A Random Walk Through Film

Watch some Sundance Shorts From Home (or office)

2012-01-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

The annual Sundance Film Festival is now in full swing in snowy Park City, Utah. If you're interested in checking out what's playing they of course have a guide online. Perhaps more immediately satisfying though is the ability to watch nine of the participating short films online - right now. They occasionally make you sit through a commercial at the start and the player can be a bit wonky, but it seems worth the effort. I'm taking some time to watch myself, and so far it's been fun. Though I think it's worth pointing out upfront that Debutante Hunters is a documentary about female hunters in South Carolina. As opposed to a genre thriller about the hunting of debutantes. In case that knowledge would sway your viewing one way or another. Truth be told it's quite good even though my initial reaction was disappointment. ;-) Oh, and so far I've got to say I thought Long Distance Information was sort of brilliant. And I've still got lots more to go.

Back to watching ...

Let My People Go! (France)

2012-01-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

Bright beautiful colors, this home for the (Passover) holidays gay themed French farce has only one problem. But it's a pretty big one for me. Little ... actual ... laughing. I so so so wanted to love this film. But it left me feeling pretty flat. There are a few things that made me chuckle. For example the Golda Meir themed aerobics studio. Or the "Coming Out of Egypt party" at a gay nightclub with its over the top Passover theme. And I did like the boyfriend's super-new-agey mom. But overall I just kept feeling the script was trying too hard. The setup seemed funny, but hilarity never ensued.

The picture starts out in Finland where the main character, a postman of French Jewish descent lives with his partner. One day on his route he ends up with a large envelope stuffed with Euro bills and a seemingly dead man (the original intended recipient of the cash). After a fight related to trust issues with the boyfried he's kicked out and heads back home to his wacky Jewish family. Where he embarks on dealing with a series of family issues. With only time off to "accidentally" sleep with the family's much older lawyer. Oh, almost forgot - somehow they end up arrested after an incident involving a gun and assaulting a law enforcement officer. Crazy, righ! Whatever ... great attempt - but just didn't work for me. Based on the audience reaction I may be alone in that assessment. I can certainly see why it was programmed at Palm Springs. With gay, Jewish themes buried within a fluffy window of French farce it's as close to a sure thing audience draw as they're ever gonna get.

I skipped Sundance for this?...

2012-01-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

Just to be clear, I'm pretty sure I remember moving to the Pacific Northwest in part because there wasn't supposed to be a lot of snow. Now, honestly we haven't had a truly huge amount. But between the hills and the near pathological animosity it seems most municipalities have to removing snow, even a little goes a long way. After a couple of days feeling trapped in the house with nothing but a stack of Independent Spirit Awards "for your consideration" screeners to keep me company I finally decided to go for a walk. As it turns out it's rather pretty outside. And at least the kids seem to be having a good time. Plus I do have a big stack of movies to get through, not to mention Palm Springs reviews. So could be worse.

In case you're wondering - yes, I in all seriousness chose to not try Sundance this year because I didn't see the point in trudging around in snow and cold weather. The fates really do have an ironic sense of humor...

Footnote (Israel)

2012-01-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

One of the films I got to checkout in Palm Springs was Footnote, Israel's national submission for the 2012 Foreign Language Oscar. When the director was introduced he asked something along the lines, "you do know you're all here to see a film about Talmudic scholars - right?" This is the sort of heavy, talky guilt ridden film about not especially nice but remarkably smug folks that some folks tend to really love. Not entirely unrelated - one should ignore the comparisons to A Serious Man which the festival catalog throws out without in my view any real basis.

I was a little surprised with how much the trailer below gives away - so you might want to skip it if you have any interest in seeing the film.

The picture starts with an older man begrudgingly getting dragged out of the house and to an award ceremony he clearly doesn't want to be at, for his adult son. These two are the main characters. Talmudic scholars both - but taking different approaches to academic life. Uriel (the son) has achieved significant professional success, eclipsing his father Eliezer. Uriel relishes the accolades of his peers, to the extent that one new professor is given advice to be sure to always somehow be praising him. Eliezer has a strict purist interpretation of how to behave - he spent 30 years chasing a theory without publishing only to lose credit at the last minute when a competitor finds proof of his theory in an old manuscript. He finds little value in the work of most others - and also tends to look absolutely miserable. When Eliezer is selected for the incredibly prestigious Israel prize after decades of declines there is a dramatic change in both men. In some ways good, in others bad - but certainly with lots of drama, guilt, and soul searching.

Uriel is the more fully sketched character, and while neither man is especially likable, in the third act Uriel steps up in a dramatic way that makes it hard not to respect him. It also makes the final recognition he faces that perhaps others in the establishment were right about his father's achievements all the more painful. Visually Footnote is warm and rich and the performances are nothing to sneeze at. The narrator driven structure early in the film which fills in the biographical details of the parties I found particularly well done. It's the story and ability to connect with the characters that left me a tad put-off. On the surface I didn't greatly care for Footnote, though upon reflection I've found additional depth that that's making the film slowly grow on me. It's an interesting watch, with an unclear payoff but at least something to ponder later. And there is a random female character that no attempt is ever made to explain. I do sort of love that.

Clearly members of the Academy loved the film enough to put it in the top 9 for the foreign language Oscar. As such you might want to take my limited enthusiasm with a grain of salt.

Declaration of War (France)

2012-01-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

A glance across a crowded nightclub and a connection is made. He flings a tablet of ecstasy across the room. Her mouth smartly interrupts its path mid flight. Unstoppably drawn to each other they soon leave together much to the chagrin of her date for the evening. It's a dynamic start to a powerful relationship. Love at first sight crossed with Nancy Reagan's worst nightmare*. A fabulously shot meet cute tainted only by their realization that he's named Romeo and she Juliette. "We're doomed" one exclaims. That's true of course, but not before a lot of ground is traveled. And it's a hell of a wonderful ride...

