Before getting to today’s films, the first session today was at the lovely, lovely Capitol Theatre.

TWO SEASONS, TWO STRANGERS – ★★★

I sometimes go into sessions with absolutely no reference as to what they’re about, or where they’re from. Sometimes it’s due to being rushed, and sometimes it’s just to be surprised. Today was a mix of both. It’s a Japanese film that’s quite meta, in two main parts, starting with a woman writing a screenplay, then jumping into the summer story she’s writing, before being taken out of that to watch a roomful of people watching the film that we’re watching. The second part is the further story of the writer of the screenplay going on a holiday in winter. It was a slowly paced film, comfortable in taking its time to let the two stories happen. I was never bored, but at points felt like I was ready to be given the “aha” moment. If you’ve liked Hirokazu Kore-era’s films (Still Walking, Shoplifters, After the Storm), you’ll probably like this one too. I may come back to this one and give it an extra half-star depending on how I’m rating others as the festival progresses.

I SEE BUILDINGS FALL LIKE LIGHTNING – ★★★☆

This was a pretty good British film about a group of 30-something friends who’d known each other for years (some since they were at least 10 years old). Post-school, predictably, they’ve all gone in different directions in life, yet do make time to get together. I suspect a couple of things; one, that I’m slightly past the best demographic for this film, being well beyond my 30s and having had other films with a general premise of this next phase of life. The other is a suspicion that perhaps the book that it’s based on by Keiran Goddard may contain more depth than we get in a feature film. They did some things really well – the party scenes did a great job of reflecting being out with loud music. The timelapse video of the building being built was a good communicator of time passing. I did feel for a bit that it veered a little bit to the melodramatic, which I might have preferred was more underplayed. Overall though, a good watch.

ROSE OF NEVADA – ★★

A low-budget sci-fi-ish film from Cornwall (which is a beautiful place to visit). This one was ticking a few boxes for me, but unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. Perhaps it was that it was a 9 pm session at the end of a long day, on a day that was the end of a long week. I found the storytelling inconsistent, the acting inconsistent, the editing inconsistent, and the framing of shots a little bit awkward. Lots of extended close-ups of people, then the thing they were focussed on. Maybe I missed something here.