One of the highlights of

the Film Festival is the chance to see locally produced films. Calgary has a great crop of talented filmmmakers, and this is a great time for them to show off their talents.

Today, I caught 2 films... one local, and one by Director Werner Herzog.

The local film is called REVERB, and is directed by Mark Edward Lewis, which screened to a sold out theatre..
REVERB is the story of Jeff Timmens (Played by local TV Host Dave Kelly), who's sent out by his boss at the Central Music Network (CMN), to Iopa, Iowa to cover the National Karaoke Competition. Hating the assignment at first, Jeff finds that the life of "Kroakers" is far more interesting and eccentric than he could have ever imagined.. and aloong the way Jeff finds himself with a story that combines divas and domestic disturbances, baptizing and backstabbing, winners and wineos.
The movie reminded me a lot of BEST OF SHOW, and it does a pretty good job of creating a mocumentary about the world of Karaoke. The Characters range from a choir members who sneak out early to Karaoke, to one girl who walks dogs and delivers singing telegrams for a living, The cast gives first rate performances. All in All, an enjoyable sitting. The screenplay never has any REAL surprises, but it has laughs. If you get a chance to see it.. make sure to sit through the credits. REVERB gets a solid C+

The second film was Werner Herzog's GRIZZLY MAN, which tells the story of Timothy Treadwell, a man who spent 13 summers up in Alaska studying and protecting the Bears, until he and his girlfriend were killed by a rogue bear in october 2003.
The docudrama uses footage from Treadwell's videos he shot up there, and during the entire film you start to get a sense of a man losing his grip on reality. Treadwell began to believe that he had more in common with the bears that humans, and you see a man that doesn't treat the bears with respect, but as equals which everyone knows, except Treadwell apparantly. It was funny, and wrenching to watch some of the video Treadwell shot of himself wandering around with bears, calling them by the Cutesy names he gave them. Towards the end, you can see Treadwell's distaste for humans grow, and his dellusion that he had a spiritual connection with the bears, and from the footage we see, the bears just mostly ignore him.
GRIZZLY MAN is one of those movies that could have EASILY gone over the edge. There is an audio tape that records the last moments of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard as they're killed by the grizzly bear, but it is never used. There is one scene in the movie where Herzog is LISTENING to the tape, but all we see is his distraught face. GRIZZLY MAN was definately a must-see for me, and I glad I saw it. B+

REVERB! C+
GRIZZLY MAN B+