Before the above transpires the Declaration of War opens at a doctor's office with their elementary school aged son. The start in that setting 5-6 years in the future ensures viewers know there are problems ahead. Whether you should take that visit as everything works out or not shouldn't be spoiled by any review. After they meet there's a respite as Romeo and Juliet fall hard for each other, move in and start a family. While their meeting was chance and sudden they are a great couple where the love at first sight wasn't just Cupid screwing with them. It's clear these two are actually right for each other.

As their baby son Adam grows they struggle with the sort of issues new parents are faced with. As always in the movies that's represented by incessant crying causing them to worry something is seriously wrong. Until they find a patient and wise pediatrician who sets their minds at ease. Things are good again until a series of small things trigger a terrifying diagnosis. The couple resolves to fight. Putting their faith in their doctors and deriving support from each other and their families.** Their declaration of war is most openly on the cancer, but from the presentation of the film you'd be reasonable to interpret it further as a fight against despair. And possibly against the typical movie of the week treatment of such an undesired "adventure."

About this point if I were reading this description of the film I would be thinking about all the things I'd rather do that sit through such a sad state of affairs. Normally that'd be the right call for me. But Declaration of War is so different that skipping it would be a huge mistake. First off, Romeo and Juliette behave like real people. Albeit really really good people. They get frustrated, mad, depressed and at times are just desperately in need of a break. They exaggerate the highs at times and behave in ways some would view as irrational - if they've never had to deal with a major life threatening illness for themselves or a child. But they're also still very much in love - and that aspect makes the film watchable. Painful, yes. But beautifully so. There's also music and visuals well integrated to make this a crazy emotional ride that will make you cry without feeling like a manipulative tearjerker. Leaving the viewer with what I think is a more honest telling of this sad sad story than most filmmakers would produce. The direction by Valérie Donzelli (who plays Juliette) creates a look of a much an older French classic (the poster's illusions to Truffaut feel fair). The script by Donzelli and Jérémie Elkaïm (who plays Romeo) always never hits a false note. It's just a joy to see something like this.

In short Declaration of War is a wonderful film. There's a lot that could have gone wrong. But somehow the film threads the needle perfectly. Producing something that feels realistic, life-affirming, beautifully painful at times, visually creative and joy to watch. A large part of that is likely due to the couple, if one doesn't buy into them no amount of craft would cover that sin. Thankfully it worked - producing a film guaranteed to earn a spot on my best of 2012 list.

* Due to the casual drug usage that's rewarded by a great romance, not because they're French.

** Only as I wrote this review did I realize how implicitly positive the entire piece is about the French health care system. Sadly, I expect a US version of this would have had to devote considerable time to the parent fighting with an insurance company, or at least worrying how to continue coverage when they both stop working at some point.

Tatsumi (Singapore)

2012-01-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

I don't consider myself especially a fan of manga. As such this animated film described as biographical material about a famous Japanese comic artist seemed like a stretch for me. But I'm glad I decided to give it a try as Tatsumi is a fascinating immersion into a world I didn't really know existed. And isn't that at least some of the time why we go to the movies? Tatsumi is a cinematic adaptation of Tatsumi Hoshihiro's autobiographical book "A Drifting Life." He's a leading figure (and I gathered the originator) of a sub-category of Japanese manga called Gekiga. Which are comics/graphic-novels that are intended for adults. Not because they're full of fornicating octopuses, but because they deal with more serious, often darker subject matter and are drawn in a realistic manner. I'd imagine it's similar to the comic book vs "graphic novel" distinction made here.

I've included a trailer for the film that shows the graphical motion-comic feel of the picture - usually I'm not big on trailers but in this case the picture equaling a thousand words cliche is apt. The film includes stories that Tatsumi is famous for, as well as a stand-in character that narrates his growth as an artist, and the creation of the Gekiga concept. While I found the biography part interesting it was the five Tatsumi stories adapted to the screen that kept me riveted. They're not light subject matter, and parts could be offensive to some. But they're all incredibly emotionally evocative. In particular a tale of survivor guilt after Hiroshima early in the film around a photograph that didn't necessarily depict the meaning people ascribed to it was incredibly powerful. The look of the work onscreen varies with the themes and timeframe being depicted, but it's consistently sharp and eye catching.

It's impossible to sense anything but deep love by the director Eric Khoo for Tatsumi's work. Even though it's the first time I'd been exposed to the material that affection is plainly clear. The film isn't necessarily going to turn me into a Gekiga reader by itself - but it absolutely opened my mind to the concept and piqued my curiosity in a serious way. I'm very grateful that Singapore chose to submit this film for their national foreign language Oscar candidate. Otherwise I suspect it wouldn't have made it's way to Palm Springs where I saw it last week. As befitting it's slightly edgier material at times and unusual style (things that play better at Fantastic Fest than Palm Springs) there were some walkouts during the screening I attended. It's been my experience that as long as I'm not the one leaving, people exiting early in Palm Springs is a sign there's something original and exciting onscreen. Tatsumi does not break that rule. This wasn't one of my absolute favorites of my festival trip - but it's certainly one of the more interesting and unexpected screenings I attended.

Palm Springs Film Festival Trip Review - Part I

2012-01-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

As it doesn't get easier the longer I wait suppose I should get started talking about some of the films I watched in Palm Springs. Ended up watching about 20.4 films. I did a quick recap the other day with the list of films by name. Today I'm going to start with some mini reviews. Some may get expanded on - depending on how the spirit moves me. If you're interested in checking out the entirety of my Palm Springs 2012 Festival coverage this link will display it all.

