Fantastic Fest 2012 - Poster and Opening Night film Announced

Seems that Disney has gotten their claws into this year's Fantastic Fest in a bit way. The festival is opening with the world premier of Tim Burton's Frakenweenie. I had a truly fantastic time last year and if I'm lucky enough to return I'm sure it'll once again be a blast. There are few festival experiences that even remotely compare.

I'm not really sure what to think about this year's opening selection - though at least I'm not going to actively avoid it like 2011's Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence.This year's poster was also announced and graces the top of this post.

The full press release is after the jump...

I Wish (Japan)

I wrote a bit about the entertaining film I Wish a few weeks back when it screened during SIFF. This week it opened in Seattle at the Landmark Varsity Theater which drove me to write some more (but still not a lot) about it for Three Imaginary Girls. I'd definitely suggest checking out the film when you can. Reading the longer review however is totally optional.

SIFF 2012 Wrap-up

I've been attending the Seattle International Film Festival for a good number of years now. Certainly longer than I've been writing this blog. In terms of in theater film-going this was a lighter year for me than normal, due to a variety of factors. But I still managed to see at least 70 of the films that played. I say "at least" because realistically I tend to forget to make a note of one or the other until much later. For example I don't think my count includes Red Road which I saw several years earlier but screened at SIFF this year (and I know I'm forgetting some screeners I watched at home. Around 1/3 or so of the "SIFF" films I actually saw at an earlier festival such as Palm Springs, SXSW or Fantastic Fest. With those factored in and a number of films I watched via DVD screener my total count is nowhere near my peak of 98 or so films screened in theater.

That's sort of sad in a ways - but the positive part of this is the ratio of films I actually really liked to those seen in total was strong in SIFF 2012. I'd like to say that was driven by super careful selection on my part. But in reality I think it was just luck. But I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good - so I'll take it.

While I did less movie-watching I did more physical exploring. Attending quite a few parties (6 by my count, and only missing one I'd hoped to hit), spent almost 90 minutes listening to the director of the Exorcist crack-up an audience at the Egyptian, interviewed the director of Game of Werewolves and hitting every one of the official venues this year including those in Renton and Everett. None of these would I given up for a film, something I realized last year when I recapped my cinematic adventures. The interview is coming, don't worry...

Interestingly (maybe) if I were forced to choose five favorites except for the SIFF opening night film they'd all been things I'd seen on prior travels. That hypothetical set would include; Your Sister's Sister, Las Acacias, Safety Not Guaranteed, The Central Park Effect and Klown. Some of the standouts which I actually saw at SIFF include; I am Not a Hipster, Gimme the Loot, The Intouchables, King Curling and Valley of Saints. For the record these "lists" are in no particular order.

The full list of what I've seen (and remembered) is below. A more practical way to peruse the full set is to jump over to the "IMDB list" I created. That way you can delve deeper into the details of each film and most interestingly add those of interest to your IMDB watchlist. A handy creation that I've started using more and more to keep track of things. Coupled with the IMDB mobile app it provides a handy reminder when a movie on your watchlist appears in your local theater. I did throw some ratings on the list to enable basic sorting - I'd take those with a grain of salt. Couldn't say the quantitative ratings are that accurate, though the relative ranking probably isn't super far off.

419 (USA)

I'd started writing a short blurb on 419 in a mega-update post I'm working on about the last week of my SIFF films. But once virtual pen hit paper it ballooned pretty quickly. So I've paused temporarily on the big catchup to talk just about 419. A film friends warned me off of, but which had a concept so compelling I needed to try it for myself. They were all correct...

The concept is fantastic. A struggling actor is scammed out of his life's savings over the Internet. He and his two buddies travel to South Africa to find the perpetrator. Things go bad. Those sentences describe the brilliance of the setup of 419 - a film named after the shorthand used for classic "Nigerian letter scams." If I seem especially frustrated with 419 it's because it's so upsetting to see such a great idea for a film result in such an unfortunate results. I tried to break down some of the reasons the execution of this concept went off the rails.

