The Hangover Part II

Thinking I can wrap this one up in a few sentences.  This film is pretty much just like the first film except not nearly as funny.  That's partially because it's a near shot for shot remake of The Hangover with the main difference being that they strain credulity (and I know that's saying something) by making the Zach Galifianakis character so ridiculous that it's hard to imagine he was able to make it to adulthood without a fatal incident. That alone might be proof against the "theory" of natural selection.  Perhaps even worse it's hard to imagine that the other members let him live given the idiocy he gets up to - which is nearly exactly the same as last time.  There may be something original in The Hangover Part II - but to be 100% sure I'd have to rewatch The Hangover to ensure there's not a monkey in there somewhere.  I don't believe there is, but I could be wrong.

This time the gang goes to Thailand for a wedding. So instead of getting drugged and crazy in Vegas they're in Thailand and lose the bride's brother instead of the groom.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh occasionally.  But if that's your figure of merit for a film you've probably better off just seeing Bridesmaids again.  That is all...

The Stool Pigeon (Hong Kong)

Overall I liked The Stool Pigeon more than I've tended to like other recent Hong Kong crime thrillers I've seen on the festival circuit in the last few years.  I'm a sometimes fan of that genre but a high percentage of recent outings have left me a bit cold this film.  This one had some interesting things going for it.  First off the story was complex to the point of almost being convoluted.  Normally that might not be a plus but in this case it kept me mentally engaged trying to figure out what was going on.  Secondarily, I liked the unusual setup which followed a senior inspector who felt personally responsible for a bad outcome befalling a former informant, forced to recruit a young guy out of prison in the wake of the previous tragedy.  I also enjoyed that young informant character, Ghost Jr, a street car racer and part time getaway driver.  Finishing off the mix were some slick visuals - both in the expected area of driving, but also I've got to say I've never seen an abandoned school used so effectively as a chase scene prop.  The action and drama mixed in with the unusual (OK, maybe unnecessary) plot points made this something original for me - and hence an enjoyable SIFF experience.  It's not life changing, but other than last year's Memento meets Hong Kong Johnnie To film Vengeance it's definitely one of the more unique shoot em ups to come out of that part of the world recently - at least based on my admittedly limited survey of the area. So I say - please keep up the weirdness Hong Kong movie industry.

We Are the Night (Germany)

Young, gorgeous, bisexual German female vampires who enjoy shopping, the nightlife and killing the occasional pimp. They throw around catchy words of wisdom such as "the more evil the man, the more delicious the blood". Even if I'd only heard part of the last two sentences I would have predicted loving the film with a surety I haven't felt since someone explained the premise of D.E.B.S. to me.  As opposed to usually what happens in such a situation my hopes were not dashed. We Own the Night is admittedly more style than depth, but if that's what you're looking for the film delivers the goods in a fun, bloody way that I dare say will satisfy most fans of the fang. Even the lovers of sparkly types will likely get a grrrrl power kick out of the festivities.  

Lena (Karoline Herfurth) is a young, tough pickpocket loner who has no one to rely on except herself. When she crosses paths with a gang of female vampires she's recruited against her will. But a bit of convincing (no pun intended) about how cool it is to be able to walk up walls overrides her fear of not being able to see herself in the mirror. Led by an elder vamp (Nina Hoss) who has been searching for her soulmate for 100's of years it's clear from the start that things won't end well. But at least we know stuff won't be spoiled by a bunch of vampire dudes, when it's explained that the women have killed off all the males of the species for being "too loud, too stupid" and steadfastly refuse to make any more. Shopping, bloodletting and general mayhem ensues. Of course there's a cop on Lena's trail and a variety of the typical undead lifestyle issues that need to be dealt with. You'll see much of it coming but if you're drawn to this genre I doubt you'll care.

There are enough original contributions to the visual lexicon of vampire films to hold one's attention even if the women don't (though I doubt that'll be an issue). Most notably there's an incredible bathtub transformation and a bite/turning scene shot through a mirror (and these vamps don't do mirrors). In short I had a blast. Unfortunately it's not playing again as currently schedule at SIFF. But worth keeping an eye out for as I'm sure it will eventually hit local theaters.

Oh - there's apparently a dubbed version of this film floating around. And it's near impossible to find a subtitled trailer - so I'm posting the German one. Don't compromise. Demand subtitles and get the benefit of being literate...

Photos of the Neptune

Each year at SIFF I kept meaning to take some decent shots of the beautiful stained glass inside the Neptune theater. I finally got around to it - just in time for the venue to be converted to a music hall.  For those out of towners who haven't had a chance to see the inside of the theater I decided to just post 'em up.

Saigon Electric Q&A

I filmed a bit of the Q&A following Saigon Electric.  It's not exactly a masterpiece, but I'm sharing it with you nonetheless.  Speaking is director Stephane Gauger with SIFF's Carl Spence moderating.  There are a few slightly shaky parts - guess I'd had a little too much coffee that evening.   On the bright side I don't think anyone actually asked the director what the budget for the film was. ;-) 

A Saturday at SIFF where I go 2/2 and meet a ton of interesting folks

This Saturday was a good day for me at SIFF. Though a light one film-wise. I caught two films, Little Rock and Saigon Electric (aka Saigon Yo!).  Both of which I really, really ... really enjoyed.   Prior to Littlerock I randomly met Mark from the film blog Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL which was a cool surprise.  That pre-show chat sort of set the tone for a day of great conversations.

After the Saigon Electric's screening I attended a party in honor of the film. I'd only intended to stop by for a few minutes but ended up having such a great time I stayed well past midnight. I was lucky enough to meet the folks behind several of the short films at this weekend's Shortsfest (which I recommend everyone try to catch some of) including Cataplexy, Pillow, and A Doctor's Job. Past readers will know I really dug Cataplexy. I'm even more impressed now that I learned it was shot as part of a 72 hour film challenge.  Also in attendance were the directors of Pillow - a beautifully rendered view of some seriously twisted angel abuse. Given that the folks behind that were surprisingly nice ;-). I hadn't had a chance to see the Shortsfest entry - A Doctor's Job yet so it was great to snag a copy from the director (Julio O. Ramos) himself. Hoping to watch and report back soon.