My favorite films of the festival that I watched, either before or during the festival (in no specific order) include:

Declaration of War (France)
A Separation (Iran)
Las Acacias (Argentina)
Sound of My Voice (USA)
Headhunters (Norway)
The Sandman (Switzerland)
Elite Squad II (Brazil)
Pariah (USA)
Bullhead (Belgium)

Some runner's up include:

Turn Me On, Dammit! (Norway)
Tatsumi (Singapore)
Attenberg (Greece)
Piña (Germany)

Though there are several other films such as Gypsy (Slovakia) and Pig (USA) which were also well worth a watch as well.

And now more detail on some of the films. Given the number of films involved I'm going to break things up into multiple posts. Roughly in the order I viewed them at the festival. If you're looking for details on the films at Palm Springs I screened earlier in the year they're summarized here. I plan to break things up with some longer form reviews of specific films as well. So let's get on with it...

Gypsy (Slovakia) - a slice of life/coming of age film. Not surprisingly about a gypsy boy and how he deals with the turmoil of his father dying, his uncle marrying his mom, racist run ins with everyone and a girlfriend who might be sold off. With a random appearance by able couple of ostriches as a bonus. Tough to say how realistic the depiction is - but as you can imagine there are definite moments of bleakness in the picture. The performance of the lead is compelling and the look is solid with some interesting presentation quirks that spice things up. Gypsy is Slovakia's submission to this year's foreign language Oscar category. Oh, and upon a friend pointing it out, there's a more than passing resemblance to Hamlet as well I suppose. Generally liked this one.

Back to Your Arms (Lithuania) - a few months before the Berlin wall went up a girl plans to meet her father. Separated years earlier in Lithuania both are desperately excited to be reunited. But everyone around the girl worries she's being used as a cold war pawn - destined to be spirited away behind the iron curtain. The goings on about the East German side of things certainly make it seem they may not be overly paranoid. With a strong visual sense of place and nothing ever directly spelled out for the viewer Lithuania's Oscar submission could have been a real winner for me. But a lack of emotional attachment to either of the characters left me feeling somewhat vacant about the proceedings. Intellectually interested but emotionally uninvolving, at least for me. Not my strongest watch of the festival.

P-047 (Thailand) - Sometimes you've got to take a risk at a festival. While it didn't come in at 100-1 I still believe P-047 paid off in my favor. I sort of dug it, though it's unusual enough I'm reluctant to broadly recommend the film.

Two friends have a hobby. It works for them. Though probably not the for the folks whose lives they "borrow." One is a master locksmith who hasn't seen a door he can't open. The other is a former movie set continuity specialist, skilled in the art of consistency even after a space has been moved through. Together they relish entering stranger's homes, rifling trough their possessions and just hanging out. Theft is not the goal. In fact it's against their rules. For the most part.

Not surprisingly eventually things don't go smoothly all the time. At which point things transition from what seems like a simple and appealing premise to something less linear in time and a bit dreamier. By the time it's done the picture feels like a criminal slacker slice of life drama crossed with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives. Minus the fish on girl action. I won't say more about the film's title or attempt to explain the recurrent and out of nowhere peacock theme.

There may be three great films stuffed within P-047, all of which on their own I'd like to see. Together they may actually be lesser as a group. While not perfect P-047 was worth the watch. Even if I'm not sure how many folks would agree with me.

Turn Me On Dammit! (Norway) - I thought this coming of age story of a teen dealing with her runaway libido was funny, sweet and well done. Motivating me to write a longer standalone post. I think it's worth checking out when the opportunity presents itself. Enjoyed this film for its frankness, humor and especially due to the strong performance by Helene Bergsholm as Alma. She's both sympathetic and believable in the role portraying the main character as a real, feeling person. An interesting and well integrated soundtrack complements the charming mood. While Bergsholm is a standout by virtue of her need to carry the concept on her shoulders all of the characters deliver. Including Alma's mom whose dealing with her own sexual issues as well as coming to terms with her daughters's. The latter dealing occasionally requiring earplugs.

Declaration of War (France) - This film was my top fave of things I saw during the festival. It's also France's submission for the academy award in the best foreign language film category. Though personally, for me both this and A Separation ought to be competing in the Oscar's main best picture section. The film deserves a full review, and I'm going to deliver just that. But for now I'll just say it's a wonderful film. A love story of two people who are instantly drawn to each other and create a life together. It's also a story of them starting a family with all the attendant hopes and dreams - only to have them far too soon put in peril by the discovery of their son's brain tumor. They decide to fight, and fight hard. Yes, I know this sounds like the most depressing movie ever, regardless of the outcome. And if I told you there were bright colors and occasional musical interludes you wouldn't be wrong to worry that it could be trivializing something incredible personal and painful. But somehow the film threads the needle perfectly. Producing something that feels realistic, life-affirming, beautifully painful at times, visually creative and joy to watch. A large part of that is likely due to the couple, if one doesn't buy into them no amount of craft would cover that sin. Thankfully it worked - producing what I felt was a film guaranteed to earn a spot on my best of 2012 list.

Omar Killed Me (Morocco) - Based on a true story about a Moroccan immigrant to France who worked as a gardener until he was accused and improbably convicted for a brutal crime. The film demonstrates that the US isn't the only nation with an occasional staggeringly confusing miscarriage of justice. Or at least that's how the film presents the case. I don't really know anything about the details of the true crime and trial. As a film Omar Killed Me produces a sense of tension and drama with solid performances throughout. The title comes from the purported fingering of Omar as the killer by the dying woman, writing the accusation in her own blood. Omar is presented as an honest if naively positive fellow whose proximity to the crime and gambling problem combine with the authority's confidence that he's the guy to send him to prison for quite a while. Sort of the way these stories often play out. It's well directed, well acted and a very solid piece of work both behind and in front of the camera.

