Wanted (USA)

Timur Bekmambetov the director of Day Watch and Night Watch does a film with the big budget Hollwood treatment. Not so much in the special effects arena - his earlier films looked plenty great. More in the way of talent you'd recognize, in this case James McAvoy and the (briefly nude and) tattooed Angelina Jolie.

The plot's likely sillier (though simpler) than the directors earlier films. In exchange for dumbing things down we're rewarded with an increased number of out of control car chases and shootings. Only in light of his earlier movie where a car driven by the supernaturally gifted manages to steer a sports car up the side of a building would the laws of physics in Wanted only appear slightly bent and not completely broken. But if you're willing to suspend disbelief a bit (OK a lot) it's possible to derive some entertainment from this film.

The movie is sort of an odd hybrid of Office Space blended with The Professional and The Matrix. The main characters is a low level cubicle dweller who's unsuccessful and afraid of practically any confrontation in life. So of course he's destined to be brought into the fold of an ancient band of assassins with super-human powers. Not as far fetched as you might first think. His dad was one of the super killers - so it's an inherited skill (vs. more of an out of every generation one girl is chosen Buffy sort of thing). I didn't want you to think any of this was unreasonable. ;-)

Like many cinematic bands of assassins this one grew out of an ancient society of weavers who take their direction from a magical loom run by Fate itself. The ancient weaving device spells out who to kill (in binary code) and they get to it. Good to see the Masons finally get a break in one of these conspiricacy theory/secret society things.

Anyway, there's a few twists and turns here - none of which are that surprising. All I'll say is that if you're gonna take instruction on who to kill from a magic loom you're going to want to have some sort of airtight audit process around the instructions that come out of it. Just a thought...

The action on the other hand in terms of stylized pornographic levels of violence is impressive. Even though I wasn't quite on the edge of my seat with respect to story outcome I still enjoyed the over the top action sequences. So as a popcorn flick I would have to recommend it. At least it'll have to do until The Dark Knight comes out once you've seen Iron Man. I bet neither of those guys can curve bullets in mid-air anyway. At some level I do bump up the rating in that there's just a tiny touch of non-Hollywood Russian vibe in the story's resolution. But I might have just been imagining that.

Oh yeah, one last thing. leave your handgun at home. 'Cuz the movie does leave you wanting to shoot someone in the head. Thankfully though not yourself for spending $10 and an afternoon in the theater.

Trailer watch:
A couple of interesting trailers before the film today. With so much festival going I'd almost forgotten what those things before the movies are. In this case the ones that stood out were for Pineapple Express and the either hilarious or awesome new version of Death Race 2000, just called Death Race (starring Jason Statham). Even with Statham in it I fear for this cult classic.

Fugitive Pieces (Canada)

Fugitive Pieces is one of the films I'd regretted missing at this year's festival. It was one of the features in the annual "Emerging Masters" series that's I hadn't been able to fit into my schedule. Each year programmers pick a small number of directors to showcase in this series, screening their current work along with one of their earlier films. This year the picks included offerings that had made my top 10 list including The Secret of the Grain and Edge of Heaven. So the odds seemed good for Fugitive Pieces. Several folks recommended it during the festival. But if I recall correctly seeing it would have botched up an entire day to fit it in, so I decided to take my chances and wait for another opportunity. So I was quite pleased to see it open this week at the AMC Uptown. Though it seems there wasn't a lot of general pent up demand as the screening I attended has less than 10 viewers. Perhaps everyone was at My Winnipeg (which I'm going to try to catch after work this week).

I'm a bit torn on my opinion of this film. First I'll recap the story and maybe by then I'll figure out my opinion.

The story is based on a novel I'm not familiar with. So whether this is complete fiction, composited from true events or biographical I can't say. The film tells the story of a holocaust survivor from Poland. It's a story of traumatic survival but in some crucial ways different from what I'd seen before. A young Jewish boy watches his family taken away by the Nazis and his father murdered. He flees into the forest where he's found by a Greek anthropologist. He smuggles the boy out of the country and into his country home in occupied Greece. There the boy spends the war in hiding. But rather than being isolated completely from the world he's in a generally loving environment where he's being well educated. During the war he learns Greek and English and studies a wide swath of the humanities. But he also lives with the trauma of his family's fate and is haunted by their memories/ghosts. Particularly that of his older sister. The story follows much of his life into adulthood after emigrating to Canada as he struggles to move beyond (or accept) his childhood. The movie is artfully told through flashbacks interwoven together. There's some impressive technical skill at work in the cinematography as well. I can't be sure not having read the novel but the film has the feel of a well adapted piece of literature at the core.

I can't say I absolutely loved it. But I'll freely admit to being deeply engrossed at times. It could be that I wasn't in the mood for a "deeper" film. But I think to some extent I had some trouble getting a sense of true motivation of the changes the (adult version of the) main character was going through. In that sense it wasn't as satisfying as I might have liked but I think I'd still cautiously recommend it.

One SIFF related upside was that is was nice to see Rade Serbedzija in a better film than Battle in Seattle (though he was far from the problem in that film).

Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (USA)

On Sunday I got the chance to start my attendance in what I'll call the SIFF post-season. There are plenty of films that screened at this year's festival starting to hit theaters. Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is one of these, so off I went...

