Reykjavik-Rotterdam (Iceland)

Totally recommend seeing this film if you can. Have seen a number of solid crime dramas and/or police procedurals from Iceland - and this one stands up well to that crowd. In some ways it's formulaic - retired but down on his luck smuggler coached back into the game for love of his kids and wife. He takes a job on a container ship heading to Rotterdam where the intent is to buy alcohol and smuggle it back home. There are as expected a good number of twists and turns. Even though you'll likely guess a fair number of them ahead of time the compelling main character makes it a consistently fun ride. There's probably a fair amount more I could say about the film but I wouldn't want to give too much away. It's not an especially violent film but there is some bloody and a significant amount of people menacing others. Left feeling as though my mind had been engaged and a smile on my face. 'nuff said

Some Sundays are better than others

I've been falling way, way behind in getting any updates out. As usual once into the festival I'm realizing it's unlikely I'll have time to write full reviews anytime soon. So for a bit I'll focus on short but hopefully more frequent updates. I'm writing on the fly, so please be understanding about typos. :-)
Sunday was a particularly good day. Everything I saw I liked. Can't ask for more than that at a film festival - except for perhaps luck from the free parking gods.

First up was the Secret Film where we have no idea what we'll see and we're prohibited from disclosing the contents. Regular readers may remember that I've had inconsistent (actually generally poor) results in past years when I've signed up for the secret festival. But yesterday was probably the best film I've seen at it. Not because the film necessarily will make my 2010 faves list (maybe, we'll see) but because it was actually a film from a director whose work I absolutely would have put on my list had it been in this year's festival. Plus it was quite good. Secret due to it being promised as a North American premier to one of the big fall fests (I'm assuming probably Toronto, though could be Telluride).

Next I saw Winter's Bone the story of a 17 year old living in backcountry rural America who needs to find he meth cooking father to save their home (he put it up for his bail bond then went missing). Hopefully I'll have time to come back later for a fuller review. It's not a fun film but has a lot of natural rawness and a very compelling heroine. The slice of life it presents seems very real and is certainly one as far from my personal experience as anything brought to Seattle from the other end of the world. The consistently good things I've heard all were true - definitely worth checking out. In some way reminds me of 'Frozen River' from SIFF maybe two years back. Definitely a good thing.

After a break I traveled to the Neptune to see the The Dancer and the Thief. Via a general amnesty for non violent criminals two very different men emerge from prison on the same day. The older one is a master safe cracker famous with the general populace. He just wants to collect some monies owed him from past adventures and reunite with wife and child. The other is a 19 year old charismatic kid with a bit of a con man's streak running through him (and a love of horses). While in prison another criminal has bestowed upon him a master plan for a heist involving funds plundered during Pinochet's reign. While the younger man tries to enlist the older professional's help he falls in love with an orphaned woman whose love for dance keeps her barely able to deal with the pain of her parents' death when she was little. Oh, and she's a mute. It's a very interesting take (and occasional subversion) of the "one last big score" crime genre mixing in some comedy and true romance. With a somewhat WTF? but unexpected ending that made the whole experience well worth while. Haven't seen this one on too many folk's radar - I do recommend it. Oh, and the dancer may have the most sensuously shot lips ever to appear on screen. Just saying...

Last was the Midnight Adrenaline film Splice - a cautionary "arrogant scientists with a god complex are bad, especially if one of them had a troubled childhood and the other is Adrien Brody" tale with enough humor to make for a very palatable film. It's ridiculously stupid - and if that's going to bother you don't go. But I had a really good time. It's not a bloody sort of scary so one doesn't have to worry about watching the movie through their fingers. There are some scares but the best parts for me were the ones that purposefully or not drew out big laughs. It's better acted that most films of this sort with a particularly good performance by the actress playing Dren, their part human, part more animals than I could count sorta offspring. I'll talk more about the film and it's bizarre plot twists during my full spoiler review. All I'll say though at this point is that (a) these scientists make Rick James look like a member of the conservative christian right (and not the ones hiring travel valets at rentboy.com) and (b) if you're not in a theater where someone yells out "honey, it's not what it looks like!!!" then do it yourself. Trust me, you'll know when.

Ok - that concludes my Sunday wrap up. Off to the movies. My big hope for today is Reykjavik-Rotterdam with some other interesting looking stuff around it. Hope to see you there.

SIFF 2010 - The Opening Night Experience

The opening night party for this year's Seattle International Film Festival was a lot of fun. Considerably more fun than the film itself. Sure, there were some inefficiencies as there always are but it was a great opportunity to catch up with old film friends and make some new ones. I'll admit though that when I first started going to opening night I couldn't wait to leave after the film being overwhelmed by the number of people, the lines for food, etc. But as I've met more people over the years and gotten more open about talking to complete strangers I've found these parties better and better.

This year's event was held at Benaroya Hall. Now one complaint which I heard, which is true is that this is not a location really designed for film viewing. Sight lines could be tough and the screen itself was too small for the size of the theater. Thankfully the film wasn't so good, so I didn't feel like I missed much. The opening remarks were pretty short and too the point with the film starting around 30 minutes after the first person spoke. Sadly Kevin Kline was not in attendance though some of the other actors in the film were.

I'd sprung for the "Red Carpet Experience" which includes some special refuges from the throng during the after party and a pre- film cocktail hour. Rovers catered the pre film festivities. Mainly with mini apps (pictured to left) which were fine, though a bit small - and an environmental fuck-you to the world as every serving came with its own fork. Since they were bit sized servings that's one fork per bite. The open bar was more fun and I enjoyed sampling the rum libations on offer.
After about an hour drinking and eating small things with smaller forks into the film. A round on intros which I'll admit I didn't listen too super closely preceded the film. Thankfully that period wasn't too long and the film began about 30 minutes later. It wasn't the best opening night film I've seen and it wasn't the worst.

