#but these climate reports lately are scaring the shit out of me

[fantasticalleigh]

crazy just three days ago it was 45 degrees F outside and today is a bright and beautiful 80

[emergencymanagement]

there are so many plot holes in Peter’s betrayal IT’S INSANE

okay! hello! can I just rant for a minute? I’m writing a fic that spans from the beginning of the marauders’ years at Hogwarts to Remus and Sirius’ last days together and I’m trying to lay down the timeline of the first war right now, and

 nothing! about! jk rowling’s plot! makes! sense!

(apologies in advance for spelling mistakes I’m drunk and tired, but let’s gO)

Problem 1: The Potters

JK has two conflicting timelines of when the Potters go into hiding:

Timeline 1: 

the Potters go into hiding immediately after Lily becomes pregnant

this means they went into hiding around October 1979 and stayed in hiding for two years until they died in October 1981

that’s a long ass time! a loooooong ass time! you’re telling me they were locked in their house for two years?? that means they only served in the Order for a little over a year which makes no sense because...

Problem 1: Somebody took a photo of the Order in July of 1981 and James and Lily were in it. Why would they have left their newborn baby at home (or taken him with them!) to go to Order headquarters and take a photo for an organization they hadn’t been a part of for almost two years?

Problem 2: In Lily’s letter to Sirius, written around August of 1981, a month after the photo was taken, she reports being in hiding and says that James is starting to get antsy not being able to go anywhere which implies they JUST went into hiding and are still getting used to being stuck in the house

Timeline 2: 

Based on all the information above, the Potters must have gone into hiding early to mid-July in 1981, after the Order photo was taken and before Harry’s birthday  on July 31st (Lily mentions in her letter that Harry celebrated his first birthday in hiding). This would make sense because if Peter was already working for Voldemort (which Sirius claims he was in POA) then it wouldn’t take him very long to betray them to Voldy, and so them being in hiding for only three months before they were killed is very reasonable. So this timeline that I’ve just described must be J.K.’s second timeline, right?? that would make sense, right? WRONG. Nothing makes sense in this world, you fool.

timeline two ACTUALLY says that the Potters had to go into hiding “at the time of Harry’s christening”

which like?? what??? his christening? okay. I guess Lily was devoutly religious because Christianity sure didn’t seem to be a big thing among the purebloods (what this reads like to me, though, is another example of JK Rowling trying to weirdly inject Christianity into the Harry Potter books while ignoring all other religions, but that’s for another time) ((fyi I have no issues with Christianity or blending religion and fantasy but her usage of it is odd and noncommittal)) 

christenings usually happen anywhere from a few weeks to six months after the baby’s birth depending on your sect, situation, e.t.c

this would mean that the Potters went into hiding around late summer-early fall of 1980

THIS would mean that the cast the Fidelius charm for a year before their death

this seems more likely than the first scenario, but all of the problems listed above with the picture and the inconsistencies in the letter are still present

On top of that, Sirius claims that Peter was a spy for a year before the Potters’ death. This would mean that Peter secretly joined Voldemort at almost exactly the same time the Potters went under the Fidelius charm. Admittedly, the Potter family being directly threatened and going into hiding seems like a solid catalyst for Peter noping-the-fuck-out of the Order and secretly becoming a spy. He probably partially joined the Order because all of his friends were doing it (James especially) and so seeing James being forced into hiding was probably a huge shock for him. Also, at this point, the Death Eaters were winning, and he was most definitely shitting himself over that. So. Yes. Timeline works there. 

BUT! then why did it take Peter a year to give the Potters up? It seems (although there’s some wiggle room) like they didn’t switch secret keepers, rather made it seem like Sirius was the secret keeper publicly while Peter was secretly the real secret keeper. In this scenario, Peter either would have had to willfully withhold this information from Voldy himself for almost year, which is kind of a dangerous move coming from a coward, or he told Voldemort the minute he was made secret keeper and for some reason Voldemort didn’t do ANYTHING ABOUT IT FOR A YEAR. Does Voldemort have really bad procrastination issues? Did he just forget that there’s a baby that’s threatening his very existence out there somewhere?

