SCAD Savannah Film Festival: Days 1 & 2 Round-Up

The start of my SCAD Savannah Film Festival journey began with screenings of Well Groomed, Fly Like a Girl, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), Masters, and The Aeronauts on Day One, Saturday October 26th. I’m glad I decided to see the documentaries screening on Saturday. Some of my favorite films I’ve seen so far came from these documentary screenings.

On Day Two, Sunday October 27th, I saw the features Sell By, Only, and Motherless Brooklyn. I also saw the short films The Neighbor’s Window and Whiteout.

I am currently a SCAD student and I am looking forward to merge my two worlds together by covering the festival, as well as representing SCAD as a student. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival has just begun, and I am looking forward to providing insights into all the different film screenings I attend throughout the eight days. Here is a round-up of the films I saw during my first two days at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, including brief reviews of the short films I saw as well as the features.

Documentary and Narrative Features

Well Groomed (Rebecca Stern)

Rebecca Stern’s feature directorial debut follows the world of competitive creative dog grooming, and introduces this subject to its audience in an endlessly fun and engaging way. This documentary follows the lives of four professional dog groomers, who have all been competing for differing amounts of time.

Well Groomed is edited to perfectly capture both the joy and anxiety of competing professionally. This documentary is one of the films I have enjoyed the most so far in the festival. I did not know much about the creative dog grooming world, and Well Groomed introduced me to that world in a well-structured and delightful way.

Fly Like a Girl (Katie Wiatt)

Katie Wiatt’s Fly Like a Girl focuses on an interesting subject and starts with a good mixture of modern examples of women in aviation fields with historical elements, but as the documentary progresses, it feels less and less cohesive. Nearing the end of the film, I felt like the placement of moments was given less attention, which left scenes that felt as if they were added to the end because they did not fit into earlier areas of the film.

Fly Like a Girl has moments which I really enjoyed and made me excited about the role of women in aviation, but as a whole, this documentary felt a little unfocused with some structural problems. There were multiple times while watching Fly Like a Girl where I thought the film was going to end, and a few times where I wish it had because the scenes that came after felt disconnected from the focus and tone of the rest of the documentary.

The Aeronauts (Tom Harper)

The last screening of day one was Tom Harper’s The Aeronauts, which had some moments I really enjoyed, but as a whole, the film felt as if something was missing. When The Aeronauts utilized flashbacks to fill the audience in on how the main characters managed to find themselves on this balloon for this very specific mission, I was pulled away from the more memorable moments of the film. After I thought about the film for a while, I started to feel more and more disappointed in its structure. I enjoyed the moments inside the balloon, and felt a few sequences were intense and captivating, but whenever a flashback came on, I wished we stayed in the balloon and took a real time 90 minute ride with the main characters.

Another aspect which made the film not as engaging as it could have been were the actual characters. I liked Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne’s performances, especially Felicity Jones’s as their situation becomes more intense, but the characters they portrayed felt like archetypes of people who wouldn’t like each other, rather than fully realized characters with unique goals and dreams. The Aeronauts is a technically beautiful film, which engages its audience in certain moments, yet feels slow and poorly structured in others. One aspect which I enjoyed was the varied nature of the situations in which they get themselves into in the balloon. These felt more like anecdotes than one trip, but this adds a sort of fantastical tone to the journey.

Only (Takashi Doscher)

As I watched Takashi Doscher’s Only, the visuals drew me into the film, but as it progressed, I became less and less interested in the film’s story. Only is told in a non-chronological structure, which I felt was used as a way to hide the somewhat ordinary and generic story beats. Even though the film features strong visuals and performances, I kept feeling like I had seen the story done before in a more interesting way.

The sci-fi elements of the film are limited, and that can work, but the world-building needs to provide enough information to make the threat seem interesting and unique. I enjoyed the theme of wanting to live life rather than be locked up by someone else, especially a woman being locked up and protected by the man in their life, but I felt like this theme could have been a larger focus than it was in the film.

The central performances and the visuals of Only make it more enjoyable than it could have been, but in the end, I wish the film explored more of its central focus and theme, instead of hitting the same beats of being stuck and controlled.

