Proofreading, porn and alien invasions

Attack the Block: Source

After another 13-hour day in the closet, my colleagues and I decided to reward our perseverance with a midnight screening. We went straight to the cinema after we wrapped up here, but were still at the tail end of an ominously long line.

KVIFF likes to have big audiences, so their policy is that if you show up to a film and there are still empty seats five minutes before it opens, they'll let you in until the house is full. This is a great policy, particularly given that KVIFF is often referred to as a sort of "backpacker's Cannes" because this town is crawling with backpackers and students. There's a camp set up for them just out of town, although some stay in hotels closer to the action, and they're all here to see films on the cheap.

It gives the festival a very young, enthusiastic vibe. But it also means that lines to get last-minute admission can be quite long.

One of the perks of a press pass is that it lets you jump the line, which is what we did. I felt a wee little bit guilty about it, but given that it was only my second film in the cinema I didn't feel too bad. Here's a trailer, if you're interested.

It was definitely one of the better films I saw yesterday. Often we'll grab a video from the video room and watch them in between working on proofs. It passes the time, and sometimes they're related to research for specific articles. Yesterday, the proofreader got one which sounded good from the description, but ... I just don't know how to describe it. Some sort of hybrid between Japanese pornography and musical theater, involving an amphibious sort of water sprite that loves cucumbers. I'd link to the trailer here, but it is not even remotely safe for work.

We spent a good deal of time speculating as to why that particular film had been selected by the programming staff, and the best I could come up with is that they'd never seen anything like it before. I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like it before. And it disturbs me a bit that, now that I've seen it, I can no longer say that I've never seen anything like it before.


But fest flicks are always a bit of a grab bag, I suppose...