Dan's Picks for the 2004 Wisconsin Film Festival

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Date	Time	Theater	Title	Running Time	Festival Information
April 01 2004	7:00pm	Hillel	Klezmer on Fish Street	120 minutes	Buying tickets
	WTF. Great images, wonderfully shot, but very confused about whether it was a film about Jewish history, Jewish culture, teen Klezmer bands from Boston in a European tour, or Jews returning to Poland. The second film in my life I've ever walked out of.				Venue information Where to stay Madison map Full schedule
	9:30pm	Orpheum - Stage Door	Yossi & Jagger **	75 minutes	Festival homepage
	Wow. A wonderful character study about two lovers in the Israeli military. Touching, poignant, and short. It said what it needed to say in a short period of time, and the filmmaker didn't go beyond that just to make it closer to a traditional feature length.
April 02 2004	5:00pm	Orpheum - Main	Fakers	90 minues
	Above average caper film. Tone and style reminded me of 1997's Shooting Fish, with adequate, but fairly standard character development arcs, and a tight script that made sense.
	7:00pm	University Square Theater	Me and my White Pal	90 minues
	Better than most African films I've seen, the film was especially interesting when the main character's white friend followed him home to Africa and was subject to the same type of discriminatory comments that the main character had suffered in Paris. Lots of gaps in the plot, but excellent characterizations.
	9:30pm	Orpheum - Main	Intermission	110 minues
	Though the brogues were as thick as they were in Snatch, it was still an enjoyable story involving a number of intertwined lives. Touching, funny, and a lot of fun. Handheld camera can be annoying at times, and the framing is sometimes unconventional and awkward, but a good time nonetheless.
	11:30pm	Bartell Theater - Drury	Nighclubbing, Part 1	120 minues
	WTF. Advertised as a documentaty about New York's Punk Scene in the 70s and 80s, it was nothing more than 2 hours of live concert footage of a bunch of cool bands. No interviews, just concert footage. Whoopee. The third film I've ever walked out if in my life, and I'll be at the festival party on Saturday instead of seeing part 2. It's scary that 2/3 of the film I've walked out of in my life have been at this festival.
April 03 2004	1:00pm	Orpheum - Stage Door	Reconstruction	90 minutes
	Wonderful film that fractures linear storytelling, and leaves you talking about the act of creation and quantum theory. Excellent characters and dramatic flow.
	5:00pm	Club Majestic	James' Journey to Jerusalem **	90 minutes
	A touching film about faith and the plight of immigrant workers. Spectacular characters, lush photography, and an inspiring story arc. One of my favorites of the festival.
	8:00pm	Orpheum - Main	The Green Butchers	135 minutes
	Who knew that the Danes could make such a wonderfully dark comedy about a butcher shop that ends up selling human meat. Mads Mikkelsen can do no wrong. Great characters, wonderfully dry, dark humor, and a terrific script.
April 04 2004	1:00pm	Orpheum - Main	Ticket to Jerusalem	90 minutes
	A love letter to the movies a la 1989's Cinema Paradiso but with that slow middle eastern pacing. A thought-provoking meditation on the function of art in the midst of political conflict.
	3:00pm	Club Majestic	Since Otar Left	105 minutes
	A lovely and tender film about how three generations of women deal with the loss of a son/brother/uncle. Set in Georgia (Russia) and Paris, the characters are very well developed, and the story is subtle yet effective. Cinematography was excellent.
	5:15pm	Club Majestic	Last Life in the Universe	120 minutes
	Slowly paced Asian existentialism. Visually intriguing with terrific acting and some wonderful Yakuza style scenes. Had somewhat of a Mulholland Drive feel to it in terms of shifting reality, and ended similarly, leaving the audience wondering what just happened.
	7:30pm	Orpheum - Main	Pupendo	120 minutes
	Another film that explored the relationship between art and politics in Hungary in the 80s. Some of the better characters and acting I saw at the festival, with shades of Great Expectations playing quite well.
			** favorites of the festival