Camera obscura and more

It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that one of my perks as a part-time SMFA student is free MFA movies. . . and I am taking full advantage of this. I think I’m going to miss the Alice Neel movie, the preview for which made me drool for its insidery soap-opera promises — but I did see a documentary about Abelardo Morell called “The Shadow of the House” — and it’s wonderful. I won’t even lie, I cried at the sometimes silly but ultimately touching documentary moments — and it was incredible to see his working process. I also gained more of an understanding of how more varied his work is than I ever realized.

Coming into the theater, I expected somewhat more of the rollercoaster offered by the 2005 Eggleston documentary, which as a side note literally made me sick to my stomach because of its Blair-Witch style camera work. The Morell piece, following the way he presents himself to the world, is not as frenetic and wild as the Eggleston, — but each gives a look into the working processes of a talented photographer, and I’m glad to have seen them.

I also headed to the Manhattan Short Film festival (shown at the Boston MFA) last weekend. I hate to say it, but I thought it could’ve been better; lots of over-wrought plot lines and unnecessary repetitions of pretentious ideas from other movies. One of the few standouts was an Israeli film, Boris’s Complete Book of Rules — which I ended up voting for, and which did not win. Not that I’m bitter.