After the film it was out into the lobby for the real party. A DJ was setup in the center of the grand hall. As per past events initial dancers were few, but by 11pm a bouncing, gyrating crowd had taken over in force. But first it was a mad crush for food. Various sponsor/vendors ranging from Ivar's to Katz Bagels to some Caribbean food place setup throughout the hall. Lines were quite long but diminished as the evening wore on. I ate a little bit, but not a whole lot. Did enjoy a rhubarb Dry brand soda once I eventually got to one of the jammed bars. It turns out that the enclosed hall area may not be completely ideal for crowds queuing up at a variety of stations. But at least everyone was shielded from the elements vs. an outdoor and more spread out party. This year there was a nice quiet room in the back for folks who paid for the opening night upgrade well stocked with cupcakes and chocolates. Which sometimes is all you need.

The Extra Man

This year's SIFF opening night film was The Extra Man which also opened the Boston Independent Film Festival. It's rare for the opening film which must have the star power to fill a large venue like Benaroya Hall to be one of my favorites of the festival.  Last year being an exception with In the Loop.  Unfortunately, The Extra Man was NOT one of those exceptions.  For me it wasn't horrible and might make an entirely passable rental/download.  It's possible that being able to stop/rewind might help quite a bit as some of the best lines are subtle and fast comments made by Kevin Kline, one of the film's two main characters. In the large screening some of his dialog was covered by laughter (the film did seem to be generally appreciated). So it's possible I missed some genius wit here and there.

The main issues though I had with the film weren't really with Kline's dialog - that was clearly the best, if not the only reason to see the film. The story concerns Kline, an aging professor who entertains himself in a manner above his finances by being a dinner companion for more elderly rich women and his new protege Paul Danois.  I felt it was probably intended as a (belatedly) coming of age film about Dano's experience but for me came across as people deciding to make a weird/quirky film and trying a bit too hard.

Dano's character is a teacher at a Princeton area prep school at the start of the film. We quickly learn that his mannerisms of speech and dress hearken back to that of 1920's literature and that he has a barely repressed fascination in dressing in drag.  This presents one of the first problems with the film, the "old timey" nature of the diction of a disconcerting number of characters. Interesting? Not so much - but quirky, yes indeed quirky. He finds a place to live - a room in Kline's NYC apartment.  Then discovers Kline's sideline as an "extra man" invited to round out dinner parties and cultural events as the society men die off faster than their women.  Kline is also super quirky - but at least is funny at it.  Prone to being against anything modern and contrarian it would appear for the sake of it.  Fond of provocative lines such as quoting things along the lines of "once rape is inevitable may as well relax and enjoy it".  Together they bond a bit.  The younger man is unusually comfortable with the older women though struggles a bit around Kline. Over time he both attempts to hit on a woman he works with at an environmental journal (while driving a large gas guzzling car around Manhattan - oh so ironic) and explores his fetish through professional help (no, not a psychiatrist).  Meanwhile John C. Reilly lurks around as the weird neighbor. Which means he has crazy hair and talks with a strange inflection for no clear reason. Getting the idea?

It has it's moments, though all of them are from Kline. Stuff happens and the characters evolve. I was mainly just scratching my head why I would especially care. If you're a big fan of Kevin Kline you will want to catch this one. Just don't anyone try to convince you this is another Fish Called Wanda.

The Penitent Man (USA)

I've had better than decent luck when it comes to low budget time travel flicks at SIFF. The ones that come to mind are Timecrimes and Primer, both first rate, smart films that deliver the goods. So even though I'm sometimes wary of local films the description of The Penitent Man made it worth a try.

A young psychologist with a pregnant wife at home struggles financially to build his practice. He's also pulling away from her, maybe from the financial stress, maybe from the responsibility of looming fatherhood. When he's not killing time at the office he's playing basketball with his best friend, whose loss of an eye in some sort of classroom bombing (works as a teacher) apparently makes him wise beyond his years.

Then one day a patient comes in and spins a fantastic and dreadfully serious tale about being from the future and being back to change the horrible events that led his current world to their failed state of near anarchy. It's a movie of filmed conversations as the character talk, talk and talk.  Mainly about issues related to the possible implications of time travel and/or having too much knowledge of TRUTH.  Most of which have been more interestingly dealt with in science fiction of the past.  I won't get into the plot as if you insist on going I wouldn't want to give away anything. Not that that's going to be a big risk in my opinion as most of what transpires is telegraphed in the first moments of the piece.  After seeing the film my friend Scott leaned across the seats to suggest that he now knew at least one thing he'd tell his past self should he suddenly acquire the ability to go back in time.  I'm not 100% sure - but I believe that would have been a suggestion for a different film on Sunday night.

The film, while technically well produced in terms of visuals quality and sound has many a flaw. Almost all of them has to do with having the presentation possessing the relative subtlety of a shovel hitting you repeatedly in the face, wherein as a courtesy your attacker tells you that each blow is coming before delivering it. For a film that is clearly intended to engage the brain of the viewer (an admirable goal) it demonstrates an alarming distrust regarding allowing the audience to think for themselves. The approach is along the lines of, "anything worth mentioning is worth saying 3-4 times over in different ways" As if someone took the over simplified view of presentations, "Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said" and used it as a guide to film making. Just some of the examples include:

• From the opening pounding emphasis music announcing that THIS IS A SERIOUS FILM.  Please, if you're making a film think twice before introducing the pounding drums as each name of the cast appears on screen.
• An opening shot of the doctor's office that slowly and obviously pans across all the "important" items we need to know about his interests.  The picture of Tesla, Einstein, the copy of A Brief History of Time.  That would have been enough - did we really need to then fix a holding shot in closeup of each of the items for an additional 5+ seconds to drive the point home again that we need to observe these books?  
• Don't even get me started about the number of visual suggestions that the doctor's wife might be pregnant.  If you somehow missed the copy of "what to expect when you're expecting" in the above mentioned opening shot AND the camera's unhealthy fascination with her stroking her obviously pregnant midsection during the first half of the film then I suspect you lack the mental horsepower to purchase a ticket to the film in the first place.
• The music, my lord the music... The film had the need to ensure you knew exactly what emotion was expected by playing something over almost every conversation. It was at a level that would make a Mexican soap opera blush.
• Over the top dialog mentioning every possible cliche that could fit from Pandora's Box to Icharus and then far far beyond.  The actor's presentation was probably constrained by the dialog though I would say that had more of a stage feel than what we've come to expect on the big screen.  Which does make me wonder if the whole endeavor would work much better on a stage than on film.