Thought #1, if you're making a movie think really hard why you want to do a "found footage" feature instead of a straight narrative. 419 is setup as if it's a documentary. Meaning lots of talking head shots of the participants in the trip to South Africa, their friends, and a few law enforcement people aware of the outcome of their story. The documentary feel setup at first seems dead on, but then quickly feels rather fake. If found footage is key to making the plot work then great. But if it might serve as a distraction and make the audience wonder if you only did it to avoid writing a script beforehand then don't. And yes, the film was improvised. Actually the dialog itself was fine - but I wonder if the script less nature allowed folks to overlook that the drama/heat wasn't really building effectively. Also, some of the law enforcement talking heads began to feel comical after a few appearances.

Shaky-cam, unless you're using it for a very specific reason then don't. Unless that reason is to occasionally force viewer perspective rapidly onto something unexpected you probably should think twice - regardless what your original "specific reason" was. Look, I'm not saying that found footage films are bad or that having an unstabilized camera is an inherent disaster. But please, please please, ask yourself why almost your entire freaking movie really has to be super shaky. It's distracting for an audience, and in a film where constant distraction isn't the goal a different approach will likely be more effective. Plus, in 419 one of the three friends is supposed to be a documentary filmmaker along for the ride. In other words he's supposed to be a professional (or at least somewhat talented) cameraman . Even when the group is running after someone he'd take some measures to ensure the video is at least somewhat stable. When people are talking in a room there wouldn't be a need for constant askew angles. Maybe he's supposed to be an incompetent documentary filmmaker? Though I should have known something was up when early on he hands the other two friends flip-cams. Seriously not a good sign for what was ahead - next time I see flipcams handed out in a found footage movie I'll be making an early exit.

In summary - waaaaaaayyyyyy to much shaky cam distracted hugely from the film. By comparison another found footage picture Trollhunter had considerably more stable periods, and it was about chasing flippin' trolls for heaven's sake! As the found footage concept led to the super shaky concept this is another reason I expect 419 could have been much more effective as a narrative piece. If as a filmmaker you're going to leave me with a wicked headache the rest of the picture has to be so good that I'm grateful for the pain.Not the case here

Next up, if the hook is "and then things go bad" bloody well make sure that the "going bad" part isn't just the last ten minutes of the film. Proceeded only by a bunch of friends doing stupid things, wandering around South African townships like privileged douchebags and skyping home to their girlfriends. Oh, and try to focus on making the "things go bad" part interesting. I don't want to speak much about how the picture ends, other than to say it wasn't especially satisfying. I guess it could have been unexpected (though it wasn't to me), but by the time it happened I was starting to think nothing much would happen expect for these dudes wandering around being unlikeable onscreen for a while.

Finally, when things are done going bad, wrap things up as quickly as possible. Don't return for another several minutes of talking heads now shaking their heads about the motivations of the "twist." Talent knows when to quit. Don't linger over what you think is a shocking ending. Especially true if the ending is less shocking than you think it is.

The actors in the film were solid, while I didn't especially love their characters I found them believable. Sure, at first I questioned how three New Yorkers could be this dumb (except for the one who went along and kept saying "you know, this seems like a bad idea"). But that was explained away as the three were transplants from elsewhere in the country. And the production had great access to interesting locations in South Africa. But overall the lack of compelling story and unbelievably distracting camerawork left me with one of my most underwhelming experiences of SIFF 2012.

Normally I try to include a trailer - but the only one I can find is at the film's site and is non-embeddable. If you'd like to get a better sense of the picture you can bounce over to their site and look.

A bit on the final week of SIFF 2012

A few quick notes on some of the SIFF films I've been seeing over the past week. Still several to catch up on - but if I don't start I'll never finish....

