Saturday, December 19, 2009

AIFF 2009 - Vincent Part 2

I'll try to get some of the leftover videos, photos, and thoughts about the film festival up as I can.  I talked to Vincent: A Life In Color  director Jennifer Burns (and to Vincent) before their film was shown.  Here's a bit of the Q&A after the Sunday showing of the film.



This was a quirky film - about a quirky person, Vincent, who stands on a downtown Chicago bridge wearing brightly colored suits waving at the tour boats on the Chicago River. 

Burns took a local character whom many people knew about - he's also a regular on some Chicago radio and one of the tv shows - and then reveals, layer by layer, a life most of us would otherwise never have a chance to know.  It's a stereotype breaker as I saw my initial hypotheses about Vincent shattered and a completely different story unfold. Having Vincent come along to Anchorage, wearing his amazing suits (I think he said he brought five or six suits along), was an extra bonus.

This film is a definite demonstration that different from the norm is NOT less than the norm.  This was Jennifer's first film and I think it would be a better film by cutting about 20 minutes.  The people discussing Vincent's past should pretty much stay, but some of the people speculating about Vincent's present life got a bit repetitive.  But overall, it was an interesting view of humanity, not someone you meet every day.

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