While, I don't think this will ever be a fantastic film there are things that would improve it.  If they'd edit out some of the repeated visual takes and drop almost all the background music I think they'd have a film of considerably better quality. Whether they could overcome the work's other basic flaw that almost anyone who'd been to the talkies could see most of the plot 5 minutes in is a bigger question. But at least it'd be a start.

On the positive side the director and crew were very positive and entertaining at the screening I saw. The director in particular dealt with a few technical glitches as a true mensch - even tossing out concession candy to keep folks in a positive spirit. So it was a fun and memorable screening for me. Just not necessarily in the ideal way.  Overall I'd put this one in roughly the category as Some Day Like Rain from a few years back. A screening that will stick in my memory more for the scope of the attempt than the actual result. Given that I can't really recommend giving up another SIFF screening for it.

One final note there's absolutely nothing wrong with NW film inherently. The last two films by Lynn Shelton made my top of fest lists each year. And there are definitely other positive examples (for instance I've repeatedly heard good things about Bass Ackwards). It's just that sometimes it feels the bar is lower for local filmmakers getting into SIFF so the risk of seeing a true dud is higher. Not that this sort of local film issue is any different at other festivals I've been to.  Just something one should keep in mind.

I've got some pics of the cast after the film I'll try to come back and add later.

Tucker & Dale vs Evil (Canada)

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil was super fun.  Hillbillies at their fixer upper vacation home having a fine old time until a bunch of annoying college kids show up and start killing themselves on their property.  Really just a nice reversal of the hill people horror flick where the country folk turn out to be totally misunderstood and the stereotype loving frat boys create all the problems.  Plus a love story both of the bromance and hetero varieties mixed in for good measured.  All delivered in a very tight 90 minute flick I think many folks will get a real kick out of.

Dale (Tyler Labine) and Tucker (Alan Tudyk) are heading up to Tucker's new vacation home.  It's in need of serious work, but they're pretty excited for the opportunity.  Perhaps not rocket scientists they're well meaning people that fit the redneck/hillbilly stereotype in a big way, at least from the outside.  But in this film which minus the gallons of blood has the theme of many an after school special, external appearances rarely tell the entire story.  At the same time a group of college kids including the female star of the film Allison (Katrina Bowden) are heading up to the same area to go camping/drinking and (of course in this film that properly traffics in all the necessary stereotypes) skinny dipping.  The two groups encounter each other at a roadside convenience store much to the horror of the college group who immediately fear the sleeveless, baseball hat wearing country folk.

At the time of the aforementioned skinny dipping Allison spooked by seeing Dale and Tucker fishing falls and hits her head.  Dale rescues her and takes her back to their cabin.  But the college kids interpret this as them having kidnapped the innocent blond coed.  As they plan their revenge a series of misunderstandings that would make the crew of Three's Company blush even if they found themselves stuck on Gilligan's Island continually ratchets up the intensity of the college kids' need to strike back at the two friends.  As they try to recapture the girl the kids have an unfortunate predilection for killing themselves in escalating gruesome ways.  The misunderstandings are laugh out loud funny and I found myself alternating between cringing as I watched each setup unfold to laughing hard at the dialog and ridiculous situations.

One of the things I was particularly impressive is that for a splatter comedy it managed to make things work across dimensions that seem contradictory to me.  The film is funny, yet director Eli Craig manages to actually keep dramatic tension going all the way through to the final scene where in most other (far more serious) movies I've all but lost interest in the final climactic battle.  At the same time I was genuinely interested in the relationship between Tucker and Dale, and found the potential romance angle between Allison and Tucker compelling in it's own right.  OK, I'm sort of a sap - so that last part might not be as hard as it seems.  But for me the filmmakers managed to really pull everything together into a very entertaining 90 minutes that had both my attention and my laughter from the first scene onwards.  Even the look of the film is just right with the feel of a more standard genre slasher flick, but a very smoothly shot one which only adds to the inversion of roles that I think they're going for.

I've seen the description of this film from Fantastic Fest and SXSW from which I thought this would be a bit of horror mixed with comedy.  I'm not really a serious horror genre fan so I did have some reservations going in.  But this is really a comedy, or possibly a love story about not judging a book by its cover, but not a true horror film.  If you are physically incapable though of viewing the horrific and sudden death of a human being, even if they are a frat boy, as comedy though you probably should steer clear of this film.  Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that most other folks who can handle a bit of bloody black comedy will be quite taken by this production.  My understanding from friends up north is that the film does have distribution there - but perhaps not quite in the US.  That's a shame because I think this is actually a very accessible film that could potentially be a pretty broad hit in America.

This is playing again Saturday night as SIFF's midnighter.  I highly suggest trying to get out there to check this out yourself.  It'll be fun on video, or in a theater (fingers crossed).  But it'll be a rare screening that will have the palpable excitement of the amped up crowd midnight SIFF.  And you'll want that when you witness the most interesting usage of chamomile team possibly ever committed to film.