This leaves one last plausible option: something happened that made them switch secret-keepers last minute, and Peter did not become secret keeper until shortly before the Potters’ death. This is not what Pottermore or the books imply, but it’s what makes the most sense. We’ll come back to this option in problem 3 which is all about secret keepers, but for now let’s talk about the prophecy that made all of this come to be... 

Problem 2: The Prophecy

Dumbledore says that the prophecy was made in 1980 “shortly before [Harry’s] birth” on a “cold, wet night”. 

I think that anything below 50 Fahrenheit/10 Celsius can be considered cold, so according to this map of temperatures in the Scottish Highlands:

(okay... yes... I see it too... perhaps the climate map of the Scottish Highlands is taking things a bit too far. But I’m trying to make a point, okay!!)

Trelawney could have conceivably given Dumbledore the prophecy anywhere from late March - early June. There’s some wiggle room there, but I’d place my bets on it happening somewhere in the spring based on the weather and timing. This means that Trelawney made the prophecy a year and a half before Voldemort was finally able to kill the Potters. So what took Voldemort so long? Let’s break it down. 

We know that Snape overheard the prophecy and brought it to Voldemort. From there Voldemort decided to kill Harry not Neville because Harry was a half-blood like himself, Snape went back to Dumbledore and offered himself as a double agent in exchange for Lily’s protection, and Voldemort reportedly spent “months searching” for the Potters until he found their whereabouts and discovered they were using a Fidelius charm. Then “WITHIN A WEEK OF BEING NAMED SECRET KEEPER” Peter betrayed them and Voldemort was able to enter the Potters’ home. The implications of this are too ridiculously convoluted to get into, but I’ll hit the stuff that makes me want to scream: 

Option 1: Snape Tells Voldy Immediately After He Hears the Prophecy

In this scenario, we only have a few months accounted for. Voldemort finds out about prophecy, searches for a few months, finds the Potters, kills them. Makes sense, right? Bing, bang, boom. Very efficient. Except no. He knew for a year and a half, so what was he doing with allll of that extra time? Discovering the joys of muggle television? Completing a 5,000 piece crossword puzzle? Teaching Nagini to dance? Get on top of it, man. World domination is on the line. A few months is not a year and a half. 

It’s also possible that the few months thing is wrong, and Voldemort was actually searching for the full year and a half. If Peter gave the Potters up within a week of becoming secret keeper, they should have been dead wayyy earlier! Like over a year earlier! Even if Sirius was the original secret keeper, and they switched mid-October of 1981, Peter would have still known where the Potters where and that they were under the Fidelius charm, information Voldemort didn’t know until shortly before he killed them. So why did Peter, who was already a spy at this point, fail to say anything? If Voldemort had found out Peter had willfully withheld information, he surely would have killed him. That thought alone should have been enough to make Peter come to him immediately considering how terrified Peter has always been of dying.

Option 2: Snape Sort of Drags His Feet with the Whole Thing

okay so maybe Snape didn’t tell the dark lord immediately. Maybe he knew what this would mean for Lily and was terrified. Maybe he debated for a long time whether it would be safer for Lily if he kept the information to himself or if he told the dark lord and begged him to spare her (fuck the baby, am I right?) 

STILL this is a big risk for Snape. No one really wants to piss of Voldemort and saying, “heyyyy big man, I’ve actually known that there’s a super baby that can kill you for like a year, and I didn’t tell you about it because I was scared, but don’t be mad” is not an A+ move. Seems like Voldemort might be kind of mad. Seems like he might even kill you. It seems unlikely to me that Snape would wait that long, but I guesssss it’s possible.

NO MATTER WHAT there are so many conflicts in this timeline. Everything conflicts with everything else, especially the timeline of the secret keeper which is wholly dependent on the other two fucked-up timelines we just discussed, so without further ado...