So between those encounters, plus a few minutes chatting with the director of Saigon Electric and tons of face time with old SIFF friends it was a great night of film nerdom (to steal a turn of phrase from Imaginary Amie).

Littlerock (USA) - I made my first foray to the Admiral theater in West Seattle - and boy am I glad I took the trouble.  First off it's a really nice venue, with good projection and clear sight lines (at least where I was).  And truth be told it really didn't take me that much longer than normal to get there.  Plenty of street parking doesn't help.  Oh, but you may want to know something about Littlerock the film ...

A brother and sister from Japan are traveling across California when their car breaks down. Stranded for a couple of days they begin to hang out with some of the small town's locals. He speaks some English, she none. The reasons for their trip aren't immediately clear though we learn their father was opposed to it for reasons that only surface in the last act. While waiting for a new rental car siblings explore the alien landscape.  Both seem to find something positive, though more so the sister who is rather rapidly won over by the town. In part through the other kid's willingness to show them around - and it seems in no small measure due to a physical attraction to one of the boys. Their guides have their own issues to deal with, and it's easy to spend a lot of your viewing time what's going on below the surface.  This deeper level may or may not be entirely clear to the visitors due to the language and cultural gap. 

It's hard to say if everyone will have the same reaction, but I just fell in love with the feel of the film early on. The multi-angled sets of perceptions whirling around and the refusal of the film to tell you how to interpret them results in a fascinating universe.  All within a dusty little town. I there's a sense of tension throughout - though the film is laced with enough fish out of water humor to keep things mostly light. It's a voyage of discovery for the characters, and I for one was glad to come along for the ride.  I'd highly recommend keeping an eye out for an opportunity to catch this one.

Saigon Electric (Vietnam) - Is a shameless mashup of probably a half-dozen sub-genres of film. Which is intended in the nicest possible way.  The festival's description makes it sound like strictly a dance movie. At it's core that may be true.  It's got a a raw energy that competes favorably within recent entries in that space, even the expensive ones in 3D.  The film succeeds in delivering both some of the most exciting AND natural feeling dancing I've seen in a while.  Combining the honest vibe of a documentary like Planet B-Boy but driving things home with hyperkinetic moves that are the equal of a dramatic feature such as the Step-Up franchise the film basically just works. Set in Vietnam the filmmaker opts for a full of bright palette of colors and populates the picture with a combination of professional actors and talented up and comers resulting in a bright cheery tone that grabbed me from the start. While the film is squarely in the category of what a friend called the "I'm poor, you're rich, let's dance!" genre it has enough teen angst, romantic comedy and teens against the system aspects to be broadly appealing. Even if you're not quite the sucker for breakin' past adversity films as I (surprisingly I'll admit) am.

The picture opens with one of the kids working on his routine bare chested, pants sagging in a thin puddle of water. It's a visual device that's certainly been used before - but even so it sets a deliciously gorgeous tone for the remainder of the film with water droplets highlighting the moves that seems to taunt basic physics.  That strong open sets us up for the story.  A young girl comes to the big city with the dream of gaining a spot at the dance academy to continue her study of classic ribbon dance. Failing that out of fear she falls in with a streetwise dance crew. Who in true Brady Bunch style need to win the local dance off. She makes friends, watches friends come, go and try to date above their station. Like I said - a LOT goes on. I suspect there's enough plot for maybe two or three more pictures. At the core it's all fun to watch which nice messages and a tear inducing final Battle. I could try to delve deeper into the "plot" - but I don't think there's that much point.  Either this sounds fun or it doesn't.  For me it was.  And it's nice to sometimes see a flick which reminds me I'm not always a cynic. Check it out it you can.  For another adoring review checkout Amie's post over at Three Imaginary Girls.

Natural Selection

Linda, a god fearing Christian woman (Rachael Harris) has been dealing with a problem with her husband for the last 25 years.  That's due to his extreme belief in the biblical passage about a man not spilling his "seed" in vain.  Since his wife cannot have children his interpretation is that they cannot ever be intimate.  Something the opening seem appears to demonstrate she has more trouble dealing with than he does.  One can only assume he avoids shellfish like the plague as well.  But it turns out that that her husband Abe (John Diehl) has another (ahem) outlet for his urges - he's been a regular at a local sperm bank.  During one of his donation sessions Abe suffers a stroke, landing him in the hospital and of course letting the cat out of the bag.  Linda (believing it to be Abe's dying request) soon after sets out on a quest to find and return with Rob's eldest son of this secret life.  After a bit of underhanded dealing she secures the name of the offspring and embarks on a road trip to find him.

Who she finds at her destination is likely not the model child she was hoping for.  On the run from the authorities he agrees to accompany Linda back - purely for selfish reasons.  That road trip, and Linda's personal spiritual growth as she sheds her cloistered existence makes up the rest of the film.  Natural Selection won both an audience and a jury award at SXSW where I hadn't had a chance to see it.  So I'll admit I was expecting absolutely great things when I sat down with a nearly full house at the Egyptian theater.  Overall, I liked the film - but the experience fell short of love.  Rachael Harris turned in a strong performance that brought a character to life that could easily be one-dimensional.  In fact the part I liked best about the film was how writer/director Robbie Pickering told a story that went for humor (and generally succeeded) without truly making fun of the beliefs of the religious folks in the film.  Even if I personally felt their actions and what drove them may be ridiculous I appreciated the respect shown - mainly because it made for a better film.

Some parts of the story arc are predictable - but for the performances and the mixing of humor and drama I'm glad I got a chance to see it.  I guess I never fully, completely became engaged enough in the plot line to put in in my top tier of choices for the past year - but unlikely to disappoint most viewers.  Equal to the film experience was the lively post screening Q&A with Rachael Harris and Mr. Pickering in attendance.  I got a decent amount of that session on video which is directly under the film's trailer below.  There are a few sections missing - so apologies for that.