 In conclusion, Tyler Labine - all is forgiven for Control Alt Delete. :-)

SIFF 2010 - Opening Night Preview

This morning I received some info about what's in store for those attending SIFF's opening night.  You'll find out soon enough - but I couldn't resist posting the night's program along with the food and drink menus.  Click on the images for a better view.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there in a few hours! 

The Stranger SIFF 2010 Film Guide - now live

This year's super comprehensive The Stranger guide to SIFF is now up at their website along with a pretty entertaining comic depicting "the ultimate SIFF film."  If you're not already familiar with the Stranger's guide - here's what is it in their words "With over 400 movies to choose from SIFF can be a little overwhelming. Let The Stranger experts guide you, because SIFF is like a box of chocolates... and you don't want to bite into one of the gross ones. You can also see The Stranger's SIFF Notes for the ultimate guide and reviews."  Some folks love their reviews - some not so much.  But it is a unique resource in that there's not other guide that I know of in Seattle that has an opinion on so many of the films playing throughout the festival.  So definitely worth adding to your research arsenal.

They'll also be having a SIFF Q&A on their Questionland site this week as well.  Answering questions will be members of The Stranger staff including Lindy West, Paul Constant and unspecified others.  One idea I sort of like is that you give them films you like and they'll recommend SIFF 2010 films to see.  Sounds like a good idea - but even without knowing what you like I still suggest trying Castaway on the Moon.  :-)

Robin Hood (2010)

To quote the author of the blog Too Significant: "Have you ever wondered how Robin Hood became Robin Hood? Me neither..." (do read his review it captures it pretty darn well - as does the Film.com review by Laremy Legel)

A good two-thirds or so into this rambling version of the Robin Hood legend brought to us by Russell Crowe (as Mr. Hood) and Ridley Scott (the director) I first started having serious doubts as to where things were heading.  Or perhaps more exactly wondering if things were going to be wrapped up into something I'd walk away thinking was a satisfying story.  The short answer turns out to be "no."

I think most of us generally have an expectation when we see a version of Robin Hood.  Man standing up against the rule by royal proclamation where the king in question taxes his subjects beyond their means.  Said main then takes his fight into the forest where by virtue of cleverness and skill with a bow and arrow this merry band of guerrilla Maoists redistribute wealth to the common folk, each according to their needs.  Or maybe there's a version that sounds more like the Tea Party manifesto.  But whatever your political spin almost everyone loves a populist outlaw and his band of woods dwelling brothers.  So it's with some pleasure that I can tell you with some certainty that the sequel to the 2010 version of Robin Hood will meet your expectations.  And not since Push have I seen such a blatant belief that a sequel was in the making.  And why not, the sequel to this film is pretty much every other Robin Hood movie every made... 

Ridley Scott's version on the other hand opts to give us the origin story that presents the creation of the legend of Robin Hood (or as they insist on calling him Robin of the Hood).  Crowe is an archer in the army of King Richard who is returning in some financial distress from their foreign adventures aka The Crusades.  Richard is killed attempting to sack a castle in France in order to rebuild his wealth.  I don't know if the scene where the French cook kills Richard with a discarded crossbow while the soldiers have taken a break to eat lunch even though the English invaders are literally at the gates was intended to be funny - but for me it was one of the highlights of the film.  Crowe being Crowe plays a character who's manly, perhaps not of high station and yet a natural leader of others.  So yep, basically very similar to everyone of his other films.  Which isn't entirely a bad thing - but just like Costner as Robin Hood, don't expect him to transform himself into a different person for the role. 

With Richard dead, Robin Longstride (Crowe) takes off back to England with a group of compatriots.  Through a series of events I won't explain they end up in the midst of a bunch of political and military intrigue between England and France.  Eventually they end up in Nottingham were Robin poses as Marion's (Cate Blanchett) husband.  Oh, it makes perfect sense in context - don't worry.  Anyway - before you know it Robin's enmeshed in the war between the rival countries a sneaky new King and all the characters that eventually end up in the story we all know and love.  It's not altogether uninteresting - and I suppose I give them credit for trying to bring something different to the party.  But by the end it left me with the conclusion that this was a movie that didn't really need to be made.  It doesn't bring anything I felt to be truly significant to the legend (even if it was true I don't think most folks paid $10 in order to get a true history lesson) and just throws a grab bag of political messages into the storyline.  None of which are particularly well developed or especially compelling.  Some parts of the battle scenes are OK - these are professional big budget film makers so anything less would be shocking.  But nothing about the action, or the intrigue generated enough tension to pull me into the mix.  It's not horrible - but I think we should hold this group to a higher standard.  Either say something truly interesting or make a rollicking action flick full of style and verve.  But batting zero for two makes me just want to hunt up the true classic of the Robin Hood genre - the one by Disney with animals in the roles of all the major characters.  At least that one gets the basic story right and none of it's stars was likely to storm out of an interview for the insinuation that his accent swerved into Irish territory at some point (which btw is sorta true) ;-)

SIFF 2010 Poster

If you're for some reason looking for closer look at this year's SIFF poster the above link will give you a higher resolution view than the thumbnails posted most other spots. Be sure to click on the image itself for the underlying image which is reduce for the post on this page.  The details are sort of fun to stare at.  Perhaps not quite as intricate as the 2007 Find True Film poster but still at least something to amuse yourself with in the 6 days remaining until opening night.

Words, words, words...

Just for grins I decided to create one of those big Wordle representations off all the short SIFF film descriptions I uploaded in an Excel file the other day.  This isn't based off of the longer catalog text - just the shorter 1-3 line descriptions that appear on the SIFF.net site when you search in a category.  So it's not particularly meaningful perhaps - but then again this was just intended to kill a few minutes of my time. 

Here's one based on all the film titles (including shorts)

And for those who found that my histogram last week didn't quite make the right point about the distribution of SIFF 2010's films by country - another representation based on frequency of country participation (again including shorts)


Clearly, I need to go back to work :-)

And now for something mildly different...

