The thing that more than endears me to the festival in recent years is that it's mostly concentrated at The Main Cinema across the Mississippi River from downtown Minneapolis. MSP Film Society runs programming at The Main all year round, but it's a tremendous central location for a festival that I can bike or bus to easily. It's in a great neighborhood and it's no problem to find food or coffee or even walk along the river in-between films (provided I give myself some time to do so). An especially exciting development this year is that I feel like I know more people at the festival and have had the good fortune of scheduling some viewings with friends and even running into old pals unexpectedly.
I think the format I used in 2023 was a good one, so I'll be doing the same this year: Capsule reviews of everything I see and broken out into two parts. I think this will give people a good idea of the variety of films on offer and my hope is that you might see something interesting in this entry that compels you to attend MSPIFF while it has another week left.
Day 0
I already wrote about Bushido in my March entry so I won't go into details here. I like the preview screening idea, though. I hope that continues next year.
Day 1
Free Leonard Peltier (2025) - Opening night shindig and three sold-out screenings of this latest Leonard Peltier documentary. The history of the American Indian Movement, the arrest and conviction of Peltier, and the absolute chicanery on the side of the FBI are important stories to tell and MSPIFF accorded the event with the appropriate deference. There was a performance from local indigenous people, and invocation in Lakota, and then a zoom call from Peltier himself! I only wish I liked the film better. It functions well enough to convey the history but the film starts to meander somewhere in the midpoint. There is also the deeply unfortunate choice to bolster the archival footage with AI enhanced digital sequences. It's so unnecessary and I can't even say it's very effective. I wasn't positive at first but when I looked into the filmmakers, it became apparent that one of them is an enthusiastic generative AI adopter. It's hard not to contrast this film to Michael Apted's Incident at Oglala which I think is a much stronger feature. Thankfully, Peltier has finally been released from prison which does provide a moving coda for the film and serves as a testament to keeping the faith in the face of injustice.
Day 2
The Wailing (2024) - Not to be confused with the Korean folk horror/thriller of the same title. This Wailing is a largely Spanish production about different generations of women being haunted by a mostly unseen force. I am loathe to actually list this one as I was getting tired, it was late, and I still had to bike back home. I'm afraid I bailed about halfway through and didn't give The Wailing an entirely fair shake. It felt like a tepid mixture of YouTube creepypasta videos and tropes that were wearing thin in J-Horror 20-30 years ago. In fairness, I have a potent aversion to films filled with people doing things on phones and laptops - I don't like being subjected to text messages and IMs in real life. Why would I want to deal with it in film?
Day 3
LUZ (2025) - Given my expressed distaste for digital spaces, Flora Lau's use of a virtual reality game as a framing device for her intergenerational, bi-national film could have flopped instantly for me. Instead, I found myself absolutely taken with its gorgeous photography and meditation on how we build relationships. As mentioned, it's beautifully shot - contrasting a neon, nighttime Chongqing with a distinctly old-world version of Paris. The characters in Chongqing are unapologetically 21st century - watching livestreams and playing the titular VR game. In Paris, Isabelle Huppert's Sabine lives a largely analog life of books, art, records, and face to face relationships. The two worlds mirror each other throughout a few scenes and then begin to overlap - both aesthetically and due to the game.
I'm not certain that LUZ (the film) is looking to admonish modern society (though it does take some beats to illustrate how dumb we look plugged into our devices) but it does seem to encourage life affirming, non-virtual connections. When Sabine's step-daughter explains that the virtual world is better than the physical one, Sabine flatly responds "I don't even know what that means." The goal of LUZ (the game) isn't rendered meaningless but my sense is that Flora Lau is reminding us that connectivity we effortlessly achieve virtually should be a means to strengthen our real world relationships.
The Surfer (2024) - When films and filmmakers make intentional nods to grindhouse cinema - the results are often mixed at best. Self aware attempts to be bonkers are usually injected with unwelcome comedy or an assault of film homage so that you can rest easy knowing the director watched the same grimy films you now own on 4K Ultra Hi-Def disc. I think Lorcan Finnegan has largely struck the right tone with this quasi-psychedelic throwback to the 70s/80s Ozploitation boom. Nic Cage is the right man for the job of both being incomprehensibly stubborn and the object of torrential abuse and humiliation. Crazy Cage done correctly is a joy on the screen. The Surfer is not exceptionally violent (all things considered) but it is visceral and contains more than enough stomach churning, wince inducing moments to make up for its relative bloodlessness.
