to the Sonoma International Film Festival!
C'mon Linda- The Genuine Fakes The Striped Album
C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started)- Sloan Navy Blues
American Heartbeat- The Dahlmanns American Heartbeat - EP
Harlow Town- The Gangsters The Gangsters
Neighbor's Dog- Chris Von Sneidern The Wild Horse
*C'mon Let's Go!- Paul Collins King Of Power Pop
*C'mon Let's Go- Dead End Kids Breakout
*C'Mon Let's Go!- Girlschool Hit And Run
^C`Mon C`Mon- The Von Bondies C'mon C'mon
*C'mon C'mon- Crowned for the Slowdown C'mon C'mon
*C'mon C'mon- Slade Shape of Things To Come
Let Me Consume You- The Real Kids 28:18:39
All Our Good Times- The Nice Boys The Nice Boys
Through The Night- The Kids Naughty Kids (40th Anniversary Edition)
*C' Mon- The Runaways Live In Japan
*C'Mon- The Soft Pack The Soft Pack
*C'mon -Go Betty Go Worst Enemy
*C'Mon- The Screaming Jets C'Mon
Six Hours Ahead- Richie Parsons Black Throated Blue
No Rest (For The Wicked)- Gentleman Jesse Singles and Rarities
Wasted and in Love- Linus Of Hollywood Cabin Life
*C'Mon C'Mon C'Mon- Brad Marino C'Mon C'Mon C'Mon
*C'mon and Love Me- Kiss Dressed to Kill
*C'mon Rockcity- Travoltas Modern World
>C'Mon Everybody- Eddie Cochran C'Mon Everybody
*C'mon Everybody- The Chevelles Girl God
*C'mon Everybody- Stew Guest Host
Split Mind- Matthew Sweet Wicked System Of Things
Carry Me- Bird Streets Bird Streets
What a Time to Be Alive- Superchunk What a Time to Be Alive
Jet Fighter- The Bangles 3 x 4: The Bangles, The Three O'Clock, The Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade
Sick At Heart- The Buzz Insanity 7" EP
C'mon- Guster Ganging Up On The Sun
^Power Pop Peak: #25 US Modern Rock Chart 3/9/2004
*SacroSet[s]: "C'mon" Songs
>Power Pop Prototype: 1958
Despite my city-slicker pretensions, the fact is that for most of my life I've lived in small towns. For my first 10 years it was Brockton, Mass- a town/city which in the early 70's had a number of city problems leading my parents to move us to suburban Duxbury, Mass where I lived for the next 9 years. Five action-packed college/post-college years in Boston followed, then it 
was off to MetroWest hamlet Hudson, Mass and Rochester, New York (which just seemed like a bigger small town). After Rochester it was 3 action-packed years in San Francisco then here to Sonoma where I've now lived for 24 years!Because of my aforementioned pretensions I sometimes chafe at the confines of small town living- most notably when a movie or band I really want to see is only playing 50 miles and two counties away. "I'd love to see ______ but I live in a rural backwater" I whine. I've given up on seeing bands here but for 10 years we were spoiled with our very own art house cinema in Santa Rosa.
Since Rialto Cinemas Lakeside lost their lease in 2010 it has been slim pickings for non-sequel, non-superhero films. The new owners have tried to maintain Rialto's commitment to foreign and indie films but they never seem to program anything I want to see. What's worse, Rialto took over the Sebastopol cinema (even farther away from Sonoma than Santa Rosa) and have muddied their brand by booking
mainstream movies. Case in point, right now they are screening Captain Marvel, Shazam!, Dumbo and Pet Sematary along with The Mustang (the last of which I really want to see). That said, I'll always be grateful for Rialto Sebastopol for giving me the chance to see The Babadook on the big screen- and it was even scarier since I was the only one in the theater!
Closer to home, within walking distance in fact, the Sebastiani Theater does its best to program the biggest foreign and indie films but they are a standalone with a single screen and have no leverage against the other corporate owned theaters in the county when battling with the film distribution companies. They often don't know which films they are going to screen from week to week. I would give 100% of my filmgoing dollars to the Sebastiani but many times I've already gone out of town to see a film by the time they get it. Sometimes it works out just right though- like right now The Sebastiani has the Juliane Moore film Gloria Bell which seems perfect for Sonoma- I'm looking forward to seeing it.So, now you're probably thinking "Rick, you have an art house theater right in your town- what are you whinging about?!?" And you're right of course, especially during the Sonoma International Film Festival which wrapped up this past week. "Wait Rick, you have an art house theater and a film festival in your 'rural backwater!' What is your problem, man?!?" I hear you, I just like movies- a lot. One of the many things I love about SIFF is that after seeing audiences of 20-30 people in the Sebastiani throughout the year, it is thrilling to see all 350+ seats filled numerous times during the film festival.