Pina (Germany) - I'm not a huge fan of modern dance, my positive review of Step Up 3D notwithstanding. But when other folks kept talking online about how incredible the film Pina was I decided to give it a try. The film is a tribute to the famous choreographer Pina Bausch and it's a visually stunning piece of work. Shot in 3D (which is how you should see it) the picture consists of largely nonverbal stagings of many of Pina's (I gather) famous works. I suspect many who aren't dance fans will still be blown away. I'm glad I saw it even though I wasn't that into the dancing. Intellectually it's easy to recognize how impressive it is. Emotionally my heart still wasn't really there. But even so I recognize German's entry for the foreign language Oscar this year as a worthy contender. In Seattle the film will open at the Cinerama theater starting February 10th. That is where you want to see it. No joke. Do not cut corners and see it elsewhere. This deserves to be seen on the big screen and with high quality projection. Even if I personally didn't fall in love with it.

Miss Bala (Mexico) - I'd been excited to see Mexico's submission to the Oscars since hearing a piece about it on NPR. Dealing head on with the horrible drug cartel driven violence it has generated some controversy back at home. A tragic drama about a young girl who just wants to compete for the Miss Baja competition but gets sucked deeper and deeper into a world of violence and intrigue. Of which every part of society is shown as complicit. She's quickly made just another pawn of the drug business, forced to herself commit the crimes that continue to destabilize Mexican society. I'll have a longer form review in the not too distant future, along with a portion of the Q&A I shot featuring the director and producer. The filmmakers indicated they set out to make a statement, and the main (albeit small) criticism I have is that focus may have detracted from deeper characters. The main gangster most notably largely comes across as a caricature. Though one of an incredibly masterful multi-tasker. I met a lot of folks who were more negative on the film than I am. The performances were significant enough for me to care about the predicament that Laura (Miss Bala) found herself in. And the action sequences while not intended to be as pulse pounding as something like Elite Squad II still came across as pretty immediate and demanding of attention. The film didn't quite live up to my highest expectations but didn't really disappoint either. Though I do suspect the Oscar selection status has more to do with the subject matter than the overall film's level of awesomeness. Given the value of reminding folks how serious things are in Mexico that would be a really understandable decision.

That's all for now - more Palm Springs reviews coming as quickly as I can handle 'em...

A history of documentaries that are truly punk rock

2012-01-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

Regular readers may have noticed I have a bit of a fondness for documentaries (and narrative works) dealing with punk/hardcore music themes. Whether that's straight docs like American Hardcore or more niche ones such as Taquacore - The Birth of Punk Islam I'm usually up for giving such films a shot. To the extent that I sat through a full screening of Class of 1984 just because it was screening as part of the book launch of the fantastic Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film. So it was a positive surprise when a friend on Twitter reminded me about Amazon's film blog. Not because of the blog itself, but because of a truly fantastic writeup of punk documentaries written by Paul Gaita. Normally I don't post strictly to point readers to another article. But in this case if you share any of my interest in this genre you'll want to take a read through his comprehensive piece. And he's so right about what a sad state it is that some of the best efforts in this space (such as The Decline of Western Civilization is not available on DVD). I remember watching some of the films mentioned on VHS with friends in high school. Others I've yet to see. But it's a roadmap of viewing well worth bookmarking in your browser.

Turn Me On, Dammit!

2012-01-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

This film was described in the Palm Springs festival guide as being a rare work that deals with the sexuality of a young woman. And that's certainly true. If you were to believe this film some girls want it just as much as their male counterparts. At least in Norway. Shocking, I know!

The film centers around Alma (Helene Bersholm) who lives in some out in the sticks part of the country. Hanging out with her friends they all just want to get the heck out of town as soon as possible. Being just shy of 16 that's going to be a wait. As alluded to in the title Alma seriously wants to get laid. Until she can convince her neighbor boy crush to wake up and tend to her she has to make due on her own. Her mind supplies ample diversions revolving around almost everyone she runs into. And when that's not enough she manages to run up quite a phone sex bill. At an alcohol fueled house party (I know ... these teens drink too!) she almost has some success with that neighbor boy - though his awkwardness leads to serious complications for her. His incredibly inept come-on and Alma's recalling it to her friends (one of which is very jealous) results in her rapidly becoming the town teen's outcast. As well as the film's most memorable line, "he poked me with his dick." Which really does become funnier each time it's used. It's a more literal and less euphemistic description of events than many readers may be interpreting it as.

I really enjoyed this film for its frankness, humor and strong performance by Helene Bergsholm as Alma. She's both sympathetic and believable in the role portraying Alma as a real, feeling person. An interesting and well integrated soundtrack complements the charming mood. While Bergsholm is a standout by virtue of her need to carry the concept on her shoulders all of the characters deliver. Including Alma's mom whose dealing with her own sexual issues as well as coming to terms with her daughters'. The latter occasionally requiring earplugs.

Turn Me On, Dammit! isn't an earth shattering story. But it is well told. Not to mention ultimately both sweeter and more explicitly direct than a US version of the same film likely would be. Taken together I do think that makes the film special. If you're easily offended by sexual topics and have your head in the sand about teens' hormone driven desires this isn't the film for you. It is seriously not. But for those who might enjoy a smidge of gender reversal around their coming of age sex comedies I think you'll find exactly what you're looking for.

Palm Springs Film Festival - The Photo Tour

2012-01-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back from Palm Springs, meaning I should have plenty of time to sit down and start writing about the films I saw. But as it turns out I'm actually pretty tired. So instead on my first night back I plunked myself down to watch the twisty, puzzle-like bit of headgames called Pig which screened at the festival. And while I enjoyed it I still wasn't ready to start doing some writing. Therefore, I'm going to do the lazy thing and share some of my photos from the trip. There's nothing really earth shattering in this collection - but if you've been curious why someone might want to fly to Palm Springs, California this may give you a little bit of a better idea.

You should be able to click onto the images to get a better view. Especially valuable for the panorama images. I still have a few unused photos, but they're from Q&A sessions (Miss Bala and Pig) so those will wait until the reviews.

Don't fret though - I'm hoping to start writing in earnest tomorrow...