One could say this documentary is about the role of performance enhancing drugs in today's culture. Subtitled "The side effects of being American" the work actually has a much broader scope. Similar to the style of Michael Moore in some ways, but much better than any of his more recent work, this is a very involving, interesting and fun film that takes you into a debate that you probably didn't know existed. Everyone I tell I wanted to see a documentary on steroids looks at me sort of oddly, much the same way I looked at people who recommended it to me. One can attempt to take the easy way out and say this movie is about the impact of a win at any cost culture in America. And maybe it is, but for me the movie deftly handled other themes such as;

• Male body image: When one thinks about people growing up with issues with their appearance one generally thinks of women. Rarer is a movie that looks at the influences on men and their hangups. The filmmaker on this theme looks to his family. Three brothers growing up together and strongly influenced by role models in professional wrestling and the movies. Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone were their holy trinity of steroid users who drive their self perceptions to this day.
• Steroid usage: His two brothers have been consistent steroid users for much of their lives, with what's likely an unattainable goal of getting back into professional wrestling. Probably most interesting is the fairly compelling case he makes that the dangers and the subsequent public policy decisions around steroids are overblown. You may feel more strongly about the national pastime than I do, but even at the time I wondered about the number of days of hearings in Congress around steroid use in baseball vs. health care/Iraq/education. I won't share the arguments here - and even after seeing the film I'm not 100% sure where I'd fall on this issue. But I will say that after seeing a movie like this it makes you long for a national, mandatory curriculum on analytical critical thinking in our schools. Just so the discussion of things can be driven by facts over emotional reasoning. Lot's of "truthiness" on display here.
  
• Making peace with the career you'll never have and moving on: Works an interesting companion to Anvil! The Story of Anvil. His brothers and several other characters we meet are continuing to train for the (unlikely) opportunity to make it big in movies/wrestling. Often seemingly straining relationships with the solid families they have supporting them.

Along the way the filmmaker creates his own supplement line, meets the governor of California (who does seem to owe his success in life in large part to steroid usage), gives a quick and eye opening lesson on how those "before and after" shots are done, and engages in a series of interesting and sometimes very sad conversations. Even if you already suspected it that part about the before/after shots it's pretty eye opening. For example the one on the left was one where both shots were taken on the same day.
Much of the conversation with steroid users is almost unbelievably open about an activity of questionably legality. Even while I was watching I was surprised that a fitness model would freely admit that in addition to the product he advertised he also was taking steroids to achieve his build. The film maker's family is completely open about what they've done in the past and what they continue to do in their quest to get bigger and stronger. I don't know if the director was at SIFF for the screenings, but I'd love to know how his brother the football coach who tells his kids to stay off "the juice" but takes it himself (while lying to the kids about it) is going to reconcile that now that the film is out.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I definitely recommend checking this out. If not in a theater near you then on the smaller screen later. Trailer below.

Roman de Gare (France)

I saw one of the best mystery / suspense films of this year's SIFF on the Saturday after the festival ended. OK it wasn't actually part of SIFF so it wasn't as though I was just catching up on one of the films I missed which is now opening in theaters. But I was in a Landmark theater, one more run down than the ones used for the festival. Though on the other hand it had a reasonable capacity with respect to bathrooms, which seems rare for Landmark (I've never quite figured that out - did people of an earlier age not need that sort of facility so theaters were built with almost none?). Since the film was in French, and very good I'm just going to pretend the festival is continuing albeit at a slower pace. Though convincing myself of that may be tough as based on today's film it seems audiences are back to happily chatting away through the film.

The movie isn't that easy to describe. It opens with a novelist being interrogated about two murders. Then it flashes back to previous events. Or does it? Everything in this film can be a something other than it seems - mirror, a smokescreen or just plain fact. And you never know which until it's revealed. The film respects it's audience enough to make a complex tale that also makes sense at the conclusion. Much (but not all) of the mystery swirls around the identity of the people onscreen. For example, the main male character on a drive across France is either a writer, a serial killer, a teacher who has abandoned his family or perhaps a figment of someone's imagination. Each character has that level of flexibility (or near it) with respect to the correct interpretation. Things are revealed slowly and some things are as they seem and other are surprises which keeps you guessing all the way through. The film unfolds very much like a good book. The dialog as writen is also a pleasure - leaving parts of conversations that that will probably stick with me - from "it's not a confession, it's literature" to "do you believe in God? - I do when I find parking in Paris." If you want a fun ride with some brain teasers thrown in you'll want to check out this film.

I've included a trailer below. Unfortunately it seems the distributor is sort of trying to trick folks into not realizing the film is in French and subtitled. I'm assuming that won't keep anyone who actually reads this blog (Hi Mom!) away.

That's all folks ... 2008 SIFF

This post closes out brief descriptions of all the films I saw this year at SIFF. I'll continue to post descriptions of other things I watch during the coming year. Now onto consideration of the important film questions at hand - such as whether I can get to the Vancouver festival this fall. Any why people allow Mike Myers anywhere near a camera...

Postcards from Leningrad (Venezuela) - very unusual but engrossing tale of a young girl's view of her life with mom. Who happens to be a revolutionary on the run. Very hard to describe and definitely a "festival" type film in that it's something I might not normally venture to the theaters for. A young girl tells her life story as she perceives it. It's a blending of fantasy and reality (faux documentary footage, animation, traditional narrative, etc) relating her experiences born to a mother on the run from the authorities. (3.5/5)

The Bluetooth Virgin (USA) - Screenwriters talking about themselves and convincingly making the case that they can be all be pretentious jerks. Structured as a series of 1-1 conversations (I think 5) between characters, mainly around the theme of what to do when asked to give "honest" feedback. The dialog for me goes from interesting to a bit tedious. There are some very good moments, enough to like it overall. (3.5/5)

The Unknown Woman (Italy) - A housekeeper with a mysterious past and motivations appears on the doorstep of a family of Italian jewelers. She begins taking care of their house and caring for their daughter. A series of hyper-accelerated (and very graphic) flashbacks suggest an escape from prior abuse and forced prostitution. How these events are tied together and what will happen next is the core mystery of the film. It pulled me in and held my interest all the way through. Just be aware there are a significant number of flashbacks of physical abuse and rape. They make perfect sense for the story and the camera doesn't linger on them. But it's still disturbing and better to know that going in (4/5).

