Cinequest 17: Pure Hearts and Monster Camp

During Cinequest, I saw two films. I contemplated using the word only in the previous sentence, but considering how busy I was last week (working, volunteering, sleeping, and wondering where the rest of the time went), I'm amazed I managed to see any movies at all. One day, I'll take the entire week off and wander from screening to screening like some of the hardcore festival-goers I've seen.

Rene Hjerter (Pure Hearts) was a darker film than I expected. The star, Anders Matthesen, is a Danish comedian, so I thought he might play a more lighthearted character. I was mistaken. Like Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, Matthesen uses this movie to show he can be something other than funny, namely serious and disturbing.

The story is about Kriss, a mental ward patient, who is obsessed with Linda, a character in a 1930s film called Pure Hearts (a movie within the movie). He and his buddy, Willy, watch a videotape of the movie constantly. The only problem is that it's an incomplete copy and neither of them has ever seen the ending. Kriss is also obsessed with the story of Noah. He hates it and claims it's the reason he stopped reading. He believes Noah should have been more selective about the animals he allowed onto the ark - saving the good ones and leaving the evil ones behind. When the videotape is confiscated, Kriss and Willy escape to find the real Linda, a.k.a. Ulla Vilstrup in the real world.

At its core, this is movie about how we view life, which is like Kriss's copy of Pure Hearts. It's incomplete and nobody knows the ending, but that doesn't stop people from having their theories, letting those theories shade their views of the world, and acting as though their theories are fact. The film asks us to explore those theories by examining the motives behind our actions, challenging the views we hold, and questioning our beliefs of right or wrong.

Monster Camp is an entertaining documentary that explores the world of live action role-playing games (LARPs). In particular, it spends a year with a group in Seattle that plays NERO, which is like World of Warcraft (or Dungeons & Dragons) brought to life.

Instead of making fun of the participants, Cullen Hoback, the director, seeks to understand them. Why do they play? What do they gain from the game? The answer to the first question is pretty obvious. People play because the game is fun and it offers an escape from real life. The answer to the second question is more difficult because it depends on what people are escaping from in the first place.

By trying to honestly portray them, Hoback both reinforces and debunks the D&D stereotype. Yes, there are the slackers (a.k.a. permanent escapees) who aren't employed (and aren't seeking employment) and play Warcraft all day at the expense of everything else (work, family, health), but they aren't the only ones who play. To me, the more compelling participants include the man who learned to be confident "in game" and applied that confidence to his career "out of game"; the quirky son and father duo who bond by playing the game; and the wheelchair-bound seamstress who enjoyed sewing costumes and used the game as a means to temporarily forget her disability.

What was most amazing was the amount of effort and planning it took to make the fantasy a reality. It's a lot of hard work and the people who make the sacrifices so others can have a weekend of fun are pretty incredible. I can see how somebody might get burned out and actually see reality as an escape.

All in all, Monster Camp is a fun peek into a different world and if it (or Pure Hearts) appears at a film festival near you or manages to obtain distribution, I'd recommend seeing it.

Movies I missed that I hope will come out on DVD include The Namesake, Military Intelligence and You, and Maskot.

I had intended to include a comic strip at the beginning of this post, but I haven't finished coloring it yet, so keep an eye out for it later this evening.