SIFF Notes 2003, Part 3

A very lovely second Sunday of SIFFing. I inadvertantly stumbled into a nice rhythm for the day: first, “Shorts: The Hush” was a collection of short films without any dialog. The Kenneth Branagh one, while falling prey to the same triteness that hampered the rest, was prettier. Then a fairly quiet French film by the seashore, then a dialog-free (and short: 70+ minutes) Hungarian film, and finally a gorgeous sea-side Italian movie. Also the secret movie this weekend was good, making two good ones in a row and much-needed relief from the recent string of stinkers.

A very calming, centering collection of films. Something very notable about this year's film festival is that almost everything looks really good. I think that's a positive quality for a film festival.