Problem 3:�� The Secret Keeper

so WHY not just make Sirius the secret keeper? That’s the question of the century. If the secret keeper can only break the Fidelius charm voluntarily--meaning torturing or imperius-ing them can’t force it out--and Sirius, in his own words, “would have died rather than betray [James]” then WHY NOT JUST HAVE SIRIUS BE THE SECRET KEEPER AND  BE DONE WITH IT LADS 

Well here’s Pottermore’s (sigh) answer:

“The answer is that Sirius wanted to deflect attention from the real Secret-Keeper. He probably hoped Voldemort would go after him so he could steer attention away from Pettigrew. If all had gone to plan, Voldemort may never have known Sirius was not the Secret-Keeper – but even if he’d discovered the bluff, Voldemort’s pursuit of Sirius would have given the Potters and Pettigrew time to regroup.” 

Okay... so Sirius wanted to deflect attention from the real secret keeper... and have the Death Eaters come after him instead... but this still explains nothing because whether Sirius is or is not the secret keeper, the Death Eaters are coming after him regardless, and if he knows that he would rather die than betray James and Lily, why risk letting anyone else carry the secret? In other words, why did he trust Peter more than himself? 

The only answer I can think of is that something happened that made Sirius stop trusting himself. For some reason, he felt that the Death Eaters had something on him that might make him break. Sirius’ defining quality is his undying, self-sacrificial loyalty to the people he loves, so it’s a massive deal that he doubted his own ability to be loyal to James, Lily, and Harry. This goes entirely against his character, so something must have happened that was not mentioned in the books. Unless we change his entire character, there’s a HUGE missing piece here.

(I am keeping this a mainly wolfstar-free post because it’s just about the plotting of the books, but I think it’s interesting to explore how the Death Eaters could have threatened to torture/kill Remus to try to try to make Sirius break. That’s literally the only scenario I can imagine that would make Sirius doubt his ability to be loyal to the Potters--if he had to choose between killing James and killing Remus. Anyways. That’s really dark. Let’s move on.)

Problem 4: Peter

Okay so now we’re past the actual event of Peter’s betrayal and hopping ahead to after James and Lily died. 

Why did Peter remain a rat for 12 years?

Pros of Remaining a Rat:

the wizarding world can go on thinking you’re dead and thinking your best friend is guilty of 13 murders

the Death Eaters who think you wanted Voldemort to die at Godric’s Hollow also think you’re dead and aren’t going to be up in your business

someone feeds you

life is simple (if you ignore the many lives weighing on your conscience and the ultimate degradation of your soul)

Cons of Remaining a Rat:

you’re a rat

no one likes you

you have to watch out for mouse traps

you live in a house with Fred and George and probably fear for your life every waking moment

no seriously I think these are big cons

Other Options If You’ve Murdered Your Best Friends and Are a Rat:

go live with the muggles. seriously. there must be a muggle village somewhere without wizards (there aren’t that many wizards) where you can BE A HUMAN. Even if you do run into a wizard, they probably won’t immediately recognize you, and if they do, you can turn into a rat, run away, and go live with the millions of rats of the world

go to space?

no, I mostly just wanted to make that first point

It’s also possible he remained a rat because, as Sirius said, he was “keeping an ear out for news [...] Just in case [his] old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him.” This definitely is possible, but if I had to choose between maybe living a life as a human and living as a rat in case a guy who totally seems dead comes back, I’d try to be a human. Plus, Peter could live with muggles and still keep up with wizard news. 

Problem 5?: Sirius’ Escape

Admittedly, this problem isn’t that big. I still find it a bit weird though.

When Sirius recollects his escape to Harry he says:

If all Sirius had to do to escape Azkaban was to slip out the door when the dementors brought him food, why did he wait twelve years?? yes, okay, he was a universally wanted man and people would have immediately started hunting for him, but Sirius is fucking smart. Dude became an animagi (something only seven other people had done that century) when he was fif-fucking-teen and was considered to be a genius by almost everyone who knew him. Surely he could have hacked it on his own for awhile until he made it to Remus or Dumbledore** and was able to convince them that Peter had been the real secret keeper. And yeah! It may not have worked. In fact, even if Sirius did convince Remus it hadn’t been him, they’re still kind of fucked either way. Worst case scenario, though, Sirius just gets sent back to Azkaban. It’s not like they could have extended his already life-long sentence. I feel like you could argue the merits or disadvantages of running away from Azkaban until you’re blue in the face, but the bottom line is Sirius is a reckless, impulsive, chaotic human being who hates to be told what to do and hates to be made useless and has no qualms risking everything if it seems worth it. So why wasn’t even a brief glimmer of freedom worth it? The only reason I can think of is that Sirius was so destroyed by Peter’s betrayal and the Potters’ death that he didn’t really think it was worth living at all. 