Some SIFF Catch-up

I'm back from a brief trip to China, and working to catch-up quickly on discussing some of the SIFF films I've been watching recently.  I just posted a recommendation to keep your eyes peeled for Boy which starts with it's first screening Thursday.  I'd also suggest trying to catch Surrogate Valentine, and Trollhunter.  That second one has left the building SIFF-wise.  However, it's currently available on a variety of video-on-demand channel (including iTunes) and should be making it's way to theaters in the June timeframe.

Even though this post still leaves me behind a good 5+ films nothing I've seen recently is in the category of works I'd strongly steer you away from. With the exception of the awesomely named Co-Dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same which was unable to hold my interest long enough to finish it.  It's possible greatness lurks in that second half - if so let me know and I'll try to tough it through.

In the meantime, here's a bit of what I've been up to most recently. Of course, as always would love some feedback what folks are loving (or hating) in the comments.

Surrogate Valentine (USA) - When the character Goh (played by actual singer/songwriter Goh Nakamura) takes a job to help friend get a cheesy TV actor ready to play a musician in her movie more than he bargained for results. Though since Goh doesn't come across as a very take what he wants sort of musician stereotype perhaps another way to look at things is that he's pushed by undesired gig towards what he needs in life.  The picture has an cool inky black and white look that fits the the exercise, which feels as much documentary as dramatic narrative.  It's hard not to believe part of this picture isn't auto-biographical.  Though the intersection of old friends and potential future romantic interests on display could be biographical about almost anyone.  Though few of us have the musical chops that Goh's personal soundtrack brings to the film.  The picture does a nice job developing the characters while seemingly having very little overtly happen.  As Goh goes on the road to teach actor Danny the ropes I enjoyed the gradual reveal that took the thespian from douchebag to helpful friend. Not to mention the uber-shlump performance of Goh.  Who would be a natural everyman - if he wasn't so musically talented.  I'd skipped this at SXSW not expecting much.  This isn't necessarily going to change your view of cinema as a whole.  But for me it was a very pleasant way to spend 75 minutes.  For those not fans of slice of life with an ambiguous resolution you may be less taken than I.  But you'll be totally wrong - I just won't hold it against you. ;-)

Copacabana (France) - Slightly inaccurately listed under the "comedy" genre if you arrive expecting a French knee-slapping farce you're gonna be disappointed.  It has a few laughs but I felt it was something entirely different - more of dramatic arc about family and other issues that has some smiles built in. Babou, a bohemian mother tries to deal with daughter who *gasp* wants to get married. Mom is broke due to an inability to keep any job for an extended time. Until she finds an opportunity selling time shares. Hilarity does not then ensue. Instead we get to visit with likable characters even though they sometimes can be a bit infuriating. A nice little French movie about how one can choose to live their life the way they want to. Though I kept wondering about how being constantly broke might have a worse impact one one's ability to remain with a roof over your head outside of France. Mainly worked due to the strength of the main character played by Isabelle Huppert without whose natural charm it might have been a far lesser affair. As it is it's not a super substantial deep piece. But a nice palate cleanser between other more serious (or funnier) SIFF entries.

12 Paces Without a Head (Germany) - The most impressive thing about this work is how a movie about 14th century German pirates that kicks off with The Clash doing I Fought the Law could so totally lose me.  On paper that just does not compute.  It's technically well put together, and I cannot even really point to a problem with a performance.  But I was so utterly unengaged in the characters, their situation or the outcome that I just cannot recommend it.  Lots of other folks seem to have gotten a kick out of it, but for me it just felt like killing time.  A far better critic than I could likely explain why they felt that way.  All I can say is it never really clicked.  Dunno - maybe if they'd thrown in some ninjas or something.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (China) - The first female in Chinese history is about to ascend to the throne.  Some folks in the royal court are not amused.  Meanwhile a feat of masterful engineering to build an Empire State Building sized Buddha is underway.  Then suddenly folks start spontaneously combusting.  When no-one can make heads or tails of it the previously jailed Detective Dee is sprung from prison to solve the case.  At which point problem solving and martial arts action (along with a fair amount of opaque noble court politics) ensue.  Not to mention some unique martial arts technique that allows characters to occasionally do some sort of crazy Mission Impossible type face changing thing (I'm not sure if that's something in Chinese history I'm supposed to be familiar with - but whatever...).  A pleasant if not altogether engaging film that sort of reminded me if a Scooby-Doo mystery crossed with Sherlock Holmes.  And I mean the new Sherlock Holmes film where apparently he's as skilled as ass kicking as he is at deducing.  Whether I'm referring to the "real" Scooby-Doo (as opposed to the new films) where the supernatural never truly was magical, but generally resulted in some old dude in a mask or sheet muttering "if it wasn't for those damn kids" or the newer version I will not say.  Though I may have already said too much.  Martial arts flicks are a bit rare at SIFF - I wouldn't say that this is raising the bar in the action sense.  But it brings enough interesting stuff to the table I won't warn you off even though my attention sagged a bit here and there.

Boy (New Zealand)

Coming out of left field for me was the New Zealand film Boy which has turned out to be one of most engaging pieces of film-making I've caught this year at SIFF so far.  The rather unimaginatively named "Boy" serves both as the film's main character and narrator.  His voice-over provides entry into his small town world filtered through his clearly skewed but utterly charming eyes. His life consists of performing more of a support role than an eleven year old probably should while dealing with the international constants of a young man's film challenges - avoiding the bully's while trying to impress his dream girl.

Boy's Mom has passed away and his absent Dad is either a world-traveler superstar or serving time in prison depending on whose version of the truth you believe.  And much as you want to believe the former, that doesn't seem especially likely.

