Caught two films from the Cleveland Film Festival thus far - Jar City and Jellyfish. Good choices I may add. Both films embody enough originality and creativity to charm any film festival goer. Jellyfish arrives nicely packaged as a drama with touches of humor and a shade or two of Amelie while Jar City was a fascinating crime thriller brilliantly adapted from an equally intriguing novel. America get fluff like Kiss the Girls and Along Came the Spider while Iceland brings home brilliant adaptations like Jar City. Both films are highly recommended.

I have been a lousy film festival attendee this year but plan on making that up a bit with the second stretch. Thursday brings Art of Negative Thinking, Big Man Japan (known in Japan as Dai Nipponjin), and Trap. On Friday, I plan on catching Gone with the Woman, Otis, and possibly Bliss and The Substitute (I know 4 films in one day might be pushing it). Nate and I are hanging out with our good friend Mike Laymon on Saturday so I am taking a breather before returning on Sunday with three final films - Ben X, Mongol, and Flashpoint. Should be a nice closing to the festival and the sad end to my 9 days off of work.