ALSO, one last thing, why is it so fuckin’ easy to escape Azkaban? All you have to do is slip out the door and do some swimming? Someone should have done that years ago!

**okay admittedly Dumbledore probably didn’t care about exonerating Sirius and actually found it quite convenient that he was in Azkaban because it meant Harry had no adult looking out for him, but Sirius didn’t know that, and probably still thought Dumbledore cared somewhat for his wellbeing because they worked so closely in the Order (but this is totally conjecture idk)

anyways, point is: 

 HOW CAN YOU FAIL TO PLOT THE CORNERSTONE OF YOUR ENTIRE SERIES SO SPECTACULARLY?? THIS IS YOUR JOB. THIS IS YOUR LIVELIHOOD. 

If you have any thoughts, answers, or if you simply wish to scream in frustration with me, please add them on!

[lajulie24]

Scoundress Saturday #3: Don’t Forget to Pack Clean Underwear

So--I started writing a bit about the Harrison shaving picture, and it kind of, uh, exploded. So here you go:

They’d all been getting along so well, laughing and joking and having fun all the way to the system. Part of it, Han reflected, was that they had all been so kriffing relieved to get away from Hoth. That cold permeated their bones, made even the most easy-going person (read: Luke) grumpy, made it simply hard to function at all.

It was just the four of them: Han, Chewie, Luke, and Leia, headed to meet some contact of Leia’s who had information on Imperial weapons facilities. It was the local fête week on planet, and it had been suggested that the best place for the transfer would be during the Fête Ball, when the royal family and commoners (the rich and snooty, Han had realized, but still commoners) were more likely to interact with one another. Chewie was co-pilot and security detail, if that came up; Leia, posing as a rich commoner there for the ball, was the main contact, with Han and Luke acting as her betrothed and her brother, respectively.

It was originally going to be the opposite, Han as the protective brother and Luke as the betrothed, but Han, Chewie, and Leia had started to worry about Luke’s sabacc face. There was a reason Luke wasn’t often used as a spy for the Alliance; his openness and his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve were assets to him as a friend and a leader, but they got him into trouble when it came to espionage. He was also shit at bluffing. Once Leia was satisfied that, as a former rising Imperial officer, Han was well familiar with the proper customs and protocols (even if he normally preferred not to adopt them), she was happy to have the men switch roles.

Luke, surprisingly, seemed rather relieved to be playing the brother. He did not know the proper protocols, and had desperately been trying to learn them in time for the mission. Playing the protective brother came a little more naturally to him, allowing him to concentrate on everything in the mission briefing, and on calling Han and Leia Dax and Amalia, their aliases.

Their good spirits and camaraderie had endured until shortly after they’d landed, when they had discovered a few very important things…missing.

“You should change into the nice pants from your suit for the trip to the hotel,” Leia advised Han. “The bloodstripes will be a little…conspicuous.”

“Good point, Amalia,” Han said with his signature smirk. He turned to Luke. “My fiancée is pretty smart, right, kid?”

Luke rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but said nothing, heading to check the local weather report. It was rather exciting to see the temperature well above the freezing climate on Echo Base.

A minute later, Han was yelling from his quarters. “Hey, Luke!”

“What?” Luke called back.

“Where’d you hang the suits? They’re not in the main closet.”

Leia, who had been on the holonet checking to see whether their hotel had a pool, stood up. Her eyes narrowed as she stared in the direction of Han’s cabin.

Luke looked confused. “I didn’t have the suits. I thought you and Chewie were picking them up,” he called.

