Pittsblurgh

After a little bit of a disorganized entrée into the Opening Night reception of the 26th annual Three Rivers Film Festival, the entertainment, décor, and libations did not disappoint.

Friends and I attended the debut of Rona Mark’s Strange Girls at the Melwood Screening Room for two reasons: a) The description of the movie was the most intriguing and macabre of the three films shown on opening night b) we’d be steps away from the party refreshments after the movie.

I didn’t mind having to wait in line at the entrance to the Melwood Screening Room. It gave the event an air of exclusivity. However, once we made it through the doorway, there weren’t separate lines for will call tickets and tickets to-be-purchased on the spot and the result was a little bit of frustration and congestion. Additionally, the nice women working were (doing what they were asked to do I’m sure) trying to up sell (asking people to purchase ticket packages for the entire festival), which delayed our entrance even further. Once we made our way in and began to walk through hanging strips of film and filmy drape, I was impressed by the obvious amount of work that went into creating an environment befitting this film festival.

3RFF Goodies

Attendees got some interesting swag on the way into the theater. Most notable: we each got a different movie on DVD from the Film Movement, a CD of new music from WYEP, and a Kodak fun saver camera (real film—WOW). I don’t remember the gift bag being as substantial last year.

Director Rona Mark’s storytelling ability and dark sense of humor were evident at the outset of Strange Girls. A doctor titillated by porn, cross-dressing, and auto-erotic asphyxiation accidentally chokes himself to death while masturbating to all three. We come to find out he is the head of a psychiatric hospital housing the twin girls around which Strange Girls is centered. Although Mark does a formidable job of creating tension and shocking her audience in later scenes, I thought the opening scene seemed disjointed and almost overkill. A “this movie is going to be weird” set-up isn’t necessary because she does such a great job of making f*cked up the new normal…according to twins Virginia and Georgia anyway.

Novice actresses Angela and Jordana Berliner were compelling and completely believable in their roles as twin sisters who do everything in synchronization and speak to no one in public. Andre DeLawrence Rice, Jr. played the role of the boy that compels Virginia to try and escape her sister’s grasp and he played it well. The rest of the supporting cast was average. I couldn’t get past Kasey Daley’s Pittsburgh accent to genuinely assess her performance. While I know there is a strong regional dialect here, too many “yenz’s” and “an’ats” were sprinkled throughout the dialogue and made her speech seem forced. Overall, great film and impressive for Mark’s first. And did I mention it was filmed in Pittsburgh? You’ll recognize familiar places in Bloomfield, Swissvale, Polish Hill, and New Kensington.

The Great Lakes beer and CoCo’s Cupcakes were tasty and a nice change from the Penn Brewery and Big Burrito catering combo that seem to be more and more common at Pittsburgh events. Last, but certainly not least, New Invisible Joy played for a bit at the end of the evening. Unfortunately, not many people went back into the screening room to see them perform, but I did notice a lot of people listening and wonder who was playing. I think they’re great and sorely underrated as a regional band.