American Son (USA) - Surprisingly good film about the cost of change in a young man's life. A high school graduate joins the Marines - in part it seems to escape his life trajectory. The weekend before being shipped to Iraq he's home for Thanksgiving on a 96 hour leave. He meets a nice girl on the bus home and starts a relationship. His issues with family and friends weave together with this new relationship over the next several days. The film was very poorly attended at SIFF - I'm guessing because people assumed it was an "Iraq movie." Which is a shame. The fact that he's going to war after the weekend does heighten the drama. But the film is not about Iraq in particular. It's more a coming of age film for an older boy making an emotional transition into manhood. Very likable performance by the male lead and worth checking out, at least on video. (4/5)

Jolene (USA) - I just felt a bit dirty after walking out of this film. A young girl gets married at 15 and we get to watch roughly the next 10 years of her life as she makes increasingly stupid choices with men. To give you a sense as to how stupid, her best relationship is with Chazz Palminteri (playing as always it seems a character named Sal). In the beginning it's easy to be sympathetic to her choices and occasionally emotionally masochistic optimism. But by the end I was just shaking my head and wondering what it would take for her to learn something from these experiences. Each of the men she meets is drawn to her for purely physical reasons - professing their love/devotion within a minute of meeting her. With the possible exception of Sal who also sees her dance, albeit without clothing though. At the same time we're getting frustrated with all the exploitative (or equally dumb) men the film is shot to give an eroticized view of Jolene whenever possible. Not that I'm completely complaining about that - one film goer remarked afterwards that she would have left if Jolene wasn't so beautiful. There's a lot of validity to that statement. But it can make you draw an uncomfortable contrast between oneself and the men in her life. Perhaps intended, perhaps not. But overall the film just sort of goes along and nothing in her behavior seems to change - which is both frustrating and makes for an unsatisfying experience. From the audience Q&A I thought that I was alone with not being in love with the film. But as in the case of Battle in Seattle once I got out and started talking to folks I know a lot of people held the same opinion as I did. All said and done though, Jessica Chastain does a dynamite job in the lead. It's very easy to believe her at each of the different ages and she does the best I can think one could do with the script itself. (3/5)

Leroy (Germany)

I wasn't sure what to really expect when I went to see Leroy. All I knew was the brief description published on the SIFF website, which read, "Leroy is young, German, and black. Blond Eva falls for him and introduces him to her five nasty skinhead brothers and right-wing parents. Leroy has a lot to learn…about Eva, sex, and black power. With tongue-in-cheek dialogue and charm to burn, Leroy is refreshing in its romantic comedic approach to racism." It sort of sounded interesting - but it was hard to imagine someone could get all those factors together and make it work. Thankfully this film largely clicked for me, and I laughed more here than possibly at any other film this year at the festival.

Leroy is a very talented young man, plays the cello, clearly does well in school, etc. His parents are an eccentric inventor (dad) and involved in local government (mom). He meets Eva pretty early in the film and after a few cute "will they get together" moments they of course do. Not a lot of suspense there. Leroy hears from folks that Eva's parents are "right wing" but even he's a bit surprised when he goes to pick her up. The family is unabashedly racist from the moment one of the kids meets him at the door. As described all of her brothers are racist skinheads and the father is a local politician for the National Front. The movie plays this mostly for ridiculous comedy - but at times it all felt uncomfortable with the extremely racist things being addressed to the main character over and over again. Leroy responds mostly with sharp comments vs. an instinct towards violence - and he's either the calmest most laid back high school student on earth or the situation is supposed to be so bad that the various slurs are expected by him. The director when speaking afterwards indicated that such racism was prevalent in Germany, so maybe that latter explanation is intended (but the film works either way). Reviewing it mostly as a piece of entertainment I'll skip over that for the rest of the writeup. Just be aware there's very, very strong racial slurs used repeatedly. And it's not a translation issue as the German used is pretty much the same as the English.

As Leroy tries to figure out what to make of his growing relationship and the family conflicts it's creating he also stumbles across some folks that start to teach him about the black power movement in the US - and of course this being a film the Blacksploitation films. The director has a lot of fun with this as Leroy somewhat crosses his natural persona with some of the style cues of Shaft.

As I've mentioned the film is a lot of fun. I'm not sure it's going to have a lot of insight into race relations for US audiences, but as a romantic comedy it did work for me. One small quibble - I wish they'd subtitled the German language rap that plays through some of the scenes. You can get the idea from context but it would have been nice to follow that part too.

Below I've posted an interview with the director done as part of SIFF. I haven't had a chance to watch it through myself. But based on the quality of the Q&A I was at I suspect he'll have some interesting things to say.

Cherry Blossoms - Hanami (Germany)

The well deserved winner of the audience awarded Golden Space Needle award for best film this year. A great film that deserves to be seen.
At the start of the film a German woman learns that her husband is terminally ill. The doctors advise her to do something special with him as he has some healthy time left. Rightly or wrongly she can't seem to bring herself to tell him the news. Unable to convince him to take the trip to Japan she's always dreamed of they settle for a trip to visit their children in Berlin. The children aren't so thrilled to see them and after a few days the couple heads to the shore. Better times are had there, for a while. The longish festival description (and many reviews I suspect) go into more detail about what then transpires. I saw the movie with little info going in and I think that greatly helped. So I'm going to stop the description of events at this point. There's a lot packed into this film, family relationships, humor, the importance of exploring dreams, cross cultural experiences, work/life balance and Butoh dancing. The visuals are great and the writing/acting makes everything feel very natural. I just don't have the words to really do justice to this film. You'd be a hard person though to be able to leave without a tear at least starting to form.

I need to go back and see more of the films by Doris Dorrie. I realized afterwards that I'd seen Enlightenment Guaranteed on video several years ago. Also a very good film which is definitely indicating I need to seek out the work in between.

There are sad moments, but the film did not leave me depressed at it's end. It just left me feeling like I'd seen something beautiful. I just tremble in fear though at the thought of a Hollywood remake...

Hidden Face (France)

People have secrets. Yes, even French people do. Sometimes their secrets are more interesting, sometimes less. In this case it's the latter. Nothing makes this inherently bad, I just wasn't that interested while I watched (or afterwards),

Accelerating America (USA)

At the start of this film we're presented with some stark statistics regarding the US graduation rates in general. Then we're told that the vast majority of kids left back a grade before middle school will eventually drop out. This documentary is about an independent public school in Rhode Island specifically designed to fight that issue. Its goal is to take kids at risk and help them catch up by completing more than one year's work within a single school year. The filmmaker follows three kids and much of the school's staff over a one year period.

