CineVegas Film Festival 2008

* 48 Hours – The Mockumentary: This was probably the best comedy of the bunch. Short, funny and professionally polished. (Directed by Jeremy Cloe) * Cold Feet: Terrible sound, bad cinematography and wooden acting. If this was supposed to be a comedy, it wasn’t funny. (Directed by Nick VanDevender) * Don’t Spill the Beans: Very clever satire of 1940s noir filmmaking – if this turns up on YouTube, watch it; there are a few jokes that take about a minute to set in, but once they do, you won’t be able to stop laughing. (Directed by Andy Carney) * Simon: Possibly the crowd favorite judging by reaction, and with good reason – director West McDowell (whose uncredited short film about downtown Las Vegas we featured previously) crafted an interesting, convincing underdog tale. * Comedy is Pain: This mock tribute to a late, failed comedian didn’t really go anywhere, but surprisingly the subject’s “unfunny” jokes he tells on stage are actually pretty good chucklers. (Directed by Kynan Dias) * Champ Steel: I giggled often at this faux-infomercial advertising the services of a middle-aged, out-of-shape celebrity bodyguard. (Directed by David Bryan) * Interruption: This mockumentary about an old woman’s junk-collecting obsession had such potential and then just fell flat. (Directed by Crystal Meeks) * Magic Hour: All style, no substance. Complete waste of three minutes. (Directed by A.J. Ovio) * A Boy and a Boombox: Hip and clever tale of a magic boombox changing the life of a young man and his friends. Inspiring and funny. (Directed by Kathrina Bognot) * Thin Walls: Director Jeremy Cloe proves he can handle suspense as well as he did comedy with this well written, backwards-working drama about the interlocking lives of three neighbors. * Are You Sleeping, Brother John: This could have been a solid murder mystery save for the slow pacing, uneven sound and overwrought acting. (Directed by Kyle Soehngen) * The Rose: A Twilight Zone-inspired twist at the end almost makes up for this otherwise sophomoric suspense film directed by Clinton James. * HIStory: Let’s ignore that it has the same name as one of Michael Jackson’s albums. Director Rei Vallejo’s coming-of-age tale is well acted, professionally polished and … cheesy as all get out. Perfect for ABC Family. * The Box: The showcase ended at almost 11 p.m. with back-to-back horror films – clever programming. This one was predictable but well executed. (Directed by Eddie Uehara) * All That Remains of Me: You know we couldn’t get through this lot without a zombie movie. Director Rob Sholty delivers a gruesome, stylish take on that overdone genre.

It’s a documentary about New York’s famous (infamous?) Chelsea Hotel, temporary home to untold numbers of artists, actors, filmmakers, poets and even some plain ol’ ordinary folk over the many decades of its existence, which sees its future in question under new ownership and new management. The casual conversations between Ferrara and various past and present residents of the Chelsea — including Milos Forman, Ethan Hawke and Robert Crumb — would have made for an engaging movie on their own, as well as the atmospheric scenes of the lobby and neighboring businesses that evoke the collective vibe of the property. But Ferrara intersperses the interviews with unnecessary recreations/imaginings of “famous” situations at the Chelsea, such as Nancy Spungen’s mysterious death and drug overdose-inducing partying by Janis Joplin. Those vignettes, combined with time-killing transitional elements, extend the film about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be, and take away from the colorful, intimate anecdotes that really should be the meat of the film. Overall, it’s an intriguing look at a New York institution, but it’s a bit dizzying with its distractions. The audience’s own ambiguity toward the film may have been evident in the stalled, subdued applause rendered Chelsea in comparison to the enthusiastic reception given to its preceding short, To Kill an American, an inspiring, three-minute short by actor-turned-director Matthew Modine.