“”Night of Fish””
Hiroshi Toda, Japan, 55 minutes.
Director Hiroshi Toda returns to the festival this year with his latest feature film, “”Night of Fish.”” Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki are an elderly couple who get by with their work making leather coasters. While taking a night stroll, Mr. Sasaki comes across an old man who has been lying on the street, seemingly homeless and destitute. He brings the man home and offers him food and shelter, even though Mrs. Sasaki is suspicious of the man’s motives a nd circumstances.
Like many other great Japanese directors, Toda creates “”Night of Fish”” with a cast of returning actors. This results in performances that feel as if we are witnesses to a memorable episode in the lives of the Sasaki’s, however brief and understated it may be.
Showing at The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., on April 11 at 7 p.m. after “”The Gift of The Magi.””
— Steven Kwan
“”Peep Culture””
Sally Blake, Canada, 59 min.
Writer and social commentator Hal Niedzviecki agreed to participate in a documentary that examines the effects the Internet, technology and social media have had on our social lives and attitudes toward privacy. It wasn’t enough for Niedzviecki to just provide intelligent commentary, but he also had to “”livecast”” himself to the world in order to understand why anyone — and seemingly everyone — would want to subject his or her so-called life to the constant gaze of a camera.
That’s not the most outrageous — and perhaps banal — part of “”Peep Culture.”” The documentary takes off when Niedzviecki interviews people who want to become a “”brand,”” if they haven’t already done so. He finds that this desire for fame or notoriety without high regard for personal privacy is not limited to those who grew up with the Internet. Niedzviecki even discovers a boot camp for reality television hopefuls — located near Los Angeles, of course — where participants are taught how to find “”the character that they already are”” and how to make it work for TV. At one point in “”Peep Culture,”” Niedzviecki asks, “”How am I going to get you to buy more of me?”” That is either one of the scariest, or most exciting, questions any of us will hear in our lifetime.
Showing at The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., on April 13 at 8 p.m. with “”Grandpa’s Wet Dream.””
— Steven Kwan