I found the film involving and the staff are shown doing an amazing job in very tough circumstances. Many of them were in attendance at the screening for one of the more interesting Q&A's at this year's festival. (and the only standing ovation I witnessed outside of opening night) The kids themselves alternate between incredibly sympathetic to incredibly frustrating to watch. Likely as similar as a film can get to actually being involved in the school. It's hard viewing at times due to this factor, but makes for a solid experience if you have any interest in the school system. As a documentary it's not perfect but if you're interested in differing education approaches it's definitely worth watching.

Bottle Shock (USA)

The closing gala film this year was a wine world version of Rocky, less all the running and drinking of raw eggs. It's based on 1976 challenge where a California/Napa win defeated the French in a blind tasting for the first time. This was a definite crowd pleaser and I must admit I had a fun time watching it. It's not at all perfect - as a non wine person (wino?) I would have loved more about how great wine vs. bad wine vs. grape juice is made. And some of the plot points were sort of annoying - such as the injection of multiple relationships for the female intern. But overall it was a good choice for closing night. Alan Rickman won the audience award from this year's SIFF for his role here. That seems more a result of the size of the audience and the likely percentage who hadn't seen a lot else during the festival. He's definitely fun here but it's hardly the most noteworthy performance I'd seen. I enjoyed the experience but sort of in a guilty pleasure way. Likely because I didn't have to pay too much attention compared with many of the more involved films over the prior 25 days.

My only peeve for the evening was that of the Cinerama chairs. I sat up closer than I usually do - and either they're more recliney than in other sections or the guy sitting in it was larger. I had the guy in front of me pressing against my knees all night. Which would have been OK if he hadn't slammed back (it appeared on purpose) as the film started, perhaps because he felt I'd kicked his chair. But there's always gonna be someone being a jerk I suppose...

After the film I attended the closing night party a few blocks away. I had a great time, enjoyed the food and the conversation. I heard it ended at midnight sharp, apparently Cinderella may be a hotel employee. But I was off at 11:55 to catch Donkey Punch at the midnight show. Which I would have regretted if I didn't hear the next day how the party closed up 5 minutes after my departure.

The Wackness (USA)

The summer between High School and college can be a tough time. Especially if you're a teenage drug dealer in love with your psychiatrists daughter (sorry, step-daughter). Maybe tougher if your shrink is Ben Kingsley who you pay in marijuana for the sessions. Ben Kingsley is memorable here as the man-child whose marijuana smoking in front of patients appears to be the least of his recreational drug problems. Luke, the main character takes us along as struggles to be able to see the "dopeness" and not just the "wackness" in life over a hot NYC summer. It's funny enough and often sweet enough to be something I can recommend catching when it hits theaters.

The movie is set over the summer of 1994 in NYC and seemed like a pretty decent recreation of the period. With the possible exception of a Starbucks reference which seemed a little early for the area. There are a lot of amusing references back to the period from fantasies featuring dancing "fly girls" to my favorite - the repeated references by multiple characters to "that fucking Giuliani." Everyone does a good job with their character and strike a reasonable balance between playing for comedy vs. seriousness. I liked the movie even though it doesn't quite break amazing new ground. Kingsley is great as the shrink who befriends Luke - which makes sense in a way as they're roughly at the same emotional age in some ways. They spend the summer learning from each other. While not a completely Hollywood, everything turns out perfectly story, this is at its heart a mostly optimistic flick.

The film made an amusing counter point to Vice. In Vice anyone touching drugs has something bad happen to them. In this film no amount of drugs appears to be a detriment to anyone - even if they're selling weed out of an ice cream pushcart all over Manhattan.

It's possible that I have a lower bar for coming of age type movies, so be forewarned. :-). (4/5)

Female Agents (France)

In this fictionalized account of WW II era daring-do only four woman can take the steps necessary to prevent the Germans from uncovering the Allies secret plans for D-Day. When a geologist with knowledge of the invasion plans go missing a mission made up mostly of female agents is put together by the British command to rescue him. A French woman living in the UK (based loosely I'd imagine on a specific resistance hero) and her brother assemble a team and parachute into France. A daring rescue and series of missions follow. I haven't seen enough of WWII films to draw proper comparisons but this movie delivers the adventure film goods. While most of the women are easy on the eyes this isn't a Charlie's Angel type of affair. They've got grit to spare and do what it takes to get the job done. There's a clear message about the level of personal sacrifice it took out of women who fought so don't expect everyone to come out unharmed at the other end of the film. Solid in every way this was a great film for the end of the festival - especially at Cinerama with their humongous screen.

It's Hard to Be Nice (Bosnia)

A fun surprise towards the end of the festival. The film provides a view of the tough and often cynical existence in Sarajevo while still making a positive film about life in such a world. The main character is a taxi driver who like everyone else (it seems) supplements his income by variety of less than legal endeavors. Everyone is doing it and he feels it's the only way to survive. When one of his "tips" goes less than perfectly some gangsters beat him up and destroy his taxi. Confronted by his wife he makes a decision to turn his life around and only do good. He borrows money from another taxi driver (who's diversified to supplement his income) and buys a brand new car and suit. As part of this business makeover he resolves to take only legal jobs. This plan is then tested over and over again in a sort of local re-telling of Job (just much lighter). With likeable characters it's easy to root for him even as your expectations for his success are as low as that of his coworkers. A very nice, small film that's worth a look.

SIFF 2008 - The final (personal) film count is in

Well, I'm back from my last screening of the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival. Quite sad :-(

So I guess withdrawal starts now...

I still have a fair number of films to write up over the coming days along with overall impressions of the festival. After updating my master list the final count comes to 98 films. A bit less than last year, but I think the number of strong films was actually a bit higher overall. Those films were spread out across 36 distinctive countries. Early this year I published the distribution of countries represented at this year's SIFF. With this post I've included my personal distribution of films viewed. You can click in the graphics for a closer look.

