ONLINE EXCLUSIVE — Filmmakers, actors and stars alike gathered for the 12th annual Malibu International Film Festival this Thursday night. The event was hosted by the Malibu Theatre and Malibu Lumber Yard and featured two films on its opening night.
The first film of the night was a one-hour documentary titled “Miss South Pacific: Beauty and the Sea.” This was a small film with big heart and Malibu roots. Director Marry Lambert shows another side to the continuing saga of global warming through the unique views and commentary of some of the beauty queens participating in the Miss South Pacific beauty pageant. The film takes a look at the increasing dangers and problems that are arising in the South Pacific due to global warming and offers insight into the cultures that are at risk of being lost completely.
The film tells the real-life stories of struggle in island regions such as Tuvalo and Karribati which may soon be completely consumed by the rising tides. The film has vibrant scenes of traditional island dances and culture tempered by chilling scenes of flooded streets and cemeteries. It brings attention to the hardships that are now taking place in these remote island locations that Americans and Europeans only know of from vacation magazines. The film shows that the South Pacific is one of the most culture-rich places in the world, and it is being threatened by rising sea levels due to pollution and global warming that is mostly the fault of larger industrialized nations like the U.S. and China.
The film’s message is no doubt noble, but it lacks certain presentation quality. The tribal chants and music are entertaining and add to the film, but they may add a little too much. The music often pushes its way into commentaries and other aspects of the film that would have been better left silent. The message is noble but one people have heard thousands of times by now, and it is just not presented in a way that is any more novel than the many other global warming documentaries. Ultimately the film is admirable in its message and advocating for change but in the end it still remains unfortunately forgettable.
The second and feature film of the night was directed by David Katz and entitled “Kissing Strangers.” The film follows a man named Max through a journey of self-discovery. Max (Matthew Smiley) is a business man who struggles in the social department, particularly with members of the opposite sex. The story has a pretty predictable plot of boy meets girl, boy looses girl, and boy gets girl back, but what makes “Kissing Strangers” unique is its style. It is not a particularly smooth, flowing movie, but this somehow seems to add to the experience. The overall plot may be predictable but the events that move the story along can often times be startling.
The film is, on the whole, well done and has some extremely funny segments and characters, and it does, in the end, impart a very pleasant albeit generic message. The film’s actors are not exactly Oscar winners but they definitely belong on the silver screen. The film’s writing seems to be forced at times and the dialogues seem to drag on. Another negative is the fact that the film doesn’t give the viewer hints about the moral of the story; writer/director David Katz just tells viewers the moral of the story through dialogue. Where’s the fun in that? Its almost as if Katz is afraid that the viewer won’t get the moral, so he explains it in a very straightforward manner and multiple times, which ultimately takes away from the film.
The opening night of the 12th annual Malibu International Film Festival sported two fairly good films that were worth the time to see but perhaps not the money if one was going to pay current movie ticket prices to see them. The documentary “Miss South Pacific: Beauty and the Sea” was another reminder and testament to the reason that people should “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” and the feature film “Kissing Strangers” was an entertaining albeit predictable affair. Both films were enjoyable in their own right and were well chosen for presentation.