Han came back into the room, and Leia glared at him. “You lost the suits,” she said coldly. Luke could almost see the steam rising from her forehead. Leia had meticulously planned every detail of this mission, and now—

“I didn’t lose anything, Princess,” Han said, his brow raised. He turned to Luke. “You said you were gonna to pick ‘em up for both of us. We were still working on the Falcon, remember?”

Luke’s face fell as he realized his mistake. He had agreed to pick them up. He’d just completely forgotten. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry.”

Leia sighed loudly. Han could tell she’d wanted to blame this one on him, but it obviously wasn’t his fault. And for some reason, she was a lot more forgiving of Luke when it came to these things.

“Kriff,” he heard her swear as she closed her eyes.

“Language, Princess,” Han said with amusement. He was pretty sure he’d never heard her swear.

She gave him an annoyed look and went back to what she’d apparently been doing before: blaming herself. “Kriff me. I should’ve made sure they were on board myself…we can’t show up at a ball in this…”

“Hold up, Leia. Leia,” Han stopped her, holding up a hand. “We’ll figure out something.”

Leia looked skeptical. “You have a couple of suits hiding in your smuggling compartments somewhere?”

“Nah. We’ll go shopping,” he said with a wink.

The shopping trip had gone surprisingly well, Leia had to admit. At the Falcon, they’d scared up enough clothes for Han and Luke to wear out in public, something that didn’t scream “Corellian smuggler” or “wanted for Imperial treason.” Thanks to some spare credits Han had on hand, they had plenty to pay for a couple of new suits and crisp white shirts for both men. Her dress, undergarments, shoes, and jewelry, thankfully, had all made it on board the Falcon.

By the time they made it to the hotel, they were in much better spirits.

The room was smaller than a suite, but it was positively palatial compared to the Alliance quarters on Hoth. This would do quite nicely.

Leia found the small package of underwear she’d picked up while Han and Luke were picking out socks and shoved it into Han’s hands on her way to the ‘fresher. 

“What the hell is this?” he asked her.

“It was all they had,” Leia said apologetically.

Han looked at them with disgust, then looked at her questioningly.

“The Alliance-issue ones are a little obvious,” she pointed out. She really had planned out every detail of the mission.

“I ain’t wearing Alliance-issue briefs,” Han said, a little smirk on his face.

She rolled her eyes. “The fiancé of a noblewoman does not wear ratty old boxer briefs, either.”

Han was in full flirtation mode now. “You seem to have a lot of feelings about what’s in my pants, Sweetheart,” he teased.

She ignored him. “Just put them on,” she said exasperatedly, pushing past him to the ‘fresher. “And give Luke a pair too.”

A cloud of steam followed Leia as she exited the ‘fresher. Han and Luke were both dressed and watching a smashball game, each sitting on one of the two beds. Leia smiled and watched them for a moment.

Luke turned to her with a smile, then his eyes widened. Leia was wearing an elegant blue gown that clung to her body, graceful and, well, sexy, but still relatively modest. Her hair had been pulled up in a twist and garnished with a blue feather that matched her dress.

“You clean up well, Your Worship,” Han admired from the other bed.

She smiled graciously, then approached them. “Thank you.” She studied Luke’s face, then Han’s. “You need a shave,” she told Han.

He started to protest, then decided it wasn’t worth it. They’d gotten this far without a fight, it was hardly worth starting now.

As he headed to the ‘fresher with his shaving kit, he heard Leia asking Luke to change the channel. Great.

Once in the ‘fresher, he closed the door to drown out the sounds of the Holo News Channel. He took off his pants and placed them on the towel warmer, scowling slightly at the sink. This big fancy bathroom, and barely enough room to put a razor down.

Leia was starting to talk back to the holovision, likely at something infuriating the Empire was saying. “Shhh! Le—Amalia!” Luke warned her, and she quieted down after that.

Han had shaved about half of his face when he heard Leia pacing outside the door.

What the hell is taking him so damned long? Leia thought. After she’d almost cursed—loudly—at the holovision in Alderaanian, Luke had reminded her of the undercover nature of their visit. They’d turned back to the smashball game after that.