This week I plan to publish my top choices coming out of the festival - not in any particular order but just my personal faves. So check back or subscribe for email updates. :-)

Donkey Punch (UK)

Sex, drugs and extremely stupid people. Either the making of an awesome Midnight film or a complete train wreck. Surprisingly to me this fell somewhat in the middle. The setup is pretty straightforward. Three beautiful young women from the UK are on holiday in Spain. They meet up with three guys working on a boat. They decide to spend the day on their yacht while the owner is away. Drugs a' plenty follow. Apparently then bored with swimming 2 of the three girls head off with the guys to an a bit of an orgy. After abandoning his role undertaking what must be "worst orgy job title" - as cameraman one of the fellows executes the urban legend sex act of the title. As you might imagine problems then follow. The movie then moves into a thriller/suspense/horror period. Sort of a mix between Dead Calm and a more classic horror flick. It's bloody at times but not a gore-fest for the sake of it. Perhaps most noteworthy is the above average cinematography in parts. Though it's erratic as other periods are so under lit it's like a bad dogma joke. They do build some good quieter tension and have some audience satisfying violent moments. It's not quite as other the top as it sounds and in some ways they underplay the sex compared to what the writeups make it sound like.

I may not be the best judge of this genre. As I said it's in the middle for me - so I'll be a bit generous with a 3/5 rating.

If you don't follow the title at all - try Google. Maybe not from work though...

Mysteries of Pttsburgh (USA)

Based on a Michael Chabon book of the same name which I read so long ago that I can't remember the details clearly. The film is passable but didn't enjoy it as much as the book. Overall it felt like a lot of other, better films about a college student making the transition to adulthood. Though that his transition includes bisexuality may be more unusual for the big screen. There are definitely some fun moments I just didn't think it rising to the top of my recent outings (3/5)

Space Needle Award Winners

Just walking back from the awards brunch. Good food and a lot of fun. By now I'd expect the whole slate of winners to be up on the siff.net website. Based on audience voting best film went to Cherry Blossom - Hanami and best doc to The Wrecking Crew. Didn't see the doc but I think it's well deserved for Cherry Blossom.

Vice (Russia)

Don't do drugs, or sell them, or steal them are the themes of this film partially financed by Russia's drug enforcement agency. I though this was OK but not great, excepting the performance of the main gangster which was terrific. The film is fairly sleek looking, very colorful and a fair number of MTV montage sequences set to techno music. I guess nice if you like that sort of thing. Story is fairly predictable though not entirely a Hollywood ending. (3/5)

One thing the film reminded me of was the need to publish a quick guide of do's and don'ts for those who accidentally find themselves in possession of someone else's drugs. Rule 1 - resist the urge to destroy the "product" especially if the police are not involved. Turns out that getting rid of the drugs just makes the criminals more upset and weakens your bargaining position. Rule 2 - if your friends come up with a "job" that pays too much for too little work, ask more questions upfront. Rule 3 - try not to get involved with the violent drug dealers kid sister. You get the idea...

Quick tip: Leroy on Saturday afternoon

I'll probably come back and write more later. But in case anyone's looking for something fun for Saturday afternoon you might want to checkout Leroy. You can find a full description at SIFF.net.

It's a strange mix of a film dealing with racism and xenophobia in modern Germany told through the genre of romantic comedy. It's a bit goofy at times and uncomfortable at others. It follows the growth of the relationship between a black German teenager and his new girlfriend - the blonde, white daughter of right wing parents with 5 skinhead brothers. It's not perfect in every way but it had be laughing outloud more than any other film I can recall this year at SIFF. I believe the director should be in attendance as well for a good Q&A.

Tues/Wed wrapup

On Tuesday night I finished off my French triple feature with Lady Jane. When I'd read the festival description I'd come away thinking it was about a retired criminal whose son is kidnapped. To raise money for the ransom she'd get the gang back together for one last heist. The kidnapping part is accurate but I may have misread the rest. There is a heist for ransom but rather than a movie about that it's more about revenge and dealing with ones painful past. I'd rate is around 3/5.

Wed. wasn't my strongest day to date. I don't have a lot to say on most of the films so I'm going to do a combined update.

Sonetaula (Italy) - afterwards I was surprised to learn this was only 2.5 hours. It felt like days had passed. The story of pre/post war Sardinia follows one character from around 12 into his twenties. Apparently there's something fascinating in the use of the local dialect according to the guide. Since I don't speak Italian that was lost on me. The film didn't grab me which was especially bad as not much happens. Well, maybe a lot happens but it happens slowly and in a less than interesting way. I didn't feel I understood the character motivations. It's occasionally pretty to look at but it felt it could have been much shorter.

Em (USA) - Guy meets girl on Internet. Gets together with her and moves. Time passes. Girl becomes manic/depressive. Attempts suicide. Boy appears to be in denial. I leave early. 'nuff said.




Momma's Man (USA) - Non comedy about a guy who moves back in with his parents. On a business trip to NYC he stays with his parents. His wife and young child are in California. On the day he's set to go back he makes in part of the way to the airport and then goes make. Making up some excuse about the flight he seems as though he will just delay a day or so to take a break from life. But as the days stretch on it starts to seem as though he may never leave. His parents sort of enable this and then things starts to spiral downward. Set mostly in his parents amusingly overstuffed loft this isn't a flashy film but works well as a character study of a man dealing with an early midlife crisis. Not fun to watch at time, but one of the better downbeat films I've seen at the festival. (4/5)

Perfect Match (France) - Opposites attract, but can they stay together romantic comedy. Nice, but not hilarious I liked this but never quite fell for the characters (3/5)





The Girl By the Lake (Italy) - Solid police procedural/detective type stuff. A girl is found dead by a lake. The local inspector is called in and sleuthing ensues. This held my attention and had me guessing until close to the end. So I definitely recommend. Not so absolutely mind blowing that it's a tragedy if you wait until it's on video though (4/5).

French double feature: Games of Love and Chance + Secret of the Grain (France)

I had the pleasure of seeing two films by Abdellatif Kechiche back to back on Tuesday.

