{"id":69,"date":"2017-09-11T23:07:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T23:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apresmidi.net\/eee2017\/log\/?p=69"},"modified":"2017-09-11T23:07:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T23:07:25","slug":"biennale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apresmidi.net\/eee2017\/log\/2017\/09\/11\/biennale\/","title":{"rendered":"Biennale"},"content":{"rendered":"
Thursday<\/b>, August 31,<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>we got up at 5am, returned the rental car (another renter had some damage drama), and flew to Copenhagen. \u00a0There we switched terminals, which satisfied the Apple Watch walking requirement for the week, had a pleasant EasyJet check-in experience (with such airlines you always expect much worse, but they no longer check the weight of carrion, at least on this route), and flew to Venice. \u00a0When we were there two years ago, we got Venezia Unica cards for frequent visitors, which allow \u20ac1.40 \u201cwater bus\u201d rides (normally they are \u20ac7.50). \u00a0These cards gave us half-price tickets on the direct boat service from the airport to San Marco. \u00a0The boat service wasn\u2019t really that direct, taking 90 minutes to get there, but it was a beautiful informative ride: \u00a0we went past Murano, and a cemetery island where Stravinsky is buried. \u00a0There were lots of little speedboats buzzing around the islands, many driven by kids. \u00a0We returned to the little hotel we stayed at two years ago, which had upgraded its four rooms to seven. It\u2019s located right over a canal, and in the mornings we heard the gondoliers singing \u201cSanta Lucia\u201d as they went by. \u00a0Ray\u2019s cousin Johan met us where we were grabbing a quick bite at a nearby restaurant, and told us what movies he\u2019d be seeing the next few days.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Friday<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Saturday\u00a0<\/b>we saw films. \u00a0\u201cInvisible\u201d was an Argentine film about a high school girl struggling with being pregnant, and having difficulty making any decision. \u00a0\u201cWest of Sunshine\u201d \u00a0was an Australian father-and-son drama about a guy who owed lots of money to a loan shark driving his son around trying to scare up some cash: \u00a0it was One Perfect Day. \u00a0\u201cNo Date, No Signature\u201d was a Turkish drama about a coroner who was involved in a minor traffic accident with a sick kid, who struggled with the question of whether the kid\u2019s death was his illness or the crash; and \u201cFoxtrot\u201d, an Israeli comedy about a couple learning their soldier son had been killed, later reported to be a misidentification. \u00a0We saw all of these with Johan, and had festive dinners with wine and grappa.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Sunday\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<\/span>Monday<\/b>\u00a0we took a break from Venice, and drove to Slovenia. \u00a0First we picked up our friends Lindsay and Kevin at the airport (they\u2019d just come from Berlin), and drove to Hisa Franko, one of the World\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants, where our friends Dennis and Paulina were after having gone camping for a few days in the beautiful mountains that are Slovenia. \u00a0We had arranged hotel rooms there, which were somewhat deluxe, with an in-room jacuzzi bathtub. \u00a0At dinner, the six of us agonized over the choice of the two tasting menus, Six and Eleven, with completely different sets of courses. \u00a0We finally settled on Eleven, of course, wishing we could have had Seventeen. \u00a0Each course had about six or seven ingredients. \u00a0Ray and I split a wine pairing; our friends each had one but wished they\u2019d split one by the time it was all over. \u00a0All the wine was Slovenian, and the sommelier recited the history of each one. \u00a0By the end we were pretty full and snockered, but not overly so.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Monday we checked out, and drove around in the mountains, getting tons of views of the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and going to see a little river gorge. \u00a0Eventually it was time to drive back to Venice, struggling to return the car with no more gas than was in it when we rented it. \u00a0I stayed and dealt with returning it to the closed office, while Ray went and bought tickets for that evening\u2019s films. \u00a0The first was \u201cThree Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri\u201d, easily our favorite film of the festival. \u00a0It starred Frances McDormand as a mother who put up billboards complaining about the lack of action by the police in investigating the rape and murder of her daughter. \u00a0Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell played the cops. \u00a0It was followed by \u201cUna Famiglia\u201d, an unpleasant Italian film about a man who kidnaps women, impregnates them, and sells the babies. \u00a0Connie and Raymond Marvel were considerably funnier in that enterprise.