Now that her makeup was done, Leia was restless, waiting for Han to finish shaving. Impossible man. He’s going to make us late, and what if we miss the handoff?

After pacing for a few minutes, Leia could wait no longer. She threw open the door to the ‘fresher. “Aren’t you done yet? I swear, you are--”

The words died on her lips as Han turned toward her. She’d caught him mid-shave, dressed in his crisp new white shirt and those new white briefs.

Oh, my.

There was that grin. “Better close your mouth, Sweetheart,” he said. “Liable to catch a mynock in there.”

[abitterlifethroughcinema]

It’s a Wrap, Part I

Film Reviews from the 51st Annual Sitges Fantasy/Horror Film Festival

by

Lucas A Cavazos

The first long weekend of Sitges welcomes all industry and press with interviews about town, press junkets under AC’d halls or windy tents, and celebs of all levels milling about, taking in the sunny, lazy rays of a late summer that lulls about in this micro-climate town. And that’s when this critic gets all sorts of involved in walking between the outer skirts of the city, where the Hotel Melia hosts the brunt of the events, and then back into town where the other cinemas and plenty of eats and beach time are easily at one’s fingers and toes. It’s to note that throughout much of the year, none of the cinemas in Sitges are used much except for special events or screenings…which is to say, that there are no full-time working cinemas running in Sitges throughout the year. The Retiro Theatre boasts a two-storied cinema in the centre of town, as well as, a garden and a restaurant and many of the first-run features and marathon that premiere at the main screens at Melia Hotel get another run there or down the street and around the corner at the Prado Cinema, which also boasts a restaurant and garden, but I saw my first post-inauguration day screening Zoo #### at the Sala Tramuntana, the smaller cinema of the Melia Hotel. At the Tramuntana, there is a grand tendency to showcase a wide variety of international and B-grade fare that deserve a mention, as well. Case in point, this film by budding director Antonio Tublén. A Danish-Swedish production, this zombie-lite film was a thing of unexpected delight and someone in the industry at the festival should certainly do themselves a favour and pick this film up for distribution. Not only does it tackle the horror genre (more specifically, the Zombie film sub-genre), but the way the film's creators have weaved such poignant human elements in an otherwise often comedic, often touching film that serves up enough jumps to hit the fan's scare buttons, is assuredly rare. Part of the film's delight lies in the fact that it can work as a horror film or as a comedy, a drama/thriller or maybe even a dark romance film. When an indie movie can simply and so seamlessly do that, you're dealing with something more than your average zombie flick. Strained couple Karen (the wonderful Zoe Tapper) and John (a younger Simon Baker-lookalike named Edward Speleers) find themselves on an embattled turf zone when an unknown virus starts sweeping their fine Swedish city. The government mandates all people to stay indoors but scrounge whatever food is available before doing so, as apparently the virus appears to be one causing humans to attack and feed in frenzy on other humans. When the couple witness a plane crashing a la 9/11 into a nearby apartment complex, we all know that the shit has hit the fan, quite literally in fact, as a chunk of the plane crashes a hole into their bathroom. But that’s when part of the beauty of the film commences. While forced to spend every waking and resting moment together (and for awhile, with a couple from down the hall...which is its own movie, frankly) the couple falls in love again. Much of that has to do, of course, with the terrifying circumstances just outside the doors where zombies stagger in wait, but the essence of the film is not wasted for one moment. I must say that I really want people to see this film, and when you throw in the witty, comic relief that only a biting British writer could muster so sardonically to perfection, what you get is a stand-out indie zombie film, which likely deserves its own genre, I suppose…but at least this one stands out above the rest.

