The Sitges Film Festival. Why We Keep Coming Back For More

It’s that time of year where the collective minds of team Corridorstyle start to wander as the distant, siren-like chimes of the Sant Bartolomeu bell tower grow louder, beckoning us to return once more to our cinematic home. To be honest, the calling is there pretty much all year round but we’ve yet to come by the means necessary for Corridorstyle to remain permanently on-location in Sitges.

While we need no reminding of what it is that keeps us coming back for more, we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane in the lead up to this year’s event to give you pitiful souls who’ve yet to experience the festival a taste of what it’s all about.

And for Corridorstyle there’s only one place to start. The beginning.

In A Mediterranean Town Far, Far Away

Although some may regard the town of Sitges as nothing more than the venue for the worlds greatest film festival, jetting in for the red carpet premier, being whisked away once the champagne is drained, there are others such as ourselves who have long since realised there is another, equally fantastic world beyond the flash of the paparazzi’s camera.

And while we try to cram as much “Sitges-time” into our relatively brief visit during the festival we know that life in the town continues after the curtain has fallen so we like to keep an eye on what’s going on between Octobers. Sitgesbarcelona.com allows us to do just that.

We’re hoping that Obi Funk Kenobi will again be performing at the Lizard Club when October comes as the festival buzz usually has us reaching for vino and vibes wherever Sitges cares to lay it on.

But We Like It Because It Looks Cool.

While we’re semi-aware of the hidden textural layers many movies may weave, generally speaking a film rarely has to dig deeper than slick visuals and claw hammers to keep team Corridorstyle  happy. And although we really don’t need any new reasons to stick OLDBOY, BITTERSWEET LIFE, or THE CHASER in the DVD for the umpteenth time, Andrew Lowry at The Guardian has an interesting take on a possible catalyst for Korean cinema’s recent love for bloody revenge.

We Didn’t See The Devil.

Well, we didn’t see it at the festival anyways as it was screened on the final day when we were both too hung over and too pushed for time before our flights home.

However, as I SAW THE DEVIL brought together two of our favourite Korean actor’s, Byung Hun-lee and Choi Min-sik, we were not to be denied and have since managed to catch the pair at their bloody best in this unflinching revenge thriller from Kim Ji-woon.

Head over to Twitch for an interview between Diva Velez and the film’s director.

Whichever Angel You View It From. Enough Already!

We thought this matter would soon be Shaun of the dead and buried when it first raised it’s head, but it appears that those sacred gatekeepers of our moral gardens feel they need to jangle their keys a little louder and longer.

We’re reluctant to give this ridiculous scenario any more of the blogosphere than it’s already consumed but as we’re the festival’s top two biggest fan’s with zombie film titles for Christian names we felt we should swing our weight around (plus it’s an opportunity to put up a photo of Angel hanging with the man we lovingly refer to as Rick Skywalker)

Here’s the festival’s official response.

Nothing Concrete But Could Brad & Bale Be Back?

Perhaps our disappointment at Brad Anderson’s latest effort VANASHING ON 7TH STREET can again be traced back to that vintage Sitges year of 2004, where three directors promised so much and yet only one (The Wookie) has delivered any kind of follow up to date.

That year we were mightily impressed by Anderson’s THE MACHINIST, however, in going over our 2004 notes we can see that it was more the combination of Brad and Bale that left us wanting more. Good news then with this piece over at Jo Blow where the word is that the dynamic duo could soon be reunited on the J.G.Ballard inspired CONCRETE ISLAND.

A Horrible Way To Die (Starring Jim Bowen’s Son)

Cinematic horticulturists that we are we like to follow our Sitges seeds as they grow. Sometimes they eventually wither and die, while other times they seem to magically burst forth into life, a bit like Nic Cage’s hair. Either way, once they’re planted during the festival we like to see how they blossom come spring.

While cyber-stalking A.J Bowen we stumbled over this piece at Twitch where Michael Guillen gets to talk with the cast and creators of one of our Sitges 2010 favourites, A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE.

And yes, he IS still Jim Bowen’s son.

Confessions, Dogtooth, And Oscar

Great to see that two Sitges favourites have made the list of nine nominees for best foreign language film at the upcoming Oscars.

It seems like an age since we saw DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS) at Sitges 2009 but its weirdness is unlikely to have diminished over time or repeat viewings so it’s a little surprising to see it make “The Show”.

CONFESSIONS was a visual feast at this years festival but the stunning slow-mo and soundtrack combinations could have made it all too easy to miss the masterful tale of revenge bubbling beneath the surface. Good to see that it didn’t slip by Oscar.

The list of nine will be whittled down to five final nominees prior to the big event but making it this far is already recognition of a job well done. Recognition too for Sitges and their continuing success at programming some of the best films around.

 

Time Traveling Shane Carruth Loops Sitges 2004 & 2006 Together

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“They took from their surroundings what was needed… and made of it something more.”

What Shane Carruth did was take $7000 Bucks and made of it something a hell of a lot more.

We were already falling over ourselves at Sitges 2004 having been blown away by PRIMER but when we subsequently found out that the film had been pulled together for less than the price of a Nicolas Cage hair-piece we immediately wanted to know what other projects Mr Carruth was involved with.

We guess it must have been tiring for Shane to write, produce, direct, edit, fund, score and act in PRIMER because it’s taken him Seven years to get back in the game (couldn’t he have just duplicated himself in the box and halved the work?), but it’s great to see that he’s chosen to return with Rian Johnson, director of one of our other Sitges favourites, 2005’s BRICK.

Badassdigest reports here that Shane has joined Johnson on his third film LOOPER to help “with some effects for the time travel sequences”.

While it’s great to see Carruth back working in the industry in any capacity, we really want to see him back weaving his own brand of magic. During the last couple of years via various Tweets and Blog posts he’s been linked with a film known as A TOPIARY, most notably in this piece over at ThePlaylist where a big chunk of the script/plot is divulged. The project was said to be stalling due to funding issues but it appears that they may now be resolved with the film moving into pre-production.

With Carruth out and about twiddling knobs and levers on LOOPER we can only hope that this is a sign he’s had his fill of basking in PRIMER’s glory and he’s ready to put his genius hat back on.