Welcome back to Hollywood and AFIFest Presented by Canva. Today I encountered the first film that didn’t really work for me. For some reason this is a day that didn’t really have much that appealed to me for scheduling. So I kind of went with potluck. Of course, potluck at AFIFest is still likely to have some real quality.
Under the Clouds, directed by Giancarlo Rosi, is a languid look at life in the shadow of Vesuvius both now and the distant past. Shot in black and white, the film includes a visit to a museum’s storeroom filled with ancient statues and pieces of statues that may or may not ever be displayed. To the fire department dispatchers as they field calls. To archaeological dig sites and with police into tunnels made by looters of ancient artifacts (whom they call grave robbers). There are people worried with each earthquake that perhaps what happened in Pompeii will happen again.
The visuals in this film are very compelling. This is a film that has a great eye for beauty, even if it is in something not so beautiful. But there is no real context. I found myself wondering frequently, why is he showing me this?
The King of Color, directed by Patrick Creadon, is the prime example of a vanity project. It features Larry Herbert, telling his rags to riches story. He grew up in the Depression, became a printer, after college and service in Korea, he got a job at Pantone as a color matcher—making inks the right color. He developed what became the Pantone color matching system that made color a universal language. (Nearly everything you see has Pantone numbers for its colors.)
The film details his inventiveness and entrepreneurial nature which led to him becoming wealthy. It also points out that after selling the company, he moved on to creating a legacy through generous philanthropy. (In introducing the film, the President and CEO of AFI noted that Herbert had long been an important supporter, even serving on the board, of AFI.) The film is designed to be a part of that legacy.
The Plague, directed by Charlie Polinger, is a dark coming of age story. Ben (Everett Blunck) is the new kid at a water polo camp. He’s trying to navigate the social hierarchy of this group of middle schoolers. There is one kid, Eli (Kenny Rasmussen) who no one wants to be near or touch. They just refer to him as “The Plague”. He has a rash that never seems to get better. Ben plays along to fit in, but also knows that Eli must be suffering deeply. When he doesn’t go along with the “game” anymore, he becomes a new target for the others and their bullying.
There is a lot of tweenage angst that comes out in the film. What does it mean to be different? What does it mean to fit in? How do you find your place in a microcosm of the world? What does it mean to find your own freedom?
