My first pick, at 11:45 am, was Dancers, by the Danish director Pernille Fischer Christensen.
Her second feature length film, it is part of the CIFF series titled “Scandinavian Screenings.”
Dancers plays again Sunday March 22 at 9:20 pm. I highly recommend this film!
The synopsis in the program guide did not prepare me for the amazing acting, the realism of the narrative, the great sound tract (with a cello solo), and the ultra steamy sex scenes. The backdrop of the ballroom dance studio with its adorable preteen students is very charming too. Annika, a dance teacher, and Lasse, an electrician and exconvict, have an immediate and undeniable chemistry. Their affair begins with a chance meeting when Lasse comes to make repairs at the dance studio where Annika lives and works. Annika struggles to reconcile Lasse's criminal past because of their passionate feelings for each other, but as she learns more about him and the details of his crime his past becomes more repulsive to her. Christensen uses light and shadows very romantically to convey good and evil and a sense of secrecy. The film ponders difficult questions such as how much does the past matter, and can someone really start anew? Must one's future be tained by their past? Christensen seems to say no. Its not a Cinderella happy ending, but the film does end with a glamourous ball (the dance studio's spring show) set to David Bowie's song Let's Dance.
My second pick, Genreation RX by director Kevin P. Miller began at 2:05 pm.
Genration RX falls under three CIFF catagories: Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition, Local Heros & Medical Mart.
Genration RX plays again Sunday March 22, at 4:30 pm.
This one is a must see for parents but it is also a film that really should be of interest to anyone.
Local filmmaker (from Avon Lake) Kevin P. Miller was in the audience. Some of the high tech digital techniques he used such as brightly colored pills flashing across the screen did not appeal to me, but then this is anything but a feel good film with a happy ending. I left feeling outraged. The data presented was absolutely shocking. The primary message was that children should not take psychiatric drugs, drug companies have completely corrupted psychiatric medicine and we cannot trust the FDA. I left with the question: should Eli Lily and other drug companies be charged with massmurder?