Salt White (Georgia) - Sometimes you see a film billed as a "romantic comedy" which makes you realize some cultures may have very different definitions of romance. And comedy. Salt White is one of those films - though truth be told maybe that label is the sort of thing SIFF programmers throw on when they don't quite know what to call something. A policeman meets a woman drenched along the side of the road. They say little but she invites him to visit one of her several jobs - this one at a restaurant. We know something is going on because there's a persistent random sequence of notes that reminiscent of something between Twin Peaks and late night cable TV "adult" programming (or so I'm told). Over the course of the film she works at many jobs, he runs errands, they sleep together and she develops a supportive relationship with a runaway teen. Also people fret about whether they have the correct identity papers. There's a lot going on that might be clear to a Georgian audience. But not so much to me. There are some beautifully shot scenes, and the characters are intriguing. But not nearly as much fun as the humorous back-story you'll invent for yourself over the next two days after seeing this film. Unless you're looking for such a creative exercise I don't especially recommend.

Moonrise Kingdom (USA) - Wes Anderson returns with a sweet beautiful little film about two twelve year olds in love. If it wasn't so much fun one could remark that Mr. Anderson is now making films that appear to parody Wes Anderson. With the usual suspects from his earlier films plus a few more there's lots and lots (and lots) of quirky dialog and scenery. The two young leads make this work - and outside the strangeness it's a conventional story, up to a point. I mention it's conventional because I think it's definitely possible to have not been a huge fan of his earlier work and still enjoy Moonrise Kingdom. To be clear, I liked this movie. Any earlier snark is just me being an ass. I'd suggest ignoring me - except for the part about seeing this movie. You should probably do that.

Gayby (USA) - A woman and her gay best friend decide to have a baby. They decide to do things the natural way, which turns out to be a bit easier for him than expected. They try to have relationships with their chosen genders in parallel. She has her apartment painted and invents "warm yoga." Hilarity ensues. At least it seemed to for most of the audience at SIFF's annual "Gay-la" event where I saw the film this week. I found it mildly amusing with mostly likeable characters. Oh, and the male character works in a comic store where he seems to hang out a lot with his sassy friend who's cultivating a "feminine bear" persona for the dating scene. That friend (also the director) tends to steal a lot of scenes. Though not "steal" in the sense that I was laughing hard out loud. It was sort of smile all the way sort of through while wondering if I could've been seeing something else great instead sort of experience. Though it was nice to talk to a range of SIFF friends at the party after the film.

Là-bas: A Criminal Education (Italy) - A man from Africa arrives in Italy lured by an uncle who tells him it's a land of opportunity. There are some ways to make a buck, but they're all not quite legal. The uncle is involved in drug trafficking and has a tenuous association with the Camorra. Not the safest thing to be in the middle of. I thought it was well done, and the lead has a big future ahead of him. The film itself didn't feel especially enlightening or new. But it did effectively tell a harrowing tale.

The Crown Jewels (Sweden) - An epic tale of alchemy murder, a brother lost and the world's greatest hockey player. Gothic, fantastical and not nearly as good as I hoped it to be this story is interesting to watch at times but didn't leave a strong positive impression. The best parts don't last long enough and there's a lot of darkly whimsical filler that just seemed off. Maybe outside the festival it would have stood out more. I do love the bi-sexual ice dancer turned pro-hockey deity character who tends to pirouette mid-game prior to slamming the puck past the goalie.

The Wire: The Musical

I normally don't post random Internet videos. But for something related to the best TV show of all time The Wire I'll make an exception. Via the folks at Funny or Die comes an advertisement for an imagined musical treatment of all five seasons. There are some clever lines - but the fact that they have so many original cast members in the parody is awesome. Yes - they've got Omar...

The Wire: The Musical with Michael Kenneth Williams from Michael Kenneth Williams

Sunday SIFF'ing...

