Recommendations for BIFF 2007
by Marty Mapes

     Spanning four days, BIFF is the kind of festival that shows you movies you won’t see anywhere else. This year’s schedule offers a lot of documentaries and a lot of short films. Most of these are independently produced, and most of them are Colorado premieres. You’re likely to find movies with truly original subjects (B.I.K.E., Drunk in Public, American Fugitive), or movies that reveal a surprisingly skilled filmmaker (Talk to Me, Lucid Dreaming).

"Drunk in Public"   (screening 2/16/2007 @ 7pm - Boulder Public Library)

     This is a great little documentary. It is a completely amateur production, but it tells a fascinating story about Mark David Allen, a severe alcoholic, and the one man who has always been there for him.

     Mark’s constant companion is director/editor David Sperling, a police officer who books Mark, every three days or so, for being drunk in public. The cycle of drunkenness, arrest, regret, and promises had been going on for 8 years before Sperling started shooting footage of Mark. Since then, he’s been recording Mark’s downward slide for twelve more years. The resulting footage is an incredible portrait, more sociological study than documentary movie.

     Try as he might, Sperling can’t keep himself from appearing in the film. He never shows his own face, but his voice and his hands often appear. More importantly, his unwavering, unfaltering presence in Mark’s life appears. After twenty years of the ugliest behavior, they still keep coming together, and there is still concern and friendship. (Maybe this is a film about love.)

     Although the final edit is probably too long by ten minutes, Sperling does a good job of compressing time and letting the story progress off-screen. As Mark gets worse, I worried that the only possible ending to this movie could be Mark’s death. But one of Mark’s more notable traits is his resilience, and in fact, Sperling finds a surprisingly good ending for the movie after Mark swears off liquor yet again. (Read the HTML source of this page for the ending.)

     To find out how Mark is doing lately, visit: MDA Watch

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