TWST – THINGS WE SAID TODAY – ★★☆

It took a while this MIFF, but I finally saw a film that I would suggest is “not good”. It wasn’t terrible either, but I felt a little bit like it was misrepresented, and that’s likely what led to this rating. With The Beatles mentioned at least six times in the film’s description, and IMDB’s headline description being “August 1965, The Beatles arrive in New York for a sold-out Shea Stadium concert. Crowds of frenzied fans fill Manhattan streets, hoping to catch sight of the band from their hotel.”, I expected more Beatles. It started out strong, it felt like seeing a bit of behind-the-scenes of the Beatles arriving in New York in 1965. But after the first 20 minutes or so, they almost disappeared for the rest of the film. It’s sometimes fun to watch someone else’s home movies from the past, but as a film, it felt lost in purpose, as it jumped between Beatlemania, L.A. Riots, and World Fair footage. I’d say that while it used a lot of news reel and film footage taken from the time, the addition of fictional stories, plotline, and animated characters over it makes calling it a documentary a bit iffy. It was interesting enough just to see New York (and sometimes LA) from 60 years ago, but overall not worthwhile for me.