Day 4
Unholy Communion (2025) - I make it a point to see any crime films playing at MSPIFF since I've kind of made that my beat in the last year or two. I'm not going to pick on Unholy Communion too much as it's a small, local production though it does co-star one of the more notable actors to emerge from Minneapolis - Vincent Kartheiser. Communion is competently done but ultimately comes off as bland. Everyone involved seemed very nice and I do think that Mancini's in St. Paul deserves more screen time in more movies.
Meet the Barbarians (2024) - Julie Delpy's satire of French xenophobia and intercultural relations is ultimately a very gentle one, but it still remains funny and insightful. It's no surprise that the overwhelming pleasures to be found here are in the performances from an excellent ensemble cast. They manage to make the village residents heartfelt enough that you can become invested in the local melodramas. Also, some gorgeous footage of Brittany doesn't hurt. I only wish that the reality presented here seemed more plausible compared to the rising tide of right wing nationalism felt all over Europe and the US.
The Wedding Banquet (2025) - Andrew Ahn's reinterpretation of Ang Lee's 90s indie classic could have gone terribly wrong and yet, I feel like I'll be recommending this one broadly. I haven't seen the original in ages (and now I'd very much like to revisit it), but Ahn's interpretation feels like it lives very much in its own space. The cast is truly excellent - though they are so good that Bowen Yang's comparative lack of expressive depth is noticeable. He's still hilarious when called upon and there are so many funny moments in this. It's easy to describe Ang Lee's films as gorgeous or luminous or whatever your preferred adjectives for "very pretty" are - Ahn is working in a different register but it's still lovely. Elegant compositions and some terrific location footage - especially multiple sequences in what I believe is Discovery Park.
Friendship (2024) - I finished my fourth day with a raucous, sold out screening of Andrew DeYoung's buddy comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson. There are some gut busting gags in Friendship and (because I'm a simple person) a lot of my favorites were pure physical tomfoolery. That said, I think the film was losing steam and losing me somewhere towards the middle. Tim Robinson's Craig says "I'm all out of ideas" before embarking on a toad fueled psychedelic experience and I felt that the movie was talking directly to us at that point. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to mention that Conner O’Malley has a small cameo in the film. Some guy behind me roared "Let's Goooooooo!" the minute O'Malley turned up. That's absolutely the target market for this one.
Day 5
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - I remembered being distinctly dubious when I went to see this when it opened. I considered myself some kind of Hong Kong cinema aficionado and was NOT impressed with various Hollywood attempts at importing Wuxia stylings (I was kind of dickhead as young men often are). Also, Ang Lee didn't do martial arts movies so what did he know? Lee's film shut me up so quickly and I was duly chastened. It had been a few years since I revisited Tiger so I was very much reliving that same thrill during the opening brawl between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi. I couldn't help but think how deprived we are of action this virtuosic since the balance has tipped towards digital effects even in Asian cinema. What a joy to see action and adventure at this scale shot on film. Also, the inn scene/send up of heroic fiction is still beyond hilarious. The guy with the iron abacus kills me every time.
Việt and Nam (2024) - Ang Lee went on to present a screening of Brokeback Mountain which was no doubt tremendous. I opted instead to see this Vietnamese film that interestingly shares some thematic, contextual connective tissue to Brokeback. Việt and Nam entered my consciousness when it made John Waters' annual "best of" list and this was arguably going to be my only chance to see it. The movie is utterly stunning. Each frame is beautifully composed with an incredibly rich film grain and even some print artifacts. I understood that it was shot on 16mm, but I have to wonder if director Truong Minh Quy used an older film stock as well to achieve the look. It's a far more abstract film than I expected and even though I was engaged - fest life caught up to me and I conked out for the last bit. Not my finest festival moment but it really had been a long few days. I am hopeful Việt and Nam gets distribution somewhere or maybe a Mubi deal? My lack of stamina notwithstanding, I think this one is worth your time especially if you know what you're getting into.
That's it for Part 1 of my MSPIFF coverage this year. I will be posting a Part 2 early next week. There are still many screenings and multiple opportunities to see international films at this years fest. I'd highly recommend making time for it and if you see me at the fest, please say hello!
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