The film is set in an era where Michael Jackson is the height of cool and being able to demonstrate a passable moonwalk might be a plausible way to impress your female classmates.  A uber-catchy pop-soundtrack helps nail both the feel of the era and keep things humming along.  Boy's narration is both smartly written and well delivered by the young James Rolleston who just nails the tone and timing of things such as "I have a pet goat called Leif, ... I also have a six year old brother called Rocky."

After an immersion into Boy's world father Alamein (played by Taika Waititi who also wrote and directed the film) re-enters the picture, with a couple of hoodlum/slacker friends in tow.  The youngest doesn't have a memory of the father, but all are excited about his return.  It turns out Alamein's presence is likely more business than pleasure.  But being not especially more mature than his young son that quest takes a little longer than planned.  Just a hint here - if you're on the run from the police with a stack of cash and bury it, you'll want to try to be able to describe the location a bit more specifically in a field than "I know it's a certain number of steps past a post. I'm just not sure how many steps. Or which post..."

Ultimately, Boy is a coming of age story about being forced to deal with the realization that one's father isn't the perfect human being you'd imagined. Director Waititi provides ample traditional examples of Boy experiencing that transition. But he also gets creative with some great visualizations of that idealization via dance sequences inspired by Michael Jackson's thriller era videos.

While the community Boy lives will be unfamiliar to most of us the pop-culture references that permeate the film will not be.  That combination makes the story both fun and accessible even though the issues at hand are actually quite serious.  All said and done Alamein doesn't come across as an especially bad guy.  But definitely he's a better pal to his kids than he is a father.  Much of his words of "wisdom" are colored by his cultural affinity with comic book and film focused examples.  Specifically, he's in love with ET, a picture that Boy and his friends look vaguely mystified about, and Dad's explanations don't quite close the gap ("He's got a light in his tummy. I'm not exactly sure what that's for. But he's got a light on the end of his finger that can heal any cut").  Later on while trying to excuse an outburst the best he can muster is "Sorry I get angry. I'm like the hulk. He gets angry. But usually he's helping people. He's usually a good guy." 

The dialog and delivery alone would make Boy a pleasant watch.  The colorful look of the film just adds to the appeal.   It's a beautifully shot coming of age arc set in a small community of New Zealand I don't recall having seen before onscreen. Rolleston does a fine job carrying the film and brings one back to an era where one could aspire to the heights of seeing Michael Jackson without feeling totally weird. Not me mind you. But others from what I recall of 1984....

With three screenings to choose from there's not a lot of good reasons to miss out on seeing this well done, and very entertaining coming of age film:  Boy screens during SIFF on May 26th at the Ikea Performing Arts Center (6:30pm) and and then twice at the Neptune Theater - 6/4 @ 6:30pm and 6/6 @ 4:30pm.

The First Grader

The First Grader is billed as an uplifting story about how it's never too late when it comes to education. This based on a true story tale follows a former freedom fighter who in his 80's fights for his right to an education. Much of the film follows that struggle to convince the authorities that he represents a valid use of the nation's limited educational resources. The other part of the film explains via flashback how he got where he is today. That part is brutal, sad and a rather direct demonstration of the horrors of British imperialism when it was questioned. It's an odd mix but I think the mix of history lesson with an aspirational story's impact is likely what the director was shooting for. Didn't wow me - didn't feel strongly negative. Just be aware of the violence aspect if you're think of bringing an actual first grader.

The director of the film was there to introduce it. Below is the last minute or so of that introduction.

SIFF 2011 Opening Night

Yesterday was the opening film and party for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF).  I can't say that I really loved one The First Grader, one of the only films I can think of that combines a feel good premise and stereotypical arc with graphic torture and murder.  When a baby is literally ripped from his mother's arms so that the British overlords can shoot her in the head I sort of feel you might not want to name the film in a manner that will inevitably result in a parent bring their young child along.

The film itself was really fine - just didn't give me a jolt bigger than what I got from having the premise described to be.  Combine that with 40+ minutes of introductions, and McCaw Hall's horrible audio presentation (there were times I was trying to figure out if the characters weren't speaking English) the sitting in chairs portion of the evening left a bit to be desired.  But I had a good time partying both before and after and catching up with old friends, and making some new ones as well.  It's possible next year I may just skip the film altogether.  I'm super glad that each year SIFF picks something that lets them sell out a large venue.  But it's been so long since I really, really liked opening night (only exceptions I can recall are You and Me and Everyone We Know and the more recent In the Loop) that I'm thinking what works for the festival just doesn't work for me.  But stopping by the party is almost always a great way to catchup with folks before the films completely take over.

Hope everyone is getting out and enjoying SIFF the next few days.  My posts are going to slow down for a little while as I'm off on a work trip for a few days.  Hoping to rejoin SIFF with a vengeance this coming Thursday.  In the meantime I'll have to content myself trying to watch some screeners on the plane and visiting the homeland of my favorite guest on the red carpet, Kung Fu Panda.  Here are some pictures from the event and a short video clip of the party in action. If you look real close you may be able to spot Imaginary Amie in the photos.

While I'm away over the next few days there's a chance I may find an opportunity to post on some of the other film's I've seen - but probably not super likely.

If you see something good - would love it if you'd throw up a comment about it, or shoot me a note on twitter.  In the meantime I'd also suggest taking a peek at the coverage of Three Imaginary Girls they should have some of my posts filtering in over time as well.

Happy festivaling everyone!!!

A view early on in the evening of everyone getting ready

Even around 5:30 activity was gearing up on the "red carpet"

I have no idea who the poor sucker was who had to sit behind (or next to) this behemoth - but he was almost as cool as his on-screen persona

For those being a bit extra supportive of SIFF this evening there was actual food with minimal lines available before the screening

Not to mention a seriously well staffed bar

There was even a little outside area to drink and relax before the long, long, never-ending speeches main film

Continuing a SIFF opening night tradition that's been going on since the documentary about their league played the festival the Rat City Roller Girls were on hand.  Though this might have been the 1st time I saw them without skates. 

