"... and MIFF ... goes on ... without me."

When the program for the 2022 70th edition of the Melbourne International Film Festival released earlier this month, perusing it was, alas, a purely academic exercise for me.

For the first time since 2013 -- when I would not move here until right at the end of the festival -- I am going to miss MIFF.

Two previous years of pandemic couldn't do it. They just shifted the festival online, where I watched about my usual dozen or so films.

No, the thing that's KO'ing this year's festival is a trip to the U.S., our first in three years, whose dates align almost exactly with the festival.

We're actually leaving before it starts, this Tuesday night. It's another week+ after that until the festival starts on August 4th. And technically speaking, we'll be back on August 20th, when there's still a day and a half worth of films left to play. But I can guarantee you that won't be my priority while recovering from crippling jet lag.

Now, I thought I was going to miss MIFF entirely. But looking at the poster above, it appears as though I'll have a week more to watch films online. So I'll probably do some modified version of the last two years' pandemic MIFFs. But I won't be asking for press credentials to see about five movies for free, and I won't be reviewing them on my site, as I have done every year now for something like seven years.

I really did want to get back to that experience of standing in line outside the theaters on a cold winter night, hands thrust into pockets, dodging raindrops. I haven't had that experience since 2019. But it will need to wait one more year.

Now, I could choose just to skip MIFF entirely, watching nothing online when I get back, and therefore, rank no movies this year a year earlier than most other critics consider them for year-end lists. Almost every year I've had a MIFF movie in my top ten for the year, and sometimes as high as #1 (Toni Erdmann, First Reformed). 

I'll leave that decision for the version of me that isn't purely concentrating on preparing to leave on this trip (and writing this post, apparently).

However, so this post isn't just me bemoaning the poor timing of my trip, I did want to give you a quick rundown of the movies I had focused on as potential candidates for 2022 when I reviewed the program, knowing I would not be here but powerless to resist torturing myself. This would be a fun exercise because I'm not beholden to logistics at all, such as tickets selling out, two movies I want to see playing at the same time, or my wife's schedule conflicting with mine. 

I say I did want to give you that rundown. But as it turns out, I can't figure out where I jotted down the titles. It apparently wasn't in an email, and it apparently wasn't in my notebook. If it was on some random piece of paper, then I have no idea where that random piece of paper is. 

Oh well. Maybe I will watch some of them online when I get back and tell you about them then.