The Best Saddest Film of the Year

April 29, 2007

Holy cow. I finally saw genius at IFFBoston 2007. It was in the form of The Saddest Boy in the World, a short shown before Gretchen on Saturday night.

This lovely little film proved to me that a film festival, especially one of independent offerings, is a hit or miss exercise. It’s also an indicator that people’s tastes and interpretations differ widely when it comes to ‘good’ films.

As I ranted yesterday, there have been some real dogs at this year’s festival. Films that ran WAY too long for their subject matter. Films that were poorly acted (except for The Haircut which was poorly acted but then got a pass from me when the credits informed the audience that the film was all improv) and too many characters that failed to capture my empathy were littered all over the festival.

But The Saddest Boy in the World spun my weekend around. The kid in it is great. The filmography is nearly perfect and the plot is genius. The only issue I had was the out-of-place ice-cream teasing dance that went about two minutes too long.

Of the 12+ films I saw this year (three of which I walked out of), this was the only movie I rated a 5 out of 5.

Oh, yes. The movie Gretchen was a bit too long getting to the point, but cute in its own way. I suggest that directors and writers stop getting so caught up in their masterpiece and learn how to edit for impact and time.

More to come…