This weekend was the third episode of the four part SIFF Secret Festival. Which some might be calling the scorched earth week. I'll admit up front this third film in the series is not my fave so far for three that screened. It was very good at times and not really my thing at others. That said, there is definitely an audience for this film - but apparently (maybe not surprisingly) this crowd wasn't it. At least according to this story in The Stranger (though there was some objective data during the screening as well). Overall I appreciated the chance to get to see what I saw - and I know folks who would have killed for the experience this week. To me the Secret Festival is a weekly rolling of the dice. I've seen what are supposed to be warm and fuzzy things there that I positively loathed - way more than Sunday's screening. And you know what?, when I decided it wasn't for me on those occasions I simply left. 'nuff said. But clearly not everyone felt the same way.

Later on Sunday I watched I Wish From Japan. A picture I think most folks will agree on. Several years ago I stumbled upon the absolutely brilliant film Still Walking. So when I saw the same director had something in SIFF this year I marked my calendar. I really enjoyed this tale of two brothers separated by many miles each living with a different parent. They have different but connected lives each one begins to suspect on a mission to get the parents back together. Somehow they hit upon a belief that they can have a wish come true by being at the right place at the right time when their towns are connected via bullet train. So scheme they do, along with their friends, grandparents and probably some other folks I'm forgetting. Just a very beautiful simple (on the surface) and fun film. Highly recommend.

Oh, and I totally need to buy tix to go visit my brother sometime soon. For reals.

My Last Week of SIFF Adventures...

Yikes, I get further and further behind on my SIFF updates. Hope folks are following on twitter where the info is real time, raw and unfiltered.

I've definitely been at a slower pace than previous years at SIFF - but on the flipside I've been seeing more things I really enjoyed. Here's a super quick rundown of what has been on my plate. I may accidentally have skipped some things in my notes. So do shoot me a note or throw up a comment if there's something you're curious about that I haven't mentioned. I also had the opportunity to interview the director of Game of Werewolves - a transcript will be forthcoming eventually. It's a movie worth seeing and it was a ton of fun to learn more about the film from the man who made it.

Enough stalling - on to talking about movies...

Secret Film #2 (country: classified) - One of the best movies I've seen in the last week unfortunately is one I'm legally barred from discussing. That's the second entry in this year's annual SIFF Secret Festival. As most folks know by now all attendees must buy a separate pass for the series (no individual tix) and sign a simple but clear oath of silence. It's hit or miss - or as Carl Spence introduced it the first week looking out into the crowd, "Look's like we managed to swindle you all again..." This year I'm pleased as punch to say they've nailed the first two films - really enjoyed both of the them. So even if they crater the next two they'll be batting a solid 0.500 for the series - which in my view makes it more than worthwhile attending. Still hoping they'll get an early look at the final Twilight series saga, but I know it's a longshot. BTW - why does everyone think I'm kidding when I say that? Seriously? The second movie was very, very entertaining. I guess that's all I can say....

Liberal Arts (USA) was pleasant enough during, but doesn't really stand up very well the longer I think about it. Written, directed and starred in by How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor it tells the story of a 35 year old former English student who loves to read, yearns for the pleasures of his college experience and has the horrible misfortune of being put upon by women of all legal age groups who want to sleep with him. Along his journey towards "adulthood" he makes fun of the Twilight novels while engaging in equally breathless hand-written prose with Elizabeth Olsen. Which left me with a bit of the pot calling the kettle something feelings. It's not at all a bad movie, and it's hard not to take at least a little bit of a shine to Radnor. 

Four Suns (Czech Republic) - A nice enough movie centering around a father and family. Notable mostly in how I was fairly interested in the goings on and equally uninterested in different parts of the film. A slice of life with some heavy stuff thrown in, it's the sort of thing I probably would really enjoy if I saw it on a weeknight during the year, but didn't hugely stand out either way during the intensity of festival season.

The Convoy (Russia) - An army captain who feels no physical pain (and no shortage of emotional self torture) is sent on a mission to retrieve two deserters. Along with an assigned companion he travels to Moscow for the off-base assignment. Along the way he meets many unpleasant people, and experiences many unpleasant things. Few of these evils or betrayals appear to phase him so cynical about the human condition he has become. Trying to get back with the men and they money they stole is difficult, and will eventually have an effect upon him. Sitting through the film was at times an act of will - and not one I'd suggest has significant redemptive value. There's a statement here about Russian society I suppose. If that's why you go to the movies then The Convoy may be your thing. Otherwise, there are a lot of other options out there this year at SIFF.

