Film festivals generate buzz. This is why movies get sent to festivals in the first place. But of course buzz can backfire. Alison Maclean's Jesus' Son had been getting good word on the festival circuit, and despite reservations about Maclean's previous effort, Crush , I was really looking forward to her newest. Turns out it's an indifferent mishmash of '70s nostalgia, with failed stabs at visual poetry and black comedy.
Film festivals please directors by putting films in a respectable context.
In other words, if it's subtitled, it must be good for you. Audiences that wouldn't dream of sneaking into a theater to see some Hollywood crap don't think twice about paying money and fighting crowds to get the exact same movie from Europe or Asia. More of the same old story, of course, though cultural distinctions do pop up in its typically Germanic forthrightness about sex. As good as the film is at times, you can tell from the familiar situations and occasional pretentious touches that the ending will be godawful. The film does not prove you wrong.