The Regal Cinema which is the backbone of the festival in my view. Lots of screens, central location and the only really nice Regal theater I've ever been in. Think Lincoln Square Cinemas in Bellevue quality - if not nicer.

The Regal - lit up with some neon like goodness

Just a random shot from the streets of Palm Springs looking up at the hills that bound the town on one side.

The Camelot Theater which is the other multi-screen venue used during the festival. An easy shuttle ride or a nice walk (if it's not too hot) from the Regal. In addition to popcorn/candy this theater includes a small (and slow) snack shack that serves up ridiculously large sandwiches, salads, wine, and smoothies. The smoothies turned out to be quite tasty. Made with actual fruit and yogurt they're delicious, reasonably priced and the closest one tends to get to a fruit during the fest.

The upstairs of the Camelot boasts a full bar, tables and this year food service after 3pm. Though that might have been going on in the past and I just didn't pick up on it.

The Camelot marque at night.

Another snapshot of the hills. Taken as I walked between the Regal and Camelot theater.

An attempt to photograph the way beautiful moon on display outside the Camelot one night. Unfortunately I didn't quite have things setup correctly. Was distracted by needing to keep an eye on my place in line.

One of the main charms of my hotel was the 2 block proximity to the Regal theater. The other was this off my balcony sight line to Sherman's. Where I once again managed to avoid eating a ~~heart attack on a plate~~ pastrami sandwich made between two latkes.

Turns out that iPhone with enough light and a cheap little app can make some pretty nice panoramic pictures. Here's one shot across a vacant lot I walked by on way to Camelot after dropping off my one day rental car at the airport.

Probably the largest of the Palm Springs venue is the auditorium of the local high school. I'm not a huge fan of this theater. But it's generally easy to get into, the local students run a nice little concession featuring bananas, and if you wanted a free flag there's lots of opportunity to sneak one out.

There's a free shuttle that stops at each venue every 15 minutes. I loves me a fest that doesn't require a car.

This year I managed to find my way into the press/guest/industry lounge held at the hotel across the street from the Regal. Wish I'd discovered this oasis earlier in the festival. Lots of handy snacks and free drinks. Not to mention breakfast and a complimentary happy hour each evening. Membership does have its privileges.

Some of the functional swag from the lounge. Icelandic Glacial water was a sponsor. Once I discovered the lounge there was no longer a hydration problem - nor a popcorn one anywhere in sight.

Short Update on the films I saw during Palm Springs 2012

2012-01-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

I'm going to come back over the next week or two and write at least something about about each of the films I've seen at this year's Palm Springs International Film Festival. But for now, the night before my final partial day (where I may only see one film if that) I wanted to catalog what I'd seen. And call out some of the best things in case it's helpful for folks attending the festival in the second half (especially in the Monday best of fest event).

The recap of all the films I saw pre-festival is in an earlier post. Some of my favorites from before PSIFF started include Sound of My Voice, Headhunters, The Sandman, Elite Squad II, Pariah, and Bullhead.

From the films I saw during the festival the strongest recommendations I have (in order) go to Declaration of War, A Separation, Las Acacias. Don't dare miss any of these when the opportunity presents itself. Additional things I sort of dug at an elevated level are Tatsumi, Turn Me On, Dammit! and Attenberg. With a special call out of Piña which is an absolute must see (and in 3D) if you love dance. I do not, hence the caveat.

Actually, almost everything I saw was at least worth a watch for one reason or another. With the notable exception of Thin Ice which I couldn't even bring myself to watch the second half of. I also had really mixed feelings about Let My People Go. In what's supposed to be a comedy I rarely laughed. But the concept of a Passover based home for the holidays picture mashed up with a gay comedy of errors (in French) made me want to love it. Sadly, I just couldn't. Though the concept of a Golda Meir themed aerobics study did make me chuckle.

If anyone is interested in a digital copy of the big thick festival catalog they've got it online now for free.

I end with a list of the films I saw (as of Tuesday night) in order. Before I go I want to throw out another big thank you to all the staff and volunteers that really make the festival work. Without your patience, savvy and perseverance this thing would have been sheer anarchy. While I met plenty of grumpy attendees (this is Palm Springs after all) I did not meet a single staffer or volunteer that wasn't friendly, helpful and super professional.

Gypsy (Slovakia)
Back to Your Arms (Lithuania)
P-047 (Thailand)
Turn Me on Dammit! (Norway)
Declaration of War (France)
Omar killed me (Morocco)
Piña (Germany)
Miss Balla (Mexico)
Tatsumi (Singapore)
Footnote (Israel)
Let My People Go (France)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (UK)
Attenberg (Greece)
Happy Happy (Norway)
A Separation (Iran)
Goodbye First Love (France)
Terraferma (Italy)
Thin Ice (US) (first half only and that was more than enough for me)
Las Acacias (Argentina)
The Student (Argentina)

One other additional non-movie thing I did do was attend the "Awards Buzz Cocktail Party" thanks to the generosity of my new film festival friend Tim of Ottawa's festival. He was nice enough to invite me along. I was a bit too tired to take full advantage of the mingling opportunities - but I did get a chance to catchup with some folks, including SIFF's own Carl Spence. Though technically Carl has a pretty big role in Palm Springs as well. Not to mention picking up this handy dandy guide to all the Foreign Language Oscar submissions that appeared during PSIFF 2012. The fact that it coincidentally was in the lobby of my hotel made it all the more convenient.

Pariah

2012-01-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

When I'd heard a description of Pariah I wasn't expecting much. A coming of story about a teenager dealing with her identity as a lesbian and her family's refusal to believe it was true. Let's be honest, it sounds like a story we've heard before. Probably more than once in different forms. Given all that I couldn't be more pleased to say how wrong I was. As it turns Pariah out made my list of favorite things I watched in 2011. Just squeaking in under my personal wire, as I saw the film in the last days of the year. It's a worthy addition to the coming of age genre and deserves to be seen.

