Daunting

To describe this process as daunting somewhat masks the incredible fun I am having just navigating the schedule. There are about 200 films in the festival from dozens of countries. There are 5 venues providing 11 screens over 10 days. That comes out to about 425 screenings. All of the venues are in Palm Springs proper; some of them are only a couple of blocks apart. I hope to see 25 to 30 in that time. The downside of all this planning is that the weather is gorgeous at about 70 degrees with picturesque clouds and an incredible blue sky. I am sure I’ll find some time to enjoy that as well. My first film was a bit of French fluff. Copacabana is the story of a dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship set against a less than picturesque Belgian seaside resort. Isabel Huppert is wonderful as a free spirit mother who has over the past 20 years dragged her now about to be married daughter along on vagabond treks and hippy adventures all over the globe. Her daughter tells her she isn’t invited to her wedding because she will embarrass her. Hurt and once again footloose she takes a job selling timeshares in Belgium. She finds success and a modicum of respectability, repairs her family, goes to the wedding and everyone lives happily everafter.