Free Preview Screening (Seattle and Portland): Trishna

When it rains it pours - back with another free preview screening for you. This time there's something for folks both in Seattle and our neighbor to the south Portland. Passes are below - just click on to see the higher resolution version, print and head out this Monday evening (7/16). Both screenings are scheduled to start at 7pm. But as always with these free screenings you'll want to get there before that. How much earlier is a magic function of the film, the weather, and what else is going on that night. Sadly, my predictive powers cannot help much. I leave it to readers to figure out how much seeing something early for free is worth vs. waiting and paying $11 or so...

Anyways ... the film in question is Trishna. It's an updated retelling of the unbelievably depressing classic novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles as re-imagined by director Michael Winterbottom. It screened at SIFF this year (as well as quite a few other major fests) but I haven't personally seen it. Something I'll likely correct next Monday myself. It was reviewed by Imaginary Embracey a colleague at Three Imaginary Girls who stated succinctly

Frieda Pinto is very good as the title character of this fast-paced and super-glossy Michael Winterbottom adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, here set in contemporary Rajasthan, India. Poor but pure-hearted Trishna meets douchey richboy Jay, who offers her a sweet job with his father's hotel in distant Jaipur; a methodical seduction ensues, and (spoiler alert!) eventually things do not go well. The film offers many pleasures, but its warm sheen belies the chilly darkness beneath.

We don't 100% agree on every film - but he's certainly steered me off a bunch of stinkers. Well, tried to is probably the more accurate term. But by ignoring him I realized he was correct. Hence Trishna seems like a safe bet as long as you're not expecting the feel good movie of the summer.

Hope some folks will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to spend Monday night in air-conditioned comfort enjoying a free film.