Over the next few weeks you may notice some changes in the postings appearing at A Random Walk Through Film. As SIFF 2010 gears up I'll be doing my best to keep a running set of reviews and suggestions posted each day. In addition though you may see some guest posts from other festival goers with suggestions of things they've seen - in some cases at festivals earlier in the year. Just didn't want anyone to be shocked when reviews that aren't quite as snarky and considerably better penned than mine start appearing. I'm hoping you'll be able to return soon to see some suggestions from Sundance, Palm Springs and press screenings via The Voice of Reason on Film among select others.

Just one week to go to the official start of SIFF - if you're going to opening night I'm hoping to see everyone at an informal tweet up sometime during the after party. And don't forget to buy your tix to 'Castaway on the Moon' :-)

Letters to Juliet

I've never really quite bought into Romeo and Juliet as a model for true love. "True Love" may indeed be blind, but why do we need to also take as a given that it's terminally stupid?  Even if you think it's reasonable to kill yourself if you can't be with the love of your life shouldn't you (especially in a time pre-modern medicine) wait a day to make sure they're really dead before jumping to hasty conclusions?  So when I saw a film whose device is about the lovelorn leaving letters in a wall to Juliet asking for advice I'll admit it - my first thought was "is she really whom you should be asking?" Ok - if it's between Juliet and Dr. Laura, sure - but otherwise? That was strike one against the film. Strike two was the fact that the trailer seemed to lay out the entire film's storyline. Engaged girl goes to Italy. Sees wall where folks leave letters to Juliet. Accidentally discovers 50 year old letter from woman who ditched on her summer love to go back home and be responsible. Girl writes to now older woman. Woman comes immediately to Italy to find her long lost Lorenzo - bringing her conventionally attractive but dicky seeming grandson in tow (Christopher Egan). Comic search entails and eventually everyone hooks up. Except for girl's fiance - but he probably wasn't right for her anyway.

Given these two strikes I went in with pretty low expectations. I do generally like the film's star Amanda Seyfried and sappy romantic stories so I felt there was a chance it wouldn't completely suck. Given these modest expectations I'd say the film was basically in line with them and worked for what it was. Which was definitely not particularly ambitious. I really cannot recommend seeing it if you're paying unless you want a super safe date movie (and perhaps not a date with someone like me). A netflix streaming choice - yep, that's about the category I'd slot this one into.

The frustrating thing about this is how little the writers stretched. Almost everything about it is a huge cliche. The two young people who initially can't stand each other for example. It comes across as pretty artificial hatred - sort of out of nowhere. It's equally unclear why they start to like each other, beyond them both being pretty and young. And the film forces through basically all the possible relationship blind alleys with the cast of characters available. Perhaps the most annoying is how completely wrong her relationship is with the fiance (Gael García Bernal) from minute one onscreen. There might have been more edge to the whole thing if we didn't get from the first second that she had completely the wrong guy. Plus don't get me started on the whole fact checker wanting to be a writer and working for Oliver Platt the editor of The New Yorker thing - haven't we all seen that a dozen times before?  All that said a decent amount of chemistry emerges and the backdrops are beautiful enough (if fake looking at times - often the cinematography felt Daily Show quality green screened) to make it hard for me to muster truly negative feelings about the film. It doesn't aspire to much, and that's what it achieves. And what it aspires to is less evil than other Hollywood dreck. In other words if you decide to go I won't judge. I just ask for the same courtesy from you.

SIFF 2010 - By the Numbers

I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to do it this year.  Or actually, starting to think I was too lazy to do it this year.  Where "it" equals putting together a graph of how many films from each country are represented at SIFF 2010.  I'd done it for many if not most of the other festivals I've attended in the last couple of years.  With the festival site fully up I was able to pull down the list of films in segments and with some quick scripting cleaned up the results into an Excel file containing the name, country, year of release, running length and short description of each film.  Then it's just a matter of Excel's pivot table magic and the charts are ready for your enjoyment.  Each can be clicked to see the high resolution (aka - actually readable) version.  I'm sure they're not perfect, for example Canada and French Canadian films appear to show up as different countries.  Whether that's correct I'll leave to my friends in the north to argue about.  But overall I think it's a pretty accurate representation.  Many films are co-productions of many countries - but in this representation a film is counted as being from the first country listed.  If anyone has another use for the excel file just let me know and I'll be happy to share it with you (update: now linked below).

As usual - "international" or not the US is a bit overrepresented.  But with 59 countries representing 248 films I think SIFF does represent a broad swath of global film making.  Below is a list of all the countries with more than two films showing at the festival.

Country	Number of feature films
USA	72
France	23
Spain	18
United Kingdom	11
Germany	8
Canada	7
Australia	7
Hong Kong	6
Russia	5
Belgium	5
Italy	5
Japan	5
Poland	4
Canada (Québec)	4
Mexico	4
Sweden	3
South Korea	3
Brazil	3
China	3

This year for the first time I'm also able to reproduce the feature film distribution for shorts.  Again, just click on it to see the enlarged format version.

SIFF 2010 - Full List

Iron Man 2

I hardly see the point of reviewing this film. It's like Iron Man - but not as good. I enjoyed the first film and the start of this one. Robert Downey Jr. continues to seem perfectly cast as the brilliant and narcissistic billionaire Tony Stark. A new villain played by Mickey Rourke appears upset about some wrong committed by Tony's father, the government wants the Iron Man technology and Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson look great on screen. The first 1/3 had enough wit and zest to keep me entertained. Somewhere before the halfway point though I started checking my watch wondering how much more there was. It's not a bad film, but I didn't find it particularly satisfying. It's got some thrills - just not enough for me to be truly happy with having gone.

SIFF 2010 - Here's what I'm excited about so far...