This guy seemed pretty determined to take the spotlight from the similarly clad in black & white roller girls

Have I mentioned McCaw hall's sound system and/or acoustics makes it a horrible place to watch a film?  Tried it fifth row center and now from this higher up but center perch.  Heck of a big place though, cool that it was almost all full.

Carl Spence and Deborah Person kick things off.

I'm not thrilled with this intro photos - but given where they were shot from I'm actually not that unhappy either.

Then we all got an opportunity to meet the mayor - who in no way made the funniest comment of the evening when he referred to the main character of the film set in Africa as an "african-american"

After a few other guests, director Justin Chadwick was introduced by Carl.

Here's Justin Chadwick - just providing another photo to prove he's not in fact an actual imp. That might not have been clear from the earlier photo.

After the film the party started next door in the exhibition hall.  It was a serious mob scene in there.

This year drink tickets were replaced with arm-bands. An interesting idea - not thinking about how grimy these might get by the last party ;-)  Not my arm btw

I hung out in the dimly lit and overly loud Magnolia Hi-fi sponsored room.  Lots of white couches, the occasional cupcake and some great conversation.  Did I mention the cupcakes?  That's always an embarrassingly high high point of a SIFF opening night for me.

And a bit more hanging out in the white room with friends...

This year's guest bag had the standard completely random and useful stuff along with a few things I definitely don't mind having.  The huge stack of posters depicting a certain panda bear were not unappreciated either. Here's practically all of it spread out on a table.

Brotherhood

Brotherhood a story of a fraternity initiation stunt gone very, very wrong was a hit at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival that I'd regretted missing. With it's release this Tuesday on video I got another opportunity to catchup with the film. I'm quite glad I did. While the film certainly isn't going to do any good for the fraternity system's public relations efforts it's a slickly produced, tense yet eminently watchable ride populated by a crew of well cast actors.

The first segment is almost ridiculously intense in all the right ways. The overall arc definitely held my attention and a good number of the twists and turns weren't anticipated.  There are perhaps limits to how unique a film about the intense peer pressure of a frat can be - even when crossed with the pattern of bunch of folks layering one bad decision on top of another until the breaking point is hit. Brotherhood does scape along the boundary of this line at times.  But overall I think there's a lot to recommend it even if the conclusion isn't 100% satisfying.  For a well executed example of pushing the throttle to 11 and just leaving it there, cinematically speaking, you could do far worse.

Knowing a lot about the story isn't really the best idea if you're planning on seeing Brotherhood. Not that there's one HUGE twist at the end and knowing of it can spoil the ride.  But I think the closer you are to the state of knowledge that the pledges face in the beginning the better off the experience will be.  Speaking of those folks - the film opens with a group of pledges undergoing a hazing activity.  But rather than the stereotypical excessive alcohol consumption or a room full of goats this involves them being taken on a ride in a van.  Each time the van stops one of the group is handed a ski mask and revolver and told to rob the liquor store they've just pulled up in front of.  Not surprisingly, this doesn't go extremely well, shocking - I know.  At the same time the rest of the fraternity is having a huge party which does involve much of the irresponsible drinking and casually cruel misogyny I think you can't make a film like this without.  It doesn't take too long for the two groups to be pulled together.  In addition to the tension of the "holy shit everything is going wrong" and the compounding of that by poor decision making there's also the tension between the frat pledgemaster douchebag overlord and the most ethically minded of the pledges (though that's not a high bar) Adam (Trevor Morgan). Who's none too thrilled with the poor quality of decisions being made one after another by everyone in sight.  The night devolves in part into a high stakes game of chicken between the two.  Which keeps you guessing until the end if you're watching a horror film / tragedy, an optimistic thriller or a broader statement on group dynamics.  The only thing you're quite sure about is that Brotherhood is in no danger of morphing into a romantic-comedy.

I suspect this wasn't a particularly high budget endeavor, just from some things I read early one and a random conversation I had on line with someone at SXSW who I believe was (or worked with) the producers.  But truth be told that's in no way apparent as the production values are quite high.  In addition to the intensity of much of the film, the other standout feature is the quality of the cast.  While many are extremely unlikeable as written the level of the engaging performances are high.  My guess is we'll be seeing a lot of good things coming from both the folks who made this and the folks in it.  In the meantime you can now officially add this to your Netflix queues or head on over to your favorite internet retailers if you'd like to own a copy.

SIFF Shortsfest 2011 - Skip it at your peril

There are lots of ways to make your own personal festival out of SIFF. Maybe you only want to see German films, love stories, or animated escapades. One niche that SIFF carves out into it's own show within a show are short films. While others will undoubtedly screen before features a collection of the really good stuff has been grouped into a weekend of mini-film festival goodness. Beginning on May 27th with Shortsfest Opening Night and concluding on May 30th you can spend your entire four day memorial day weekend watching these bite sized pieces of cinema. And at $100 ($75 for members) it's one of the most inexpensive pass options going this year (individual tickets also available at SIFF.net or the box office).

The films are grouped up into rough themes and screened in sets of 5-10 per 90 minute (or so) block. I've been lucky enough to watch five of the packages so far. I always enjoy throwing a few shorts sets into the SIFF mix, as you're almost guaranteed to like a few of them. Watching shorts to me is akin to Seattle's weather. Don't like it at present?, that's OK, just wait 15 minutes. As someone who has traveled specifically to shorts festivals such as the scorcher that's Palm Springs Shortsfest in late June I can happily report that this year's Seattle offerings are some of the strongest I've seen to date. The hit to miss ratio is very satisfying. Even if you don't normally try shorts I'd really encourage you to pick a package that sounds good and give it a try. Odds are you won't be disappointed.

I've published some notes over at Three Imaginary Girls summarizing what I've seen that's part of the ShortsFest weekend. As always you can pop over there for the full read and lots of amazing SIFF 2011 coverage.  Or you can read basically the same content after the jump - but with a few trailers added for fun.  Your call...