Sell By (Mike Doyle)

Mike Doyle’s Sell By explores different relationships, all nearing their ends, and it does so in a light and occasionally funny way. The jokes did not always land, but I enjoyed watching the various couples rediscover their love. Certain moments worked better than others, and the central romance between Adam (Scott Evans) and Marklin (Augustus Prew) is sweet and filled with strong emotional moments, which show how this relationship could be on its way to the end.

Sell By is a light and fun film, which also deals with heavier issues, and gives each character their own personality and important moments in their lives, inside and outside their romances. I might not have laughed out loud often during Sell By, but the film kept me smiling as I learned more about each character and their relationships with each other, both romantic and platonic.

Motherless Brooklyn (Edward Norton)

Motherless Brooklyn, written, directed, and starring Edward Norton,  had a somewhat strong beginning, and made me feel like I would enjoy the film, but then it kept going and going and going, until I felt bored, tired, and ready to get home and go to sleep.

Some aspects of the film capture the film noir style, but more often than not, the film tries too hard and comes close to parody, but without the joy and love of the genre that comes from something like Carl Reiner’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. Throughout the screening, I thought of this film, and how affectionate it is to the genre, while still being funny and managing to create a story from bits and pieces of existing noir films, while  Motherless Brooklyn was not able to create an engaging story in the midst of its hopes to feel like the genre which inspired it.

Motherless Brooklyn spent too long trying to hit genre conventions, the story was given less of a focus, and something that could have been interesting ended up feeling like a cartoon villain thrown into a film that was supposed to be serious, but very rarely actually accomplishes that tone.

Documentary and Narrative Shorts

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) (Carol Dysinger)

Carol Dysinger’s documentary short Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) captivated me and I was drawn into the world completely. This film is edited to create a cohesive narrative surrounding its subjects, while still maintaining the personality of the children on which the film focuses.

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) explores the lives of young girls in Afghanistan who are able to go to school, where they also learn to skateboard. It shows times in their lives where they are happy and bright, instead of only showing the darkness, which is commonly the only focus of films about Afghanistan. This brilliantly made documentary explores happier moments, yet never removes the dangers faced every day, but gives a focus to growing up and being a child in that world.

Masters (Mark Ward)

Mark Ward’s Masters is a delightful comedy short, which takes a serious subject and pushes it to its comedic limits in a unique and wonderful way. This was the first film I saw at the festival, and it made me even more excited for the rest of the festival. The idea behind using the Master Sommelier test to showcase the comedic elements of pushing yourself to your limits is unique and made for a wonderful short.

Shannon Meehan’s performance is amazing and absolutely perfect for her character, pushed to the edge to prepare for the hardest test in the world. She radiated the intense energy, which comes from pushing yourself to your limits. Her performance is a perfect blend of physical comedy and playing the absurdity of the situation in a completely straight way.

The Neighbors’ Window (Marshall Curry)

Marshall Curry‘s The Neighbors’ Window is a captivating look into the desire to always think someone is living a better life than you. The film was both emotionally engaging and humours in its realistic depictions of raising children and wanting your youth back.

The performances helped make the film even more effective in portraying human nature and the power of connection. This short is powerful and a joy to watch. I loved the cinematography and dialogue in this emotionally resonant short film.

Whiteout (Lance Edmands)

Whiteout, which is directed by Lance Edmands and written by Lance Edmands and Sarah Tihany, is a tense and suspenseful film, which packs an emotional punch, while crafting surprise and tension coming from expecting the worse in a horror film sense, yet being treated to the true emotional strength that comes through in the conversations between the couple at the center of the story.

While watching Whiteout, I did not know what to expect, and my imagination was darker than what is shown on screen. I applaud the film for creating such a tense environment, which allowed my mind to wander and fill itself with horrific images that, while not present in the film, impacted my enjoyment and the effectiveness of Whiteout. 

Conclusion

With the first few days of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival underway, I am looking forward to seeing more films and writing more brief reviews of everything I have the pleasure to see during this packed week of panels, screenings, and much more.