Two more sleeps until my festival going starts…and I thought I’d take a moment here to recalibrate my expectations.

See, you’d think that given the screening process, the endless programming, and the prestige involved, that film festivals would only bring in the best of the best. Well troops – if that’s what you think, I’m sad to say that you’re wrong. Of course film is art, and taste is subjective, but there have been moments in festivals past where I find myself sitting there wondering just what someone was thinking when they chose a particular title.

For starters there’s ALL THE KING’S MEN from 2006. Remember it? Didn’t think so. On paper, this sucker looks like a prestige picture with Oscar hopes written all over it. Heck, anytime you put Sean Penn front-and-centre these days, Oscar chances start to climb. However, as I endured this overwrought remake and valiantly fought off sleep deprivation, I couldn’t help but wonder who watched this clunker and believed it was good. On the bright side, walking out fifteen minutes early meant I didn’t have to run to my next film.

A few years earlier in 2003, I was actually surprised by a letdown. That time it was Jane Campion’s IN THE CUT. Campion is a stellar director, but I think what we all learned that afternoon was just how much Meg Ryan should stick to doing cutesy rom-com’s. It aimed for grit, but landed well wide of the target and landed in dull. Least I made it all the way through this one.

Back in ’07 was a film called DEATH DEFYING ACTS – bet you’ve never even heard of this one! It’s a bio-pic about Houdini starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones. This one still leaves me puzzled because there is a lot of great talent involved, but the story is quite preposterous (it involves a conspiracy to kill Houdini leading up to his death). Unfortunately, its a film that I pretty much forgot about as soon as the screen went to black. This of course invites dual questions: how the heck did it make the cut, and why the heck did I put it on my schedule?

You’ll notice that everything I’ve mentioned involves bigger talent. That is because I have a rule about not picking on the smaller guys. Indeed I’ve seen some indies and foreign films that don’t seem to jive, but when it comes to indie cinema, I believe the effort is what’s more important…as opposed to the big boys who have all the resources they need to create something great.

So keep that in mind if you’re one of those who has mentioned to me “wish I was there”. To put it bluntly – they ain’t all winners.