The Hounds Are Baying, I Don't Remember There Being Any Hounds Around Here

Beyond The Hills (Mungiu, 2012)

On Saturday I was able to have my first ever experience at the Philadelphia Film Festival, and even though I only saw two films out of the many offered I definitely picked two high quality movies that I can't wait to write about. The first film on my docket was Beyond The Hills, the latest from Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days). I knew relatively little about this film going in aside from its director, but after poking around the internet after the screening I noticed that it actually took home the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes this year along with a shared Best Actress award for its two leads. But aside from that I had little idea of what to expect, and as usual that tends to be a strength.

They've Got Him In A Trance

Santa Sangre (Jodorowsky, 1989)

I don't usually do very well with horror films. It is a genre that I do not dismiss, in fact I spent the better half of last semester wrestling with the artistic legitimacy of the horror genre in fiction that was mostly revolutionary to how I now approach these stories. Still, I am easily scared and as a result am not very well versed in the world of scares. Prior to watching Santa Sangre I knew nothing of the film beyond the wikipedia entry that labeled it as "a surreal horror film." Now I did not actually know what that description would entail, but I don't think any amount of wikipedia would have prepared me for what I would find when I actually booted up the old Netflix Instant Stream and dove head first - or perhaps it's more fitting to say arms first - in to my first film from Alejandro Jodorowsky.