Having successfully warmed up my movie-viewing muscles with a two-film day on Friday, I was ready to tackle the three movies I had scheduled on Sunday.

I originally planned to see Living in Emergency, the documentary about Doctors Without Borders, but after hearing a number of people use the word "graphic" to describe it, I decided to watch something less intense, with the hope of catching it when it came out on DVD.

I opted to see Song From the Southern Seas instead. It's a story set in Kazakhstan. Two neighboring families -- one Russian, the other Kazakh -- live peaceably and seem to be good friends, but when the Russian wife gives birth to a child that shares more of a resemblance with the husband-next-door than her own husband (Ivan, the main character), underlying racial tensions surface. The movie delves into this cultural rift, traveling back in time to explore how Ivan's ancestors dealt with the division.

The movie felt choppy as it cut between characters and generations. The historical flashbacks and the cutaways to the tale of the horseman and the four sea spirits (told using shadow puppets) didn't help the flow. (I realize how silly that previous sentence makes the movie sound, but the myth was actually one of my favorite parts.)

On a more positive note, I loved the music in the film, especially the folk songs performed or sung in the story.

After a quick bite, I ventured over to The Rep to watch Corpse Run. It's a comedy that explores the lives of twenty-somethings who are gaming geeks. More importantly, it explores what it means to be part of a generation that has grown up on/with Pac-Man, Nintendo, and the internet. The characters contemplate their generation's place in the world while trying to figure out their own lives. At points, it felt as though the characters were pontificating instead of carrying a normal conversation, but I was so caught up in what they were saying, I didn't notice it until after the film.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I loved the pop culture and gaming references. (I didn't get every one, but I got enough of them to follow along.) I also reveled in the fact that some of the characters reminded me of guys I knew back in high school and college. It's one of the films I hope makes it to DVD so I can watch it again. If I were handing out awards, this one would win for "Favorite Opening Credits". (It brought back memories of Police Quest.)

After the movie, a few of the cast and crew came onstage to answer questions.

• Official Site (plays video automatically)
• On Cinequest
• Review by MichaelVox on CQ Central

I spent a couple of hours helping out at the box office before returning to The Rep to watch Canary. Even a week later, I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this film.

On its most accessible level, the actual scenes playing on the screen, the movie showed us the Canary Corporation, an organization that saves lives by providing people with organ transplants, but also takes lives by reclaiming those organs if certain standards of living aren't met. It showed a silent and mysterious woman (played by Carla Pauli), who works for the corporation as an organ redistribution specialist. It showed a television crew attempting to uncover the "truth" about Canary. It also showed us a little girl who was a recipient of a Canary organ.

All of these things were shown to us, but it required effort (more effort than a conventional movie) to sort through what was shown and said to understand what was going on. Unlike most movies, where dialogue is scripted and every line supposedly advances the story, most of the dialogue in this movie was improvised and the lines that held meaning were mixed in with those that meant nothing.

Throughout the film, it felt as though Alejandro Adams, the writer and director, seemed to be telling the audience, "Hey, guys, I did my part. You're on your own here. I can't help you." And it was interesting to see how the audience reacted. At least twelve people left the theater during the screening. Those that remained (at least those around me) seemed to grow more restless as the movie went along.

To top it all off, when it came to the question and answer session after the film, Adams was the one asking and the audience was the one answering. (Notice how he is in the shadows? Coincidence? I don't think so.)

It wasn't a film I particularly enjoyed watching, but it has been a film I've enjoyed replaying in my head and thinking about.

• Official Site
• On Cinequest
• Review by Pischina
• Review by Jason on CQ Central