Oh, it is tempting all right. When faced with a major film festival, the urge to break it down by the numbers is nearly overwhelming.
Take for example, the Los Angeles Film Festival, which isn't at all a random selection on our part, seeing as how the festival is opening on Thursday, June 17 for its 11-day run.
There are a lot of impressive numbers involved with this multi-day event, so the temptation is understandable. Like, some 85,000 attendees turned up to film up in 2009. 85,000 is mighty go-all-agog-worthy. And there are over 200 films in the queue for 2010, coming from all corners. Think features, docs, music videos.
But the numbers can obscure meaningful moments, the rooting-around-in-your-purse-for-a-tissue times that a great film can deliver. So let's instead predict how many of those the 16-year-old fest will deliver. We'll say, hmm. A thousand? That seems conservative, even.
"The Kids Are All Right," from Lisa Cholodenko, looks to deliver a goodly chunk of such moments. It opens the festival on Thursday, June 17. The festival runs from June 17-27, at venues dotting downtown. Eye the map now.