It's hard to overstate how well put together the actors are here. With the exception moment of some parts with Alike's mother there was never a moment when I felt I was watching people acting. While painful at times because of sympathy for the characters it was a very enjoyable watch, with strong doses of humor mixed in with the drama. Basically, I really, really liked this film. Don't let it slip out of town without giving it a chance.

This is just the summary version of my thoughts on Pariah. The full review can be read over at Three Imaginary Girls.

The Big List of Palm Springs Film Festival IMDB Links - 2012

2012-01-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to some clever and I assume time consuming work by technically inclined film fan and Palm Springs attendee Jeff Parsons I'm pleased to be able to share a very handy spreadsheet including all the films at Palm Springs 2012, times, links to their IMDB page, and a snapshot of the film's IMDB user rating.

The link above should allow you to get access to full spreadsheet goodness including the genre type, full description, running length, etc. I've pulled out just the basics following the jump. Clicking the title of any film below should take you straight over to IMDB to read more about the film.

If you want to sort things just click on the table titles. Allowing you to for example look solely at the most highly rated IMDB rated reviews. Not that I'd put too much stock in that. Besides the fact that your taste may be far from the IMDB mainstream there's another issue. When a film is relatively unseen (as hopefully some PSIFF films are) the user ratings on IMDB can be more easily swayed by friendly reviews. You'll occasionally see a film with a super high average rating filled with superlative after superlative. At least until the film screens, at which point more down to earth reviews roll in. Such bi-modal ratings distributions can be signs of trouble (or greatness I suppose). Hence as with any rating system it's good to take it with a grain of salt unless you look deeply into the details. In short, your mileage may vary. If the why isn't obvious then perhaps this great cartoon from XKCD to the right will illustrate the potential problem.

Movie Title	Country	IMDB User Rating
Abu, Son of Adam	India	8.3
Albert Nobbs	Ireland	6.8
All Your Dead Ones	Colombia	6.5
Almanya @ CLOSING NIGHT GALA 2012	Germany	7.3
Alois Nebel	Czech Republic	7
Apartment in Athens	Italy
Arranged Happiness	Germany
Asma’a	Egypt	9.1
Attenberg	Greece	6.1
August	USA	5.5
Back to your Arms	Lithuania	6.8
Baikonur	Kazakhstan	5.7
Beast	Denmark	6.4
Bert Stern	USA
Beyond	Finland	6.9
Black Bread	Spain	7.1
Blood of My Blood	Portugal	8.3
Bol	Pakistan	8.1
Breathing	Austria	7.6
Brightness	Burkina Faso	7.3
British Guide to Showing Off, The	United Kingdom	7.8
Bullhead	Belgium	7.6
Café de Flore	Canada	7.9
Cairo 678	Egypt	7.9
Cairo Station (aka The Iron Gate)	Egypt	7.5
California State of Mind	USA
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life	USA
Chronicle of My Mother	Japan	6.2
Cloudburst	Canada
Come As You Are	Belgium	7.5
Conformist, The	France	8.1
Corpo celeste	France	7.2
Cousinhood	Spain	6.4
Cracks in the Shell	Germany	7.9
David	USA	6.6
Declaration of War	France	7.3
Diana Vreeland	USA
Die Standing Up	Mexico
Dolphin Boy	Israel	6.7
Edwin Boyd	Canada	4.5
Elena	Russia	7.7
Eliminate: Archie Cookson	United Kingdom
Elite Squad	Brazil	8.2
Escort in Love	Italy	6.4
Expiration Date	Mexico
First Position	USA	7.9
Flowers of War, The	China	7.4
Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story	USA
Footnote	Israel	7.5
Foreverland	Canada	2.5
Forgiveness of Blood, The	Albania	7.2
Front Line, The	Korea, South	6.5
Generation P	Russia	6.8
George Clooney (The Ides of March): Talking Pictures, Politics and Passion	USA	7.4
Girls in the Band, The	USA
Goddess, The	India	7.6
Good Son, The	Finland	5.8
Goodbye First Love	France	6.8
Graveyard Keeper’s Daughter, The	Estonia	6.9
Guilty	France	7.1
Gypsy	Slovak Republic	7
Habemus Papam (aka We Have A Pope)	France	6.9
Habibi	Palestine	5.4
Happy New Year, Grandma!	Spain	7.4
Happy, Happy	Norway	6.8
Haywire	USA	7.8
Headhunters	Norway	7.5
Holidays By the Sea	France	5.7
Hotel Lux	Germany	6.5
House, The	Czech Republic	6.6
How Big is Your Love	Algeria
If I Were You	Canada
If Not Us, Who?	Germany	6.5
In Darkness	Canada	7
Innocence	Czech Republic	6.9
Invader, The	Belgium	6.6
Island President, The	USA	9.2
Jiro Dreams of Sushi	USA	7.5
Jose and Pilar	Brazil	8.8
Kid with a Bike, The	Belgium	7.6
Kiss Me	Sweden	6
Land of Oblivion	France	5.8
Las Acacias	Argentina	7.3
Last Winter	Belgium	6.7
Le Havre	Finland	7.5
Lena	Belgium	6.3
Let My People Go!	France	5.6
Love in the Medina	Morocco	7.1
Lovely Man	Indonesia
Loving Story, The	USA	6.9
Lucky	South Africa	7.4
MARILYN (The Prince and the Showgirl): INTIMATE EXPOSURES @ Palm Canyon Theatre	USA	6.5
Man Without a Cell Phone	Belgium	7.4
Michael	Austria	7.6
Michel Petrucciani	France	7.3
Miss Bala	Mexico	7.3
Monk, The	France	6.2
Monsieur Lazhar	Canada	7.9
Montevideo	Serbia	7.9
Morgen	Romania	6.9
Mulberry Child	China
My Australia	Israel	6.5
My Best Enemy	Austria	6.6
My Father Baryshnikov	Russia	6.4
Niño	Philippines
North Sea Texas	Belgium	6.4
Nuit #1	Canada	6.4
Off White Lies	Israel	7
Old Goats	USA	6.7
Omar Killed Me	France	6.7
On The Edge	France	3.8
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8.5
Orator, The	New Zealand	7.7
P-047	Thailand
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory	USA	7.7
Pariah	USA	6.7
Patagonia	Argentina	6.2
Perfect Sense	Denmark	7.1
Perfect Stranger, The	Spain	5.5
Pig	USA	5.6
Pina	Germany	7.6
Postcard	Japan	7.9
Real Truths	Argentina	7.1
Record of a Tenement Gentleman, The	Japan	7.9
Restoration	Israel	6.9
Return	USA	8.4
Return to Murder	Malaysia	6.7
Rif Lover, The	Belgium
Rose	Poland	8.2
Rumble of the Stones	Venezuela	7.8
Run for Life	Japan
Sacrifice	China	6.1
Sal	USA	6.8
Salesman, The	Canada	7.8
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen @ OPENING NIGHT GALA 2012	United Kingdom	8.2
Salt of Life, The	Italy	6.1
Sandman, The	Switzerland	7.3
Sea Shadow	United Arab Emirates	7
Semper Fi: Always Faithful	USA	8.5
Separation, A	Iran	8.6
Shakespeare High	USA
Silver Cliff, The	Brazil	6.1
Simon and the Oaks	Denmark	6.1
Simple Life, A	China	8.2
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The	France	7
Sonny Boy	Netherlands	6.6
Sons of Norway	Denmark	6.9
Sound of My Voice	USA	7.2
Squad, The	Colombia	6.1
Starbuck	Canada	7.5
Story of Film, The: An Odyssey	United Kingdom	8.1
Student, The	Argentina	7.3
Summer Games	Italy	7
SuperClásico	Denmark	6.8
TALKING PICTURES: Gary Oldman: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	Ireland	7.7
Tall Man, The	Australia	7.4
Tatsumi	Singapore	6.8
Terraferma	Italy	7
Thin Ice	USA	8.2
Thousand Cuts, A	USA
Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni, The	Lebanon
Three Quarter Moon	Germany	7.8
Tilt	Bulgaria	7.6
Time to Spare	Netherlands	6.9
Tiniest Place, The	El Salvador	6.2
Transit Cities	Jordan	6.6
Turin Horse, The	France	8.2
Turn Me On, Dammit!	Norway	6.2
Unfinished Spaces	Cuba
Vito	USA	7.4
Volcano	Denmark	7.8
War of the Buttons	France	5.5
Warriors of the Rainbow	Taiwan	7.9
Watch Indian Circus	India	7.1
We Need to Talk About Kevin	United Kingdom	7.8
When The Night	Italy	5.7
Wish Me Away	USA	1.2
Woman in the Fifth, The	France	6.1
Women with Cows	Sweden	6.5
Wreckers	United Kingdom	4.9
Wrinkles	Spain	7.6
Wu Xia	Hong Kong	7.1
Wunderkinder	Germany	5.7
You’ve Been Trumped	United Kingdom	8.5