Burke & Hare (UK)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Eventually I was going to stumble upon a film I did not at all care for.  Thankfully (for me), the first one is a British production staffed with lots of name brand folks. So it's a bit easier, emotionally speaking for me to share my unvarnished opinion.  Which is that if you have anything else to do during the three SIFF screenings of Burke & Hare you probably should do that.  Like take a break, polish your nails, or watch the far, far superior I Sell the Dead on home video.

I sat down to watch Burke & Hare with a significant amount of optimism.  Why you ask?  Well here's the short description from the SIFF guide:

"Two roguish entrepreneurs discover that the grave robbing trade can provide a fine living when the demand for cadavers from rival medical professors Dr. Knox and Dr. Monroe outstrips the local supply. A superb exercise in gallows humor from the director of An American Werewolf in London"

I may be a sucker, but that sounded pretty tempting to my eyes.  I mention that because I want to be clear that a film about doctor's butchering corpses in what I (correctly) assumed would be some significant visual detail did not turn me off.  What made this a poor film experience for me was the decided lack of laughter emanating from my person. Not discomfort with the subject matter.

The setup is as described.  A pair of grifter types are on the verge of total financial collapse. Then they overhear that a local anatomy school is looking for fresh corpses.  Seems there's a shortage due to some political shenanigans that disadvantaged one of the two local academies that previously has a steady supply of hanged criminals to work with.  When one of their tenants dies of natural causes the pair sells him to a less than scrupulous doc for a decent amount of cash - and a promise to buy any more bodies they come across.  They enjoy the money, they need more.  So they look for a dead body to sell.  It doesn't take long before they realized the easiest way to get a dead body is to be there at the time of death.  Which is much easier if they kill the person themselves.  Which they proceed to do - over and over.  Meanwhile one of the pair falls for a bar entertainer who aspires to put on the first all-female production of Macbeth.  There's some dirty language, a few laughs, comical (at least intended as such) scenes of folks getting it on.  With dissected bodies occasionally thrown in to remind you it's black comedy.  No scares, limited laughs, never engaged more than superficially by any of the characters - not sure what else I really need to say here...

A couple of years ago there was a pretty similarly themed film playing at SIFF called I Sell the Dead.  It's almost as though the folks behind Burke & Hare saw I Sell the Dead and decided that they'd like to remake the film, but eight times worse.  If that was their goal then all I can say is Mission Accomplished.  Which annoys me even more than it normally would as this past SXSW I met a super nice couple who had both worked on I Sell the Dead and were sharing cool stories with me about the ridiculously low budget production (that didn't look it) done around the NYC area.  I wish SIFF had just brought that earlier film back to theaters in place of Burke & Hare which will draw at least some audiences based on the actors participating in the production. While looking up the IMDB link for the older film I noticed it is going into rotation on TMC, so if you're a subscriber good time to set your TiVo.

I just learned while writing that Burke & Hare seems to be a re-telling of a horrific true story tale, which has been told numerous times before - with a 1972 version clearly visible in an IMDB search.  I can see how this might work for horror, and even for comedy.  Unfortunately this succeeds as neither.  A couple of guys killing people to sell the corpses for medical experiments isn't the most sympathetic material for (even black) comedy. But unless I'm supposed to grade on a difficulty curve I still cannot recommend using valuable SIFF time for this film.

All said and done, some folks are going to like this film.  I truly hope if you see it you're one of them.  I know for sure there's at least one member of the press who really dug Burke & Hare because there was a list of films folks liked on the wall of the press office that brought the film to my attention in the first place.  But for me this was a weak exercise that was just a derivative take on far better genre films.  I kept hoping it would get better, but by the end I was just kicking myself for staying with it.  Utterly pointless.

If in spite of all of this you still want to see the film - here's a link to the ticket sales page on the SIFF website.  It screens 6/4, 6/6, and 6/11.

Bridesmaids

Hi, my name is Rich and I'm a big fan of romantic comedies. But even if you don't have this particular personal problem quirk, I think most people will find something to laugh seriously at in Bridesmaids. If you're male and in a dating situation it also has the benefit of appearing to be a chick flick while (I'm pretty confident) appealing to a broad population.

Guys - don't worry, this isn't like Sex in the City 2, where you went to be nice and spent the next two and a half hours deciding if the downside of clawing your eyes out outweighs the benefits of not having to see what was going on for the rest of the picture. That said, Bridesmaids isn't is a film to bring your young daughters (or sons) to...unless you want to expand their vocabulary a bit, and not in the workplace acceptable way.

Even the most casual film viewer from the last hundred years will recognize the story and the milestones along the way. Annie (Kristen Wiig), a woman without a lot of luck in love or business, struggles with emotional baggage while serving as her best friend Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) Maid of Honor. The arc of the story delivers all the required genre comedy touch-points - the engagement party where Annie is upstaged by Lillian's new and fabulous friend, the dress shopping excursion, and then of course the wedding. They even throw in the obligatory bachelorette party trip to Vegas. In all this they still find time for a potential love interest for Annie, the failed cake baker. In a lot of ways Bridesmaids, will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a picture with Julia Roberts (when she's not playing a prostitute).  What makes it stands out is that it's consistently downright funny, and does so in a way that's raw and raunchy enough that it makes you keep asking yourself, "This is a movie about a wedding, right?" The comedy was so strong I'll even forgive the one scatological scene that seems to be obligatory for anyone making a hard R comedy piece these days. Honestly, that's not really my cup of tea. Though if you're going to do a food poisoning scene and swing for the fences, I must admit that the end image of what Bridesmaids delivers truly raises the bar.  So in that sense, heaven help us all…

The rest of my review, which really just says "Go see it" can be found at Three Imaginary Girls.

Three SIFF films to add to your to-see list (and a mess of commentary on a bunch more)

I know plenty of folks are making their SIFF lists and checking them twice to prepare for the festival.  Or maybe that's how the Easter bunny does it? - I'm not super clear on these childhood superstitions.  All I do know for sure is that the SIFF box office is wide open for business.  Hopefully you sprung for a pass of some sort allowing you to postpone film selection as long as possible.  Or perhaps you're looking to buy some tickets and looking for a sure thing. Either way I'm hoping to offer some assistance.

