SBIFF – 7.5

Because few of these, if any, will make it to my local theater, I will quickly summarize my reactions to nine movies I saw at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. (I accord The Quiet Girl and To Leslie their own reviews because of their respective Oscar nominations.)

Dr. Anthony Fauci – 6. A charming guy, but a disjointed documentary that shoehorned in the AIDS crisis and covered the years after the main story–Fauci’s time with Trump–was over.

Dirty Divide – 7.5. Very professional and sensitive portrait of the homeless in L.A.’s Skid Row. No fingers pointed and no solutions in sight. Heartbreaking but watchable.

The House Band – 4. Very unprofessional portrait of the homeless on Venice Beach. The story got away halfway through, and the director never found it again.

It Ain’t Over – 7. The movie’s subject, Yogi Berra, made this fun to watch. The saying, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” lost its charm, however, with its 57th repetition.

Miranda’s Victim – 2. Terrible acting, trite dialogue, confused story; not a believable character or scene. Where (or who) was the director?

Soul of the Ocean – 7. Wonderful underwater photography with annoyingly vapid narration that was neither here nor there.

Starring Jerry as Himself – 7.5. A rare comedy and a poignant tale. Made for the small screen but charming and original.

T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets – 7. A one-man (Ralph Fiennes) recital, dramatic and powerfully paced. I understood nothing but couldn’t move.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer – 5. A pleasant but incomplete look at the career of a favorite movie director. Nothing new or terribly insightful.