I did a posting a few days ago of what I've seen, and what I'm looking to see.  Thought I'd do a narrowed update of the things I recommend from personal experience.  And an update list of the growing number of things I want to catch based on both general reading and the programmer's recommendations:

Things I've seen and recommend:

• Castaway on the Moon - Strongly recommend.  A Korean man is having a very bad day/life. Jumps off a bridge intending to end it all. Instead ends up stranded on a small island that's on the Han river. As he struggles to remake his life through self sufficiency he's observed by a young woman who's a shut in, living with her parents but not setting foot outside for three years. Together they overcome their fears together while only loosely connected across a distance (or at least a body of water). The view from a distance theme reminded me of Gigante (another a must see film) but it's a completely different film. Well shot, sweet, interesting and quirky - but in a good way.
• American: The Bill Hicks Story - When I saw this documentary about Bill Hicks at SXSW I didn't really know much about the comedian.  Afterwards I felt I'd learned something about his life - but more importantly got to learn about his take on world.  Plus he was very funny.
• Cherry - Cherry seems to have been created in part to prove that one can make a film about a guy in college determined to shed his virginity without the need to include a scene with the same guy fucking a pie (metaphorically speaking of course).  By that measure they've definitely succeeded.  Overall I found the film relatively enjoyable, but at the same time felt something pulling it all together was missing.  Not bad, not great.  But a must see if you're trying to catch all the reasonable coming of age/teen comedy materials.
• Leaves of Grass - Edward Norton twin movie.  Fun, light, and he's probably going to attend.  So just do it.
• The Freebie - I highly recommend adding The Freebie to your list of to-do's at SIFF. Not so much for any revelation within the story but for the on screen chemistry of the main couple and the overall production.  At the film's start we're introduced to a couple in their (I'm guessing) later twenties who've been married a few years. They're downright adorable right down to their crossword puzzle races in bed. Having been together a bit they've noticed that hanging out has begun to trump sex.  After a night hanging out with their friends their pillow talk turns to the idea of each of them being with another person for one night (aka the "freebie" of the title). From this point on the film's arc is fairly predictable - at least to anyone who has seen a movie on the problem of separating rationale planning (this sounds like a good idea and we can handle it) to the emotional response (which just is).  It also seems equally predictable to everyone in the film short of the couple involved.  
• The Reverse - Truly a dark/black comedy. I didn't know that going in, which introduced a strange queasiness as I laughed at horrible events and began to question my moral compass (at least more than usual). Set in post WW-II Poland a woman, her mother and her grandmother do what they need to survive under tough but arbitrary Communist rule. I didn't completely love it, but I was interested in the characters AND laughed. The music over the end is just a brilliant touch. Be warned, if you cannot picture any circumstance in which a bathtub filled with sulfuric acid (or equally caustic agent) can be a source of humor, stay away
• The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls  - Very near the start of this documentary a man relates an experience at a party at a comedy festival. Learning from he hailed from New Zealand the producer asked him to give him a sense as to the state of comedy was there, for example who's the biggest act there? When he responded it was the Topp Twins, yodeling lesbian twins, the fellow coughed and suddenly recognized someone else he needed to talk with. That anecdote is a perfect start to this film which gives outsiders a quick but effective crash course in the twin's career. The movie is both interesting AND entertaining.  See it.  It sounds weird but you'll like it - trust me...
• The French Kissers - Generally cute, unusually honest coming of age story about two teens looking to tongue wrestle with their female classmates.  If you're a fan of coming of age and don't mind a bit raunchy humor mixed in it's worth adding to your list.  Can't get the damn closing credit track by Vaselines out of my head.
• Farsan - Aziz, living in Sweden, though presumably from his language skills not a native of the country he has an adult son who's assimilated and married to a Swedish woman.  Aziz works in a bicycle shop as a jack of all trades. Friendly with his co-worker, boss and practically everyone he meets Aziz seems generally content. He has strong beliefs on what woman want, his role in the cycle of life and the importance of family.  His main excitement and pleasure in life is the impending birth of a grandchild.  Of course there's a little more to the story than is being told by practically everyone we meet. This ranges from his son and wife (about their pregnancy), his boss (about his issues at home), and Aziz himself (especially about his confidence with the ladies).  Leading to some truly laugh out loud moments, yet sweet and tearful ones as well. 

Things I haven't seen on my growing list of things I'll be seeking out include the following (not in any particular order)

• Bass Ackwards - Sundance selection with a local connection I believe.  Yep, I know local connection can be risky - but in this case I'm willing to chance it.
• Disco and Atomic War - heard amazing things about this from Telluride.  The one film I'd sent over to SIFF programmer's asking them to keep an eye out for after I came back from there.
• Hipsters - Russian musical fun - at least from what I'd heard.
• Howl - Sundance selection - mainly curious
• I Kissed a Vampire- I'll admit, just like the name.  But now that I read the description from IMDB ("A musical look at the torment of falling in love when you're in the middle of becoming a vampire") I'm totally sold.
• Marewencol - good buzz from SXSW.
• Micmacs - good buzz from SXSW - plus it's the director of Amelie.
• My Year without Sex - Can't recall all the things I'd heard (believe it was a little mixed), but missed at VIFF and would like to catch it.
• Reykjavik-Rotterdam - believe I'd hard good buzz from folks I trust in Palm Springs.
• Robogeisha - just the name.  Gotta give me this one too, sorry.
• Skateland - Was curious to see at SXSW but couldn't get to it.
• Tucker & Dale vs. Evil - From the Fantastic Fest sub-series within SXSW.  Sounded interesting.  Plus, they're apparently competing against ALL OF EVIL - so you gotta love their odds...
• Winter's Bone - heard great things from folks who went to Sundance and a really interesting random guy I spoke to on line at SXSW. :-)
• Farewell - from director of Joyeux Noel
• Cell 211
• The Army of Crime
• Waiting for "Superman"
• The Wild Hunt - Dark side of LARP'ing?  I'm so there.
• Perrier's Bounty
• Holy Rollers - Missed this last week at press screenings due to them changing up the order of films at the last minute - but I'll be back to try again, and how couldn't I want to try a story about Hassidic Ecstasy dealers.
• 8: The Mormon Proposition

And of course this list will continue to grow.  Seen something you liked?  Something caught your eye in the program?  Would love your suggestions in the comments.

