Check out these seven movies at the Atlanta Film Festival

The Atlanta Film Festival is officially in full swing. With more than 130 films to choose from, everyone’s got some difficult decisions to make. Let me try to make the task a little easier.

Full disclosure: I have not been able to catch all of the films playing at this year’s festival ahead of time (a Herculean task I couldn’t have achieved even if I had the free time), but I was able to watch a good number of screeners for some great films. I’ll be attending the festival and movie-hopping all this weekend into next week to catch up on what I’ve missed, and when the end of the festival rolls around I’ll be back with my favorite selections.

Until then, here are seven movies to check out at this year’s festival.

“Color Book”

Filmmaker David Fortune’s “Color Book” is not just a story about a father and son, but an Atlanta story through and through. The film follows a trek across town as Lucky (Will Catlett) takes his son Mason (Jeremiah Daniels), who has Down syndrome, to his first Atlanta Braves game. As you might predict, the trip doesn’t go as smoothly as initially planned. Fortune’s film is shot in rich black and white, the color palette allowing softness and intimacy to permeate each frame. I walked away from this one with tears streaming down my face, so make sure to bring some tissues.

“Color Book” sold out the opening night screening of the festival, but will play again on May 4 at the Tara Theatre. You can also read my interview with Fortune here.

“META TAKE ONE“

“Tell me you got all that!’

That’s the refrain that director John Cuffee (Ej Ezeruo) keeps repeating throughout this fast-paced, barn-burner of a movie about a film shoot gone wrong. John is nothing if not determined, and he won’t let anything – not even unspeakable violence – stop him from finishing his movie. From the dementedly inspired minds of writers/directors Ryan Dutter and John Dierre, “META TAKE ONE” can be a bit over-stuffed at times, but in a way that feels sharply kinetic and truly in the spirit of independent filmmaking. It’s dark, and funny, and upsetting, and everything in between – a parable about what happens when artistic obsession goes too far.

“META TAKE ONE” will play at the Plaza Theatre on April 25.

“A Place Far From Home“

In “A Place Far From Home,” a film about a paralyzing cycle of abuse at a Russian orphanage, filmmaker Diana Mashanova handles the subject matter with a light, sensitive touch. The film is sparse and slow, avoiding the usual trappings of films of this sort by almost never showing the audience exactly what’s going on, instead allowing them to infer as to the severity of the situation these children find themselves in. It requires a lot of patience, and I’m not sure if it quite sticks the landing, but Mashanova’s delicate, yet unflinching directorial style left me floored.

“A Place Far From Home” will play at the Plaza Theatre on April 29.

“The Lost Wolves of Yellowstone”

If you’ve ever had even a passing interest in wildlife, please do not miss Thomas Winston’s documentary about the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Back in 1995, a camera crew followed the team that was tasked with reintroducing wolves back into Yellowstone National Park – a task that involved transporting multiple wolves from Canada to Yellowstone, and then figuring out how to make them stay there. For some reason, the footage was lost back then. That is, until now.

When I tell you that I could have watched several more hours of this film, I’m not even slightly exaggerating. The project itself is fascinating, and the story of the wolves parallels with that of conservationist Mollie Beattie, the first female director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (and a certified bad ass, by all accounts). Plus, the wolves are positively majestic.

“The Lost Wolves of Yellowstone” will play at the Tara Theatre on April 29.

“Xibalba Monster (Monstruo de Xibalba)”

Every kid is obsessed with death at some point. It’s a phase we all go through; we’re old enough to logically understand the concept of death, but not quite old enough to understand or deal with the emotional fallout. In Manuela Irene’s “Xibalba Monster,” Rogelio (Rogelio Ojeda) is a sassy 8 year old who, when forced to spend the summer in Yucatán with his nanny, befriends the town loner – a loner who all the other children believe to be the fearsome Xibalba Monster.

I loved the look of “Xibalba Monster,” particularly the ways in which Irene visualized dreams – mystical and hazy, but one never quite of the same world as the last. It’s a weird little gem of a film that offers sentiment without getting treacly, and it’s got an absolutely stellar child performance at its center.

“Xibalba Monster” plays on April 25 at the Plaza Theatre.

“Giant’s Kettle (Hiidenkirnu)”

“Giant’s Kettle” is billed as “A love story without love,” and honestly, I couldn’t have put it better myself. Each scene unfolds over one static shot, the characters moving in and out of the frame like they were in a play rather than a film. The story follows a man and a woman as they go through the motions of falling in love, getting married, having a kid, etc. But that’s all it is, really; going through the motions. There’s nothing romantic, nothing special, nothing interesting about their lives – that is, until have a mystical experience that sets them on edge.

But even then, “Giant’s Kettle” stays in a very minimalistic, muted mode (at least in terms of its tone – the visuals are incredible striking). Filmmakers Markku Hakala and Mari Käki portray a couple who can’t seem to get past a mechanical outlook on their lives, finding joy in absolutely nothing. If you’re a fan of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” you’ll definitely be able to see the inspiration.

“Giant’s Kettle” will play at the Plaza Theatre on April 26.

“Removal of the Eye”

Out of all the films I watched to the run up of the Atlanta Film Festival, Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan’s “Removal of the Eye” is the one that made me laugh the most. Ram (Kamalakanthan) and Kalia (Shaw) are struggling new parents who also have to deal with Kalia’s aging parents who live in the apartment below them.

My favorite parts of the film were sequences that cut back and forth between Ram and Kalia having separate interactions with other people that only serve to remind them just how much they’re failing – whether that be professionally or personally. “Removal of the Eye” is a funny and fresh look at how feelings of inadequacy manifest for new parents, and of that strange moment in time where you suddenly realize you’ve got to take on that caregiver role for your own parents as well.

“Removal of the Eye” is playing on May 3 at the Plaza Theatre.

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