March 3, 2011 - 5:09pm
Traverse City Film Festival: Opening Night
BY ANDREW LAPIN
- Courtesy of Sharon Jacobs
Greetings from scenic northern Michigan, where the 6th annual Traverse City Film Festival is now officially underway. The festival, which has established a reputation as a beacon of American and international independent film and one of the largest film-related events in the state, has been dedicated by founder Michael Moore to celebrate all things Michigan and all things movies. To mark the occasion, one block of their downtown Front Street was sectioned off for an opening-night party featuring accordion players, samplings of local food that would otherwise be much too high-priced for college students and a talented Charlie Chaplin impersonator. A group called the Slumdog Dancers also got jiggy to “Jai Ho.”
But film festivals are measured in their movies, not their spectacle, and ticket-holders wrapped around the block as they lined up at the State Theater to see the two opening-night offerings. There was one showing of the family dramedy “The Kids Are All Right,” as well as two screenings of “Nowhere Boy,” the Weinstein-produced biopic about John Lennon’s early days. We got in line for the second showing, which ended up getting delayed by an hour. Rumor was that Moore’s late arrival had held up the earlier showing, but at least the documentarian took the time to work his way through the line and apologize personally to everyone.
Courtesy of Sharon Jacobs
Moore was everywhere on opening night. He gave a spiel on the BP oil spill during the street party, and then addressed the “Nowhere Boy” crowd once we had all finally shuffled in and found our seats. There were a lot of things on Moore’s mind, chiefly his commitment to improving Michigan’s cinematic landscape. He talked about his desire to start a statewide movie-theater-renovation project modeled after the work he had done with the State Theater.
Moore also proudly boasted of the presence of Cuban movie figures at the festival (with his efforts in getting them to Traverse City serving as the event’s “screw you, establishment” component), and welcomed actor Mirtha Ibarra and director Ian Padron in person. Then, finally, it was time to watch the movie.
Or was it? Nope, first we got a reprise of the “Michigan Filmmaker Award” that had been posthumously presented to John Hughes (“The Breakfast Club”) earlier that night. They read a statement from the Lansing-born director’s family and followed with clips from his iconic films. OK, now it’s really time for…
Courtesy of Sharon Jacobs
Nowhere Boy
My brief thoughts: Despite some occasionally engaging moments, this movie about the most famous Beatle as a rebellious teen flirts way too close to dull melodrama for much of its run. Director Sam Taylor Wood hones in almost exclusively on young Lennon’s relationships with his free-spirited mother and the aunt who raised him for much of his life — which would be fine, except his approach mostly leaves the actual music in Lennon’s life by the wayside. Yes, his family life really was this traumatic for him, but is it wrong for the audience to decide they just don’t care very much about this particular aspect of the musician’s life?
We see the hardships and the heartbreaks, but we don’t see any hints as to how these travails made Lennon one of the most celebrated artists of all time. Ultimately, “Nowhere Boy” becomes the musical-biopic equivalent of the “Star Wars” prequels: An unnecessary origin story for a pop-culture legend.
But hey, there will be so much more to see in the coming days that looks promising, including our Screen Arts & Cultures students’ very own screening on Thursday. Movie-wise, the land of cherries still has much to offer. And now to get a very small amount of rest before the first full day of cinema.