My Memorable 2011 Movie Related Moments

2012-01-01T23:27:00.000-08:00

Already nostalgic for 2011 I've collected some of my most memorable movie related moments of the past year. Just not ones involving a film exactly. Instead I took some time to reflect on some of the most interesting, surreal, and fun moments I had around film related topics in the last year. Most if not all of them came about because of the time I put into this site. Something I need to keep in mind when I'm not so in the mood to recall my thoughts on the last dozen films I've seen. I've not exactly been the Zelig or Forrest Gump of big movie events of 2011 - but I certainly cannot complain about the places I've been.

In no particular order some of the cool film related experiences I've had this year...

Attending one of the most talked about screenings of SXSW 2011

Being in Austin during the SXSW festival is a trip for a lot of reasons. It's crowded, it's fun, and there's a party atmosphere taking over the entire city that's hard to effectively describe. I wouldn't say I always see my favorite films of the year there, but the audiences are diverse and fascinating and the venues are incredible. I've only been twice so far but it would be a hard event to skip going forward. There are a lot of great moments from this year's event, but one of the standouts (by a wide margin) was the late night screening of The FP I attended. The film wasn't bad, but it was the audience not the film that had the 'net buzzing post screening. Specifically the members of the production that were so drunk that they were screaming at the screen for a significant percentage of the film. Enthusiastically I should say. Apparently it caused a conundrum for Alamo staff who are famously strict about throwing folks out who are disruptive. Generally (and not surprisingly) they aren't put in a position to ask the people who made the film to leave their own screening. Personally, it didn't bother me excessively - but it was amusing to have first hand experience of the event which I was reading about online the next morning. One of the best writeups of the event was by Eric D. Snyder and is both accurate and amusing. My review of the film along with some video of the Four Loko drinking contest that proceeded the screening (and I'm sure in no way contributed to the mayhem) can be read here.

SXSW is source of a huge number of runner up experiences, from saying hello to future mega star Brit Marling on the street outside the Paramount Theater to attending the world premier of Zombie Girl subject Emily Hagins' new film My Sucky Teen Romance. You can checkout all my adoring SXSW coverage here.

Crispin Glover interview

Crispin Glover is an actor with a flair for creating memorable characters. From Back to the Future to Hot Tub Time Machine, he can make even a small role stand out. He's also an unusual fellow who has made some rather noncommercial films (It is Fine! Everything is Fine and What is It?) Thanks to Three Imaginary Girls where my friend Amie is always encouraging me to take these leaps and The Northwest Film Form (who hosted the films in January) I had a chance to interview Glover. Not in the face to face sense, but via an extended back and forth via email. That in itself was pretty special, but the fact that the article sparked discussion later on one of my favorite blogs Techdirt made the experience unforgettable.