First up was Games of Love and Chance. An earlier film from the director of The Secret of the Grain. Similar in a lot of ways to this year's SIFF entry "Ain't Scared" it deals with kids in the projects outside Paris. A simple story about a kid trying to impress a girl by participating in the school play. A lot of very enthusiastic acting and some good dialog. Definitely preferred this to "Aint Scared.". Definitely liked the film and I probably would rate it even higher if I hadn't then seen...

The Secret of the Grain was absolutely a high point of the festival for me - certainly will be in my final top 5. A saga of family, love, dying industries and cous cous. This is a fairly long running movie but I really didn't notice at all. I think it's better you know less before you see this. It follows an extended family of Tunisian immigrants. It starts with the patriarch losing his job on the docks where he's worked for the last 35 years. With two families (he's divorced) there's still a need for him to feel productive. So he throws himself into a plan to open a fish cous cous restaurant based on his ex-wifes signature dish on a reconditioned boat. More adventure than any episode of a cooking reality show crossed with a soap opera then ensues. Great performances combine with an exceptional ratchetting up of the action to make for a super fun time. Just don't go in hungry or you'll regret it.

Trouble the Water (USA)

Documentary centering around a small group of people living in the 9th ward of New Orleans starting the days before Katrina and through their attempts to rebuild lives afterwards. The first two weeks of the film is mostly from the personal recordings of a survivor. The remainder is a mix of personally shot video and that of the filmmakers. They had the fortune of hooking up with this amazing woman who serves as an on the ground narrator (and occasional musical accompaniment) throughout the film. There's some additional information provided in text overlayed on the screen. This was really great stuff and it's easy to see why it was honored at this year's Sundance festival.

I went in not expecting much. I'd seen the Katrina coverage of course, read about the horrible lack of planning and the impact on the city. But having that high level media view is very different from the point of view this film describes. Much as taking the aftermath of war in Iraq and telling the story through a group of guys in a metal band sharpens your focus this film brings you to a closer view than you've likely seen before. It even has a generally positive ending. Well worth trying to find.

Some Assembly Required (USA)

This is a documentary about multiple teams of Junior High schoolers competing in a national toy design contest. The teams come from different parts of the country and even though it's not that explicit they seem to be from a sampling of different educational and economic backgrounds as well. The contest goal is to design an original toy or game and construct a working prototype for less than $150. Beyond that the contestants seem to be given pretty wide latitude. Events culminate at the finals in San Diego where selected teams go to present in person to judges. The phases of the contest are intercut with visually amusing animated sequences and occasionally footage from old toy commercials. Some of the old footage is pretty amusing showing rather dubious toys. Including one that seems as though it was sponsored by head trauma physicians looking for new business.

I heard some more cynical folks coming out of the screening with negative opinions. On the other hand I completely enjoyed this film. It's not quite as captivating as Spellbound or Mad Hot Ballroom. But as opposed to the former film the activity they're engaged in is so clearly positive, win or lose, that you don't have the feeling that you're watching the kids being traumatized for life.

I guess if you're looking to nitpick there are so many kids that you don't get to really feel like you know any of them that well. And there are times where learning more about the toy's technical aspects might have been interesting. Even so I found myself laughing out loud repeatedly and feeling this is a great, inspirational activity for kids. The fact that there wasn't one huge star kid may make the point better than anything else that this is an activity that almost any child would benefit from. They produce widely divergent games ranging from boxing to pool baseball, games around family social dynamics to one on climate change. That last one, done by a group of girl scouts was a highlight of the film for me. Also loved the team that produced a simple in concept but technically challenging boxing game.

A film for any age this was just simple fun from start to finish. "They needed to build a circuit. A week ago they didn't know what a circuit was, but they didn't see that as a problem.". How can you watch kids being creative like that before they start to get messages that being smart isn't cool and not at least have a good time?

Baghead (USA)

I wasn't planning on seeing this Monday but got talked into it by a fellow filmgoer. By the end of the day I was doubly glad I did. First, because I had a good time at the movie - it provided a nice break more serious and gloomy fare. Second, because the film I'd been planning to see was panned by someone who did go - and whose taste I tend to agree with.

In addition to the film, the intro was quite entertaining. The directors (brothers) were on hand. As they had a flight to catch and wouldn't be able to do a post-film Q&A they helpfully provided a "simulated questions and answers session that we'd likely experience if they'd been able to stay.". Preferencing each mock question with a film festival stereotypical (but sadly often heard) intro such as "thank you for having the courage to make this film" it was a hoot. The audience even got into it a bit (I think) with the first audience question being, "what was your budget?". Which was pretty hysterical given that the film opens upon the characters attending a festival screening.

The film setup is pretty basic. Four underemployed actors attend a festival screening for what looks like a pretty goofy film shot on a home video camera. It's widely lauded - and after being annoyed they decide to write themselves a great movie with roles for the four of them. They head up into the woods to one of their uncle's cabins to write a script over the weekend. There they drink, consider varying combinations of hooking up and encounter the Baghead character that may or may not terrorize them throughout the rest of the weekend. This is more a talky film than a horror one - so don't be scared away. It definitely held my attention and entertained me for the 90 minutes I was there. It didn't teach me anything about the universe, the nature of friendships or how to write a screenplay. But it was fun and kept me guessing long enough to recommend it.

Btw - the film is from the same brothers who did "The Puffy Chair." I seem to recall I didn't hate that movie but wasn't blown away as much as many were. For me this more consistently held my interest.

Monday - bit of a downer with one highlight

I watched five films on Monday which generally seemed to follow a theme of trying to bum me out. By the end I was so burned out that it's likely I didn't appreciate the work as much as I would have had I seen them in a more separated fashion. With one exception I thought they were things I might have appreciated more under differing circumstances. There was one spot of pure entertainment sans "the big message" during the course of the day. I'm going to write that one up separately.

Love and Other Crimes (Germany/Serbia) - As far as this makes sense sort of a typical Serbian film on the festival circuit. A women who's had enough of her life plans to steal some money from her lowish level gangster boyfriend and split town. On her last day she takes a bit of a farewell tour through her friends and family. In a bit of a twist everyone (including the boyfriend) seems to know the plan and quietly encourage her along. It was pretty decent but not really giving me anything special beyond the character's (reasonable) desire to get out of her surroundings.