About a week back I published comments on 13 or so SIFF films I'd seen along with recommendations to consider seeing Another Earth, Womb, Simple Simon and Sound of Noise to your lists.  Today I'm back with thoughts on an additional number of films I've caught since then.  Either in press screenings or at home via festival DVD screeners.  OK, and one I totally forgot I'd seen until I reread the description recently.  It's clear I'm getting into festival mode for sure when I publish just a few sentences on a film vs. a long seemingly endless commentary on each individual one.

These are in no particular order.  If you're just looking for the standout recommendations the films I've liked the best in the last week include Hooked, Submarine, and Amador.  In the category of "not what I was expecting" there's Finisterrae which I'm sure has an audience out there but is way more experimental than what I was expecting. Perhaps worth reading more on that if you're the sort who's drawn to a film by a description that mentions that the ghosts are depicted by two guys wearing sheets.

Without further adieu here's my rundown on nine more films playing at SIFF this year.

Amador (Spain) - Marcela is an immigrant to Spain who lives with her boyfriend making a living running a not entirely by the numbers flower business.  When their key asset (a refrigerator) dies suddenly their only choice is to buy a new one for credit.  Which normally wouldn't really be Marcela's problem as the film opens with her leaving a Dear John letter for the boyfriend on her way out the door.  Except for the he ill timed realization that she's pregnant which her back home in time for supper, and forced to deal with how they'll pay for the refrigerator at month's end.  Her clear ambivalence about the pregnancy at first takes a backseat to the practical financial matter at hand.  Their solution is a short term gig for Marcela taking care of the bedridden Armador.  The position promises a payout at the end of the gig that will cover the short term emergency expense.  As you'd expect in a film like this she and Armador go from cold and frosty to kindness in the course of their first week together.  What you might not expect is Armador's sudden death soon after (in my defense it's called out clearly in the film description).  How Marcela chooses to deal (or not deal) with the death which could cause the sudden termination of the much needed employment while she struggles with what she really wants out of life drives the rest of the picture.  Magaly Solier as Marcela is extremely engaging in the quiet but central role.  She and Celso Bugallo (Amador) have a positive, believable chemistry that makes it work - even after Bugallo ceases to be onscreen.  It's worth saying for the record that this is an internal voice drama more than a Spanish Weekend at Bernie's.  There are definitely moments of humor, but it's not there primarily for the laughs.  A nice film well worth seeing.

Win/Win (Netherlands) - I'll admit that I was pretty excited to see this one.  The festival's description of a character study of a young wunderkind banker which "subtly skewers the hubris that helped bring about economic calamity" sounded as close to a sure thing as a description of singing vampires in the program catalog.  Not as dramatically off as my vampire musical experience last year but Win/Win didn't fully work for me.  It's a well done film and I was pretty enthralled for the early portion of it.  The problem may come down to - if you've seen one brilliant banker rises and then falls story you may have seen them all.  Perhaps unique here is that that this character never really falls due to his hubris - he's actually almost bulletproof.  But instead is undone by the emotional void created by his work.  Or something like that.  It's hard for me to put my finger on the issue I had with the film - but my overall impression was a solid "whatever..."  Aka it falls in the OK to decent range, but not amazing.  I'll admit it's a personal call - but then again so is the optimism around vampire musicals.  For the record, two of the three of those I've seen to date have been pretty great.      

Submarine (UK) - Fifteen year old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) like many young men is focused on three things; fitting in with his peers, losing his virginity and ensuring his mother does run off with her ex-lover new-age ninja motivational speaker who has moved in next door. Visually creative and well written enjoyable film. Could have perhaps bonded more with the main character - but the distance I felt from him didn’t take me out of the story too much. Recommend giving it a look.

Finisterrae (Spain) - The other day I was talking to a fellow festival attendee on line.  When he heard I'd seen Finisterrae it came up that they'd shown the trailer for it at the SIFF members' preview.  He explained it was basically three minutes of two guys standing around in white sheets, occasionally with a horse - but there was really not much going on.  In exchange for this information I replied that the film in its entirety was very much the same, only about 77 minutes longer.

For the right audience Finisterrae is likely a masterpiece of experimental cinema that perhaps has hilarious allusions to The Seventh Seal and likely deep commentary about the nature of death and life.  However, to this viewer it really did boil down to two ghosts (portrayed by men wearing white sheets) on the most boring road trip of all time.  From the short festival description "High art meets low comedy in this absurd road movie where two ghosts, clad in bed sheets with eyeholes cut out, seek rebirth by traveling to Finisterrae, the end of the earth" I guess I was expecting a different movie.  Some of the humor I think I caught (for example you'll notice the sheets get dirtier and dirtier as time goes on), but I've got to say the experimental component really is the key thing here.  Go knowing that with my best wishes.  This one just reminded me that I am not an experimental guy.  In the cinematic regard at least.

Karate-Robo Zaborgar (Japan) - in the case of the latest film from the director of Mutant Girls Squad and RoboGeisha the description from the SIFF guide is quite accurate:

"Police officer Yutaka Daimon and his motorcycle-transforming karate robot partner Zaborgar fight the evil super-crime organization Sigma. But when Daimon meets Miss Borg, a sexy cybernetic agent, their love affair threatens not only his partnership with Zaborgar, but the entire free world as well."

I haven't seen any of his earlier films so I cannot really compare this to those.  This one did feature the cheesy visuals and ridiculousness I expected having seen the trailer from RoboGeisha last year.  But what surprised me at times was the over the top soap-opera melodrama at work. While I laughed at some of the characters (I'm looking at you Diarrhea Robot) and got into some of the action I also felt suitably outraged at the gender discrimination face by Miss Borg. Notwithstanding her ability to fight with her head and body separated the other evil henchmen just wouldn't respect her.  Could be based on out of date gender stereotypes in Japan, or maybe the rocket firing breasts, but I'm just guessing.  There's a lot of stuff going on under the hood here.  Don't even get me started about how the time-out scene between Miss Borg and Yutaka was an homage to Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight.  All the while there truly is a motorcycle that transforms into a karate fighting robot in a way that will remind you far more of a childhood toy than a big budget Transformers film.  There's just no way to really describe every aspect of the zany going on here without producing a review the length of the film.  