The French Kissers (France)

The French Kissers is initially mostly an aspirational title as the film follows two boys in Junior High as they seek to achieve their first "french kiss" (or just kiss since they are in france?). The teens are best friends and in a social position clearly outside the gang of cool kids. One's a bit gawky, prone to saying the wrong thing, with apparently undesirable hair and braces. The other has a mullet (though he does play guitar). 'nuff said.

The boys spend a lot of time doing what you'd expect.

• Trying to figure out to get girls to make out with them.
• Giving and trying some seriously poor advice on how to achieve their aims. 
• Lying about their success to friends while possibly seriously messing things up when against all reason one of their female classmates does like them. 
• And of course abusing themselves (and their socks) at every opportunity.

The main character (the boy sans mullet) lives with his divorced Mom in a high rise apartment that's often the victim of leaky toilets from planes passing overhead. The mom is a well meaning if occasionally unbelievably overly intrusive character who provides some of the film's comic relief.  In some ways the story is about their relationship as well.  You can probably take multiple views away from this film as technically it's more a slice of life coming of age piece than one that's strictly goal driven.

One of the things I liked about the film is that neither boy as presented is entirely likable. As 14-15 year olds they can be extremely self involved and casually mean.  At the same time they're not bad meaning kids and I was able to root for him enough to care about the outcome.  For me an important part in enjoying a coming of age film. This approach to not sugar coat the protagonist gave the film a more natural/authentic feeling even though the storyline is pretty standard for this type of tale.  Because of this (and some other plot points I won't disclose) the film is considerably more honest than Hollywood teen sex seeking comedies that one is tempted to compare it to (such as American Pie). While it's not in the same league of enjoyment for me as a French for Beginners or Lila Says it is good raw portrayal of the young male mind and fun enough to recommend to anyone who likes the coming of age comedy/drama and doesn't shy away from a bit of raunch.

While you may have to wait for the movie the soundtrack is available right now. :-)

SIFF 2010 - Printable Film Grids

Possibly by the time I post this the SIFF online box office will be opening.  Both member night previews have been held and countless folks are beginning to pour over the catalogs (available for the 1st time I can remember before opening night).  The festival was kind enough to share printable grids of the films in both pdf and Excel format.  These were posted on the Fool Serious boards.  But since not everyone is on them I wanted to make the docs available in a broader forum.  They're embedded below.  Just remember that films occasionally do change so check the SIFF site before heading out. 

PDF
SIFF_Grid_2010

Excel
SIFF Grid 2010 Excel

The Hedgehog (France)

I  thought this film was good if at times overly playing to the archetype of being a "very french film" even while trying to make a point about not viewing people at face value.  Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) is a young precocious 11 year old living in an apartment building of wealthy Parisians.  Fighting a premature sense world weariness/ennui she decides she will take her own life on her next birthday unless she sees a reason to go on. We're shown her world (mainly her apartment complex) through her lens as she films everyone and everything using her father's hand me down 8mm camera. Eventually we meet Renee (Josiane Balasko) the buildings live in janitor/super whose existence is largely below the radar of the residents. An older woman with a fondness for chocolate and her cat and a bit surly Renee fits the residents' mental image of working class help. But she has a secret, a room full of literature she's pored through likely making her one of the best read in the building.  One day a new resident, an older Japanese widow meets her and takes a liking to her as they trade quips from Anna Karenina. Together Renee and Kakuro (Togo Igawa) start off on an unlikely relationship as Paloma continues to observe the world around her looking for clues as to why life is worth living.

Paloma is very well played, precocious and very amusing at times. Garance Le Guillermic also turns in a reasonable performance if not as strong as the somewhat comparable in The Maid last year. Our Japanese suitor felt like more of a stereotype as written - specifically that of the wizened easterner who can see the true jewels/beauty in life. I did enjoy the film and at least mildly recommend it for the festival. But a day later I can't completely shake the feel that while talking about misperceptions and snap superficial judgments the movie itself traffics in a lot of familiar cinematic tropes.  

Btw - it's not really a comedy, not completely a tragedy - just as perhaps the French might say, about life. That's my view, but the woman behind me at the screening who was literally sobbing at the end would likely disagree.  I am a bit of a sucker for depictions of French life (especially those fancy apartments in the city), and precocious kids (in the movies at least).  Might want to keep that in mind (in case you don't like one or either) as your mileage may vary...

Sorry - couldn't find a trailer with English subtitles but wanted to share the look of the film nonetheless.

SIFF 2010 - Programmer Recommendations

Last night was the first of two SIFF member preview evenings.  An opportunity to meet old friends, make some new ones and listen to recommendations from festival programmers.  Oh, and in last night's case see a movie - which I'll post about later today hopefully.  As in the past few years a print out of programmer's picks were handed out.  I've scanned them in and linked to the pdf below.  As of now the quality of the pdf is a little shoddy.  New scanner and I maybe don't quite have all the settings correct.  But it's readable and I know for some folks that's enough.  Will update when I sort out a better copy.  I'll be going through the lists in more detail (last night they also handed out the official catalog!) and plan to post my personal "can't wait to see list" prior to the festival starting up. 

