Wade on Birmingham

Sidewalk 2007: End scene

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Another whirlwind weekend of music, movies and parties known as Sidewalk has zipped by. Remember: You can still win swag from the film fest by entering our haiku contest by noon today.

But before we wrap the ninth Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a few more capsule reviews of hits and misses …

Update: “The Devil Came on Horseback” and “Darius Goes West” added.

“The Devil Came on Horseback” | directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern | Former Marine Captain Brian Steidle went to Sudan as a military observer to monitor the effects of the peace treaty between northern and southern Sudan. While on his mission, he witnessed a horrible catastrophe developing in the Darfur region. Militia groups known as the Janjaweed began attacking and burning villages and villagers of all ages. During his rotation, he took pictures of the burned and tortured bodies and villages. Forced to watch something he could not stop, he moved back to the United States to show the world what was happening through his graphic photos. Informative and thought provoking, the documentary highlights the difficulties of trying to gain domestic and international support for certain foreign conflicts and documented acts of genocide.
— Stacy Vance

“Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life” | directed by Logan Smalley | One of the best in the festival, the doc chronicled the trip of a lifetime for Darius Weems, a 15-year-old boy with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He and a group of young college students went from Atlanta to California to show Darius parts of the world he had never seen while testing wheelchair accessibility throughout the country. The ultimate goal of the trip was to convince MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” to pimp his wheelchair. From watching Darius take his first swim in the ocean to seeing his friends share his new experiences, it was a touching look into the best of human nature. Incredibly moving, but never sappy, the showing was highlighted by the attendance of Darius and part of his crew.
— Stacy Vance

Shorts Block No. 1 | Most of the five in this block were strong films. We’ll single out: “Small Avalanches” for an exceptional (and exceptionally creepy) adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates story; “The Caress of the Creature” for the oddball sendup of a town terrorized by a sea creature who could also be gay; and “One Last Drink Before Morning” for bringing quiet desperation to life after hours in a basement pub shared by losers galore.
— Wade

Alabama Doc Block No. 1 | Kudos to the student filmmakers who created the standout shorts in the first third of this session: “Trained In,” a journalistic report of the Collegeville community cut off from its surroundings by train tracks; and “Dick-George, Tenn-Tom,” a unique analysis of the ripples from the one-time meeting between President Richard Nixon and Gov. George Wallace (watch complete film online). The 60-minute feature, “Climb for the Cause: A Breast Cancer Story,” seemed promising in its premise, showcasing four cancer survivors and one relative climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro for fund-raising. But it spent too much time on the well-trod ground of sharing backstories and a mere 20 minutes on the grueling climb.
— Wade

“Dirty Country” | directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher | Easily the funniest movie you missed at the festival. This doc fearlessly showcases the raunchiest songs turned out in the last 50 years. One of the most colorful is truck-stop favorite, country singer Larry Pierce, a down-to-earth Indianapolis factory worker married 25 years with two kids. Among his biggest hits are “I Like to Fuck” and “She Makes My Peter Stand Up,” celebrations of sex, vulgar humor and free speech, not to mention kicking back with a beer and listening to down-home songs. [Hear him on iTunes.]
— Wade

“Park” | written and directed by Paul Voelker | This high-concept comedy brings together a stockpile of lovers, requited and otherwise, to an undeveloped overlook above Los Angeles. An obnoxious married lawyer has a tryst with a pet grooming trainee, while his wife and her friend watch and plot from a distance. Meanwhile, a van carrying a pair of computer programmer nudists and their lunch dates wrestle with interoffice relationships. And on and on, with resolutions playing out in predictable ways. The wackiness continues, even when the laughs are mostly forced.
— Wade

“Last Stop for Paul” | directed by Neil Mandt | A charming if somewhat superficial travelogue from two guys going around the world on a two-fold mission: spread a friend’s ashes along the way, and head for this bitchin’ party in Thailand. Take every vacation horror story you’ve ever heard and string them together amusingly for maximum effect.
— Wade

“Weirdsville” | directed by Allan Moyle | A dark comedy in the wintry wilds of rural Canada centers on two addicts deep in debt to a drug kingpin and on the run from a satanic cult. This all-night caper ends neatly with lessons learned and friendships strengthened. We liked it enough.
— Wade

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Action! Complete Sidewalk 2007 coverage.

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