Salawati (Singapore) - Another cheery one. Well constructed, the film tells the story (in slowly revealed pieces) of a young girl who witnesses her brother drown while being unable to get anyone to assist. We watch her family trying to deal with the grief in different ways and see the impact on the other participants in the film's events. It does give a great sense for the blending of cultures and ethnicities in Singapore. With an open ending you can view the closing in very different ways depending on your view of the world (and karma). Interesting as part of the festival mix or maybe on video if you're in the mood for something a bit different. Again in the 3/5 range for me.

Under the Bombs (Lebanon) - Woman has her son in Lebanon living with a sister during the last war with Israel. Many people die, it's horrible and she can't find her son. She engages a cab driver to take her into the war zone after fighting stops. They search around and continually encounter more and more horrible things. Of course it's hard not to be sympathetic to the dead and displaced. But as a movie I wasn't interested in the characters and got a bit tired towards end of the anti-Israeli propaganda feel. But my main objection was my lack of engagement in the story.

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (Iran) - Technically the most impressive of the films I saw on Monday. This is the one I felt the most that I might be liking less than I normally would due to being tired. So I'll stick with the basic facts. Shot by the youngest daughter of a famous film making family from Iran it shows the trials of a 6 year old girl trying to go to school for the first time. First she's got to leave her responsibilities caring for your young sibling - solved by tieing the baby's leg to their cave. I'm not kidding, it's presented as a pretty common babysitting technique there. Then she's got to buy a notebook and pen. With no money she has a mini adventure in capitalism trying to sell eggs to get the money. Then she has to get to the school - along the way being accosted by little boys playing at Taliban who want to stone her. Finally facing the challenges of fitting in at the actual school. It's beautifully shot and the children are both amazing and horrifying to watch. At times I felt I was watching Lord of the Flies - The Taliban years. All said and done I think in the "super cute little girl wandering across an often empty landscape" I'd more strongly recommend Cave of the Yellow Dog from SIFF a few years back. But this is a good movie and the strongest recommendation of the four. Just don't go sleepy as it's slow at times.

Stalags - Holocaust and Pornography in Israel (Israel)

Wow - a lot of information crammed into a very short film. One of the few documentaries where I wish they'd gone on a bit longer. I'd spotted this title early on in my reviewing the festival schedule and had been looking forward to it. I'd missed the first screening due to a conflict so I was feeling lucky to catch the second and final screening. While this won't be for everyone I was completely captivated from the first frame.

The main setting is Israel in the early 1960's as a new form of "literature" took a rapid and growing hold. It seemed to parallel the trial of Adolph Eichmann. As told in the film detailed accounts of the Holocaust were not publicly discussed prior to that time in Israel. An amazing thing given that roughly half the population were survivor's or their family. The writings of the film's title were pornographic Nazi themed short books which were publicized alongside the Eichmann trial in the newspapers.

The format of these books were consistent. An American or British pilot would be shot down over occupied territory. They'd be captured and taken to a prison camp, or "stalag". There they'd be surprised to learn that the guards were female (and buxom) Nazi SS officers. They would be sexually abused by these guards throughout the book. In the end they'd turn the tables raping and then killing their captors. These books were presented as true accounts written originally in English and then translated to Hebrew. As the main form of erotica available in a conservative country these bizarrely popular books seemed to have a significant impact on the consciousness of a generation of Israelis. Rather than originating in the US or England these books were actually written in Israel, in Hebrew for the local market. The cover art was often lifted from US publications but the writing was homegrown.

The movie tells the origins of this work from several angles, the writers/publisher, reader and cultural critics. They also tell of Israeli attitudes towards survivors and how that shifted during the trial. The publication of such "Stalag" books accelerated to the point where publishers were bringing out one a day. They continued to evolve at some point crossing a line (which appeared to be the sexual abuse of women) at which point the Israeli court outlawed some of the material.

Much of the content was new to me and was both fascinating and surprising. The film also touched upon other literature that has been widely read in Israel covering the systematic abuse of Jewish women by the Nazi's that was published before the Stalag genre. While this differing material is taught as history the film calls the factual basis of its origins into question. In some ways the film raises as many questions as it answers. I'll be checking out the film's website and likely reading the book that they reference as inspiring the film. As a completely self contained documentary the movie is not perfect, but I still have to recommend it for it's ability to capture and hold my attention so completely after a long day of other screenings and inspire an interest to learn more.

This was paired with a very strange but interesting short film called "Two Women and a Man." A fake documentary by Roee Rosen which presents an imagined biography of a controversial artist whose work was too offensive for the surrealist movement who while being an anti-zionist Jew took up residence in Israel prior to the nation's founding. Without being able to understand Hebrew it was way too fast to be able to read the subtitles and watch the visuals at the same time. The art is quite extreme and boundary pushing - a pornographic Hebrew alphabet is some of the tamest fare. I'm not at all familiar with Rosen's art. I have no idea what I'd think outside work I saw, but onscreen it was quite riveting though often disturbing. Even if you didn't need to read along it was still a bit too fast to follow. Given a chance I'd watch again (at least once more) in order to try and get a more complete understanding of the short.

This was a great pairing that I hope next year's Seattle Jewish Film Festival will make note of and repeat.

Saturn in Opposition (Italy)

From the director of Facing Windows comes this slice of life film following a large group of friends, mostly centered around a couple who'd clearly be married if the law allowed them to (they're gay). When one of them suddenly has an emergency the others are forced to come together to help each other and overcome the other issues in their lives. I was definitely pulled into the movie while watching, finding something to like in most of the many characters. But it didn't leave as strong an impression afterwards as it could have. I'd rate it 3.5/5. Though if I was giving a rating based on lust inspired by the character's kitchen and patio's it'd be 5/5 all the way.