Apologies to folks I didn't get a chance to catch up with last night (and a special great to meet you to Clinton McClung).  Hoping to meet all the virtual people once the festival gets going.  Maybe a tweet up opening night? :-)

Update (5/18) - Here's a link to a nice clean copy of the pdf direct from SIFF. Also - if you're looking for my recommendations the initial batch of what I've seen, or am looking forward to is right here.
SIFF 2010 Programmer Picks

Farsan (Sweden)

Farsan was the first of the press screenings held this week - the first week of press screenings of SIFF 2010.  For this special occasion I was able to juggle some meetings around and work late night in order to attend the 10 AM screening.  I'm glad I did as Farsan was a light treat even though it dealt with some serious issues.  Suggest adding the film to your list of to-do's during the festival.  There will be three opportunities to watch it: Sunday, May 23, 6:30pm at Pacific Place, Tuesday, May 25, 4:30pm at Pacific Place, and Saturday, May 29, 9:15pm at the Harvard Exit.

Aziz, played wonderfully by Jan Fares is the main character of the story.  Living in Sweden, though presumably from his language skills not a native of the country he has an adult son who's assimilated and married to a Swedish woman.  Aziz works in a bicycle shop as a jack of all trades. Friendly with his co-worker, boss and practically everyone he meets Aziz seems generally content. He has strong beliefs on what woman want, his role in the cycle of life and the importance of family.  His main excitement and pleasure in life is the impending birth of a grandchild.  Of course there's a little more to the story than is being told by practically everyone we meet. This ranges from his son and wife (about their pregnancy), his boss (about his issues at home), and Aziz himself (especially about his confidence with the ladies).  Leading to some truly laugh out loud moments, yet sweet and tearful ones as well.  Meaning the official festival description quoted below is fairly accurate:

"Aziz is a confident and handsome elderly man who sets out on a mission to find a new wife. From the director of SIFF hits Jalla Jalla! and Kopps comes a heart-warming and multicultural comedy about love, friendship, and misguided communication between the sexes."

Though it doesn't mention the even more elderly dog that serves as the reminder that death is inevitable so life must be lived aggressively. Or maybe the role of the dog was just to make me cry.  Either way, I had a good time and suspect most people will find Aziz infectious enough to ignore the fact that it's not exactly a revolutionary story.  Technically very well done with natural performances, a sense of big budget polish, smooth camera work shots and an intimate feel combine making this one a likely crowd pleaser. In my opinion no need to leave yourself out of that crowd. Not everything's gotta be edgy you know. ;-)

SIFF Previews - Plenty 'o Choices

Tuesday and Wednesday are big nights for a lot of members of SIFF (including myself).  That's when the annual pre-festival preview is held.  Festival programmer's give an overview of the films they particularly recommend (especially helpful if you know whose tastes yours align with - otherwise beware) and since it's held in a theater they also screen a ton of preview trailers for the upcoming films.  It's also a great way to catch up with your festival friends, some of whom you likely haven't seen much since last June.  I'm hoping to attend Tues and will post any tips I can gather sometime Wednesday.  Don't forget an early version of the SIFF 2010 film list (and the only complete seeming listing I've come across online) can be found here.

This year there's another option - open to members and non-members alike.  It'll be held on 5/13 at the Triple Door and will add live music and presumably a party atmosphere to the mix.  Below is a description if you'd like to check it out.  Tickets available on the SIFF Website.

"Join a panel of SIFF Programmers as they provide a sneak peak of 15 foreign films that you won’t want to miss at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. Your ticket purchase* gives you access to the panel of SIFF Programmers who will be presenting a variety of film trailers from upcoming films and providing their own insights and opinions on these and other must-see films at SIFF 2010! Live Afrobeat music from Thione Diop (Senegal/Seattle) will follow to keep the party rolling well into the night"

Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  Depending on my schedule I might check it out.

NFFTY 2010 - Last Day

Today was the closing day for NFFTY 2010 - the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.  I went to two sessions in the earlier part of the day, Love & Coffee and Modern Grit.  Both had some good shorts material - though since the Love & Coffee session also featured free coffee and donuts (courtesy of Mighty-O and Roy Street Coffee - the latter just being a rebranded Starbucks it turns out) if I had to choose I'd say I enjoyed the caffeinated one more.  By the end of the second session I was a bit tired of shorts and decided to call it a day for NFFTY.  I ended up seeing Mid-August Lunch at the Guild 45th theater.  I'll try to write that up when I can - but for now just say it was mostly light and sweet - a nice thing to see when you're not looking for something particularly heavy. 

Hats off to the organizers of NFFTY - they did a great job keeping things running and presented some good material while providing what appeared to be a very positive environment for young filmmakers.  Below I've embedded a few examples of some of the shorts that played today.  Wish I could have seen all of them, but even I sometimes need a break. :-)

First Kiss


Solomon Grundy


Who I Am (Part I)

NFFTY - Centerpiece Shorts

On Saturday I was only able to make it to one of the NFFTY sessions - the Centerpiece Shorts section.  These were some pretty solid films all told - in most of the cases I would have not been surprised to see them in a shorts package within a more general (aka not youth oriented festival).  Some examples of the films (or trailers for them) are below.  One I thought was particularly good, Chinese Antique (Ryo Shiina and Bassem Wahbi) unfortunately doesn't seem to have any video available online for sharing.  More than just interesting camera work/direction Chinese Antique had a subtle story and acting that worked well for me.  During the Q&A someone asked about them extending it to a full length feature.  They didn't seem particularly interested in going that route - but it felt like it could work in a longer format to me if someone wanted to go that route.


As They Fade

TIJUANEROS


Bliss and Color


Sparks in the Night



Some footage of the Q&A after the films.  Just really an excerpt of them asking a question of the creator of Sparks in the Night (which oddly I've seen before - maybe at SIFF in a Futurewave session) about his use of green screen techniques.  Mainly me just getting a feel for my new camera ahead of SIFF.