Visions Film Festival - Film Blocks 1 & 2

In the first film block, the short film Caught was undoubtedly my favorite from that block. The film was really relatable for anyone who had their toys taken away from them during elementary school. I remember getting Pokémon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, footballs, and other things taken away from me by teachers, during recess. Caught was pretty accurate when it came to visually displaying my plot to get back what the teachers took from me. However, I was always a good kid and never went through with it, and the teachers always gave back playing cards at the end of the day. But still, I thought about it, and I’m sure everyone else thought about ways to get their playing cards back. 

In the second block, I was a big fan of the film Straight Down Low. It had to be my favorite that was played at Visions this year. It had that cop-drama vibe to it that I really dug since I'm into that genre. It was like the main character was portraying a Sherlock Holmes-ish kind of character. 

The film definitely went in places that I wasn't expecting. I think, as a movie-goer, that makes the whole film ten times better when then film finds a way to carry the viewer into places they wouldn't expect. I knew the main character was going to get to the bottom of the situation before the cops did, but every time I thought he would go one way, he went the other. I'm not sure about everybody else, but I liked the plot twist where it was just a suicide covered up as a gang killing. Plot twists are always favored, at least in my opinion. Most would disagree with me because plot twists aren't done right most of the time, or because it's hard to get a clever and/or mind-blowing twist. Most films can't reproduce a plot twist as good as The Empire Strikes Back or Memento. But Straight Down Low definitely excelled.

The cinematography of SDL was definitely my style as well. As an aspiring cinematographer, I want to establish my style early so I can excel at making it look good on the big screen. I'm a big fan of punchy coloring and contrast. Just watch Taxi Driver and you'll know what I mean, that film is the epitome of my style of cinematography. The camera movements weren't too special, at least I don't remember them to be, but the performances on screen kept me involved. Overall, the look of the film was great for their specific film style they were going for.