Starbuck (Quebec) - A loveable loser donates a bunch of sperm as a youth under the alias Starbuck. Later in life as he deals with more modest concerns about possible fatherhood he learns that due to a glitch of some sort he's fathered over 500 children. Many of which would like to meet him - even to the extent of taking him to court. Played both for laughs and for sweetness Starbuck had won the audience award at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Which had me fearing it might be overly sappy or just dumb. As it turns out it was actually pretty good. Not every joke landed - but enough did. And the heartfelt moments actually worked. Probably the first 100 person hug I've seen onscreen and it totally worked.

Other things I've seen recently but haven't had a chance to fully writeup include:

• Fuck My Wedding (Chile) - a continuation of Fuck My Life. Re-uses a lot of the social networking gimmickry and the loveable idiot Javier. I didn't dislike Fuck My Life but I think I might have enjoyed this one more.
• A Checkout Girl's Big Adventure (France) - Light, breezy and perhaps overly soundtracked French romantic comedy. Charming center couple - and if you're going to have a love at first sight meet-cute the couple really needs to sell it. These two did. With a storyline about a checkout person at the supermarket with a widely read anonymous blog there's a bit more of a social message than some other silly romantic comedies. It's a sappy one, but I like that sort of thing. 
• Sunny (South Korea) - An odd mix of melodrama, rapid fire swearing and lots more makes Sunny a creative hodgepodge. Overall I really dug it. A former girl's gang gets back together as adults to support one of their own who's dying. And the highlight was a brightly choreographed student/police riot inter-cut with the gang going head to head with one of their rivals. I liked this film.
• Either Way (Iceland) - A man and his brother in law work a lonely remote detail doing road work. Bonds develop, are tested, and some laughter ensues. Set against a starkly beautiful backdrop it works due to the dialog and the well paired actors.
• 6 Points About Emma (Spain) - A blind woman who desperately wants to be pregnant joins a support group and insists she's immune to love. Which of course means she'll sleep with the therapist and be troubled in different ways. While being completely charming. One of my better SIFF choices - though it seems Spain has very different rules for psychologist/patient fraternization.
• Bunohan: Return to Murder (Malaysia) - Forced to fight a kickboxing match to the death due to debts and man's friends rescue him mid-bought and flee to their hometown. An assassin follows and lots of history and real estate chicanery unfold. I was pretty sleepy, so maybe I missed something. While occasionally interesting it was mostly downhill after the awesome title (Murder is the name of their hometown).
• Brooklyn Brother Beat the Best - Music can be made by some pretty strange bedfellows. That's the case in this film when a down and out indie musician who occasionally dresses as a musical moose and plays for and/or fights with mentally disabled students. For reasons that barely make sense onscreen he's paired with a wacky dude with a pre-booked national tour. Together they create a compelling sound that at some point is described as "The Shins crossed with Sesame Street." Through in a compelling possible love interest and you've got yourself a movie. Maybe one not easy to describe - but one worth watching.
  
• Countdown (South Korea) - A bad ass debt collector needs a new liver. He strikes a deal with a high class con-woman who's a match. She'll allow a transplant operation as soon as he finds the guy who screwed her over. But it's way more complicated than that. A solid ride - though at times it delves more into personal regrets and pain of the characters than perhaps the rest of the film's mood set me up for. Still, overall a good experience.
• The Last Friday (Jordan) - A man needs an operation - else he fears his last Friday may be upon him. In the meantime there are financial and family troubles to deal with. Along with a neighbor he keeps trying to make time with by disconnecting her electricity. A good mix of charming and dark comedy. Not a lot of words - but sometimes that's OK.
• I am Not a Hipster (USA) - An absolutely phenomenal soundtrack is used to chart the emotional ups and downs of the non-hipster singer of the title. Moving to San Diego after the death of his mother he's dealing with a lot of shit. Which he expresses through song, and excessive drinking. And the occasional smacking of of some techno hipster dufus who goes by the moniker Space Face. The film comes alive when his three adorable sisters come to visit. Emotionally effective and delightful to listen to this film was a nice surprise.