For the last nine years or so I've conducted interviews for the Filmmaker Interview Series on Sonoma TV- our local cable station (they are also available on our youtube channel). I do my homework for these interviews and it is gratifying to get positive feedback from our guests. Most do a lot of these festivals and I imagine a steady stream of ill-prepared interviewers with questions like "what did you shoot on?" which 
NO ONE cares about (even DPs I'd bet). Anyway, the only downside of these interviews is that they keep me from using my media pass to see movies at the festival. There was a film called Balloon that I kept hearing great things about but never had the chance to see- hopefully it will get distribution but most festival films disappear and are never seen again.
NO ONE cares about (even DPs I'd bet). Anyway, the only downside of these interviews is that they keep me from using my media pass to see movies at the festival. There was a film called Balloon that I kept hearing great things about but never had the chance to see- hopefully it will get distribution but most festival films disappear and are never seen again.
I've been a fan of Aussie actress Rhada Mitchell since I saw her in High Art in the late 90's- a very cool film that also featured Ally Sheedy my favorite Breakfast Club alum. She also killed it in the sci-fi horror movie Pitch Black, which, for better or worse (though he is great in the movie) launched Vin Diesel's career. So, I was excited to see Rhada Mitchell in a starring role in Celeste at the festival. She is great and the film looks fantastic but it is so underwritten that it comes off as overwrought and tedious. Next up was the 
Comedy Shorts program that had one or two good films but a few clunkers that dragged the whole program down. I had better luck at the Lunafest program of women filmmakers which included the downright hilarious Are We Good Parents?, by far my favorite short at this year's festival. In this era of "helicopter" and "snowplow" parenting- this film perfectly captures the ridiculousness of modern parental anxiety (of which I have had more than my fair share).
Friday night I was looking forward to seeing Loro by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino who directed Oscar-winner The Great Beauty. I convinced Jaime to come with me, a decision we both regretted. The film is trying to shine a light on Silvio Berluscone's exploitation of everything in Italy (mostly women) yet it offers zero insight and just comes off as exploitative (mostly of women). What a colossal mess- Jaime got 
up and left after 45 minutes but I stuck it out. I grew up on grindhouse movies and while it's a little hard to admit in 2019, I'm a big fan of Russ Meyer. I've enjoyed my share of exploitation films- I think Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is an exellent current entry in the genre- so I feel I can say with some authority that Sorrentino seems to have no clue what he's going for in Loro.
up and left after 45 minutes but I stuck it out. I grew up on grindhouse movies and while it's a little hard to admit in 2019, I'm a big fan of Russ Meyer. I've enjoyed my share of exploitation films- I think Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is an exellent current entry in the genre- so I feel I can say with some authority that Sorrentino seems to have no clue what he's going for in Loro.
Four days in, I was sanguine about my film festival experience- that's the way it goes, some years you unearth a treasure trove of hidden gems and others make you wished you stayed on the couch with Netflix (sans chill). Undaunted I returned Sunday for the High School's student showcase which is always fun. Then I thought I'd give Ode To Joy a try- the program said it was a comedy with Martin Freeman. Since the movie gods hadn't been with me I tried to find out about the film online and there wasn't much:
- Made in 2017 (not good- it hadn't been released yet and doesn't even have a poster!)
- Co-starring Morena Baccarin (good- beautiful and talented, I don't know why she isn't a HUGE star)
- A romantic comedy (not good- while there are exceptions like Notting Hill, 40 Year Old Virgin, and The Big Sick, for me it's a pretty spotty genre)
- Based on a This American Life segment about a man with cataplexy- a disease that makes him fall asleep during times of extreme joy (not so good- a little high concept for me)
- Made by guys who worked on Colbert and Modern Family (could be good- both are smart, funny shows)
So, with some trepidation I decided to give my second to last film festival slot to Ode To Joy. Let me tell you folks, two minutes in I could tell that I was going to LOVE this film! It is the funniest movie I've seen in a long time and like the best romantic comedies it has a huge heart. This is what film festivals are all about- finding that one film you connect with that you may have never had a chance to see otherwise. The closing film SIR, a beautiful story about a maid in India (to me, less artful yet much more insightful than Roma), was also great- my festival had been fully redeemed in the last four hours. Thanks to everyone at the Sonoma International Film Festival!
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ALL KINDSA GIRLS #170
