A Few Days Away

So I'm back...
Just spent a long weekend in my favorite city of Rotterdam (Nederlands or Holland to the rest of us). Had a chance to see a number of films that where showing in the 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam and my favorite had to be Un día sin Méxicanos or A day without Mexicans for the non Spanish speakers among you.
I must admit I was not holding out a lot of hope when I first read about it, but it is a VERY funny look at what would happen if all the Latinos in California where to disappear. It confronts the myths and truths of the immigration argument (some thing you my have guessed I have strong views on), is filled with a number of interesting facts and informational pieces (such as not everyone who live south of Texas is a Mexican, there are Brasilians and Argentinians down there as well) and generally makes you come out feeling like you've spent a worthwhile time in the cinema.

However there was one down side to it... There where two short films as support. I have to say I'm not a big fan of short movies as a rule, always seem to but a bit pretenious for my liking. The first one was unmemorable in it's pointlessness, no I really mean I can't remember a thing about it, it was that pointless. The second... It was five minutes of a horse standing by a road as trucks drove by, at night and then the camera started going in and out of focus. WHY!!! It doesn't mean anything, and if it's surposed to, well it's lost on me and the rest of the audience.

So in short:
Un día sin Méxicanos - Excellent.
The two short movies - pointless art-house dribble and a waste of film.
Lastly, if you haven't gone to the Netherlands, go.... and make sure you spend time in Rotterdam and not just Amsterdam.