At the showing of Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best the film was preceded by a parody/tribute short remake of the Beastie Boys Sabotage video. It was fun - and available online. So I've included it here. You're welcome...

Snow White and the Huntsman

The intensity of fear that overtook me as a young child seeing Disney's Snow White has little competition. That witch and her devastating apple will forever be branded into my brain. At the time I'm sure neither I nor my unfortunate parents felt an appreciation for the experience. But as years go by I look back fondly on one of the first times my emotions got taken over by a film. Actually, now that I think about it maybe it was Sleeping Beauty - listen, I was maybe 7, you can't expect all the details to be correct. In the meantime, Snow White and the Huntsman arrives in theaters this week in what seems like a growing wave of fairy tale efforts including Grimm, Once Upon a Time, and some thing with Julia Roberts that I'm pretty sure isn't my imagination. Marketed as a dark take with some twists on the classic tale I was cautiously optimistic. With Charlize Theron as the witch and the Twilight girl Kristen Stewart girl as Snow it seemed there might be something great there. The visual look of the film is sumptuous and the main reason I think to see the film. Theron delivers what we would expect in an evil Queen - especially after seeing Young Adult. Stewarts's performance is pretty much on par with expectations(leaving aside the Jude Law like love her or hate her discussion). But as a complete film the simplicity of the plot and occasional ridiculousness of the dialog does not work in its favor. By the end my boredom was mostly relieved by trying to guess (with alarming accuracy) character's next lines. One could do worse, but personally I'd suggest opting for one of the SIFF films this weekend.

The story is familiar with some modest variations. A King and his Queen live happily. Born to them is a daughter of great beauty and personality. The queen dies and the the King quickly forgets his sorrow at the sight of Charlize Theron. Sadly he didn't read the credits first and he's more shocked than anyone in the audience when she turns out to be a wicked witch. Who drains the life force of young, beautiful innocent girls to stay forever young. Snow White is locked up in a castle and the evil queen's reign brings blight to the land. Yadda Yadda Yadda.

Eventually of course Snow White escapes and embarks on a road trip to try and muster forces to resist the queen. Along the way there's the Huntsman of the title, her childhood crush and seven or so dwarves. The latter being one of the more incredible special effects of the film with much taller (and I presume more famous) faces' digitally grafted on the heads of others. It's actually pretty seamless and fascinating until you start to consider those seven guys who weren't "good enough" to be allowed to do their own acting.  Though maybe they were just digitally shrunk - that's my personal research project for another day. The road trip gives the filmmakers more opportunities to shine visually. There's the dark forest and a very cool land of the fairies. Every once in a while there's some action. That's all fine. Impressive even - the film looks sharp. Whether it's Theron deconstructing herself into a mess of crows or just the waters crashing against an old school castle. It's just when people start to talk is when something between mild boredom and amusement set in.

The evil queen is given a supporting back story for her deep hatred of men and justification of sorts for her cult of beauty. With the way men regard her and youth poisoning the Queen to become the evil abuser of young women that she becomes.  Ensuring a jumpstart for anyone wanting to write their term paper about the mega stereotypes embodied in both key women of the film. I'd imagine there's a long history of such criticism around Snow White to add to - and if played with in more depth I think I would have dug that aspect. Outside the visuals it's the next most interesting piece of the film. As it is Snow White and the Huntsman is far from the worse contribution to the recent set of fairy tale entertainment. Visually it's definitely in the lead - but with all this star and visual firepower it could have been magnificent. Disney at least for now has nothing to worry about...