Back from Cleveland

Festival festivities kept me more than occupied on Friday and Saturday, thus no further updates after my arrival post. I'm back after setting a personal best: seeing ten feature films in two days. The best one I saw was the German pic THE EDUKATORS. The worst was either the Czech murder mystery BOLERO or PALINDROMES, the latest Todd Solondz film. The Czech film struck me as something that any Hollywood hack could or would do, except for the plentiful helpings of gratuitous nudity that is mostly out of fashion in mainstream American productions. Solondz's film is more obviously "artful"--a word I put in scare quotes because I hesitate to apply it to this unfunny provocation--but I think it's just as devoid of quality. I'll post in-depth reactions in the days to come, but for now sleep beckons.