Perhaps the title gives hints as it is all in the Piercing ###-1/2 way that actress Mia Wasikowska, playing Jackie, looks over the substance of her room, her gaze of longing yet vapidity, that only a skilled actress can serve without a strain of effort. She's almost looks like a rebirth of Martha Plimpton, the child actress who incidentally got her own start in some odd Calvin Klein ads when she was all of 10 or 12. But I digress, as this thriller/comedy follows the plan of how Christopher Abbot, playing sociopathic Reed, is a guy hellbent on hiring an escort and then butchering her with ever-so-planned precision. There is a scene near the film's start where Reed accurately times his every single action to how he will overpower and then dismember his escort prey, replete with the sounds of hacksaw grinding, blood splatter and gristle collapsing on the floor...all quite nasty yet completely visceral and quite funny. As I watched the film, I kept feeling that director Nicholas Pesce was striving for a Tarantino-esque ode while keeping it a tad Coca Cola Light with less actual splatter. Anyway, as it turns out when Jackie arrives at his hotel room, things go, let's say, slightly awry, when she takes a bathroom break and ends up stabbing herself repeatedly in the leg in a feigned attempt at something sensual. However, it all comes off rather off the wall and so unexpected, that even Reed has no idea what to do but try to call the paramedics, which she denies, and so he aides her there in the hotel. But rather than take advantage of the situation, he eventually gets her to the hospital and then to her home afterward...and then the crazy fun can begin. In an reversal of fortune move, she calmly seduces him into staying for a soup dinner which she spikes with halcyon. Let the sordid games begin. Any fan of American Psycho will likely vibe on this odd fare, but I must warn you…it’s a crazy ride with little joy.

Staying on at Tramuntana a bit later brought about the premiere of an eerie yet drearily slow Spanish-Albanian production called The Invocation Of Enver Simaku which I gave a sufficient ###, so let’s twalk. The political upheaval in Albania by the late 90s was something that played a soft whisper in the background of uni study halls lightly playing CNN as background fodder when I was a late youth. Apart from the fact that my ex's next boyfriend after me was from Albania and later died from a severe cancer that swallowed him within a year, I had very little idea about Albania and its recent tortured past, now skirted by a slow and burgeoning rebirth. Following the search of an answer to the senseless and sudden slaying of his wife and many others, while on a break visiting Albania two decades before, a journalist played by actor Julien Blaschke ventures back to where the brutal slaying occurred. Apparently at the hands of a man who had previously been in catatonic state for over 35 years, this could hardly be a full explanation, so he contacts a sort of X-Files division of Albanian governmental research departments, and this leads to a possible evil spirit called the ‘kukuth.’ This spirit demon theoretically possessed people and forced them to ravage and kill. All I can say is that while keeping an engaged audience, the film suffered from A Tad Too Long Syndrome but it certainly piqued my curiosity to perhaps visit Albania one day…just not the small villages.

Galveston #### also premiered at the Festival and brought with it all the emotional punch of a honkey tonk brawl after ten shots of Jack Daniels. Think what you will of the waif-like look of the Fanning sisters, but I have the thought that they are two of the more dedicated sister-actresses in the business today. Telling the story of lives intertwining at inopportune moments, Galveston was a social wake-up call, very much in the pathos vein of The Florida Project but with a gritty and violent varnish. Ben Foster plays Roy, a man facing mortality when the film starts with him visiting a doctor who has a bad report about something found on his lungs, but rather than face that construct with his doctor, he throws a fit and storms off, never even finding out what cancer or illness he has. Adapted from Nicholas Pizzolatto’s novel, director Melanie Laurent brings us a human story that focuses on how Roy gets embroiled in a con job gone awry and when the dust settles, he has to run off with a young one named Raquel, played by the ebullient Elle Fanning, and the two end up on a road trip that leads to the film’s titular town, the beach side city nearest Houston on the Gulf of Mexico. At the outset, Roy wants very little to do with Raquel, but when she has him run by her old home, she ends up running out with a bag of clothes, some cash and a little 3-year old girl…her sister. What ensues afterward is a lesson in social negativity, white non-privilege, and human duress. Without giving poignant parts of the story away, elements add themselves into the life story of this unlikely trio of people, but what happens as the film ends gives light to a world that most of us will thankfully never know, as well as, the discovery of a new female director with a masterful hand. One of the finest films I viewed at this years Sitges’ Film Festival.

More to follow shortly....