April 2007 Archives

Tonight was the start of the festival, so I nipped down to Parker's Piece, where a lot of the action will be over the next few days, to film the tents.

One of the tents is covered in LEDs which flash depending on mobile phone activity in the vicinity. Sadly I just missed the whole thing lighting up. It seemed to conicide with a goal in a football match. First I heard the cheer from the pub on the other side of the park, then - a few seconds later - the whole tent was covered in light. I presume it was the traffic generated by all the SMS updates for people who receive the latest football scores on their phones.

Anyway, you can watch the WMV file of what I saw here.

I have considered this festival to be a potential rival to the Venice Biennale, or maybe something which compliments it? All good fun, and more reports to come from me later.

From Thursday this week (26th of April) until the end of the weekend Cambridge will be seeing a rather interesting set of exhibitions, demonstrations, and a very trendy conference. The photo on the left is the initial setting up of the domes that will host some of the displays and events.

‘Enter Unknown Territories’ or ‘Enter_Unknown Territories’ as it is funkily entitled is a 4 day festival that is bringing together art and new technology. It seems that much of the City will be involved with this. I myself will be attempting to attend a few of the shows or displays. Since Chenapan – our mad cheese-eating friend – will be visiting the town it’ll be interesting to see if we can coax him into coming along to this potentially bizarre series of events.

I noted that one of the major contributors to the organisation of the festival is the famous Bill Thompson. In recent years Bill appears to have become rather a centrepiece of Cambridge life. From his work at last year’s Cambridge Film Festival, to his work with the BBC, it is good to know that Cambridge is home to such diverse and colourful characters!

Returning to the subject in hand, I noticed that one of the major events is a picnic on Parker’s Piece on Sunday at 2pm. This could be a very community spirited event, or it could be totally overrun by scavvers. Only time will tell. If I obtain any interesting footage in the next few days it will, naturally, be shared here on nofear.org!

Click the various links above for more information.

Paolo Sorrentino once again invites you into his weird and wonderful world realised in film. As a fan of the intriguing movie ‘The Consequences of Love’ I headed down to the cinema to watch Sorrentio’s third major feature.

Like ‘Le Conseguenze Dell'Amore’ the full character traits of the protagonists are revealed slowly giving the audience plenty of time to wonder where the twists and turns of the plot will take them. Thus, on seeing the introductory sequence of a group of young ladies playing volleyball in slow motion it was quite a surprise to see the film’s subject concentrate on a twisted money lender in a tale of deception and humiliation.

Geremia “Good Heart” is a miserly and seemingly impoverished old man, who lives in a squalid apartment and tends to his bed-ridden mother; whose sheets seem to be permanently soiled. It soon transpires that Geremia is on the look out for love, and we soon see him visiting an agency so that he may be introduced to a potential bride/carer/cleaner/general dogsbody. As well as owning a small tailoring outfit Geremia also is a loan shark. Lending small amounts at unfavourable rates to, what would probably be called the sub-sub prime market! As well as a high financial price for his loans Geremia also extracts a high emotional price from his clients. Usually interfering in the loaners’ lives until their debt has been settled. How Geremia treats those who fail to settle their loans is something that only watching the movie can explain.

The story proceeds and Geremia’s quest for love, or what he understands by it, dominates the plot. The direction the plot takes sometimes borders on the implausible, but never so much that it spoils the film. As well as being an incredibly involving film I found ‘The Family Friend’ to be a slightly surreal experience. Some scenes in the film made me think I was witnessing a Mediterranean David Lynch feature!

The cinematography is very well executed and stimulates the watching experience. As is usual in Sorrentino movies, at least the ones I have seen, the score is practically a law unto itself – not so much complimenting but matching the visuals in emotive impact.

A very interesting and enjoyable film if a slightly peculiar affair. ****1/2 (out of 5)