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>On\u00a0<\/span>Tuesday<\/b>\u00a0we began to see art, starting with half of \u201cTreasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable\u201d, a parody by Damien Hirst in which supposed relics from a shipwreck were exhibited, including videos and pictures of the relics underwater. \u00a0Basically, it was the creation of tons of art, with barnacles and coral and sea creatures attached and carefully colored. \u00a0How do you color bronze, anyway? \u00a0Later we saw \u201cBatch 81\u201d, a Philippine film from 1981 using fraternity hazing as an allegory for the corrupt government. \u00a0The confusing part was conflating fraternities and gangs: \u00a0along with the hazing, there was a rumble with another fraternity. I\u2019ve never really heard of outright fighting between college fraternities. \u00a0The soundtrack was their best attempt to imitate Switched-On Bach, with very bad sound quality. \u00a0The Philippines improved since that film was made, but then they got worse again, as the current regime is murdering all drug dealers in an attempt to corner the market for their own family. \u00a0There are worse people in the world than Jared Kushner.<\/em><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Wednesday\u00a0<\/b>we walked towards the Giardini, one of the two major Biennale venues. \u00a0We looked for Palazzo Bollani, a \u201ccollateral event\u201d, and Google Maps sent us to the entirely wrong place. \u00a0We finally found it near where it was shown on the paper map, and then saw a few more national pavilions nearby. There were several massive yachts parked along the shoreline, apparently available for charter. \u00a0The largest, \u201cLimitless\u201d, cost $100 million to build. One would have to ask how much it costs to rent. \u00a0(I\u2019d actually rather ride around with a kid on a speedboat.) \u00a0We started our 48-hour Biennale pass at the Giardini, seeing several more pavilions. \u00a0The most curious was the German pavilion which was empty except for a raised glass floor. \u00a0Apparently there are performances at 11am where black-clad performers move around under the floor, but we ended up missing them. \u00a0Oh well. \u00a0We left in time to get to a program including \u201cThis is the War Room\u201d, a short documentary about the production designer of Dr. Strangelove, directed by a guy who he mentored. \u00a0It also featured \u201cThe Prince and the Dybbuk\u201d, a documentary about a filmmaker,\u00a0<\/span>Michal Waszynski, who completely obliterated his past when he hit the big time.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n


<\/span><\/span>Thursday<\/b>\u00a0we made progress on seeing the Biennale. \u00a0We skipped the walk and took a boat to the Giardini, where we saw the remaining national pavilions, and the art in the central pavilion. \u00a0We walked to the Arsenale, and saw most of the art there. \u00a0One of my favorite pieces was an already-wedge-shaped MacBook Air which was sharpened, and then used to slice an apple. \u00a0Another was a maze of frames, some of which enclosed mirrors. \u00a0Various objects were placed on the ground. \u00a0The effect was that a rock would turn green as you moved around; the gray rock would be gradually replaced by the identical reflected green rock. \u00a0We looked for cute dinner places on the walk back, and found one which, like others we\u2019d tried, was completely booked for the week. \u00a0They at least directed us to another restaurant, Local, where we were able to make a reservation. \u00a0 \u00a0We whiled away the time before the reservation by walking in what turned out to be a stupid little rainstorm. \u00a0Local is an exceedingly cute place: \u00a0the amuse-bouche included a cracker which, it was claimed, was made out of nerves. \u00a0The veal heart appetizer was massive; the \u201cinterpretation of scallops au gratin\u201d served them raw; the ragout on the pasta and the fish of the day were delightful. \u00a0Afterwards there was a course of five Veneto cheeses, and a celery dessert. \u00a0We texted Johan that we were there, and he pointed out that the owner was a friend of his.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>On\u00a0<\/span>Friday<\/b>, the rain let up, and<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>we walked to the Arsenale and completed the national pavilions there. \u00a0Latvia had a cute exhibit, \u201cWhat Could Go Wrong?\u201d, showing various alien species dominating humans after their shoddy stewardship of the Earth. \u00a0New Zealand had an animated\/live action film depicting the landing of Captain Cook in Polynesia; the impressive thing was how five projectors were seamlessly lined up, making perhaps an 80:9 image. \u00a0And Italy had an exhibit in which bodies of Christ were made in molds, and then apparently decomposed over the course of the festival. \u00a0We left in time to see the Davld LaChappelle exhibit on the island of Giudecca. \u00a0Then we returned to Lido to see \u201cEmma\u201d, a film which was billed about a man involved with his work to the exclusion of people, but which was really about a man having an affair, cheating on his girlfriend with a very likable blind woman.<\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Saturday<\/b>, September 9,<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>was our last day in Venice. \u00a0We started with a program of shorts:<\/span><\/p>\n