The Rooftop Films 2008 Summer Series

An awkward, comic, sexy one night stand turns substantial, then life-changing, in this dizzying mix of romantic comedy and drama.

Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory
Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus, Brooklyn)
Directions: F, G to Carroll Street or M, R to Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map
Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Bell
9:00PM: Films
11:00PM-1:00AM: After Party in the Courtyard with free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology and free beer courtesy of Radeberger
Tickets: $9 at going.com
Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com
Presented in partnership with: IFC.com, New York magazine, and XØ Projects

I’ll Come Running (Spencer Parsons | Austin, TX & Copenhagen | 1:48:00)

Pelle (Jon Lange) is a Danish tourist in Texas, “a kitsch paradise, where they execute the retarded.” Veronica (Melonie Diaz) is a waitress in a tacky Tex-Mex joint. She takes him home, but they go to bed in separate rooms. Now they both have second thoughts about having second thoughts. Through a closed door, they wait expectantly, sexual tension building.

“This kind of awkwardness gets points for style,” she says.

It’s the awkwardness of getting to know someone through Simpsons references, political graffiti, and tequila. The awkwardness of being in a foreign country and not knowing why anymore, because “no matter where you go, you’re still stuck with yourself.” I’ll Come Running is about the awkwardness of wanting love and finding it at the wrong time in the wrong place.

The blossoming affair between Veronica and Pelle—or Lisa and Millhouse, as they call each other, to help overcome language difficulties—is a delight to watch because it’s believable but unexpected. They flirt and dig at each other, get serious then laugh, a perfect distillation of what fast, passionate relationships are like: sharp, sweet, funny, then suddenly painful, and ultimately blissful.

The film follows a similar pattern, as a twist so clean and total it defies implausibility sends Veronica on an unplanned trip to Copenhagen. There, Pelle’s family refuses to accept easy answers, hurtling farther into the pain. There, lies build themselves into truths, as Veronica and Pelle’s best friend Soren try to comfort themselves and start anew (much the way in Pelle’s TV show lies and tricks were a necessary convalescence). There, the jaunty tourist attitude from Texas is upended, and the mood of the film reflects Veronica’s sense of displacement and loss.

Spencer Parsons, a Rooftop veteran (Resolution, 2002; Once and Future Asshole, 2005; recipient of a 2007 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grant), has crafted his debut feature with wit and poignancy, lending remarkable weight to an unusual love story, and coaxing stunning performances from the entire cast. The brilliance of I’ll Come Running is that when the tone of the film u-turns, you realize that Veronica and Pelle’s cavalier, comic attitude toward their romance was a defense mechanism against both the great tragedies and the quotidian disappointments of life. That seemingly shallow defense has significance in and of itself. There is a glorious importance to their one-night stand, to the Viking Ship Museum, to a hand-rolled cigarette traded for a paint pen. Because through the sadness and difficulty, there is still joy, there is still laughter, there is still the possibility of love.