CHRISTOPHER WOOD: TFF DAY 6 â€" SHORTS >>>

Independent dramas walk a thin line between affecting seriousness and laughable absurdity. The Tacoma Film Festival works exhibited Tuesday at The Grand oscillate between the sincere and the grandiose.

The afternoon’s opener, My Dad Ralph, stays mostly in the former category. Zach believes his father makes millions as a famous artist, when in reality Ralph humbly serves as a “lowly” house painter. The curly-haired patriarch must decide whether to reveal this devastating truth to Zach. Ralph’s deceased wife appears periodically, offering standard ghostly guidance. Must this film rely on otherworldly revelation to trumpet its earthly message of acceptance?

The apparitions kept on appearing in the Hungarian sci-fi melodrama Now You See Me, Now You Don’t. A scientist tests out an invisibility device on his son â€" or does he? Sorry, couldn’t tell you for sure. An intriguing premise and hopes of a coherent plot get lost in the film’s pacing. A character gets out of bed, another gets into a flippin’ car â€" inconsequential details. Get. Drawn. Out and. Balloon to. Ridiculous. Proportions.

Maine Story slows things down further â€" almost to inertness. Gorgeous New England scenery frames a dull story about a woman who makes chairs. Will the unexpected return of a former lover shake up her ho-hum factory life? Nice try. Watching this cast ranks right up there with building furniture.

Gravida searches for a mood as heavy as its title. An extended low-light seduction scene involving a pregnant woman ends in disappointment and tears. Lots of tears. And snot. Yep, when a pretty half-naked girl runs snotty fingers through her hair, we know we’ve arrived in independent film territory.

The Loneliness of the Short-Order Cook meanders but with good reason. Its disconnected protagonist, a Japanese emigrant waiting for his visa, floats from encounter to encounter because of a system that refuses him admittance. Loneliness achieves seriousness without depressing viewers, sincerity without bombast, and beauty without neglecting content: in short, a drama that works.

Tacoma Film Festival schedule
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008
Full details here

2:30 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Endless Tunnel, Pat Martino Unstrung

4:30 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Crawford, For You, My People

6:30 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Cabbie, PK Granny, The Man from Mars, Taken, One Year Later, The Grayed Escape, Blind Luck, Rock in a Hard Place

6:30 p.m.
School of the Arts Blackbox Theater
Double Talk

8:40 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Journey Green Forest, Rogue 379