Bliss (Turkey)

A relatively light treatment of a disturbing subject - honor killings. The film starts out with a young woman found beaten and raped on a beach near her small Turkish village. Upon being found and brought home the family immediately turns to the matter naturally at hand. How to maintain their honor, which translates into how can we get her dead asap? Because her father can't bring himself to "right" the situation personally (but he's not actually objecting) a cousin's son returning from the army is given the task instead. He's none too thrilled but goes along with his father's wishes. the girl is told she's going to Istanbul and is sent with the along with the dutiful son. He can't seem to dispatch on the ride so they end up in the big city together. He can't return home until she's dead, and she of course cannot return either. The rest of the film deals with this conundrum.

They wander about together trying to come to terms with their mutual situation. This is light only in the sense that there's a relatively satisfying conclusion. But it's still rather disturbing how even those characters who proffer that such "traditions" are outdated are slow really condemn or take steps to prevent the practice.

For me the film itself was pretty good but not especially great. Perhaps because the chemistry between the two leads didn't really have me fully hooked by films end. But both performances were solid and the scenery was pleasing. There are many conferences attendees putting this towards the top of their lists. It won't get quite that high for me, more a solid 3/5.

Sukiyaki Western Django (Japan)

In the spirit of the Spaghetti Western comes the Sukiyaki Western. I showed up for the midnight movie on Saturday to catch what I hoped to be a fun mashup of Western and Samurai genres. I'm not a huge fan of either genre so it's likely I'm not the perfect reviewer. I'll also plead ignorance of most of the previous work of director Takeshi Miike.

The highlight of the film for me was definitely Quentin Tarantino who plays a gunslinger with sense of humor and a love of anime. The part that's a bit mystifying is the fact that the Japanese actors all speak in English. It's heavily accented and subtitled in English. It's probably so that we can get the full effect of all the purposefully cliched phrases that make up most of the sparse dialog. The story itself is pretty straightforward - town is dominated by two rival (and helpfully color coded) gangs. Black clad but righteous stranger comes calling and tries to sets things right. Set in Nevada but populated by Japanese cowboys, who carry both pistols and swords.

I do think this will lose something on a smaller screen. On the other hand it felt more like a concept film than satisfying entertainment. But if this overlaps a genre you love it might be worth a look.

Timecrimes (Spain)

If you don't want to see a twist your mind around in a circle time travel brain teaser stay away. Similarly, if you found the Mission Impossible films overly mentally taxing this is not for you. On the other hand, if you're up for a black humored take on the dangers of working weekends, not to mention screwing with the time-space continuum then check this film out. While I'm not sure it sucked me in as much as Primer from several years back it was still a lot of fun.

A man moving into a new home is relaxing with binoculars in the back yard. He's trolling the scenery around the house when he hits the bare breast jackpot. When he can't spot the woman a minute later he heads off to investigate. Attacked by a man whose face is covered in bandages he flees for the nearest residence. Then things get weird...

I don't want to say much more. In the grand tradition of such films time travel rarely goes off without complications. This film is no exception. The screening was packed and from what I could tell the vibe was overwhelmingly positive. Even the guy next to me seemed to enjoy it. Though I could have done without the Darth Vader heavy breathing for the first part of the film, followed by the occasional snoring. As hard as the film may be to follow if you're awake I can't imagine what he thought was happening each time he emerged from unconsciousness.

Late Bloomers (Switzerland)

One of those it's never too late to live your dreams (perhaps so long as your dream isn't to be Heavy Metal superstars) sort of flicks. As such, it's hard to really dislike it. The photography seemed a bit off at times, in particular too dark in places. But nevertheless I was pretty into it.

After the death of her husband a woman in a small conservative Swiss village seems at a loss. She's still running the husband's small shop and spending time with friends. But depression is clearly setting in. After her friends learn she used to dream of opening a lingerie store with her own work the "wild" one encourages her to make a go of it. She does and one after another her elderly friends make changes to live as energetically as they can. Truly earns the term "crowd pleaser." Not fine cinema but about as safe a bet as you can get. Except for the gentleman I met onto the way into the next screening who allowed that "he wasn't into old women." But then again, that guy also liked August. ;-)

Man on Wire (UK)

If you've heard about (or remember) the crazy French guy who walked on a wire between the world trade center towers but wondered how he pulled it off then this is the film for you. A documentary that tells the tale of that adventure it does a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat (and holding your breathe) the entire time. The movie is a mix of interviews, footage from the time period and re-enactments. The whole film has the feel and pacing of a heist caper flick. I have a feeling that this may work slightly better on the big screen than at home. The shots both up from the ground and down from the top of the buildings as he's wire walking may not be as breathtaking on a TV. At least not on mine ;-)

A Girl Cut in Two (France)

After the gala party I decided to shoot down to the Uptown theater. I told myself that if I got a great parking spot I'd stick around, otherwise I'd cut the night short. Luckily I did find a spot and was able to catch the film. I was a bit nervous as I hadn't much enjoyed the directors last movie, Comedy of Power.

The new film follows the struggles of a young woman caught between two lovers, an older rich writer and a younger rich playboy. Frankly, neither makes a good choice. Sort of a soap opera of French people behaving badly. Very badly at times. With the exception of the girl of the title none of the main characters is particularly likeable. But for some reason I was pretty into it. It's not one of my top choices but it worked for me (around 3/5 type of a rating). Your mileage may vary.

The Great Buck Howard (USA)

After Anvil I shot off to the "Centerpiece Gala" at the Egyptian. Starring Tom Hanks son as the assistant to an aging mentalist (inspired by Kreskin) whose main claim to fame is his multiple appearances on the Tonight show (with Carson, not Leno as he points out several times). Buck is played by John Malkovich who does a great job. It was a very enjoyable performance and probably the main reason to watch. Beyond his performance this was a good but not spectacular movie. A nice light break between often better fare.

Afterwards I made a dash over to the Gala party. I only stayed for a few minutes to grab some sushi. Seemed like a nice selection but the layout made me worry that there was likely to be a painful bottleneck for later arrivals. Then I shot off to try and catch a last film for Friday night.