MIFF leaves town, and so do I

As I type this, the last full day of MIFF is beginning, at least strictly speaking according to the clock, which has just passed midnight. There are some movies on Sunday, but things peter out by the mid-afternoon.

However, that won't involve me as I am getting on a plane to America in about eight hours.

Even though I still have about four other things to do on my checklist before going to bed, I thought I'd tie up the "loose end" of giving you one last MIFF post. I mean, I did see two movies on Thursday.

One of those was the French animated film I Lost My Body. The other was the American/British horror movie The Lodge.

One of them was good, and one of them not so good. In that order.

I Lost My Body is the real keeper here, possibly the second best of the 13 films I saw this festival. Each year I try to see one movie I deem as "outsider animation," and this year, this was the one. I was only a little disheartened to see it was presented by Netflix, the first such a film I've ever seen at MIFF. But then again, these days, who isn't?

It's the dual story of a severed hand crawling around Paris, crab-like, trying to find its owner, and the story of that owner. And although that may sound funny (and it is in spots), this is profound and melancholy like only the French can do it. Bravo Jeremy Clapin, director.

The Lodge was ... not so great.

One problem was that it started very late, 9:45, probably because of the private function downstairs at the Forum that kept my friend and me from eating our dinner there. Damn private functions. They seem to get me every time.

My friend and I had Indian instead, and two drinks, and I drank the Pepsi that was meant to keep me awake during The Lodge too quickly. It was a struggle.

This was made by the same people who made Goodnight Mommy, which I liked quite a bit, but it resembled a story Ari Aster left on the cutting room floor, and the presence of new favorite Riley Keough did not help it enough to make it really worth my time. Also, Jaeden Lieberher (Bill Denbrough from It) is in it, but now he goes by Jaeden Martell. I was confused.

I probably owe both of these movies more time, but I've got to get to those four other things and then get to sleep.

So yeah, I'm off to America for three weeks. It probably doesn't mean I'm taking a three-week break from the blog, because I'll probably have ample internet access and writing time. But if I decide to take a couple days or a week or even two weeks off, don't be surprised. I'll report in soon enough.

Until then ... farewell MIFF and so long to you all for a lot less time than that.