Turns out this film is more directly a tribute to transformers than I initially realized. From what I've read it's based on a 1970's TV show called Denjin Zaborger. Whose crazy description on wikipedia has a significant number of simularities between the film and show's plots.  Though I'm guessing the romance is new.

Overall it was pretty silly fun. Though I have the sneaking suspicion I hadn't achieved the proper blood alcohol level to really appreciate it during my screening.  Checkout the trailer and if it looks appealing it probably will be fun for you.  I haven't double checked but I believe this is a midnight screening - if so the crowd's enthusiasm will definitely enhance the experience.

Circus Dreams (USA) - Takes us behind the scenes of Circus Smirkus as we follow the touring youth group from start to finish.  Circus Smirkus which provides an opportunity for talented kids who are thinking of going into the business a chance for a live experience and great mentorship.  It seems to also provide a hands on lesson on how to run a business on the continued bleeding edge of financial insolvency by planning via hope and a prayer.  Putting that second part aside it was interesting to watch some of the kids - particularly the pair of female clowns who we get the most time with.  Beyond them coverage of any one aspect wasn't especially deep - just gives you some fly on the wall time.  I wouldn't say it's a very enthralling documentary but not an unpleasant one either.  It's likely targeted at a younger audience though I hate to really cut a picture slack based on dumbing it down for youngster.  The best part of the film that I can see is that post SIFF screenings there will be a "Kids Circus Arts Workshop" at Teatro ZinZanni.  Hopefully there will be less cases of food poisoning during these events there than are depicted onscreen.

Hooked (Russia) - I'm sure if I thought about it long enough I could find flaws. But overall I was very satisfied with the experience of watching Hooked, a fun adrenaline ride from Russia that bests the majority of recent Hollywood action flicks at their own game.  With the possible exception of giving the female characters little to do - in which category Hooked performed consistently with most American blockbusters.

The premise is preposterous, but quite clever in it's ability to setup the rest of the film.  Six students compete as a team in a video game competition, each demonstrating their superiority in different game genres - from martial arts, to first person shooters, to driving simulations.  Each takes home as a prize a new videogame that when played makes their computer go boom.  Though it also has the interesting side-effect of giving them the real life abilities they previously only had in the game.  Which results in their own personal A-Team consisting of a small combat squad and a driver.

Before you know it they're getting into trouble, gunning down a hardened brigade of soldiers and being tricked into working for organized crime.  Which, duh, leads to numerous complexities.  But few that can't be handled with a fast trigger finger.  Dabbling in the ethical complexities of their situations and an inability of some to treat real-life killing as different from their virtual universe the picture could easily have gotten bogged down.  Instead the filmmakers give brief nods to these moral issues while keeping the action fast and furious with an ever escalating count of plot reversals.  There's some plot about tracking down the other copies of the gamer to soldier converting CD's - but that's just a MacGuffin to keep the heat up on things.

Early on I just surrendered to the action onscreen and as such enjoyed the ride.  Hooked does a nice job capturing the excitement of a truly fun video game and blending it in with some cinematic goofiness.  And I mean that second part in the nicest possible way.  I've since learned there's already a Hooked 2 out in Russia, which I'd like to catch as well.  There as in this case, I suspect it's probably a good idea not to think to hard or long about the implications of the flick.

Hayfever (Italy) - the official festival writeup describes Hayfever as "An Italian Empire Records set in a kitschy vintage shop" that "takes a sweet, tough look into the lives of a group of 20-something roman misfits."  That's all well and good but it also mentioned them "writing letters to Jude Law."  Taken as a whole this meant I had to see it.  Overall, I'm glad I did but I still am having a hard time determining what I really feel about the movie.  One one hand I never really dug the two main characters (though some of the minor ones are loveable) which always makes a romance/longing driven story a hard sell for me.  The fact that the male lead's character was so oblivious of his surroundings that his cluelessness would almost be a valid argument against Darwinian evolution didn't help.  But I liked the visual style of the film and the virtual tour of Rome quite a bit.  In the end I think I somewhat can recommend it, mainly due it it taking such a divergent path at the end from where I thought it was going.  This aggressive confounding of the normal patterns of such films ended the story with a different takeaway from the standard romantic comedy and earned the picture some extra respect in my book.  Don't get me wrong, it's mostly a light feeling piece of cinematic fun. Some might argue with my positive characterization of the ending if they don't have my strange sensibilities about these things.  Keep in mind I laughed out loud at the end twist of I Am Love.

Paper Birds (Spain) - During my first few times through the program catalog I'd missed the fact that I'd actually seen this movie.  It played in Palm Springs and I dearly wish at this point I'd captured my thoughts on the film at the time so as to better relate them now.  I do remember I didn't really love it and my core issue, though perhaps not the nuanced details around the why.  The film is set in post-civil war Spain and follows a troupe of performers who are harassed to varying degrees by agents of the Franco government.  It's a hard, hard life and these people try to make the best of it through their virtual family of performers.  Dark as it is, that part of the film would have a lot to recommend it.  But something about the intense melodrama kept me from truly being pulled into the film's world.  Part of that, perhaps a large part of that is the overwhelming music that seemed ever-present informing me how to feel.  From the introduction in Palm Springs I recall mention that the music was composed by the director.  That's certainly an impressive accomplishment, but I think in this case less would be more.  The melodrama continues right through to the penultimate scene which I may have chortled a bit at.  That is I'm fairly sure not the reaction being sought.  Plenty of people I met really dug this film, and I want to be clear that I didn't hate it either.  So your mileage may vary.