and Jason Von Stein. (from the filmfest-guide)
I was very interested in how this story would continue to unfold and end, but we had to leave the screening to be in time for the next shorts program “On The Edge”. I hope there will be another opportunity to see this film again sometime. One of the main characters was played by Greta Gerwig, probably one of the busiest actresses in the young indie-film scene. Just to mention a few, she also played in Yeast, Baghead, and Joe Swanberg’s LOL I saw during one of the last film festivals. I enjoyed what I could see! [imdb]