Meeting Short Filmmakers at SIFF

Cataplexy

Things have really been rocking and rolling for the Seattle International Film Festival crew this year. With the opening of the film center and the acquisition of three additional screens at the Uptown there's been a lot going on. The festival as always was a hoot in 2011. My favorite off-screen moment at the fest this year was a party I attended after a screening of Saigon Electric. Many of the filmmakers from that year's SIFF Shortsfest were in attendance. I'd reviewed a lot of the content for the 2011 shorts mini festival which meant in practice that I'd written most of the total coverage for those films at SIFF. So it was fun to talk with all of the filmmakers there, and I learned a ton about their motivations and projects over the course of the night. In particular I had a fantastic time chatting (along with Imaginary Amie) with John Salcido the director of Cataplexy, one of my favorite shorts at the festival. It was a great night full of the sort of magical moments one hopes for when they think about attending a film festival.

The new SIFF Film Center Opening
As I mentioned above this year SIFF opened their new Film Center which houses office space, educational resources and a new jewelbox theater. I supported the fundraising out of the expected sense of satisfaction from the organization finally having a permanent home. From a selfish perspective I also gained the possibility of someday being able to have the following conversation with a theater-goer who has poached my perch while I'm off at the restroom. It would go something like this:

(me) Excuse me, I'm sorry, but you're sitting in my seat.
(seat stealer who improbably has a tough guy Brooklyn accent) Oh yeah? What, has the seat got your name on it or something?
(me) Actually, it sort of does...

Yes - I have endowed a seat at SIFF Cinema. It's not exactly a location I would have chosen within the theater, but it is on the aisle at least. And I am willing to overlook the fact that it somewhat looks like the seat is ~~used~~ pre-owned. I'm very proud to have done something helpful. Even if the plaque wasn't really big enough to include the Buckaroo Banzai quote I'd originally intended.

Let's get ready to rumble!

One thing worth noting upfront. Fantastic Fest rocks. And rocks hard. It's almost impossible to attend without some experience there making your most memorable moments of the year list. There's a reason it's been referred to as "a film festival with the boring parts cut out" as well as "the geek Telluride." The audiences are incredibly fun, the films are generally terrific, and the organizers go out of there way to hold some great parties. I mean, where else are you going to attend the US premiere of Human Centipede II where the buffet features a series of pigs arranged butt to snout? During which party you randomly engage in a long impromptu conversation with two filmmakers in town showing their short Exit - on topics running the gamut from film, to Brooklyn, Heeb Magazine, The Chocolate Room to of course Fantastic Fest. Nowhere else I venture to say.

But the clear trip highlight was the "Fantastic Debates" a tradition of the festival. Part of it would be recognizable to anyone who has seen a high school (or film involving a high school) debate team. Two parties argue opposite sides of a position. The difference here is that after an argument and rebuttal the pair "settle it in the ring." After two rounds of boxing the crowd votes for the winner of the "debate" via volume of cheers. About as scientific a process as I'm sure the ancient founders of logical argument could have devised. Debate topics for which participants/gladiators took pro/con positions this year included included "Robots are superior to humans in every way", "World of Warcraft is a complete waste of time", NASA, and "Who is tougher, an Irishman or a Texan?" The last debate being the title card where Alamo theater owner and festival co-founder took on James Quinn McDonagh the undefeated bare knuckle fighter of the Irish Traveler clans (and the subject of documentary Knuckle). My fuller account of the evening and associated action photos/video are available here. Packed in like sardines just a few feet from the action - it was hot, it was sweaty, it was super fun. I came, saw, and even got the complimentary poster pictured to the right.

For the full slate of my Fantastic Fest coverage you can follow this link.

Interview with star and director of Martha Marcy May Marlene

Ahead of the release of their film in Seattle I had the chance to sit down for an discussion with the director and star of Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin and Elizabeth Olsen. The latter previously known I as the younger sister of the Olsen Twins. While originally the less famous member of the family Elizabeth looks like she has a super bright future ahead of her. I had a good time chatting with Durkin and Olsen (who really couldn't be any more different than her on-screen persona in the film) one random morning at the Fairmont hotel. While my review of the film was published at Three Imaginary Girls the interview was tragically lost due to some extremely dumb choices on my part. Mainly that of using a new digital recorder which I wasn't familiar enough with for the session. Really hurts when you realize an hour later you've got nothing but the last five seconds on tape. Live and learn I suppose. I'd had better luck earlier in the year when I sat down to chat with Miguel Arteta the director of Cedar Rapids in another interview I very much enjoyed (and not just because I got to recommend he seek out Au Revoir Tapei)

But wait, there's more...
I've been very blessed to enjoy far more film moments throughout the 2011. Both from a personal experiential perspective and great great person-to-person interactions. A few more examples include:

All the fabulous conversations about film and other topics I've had with people throughout 2011 I've met at festivals and online. Whether I caught your name or not - talking with people is the real reason I love attending so much film. It may be counter-intuitive but it's so, so true.
Almost every damn moment at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin. That theater is da bomb. I know people haven't said that for twenty years. But it's somehow the perfect description for the Alamo Drafthouse. Seriously, yo!
The Joseph Gordon-Levitt hitRECord event in Seattle where I got to watch a bit of experimental movie production entertainment, which was overshadowed by the coolness of meeting twitter friends in real-life for conversation.
Film press reception during SIFF I was invited to in the W hotel through Three Imaginary Girls. Great time mingling with film-makers and meeting many of film press attending the festival.
The live event for Kevin Smith's Red State and followup discussion on the MacGuffin Podcast. Not because the film was so great, but because Kevin Smith onstage is a hoot and I enjoyed recording a discussion about it afterward in the world famous Scarecrow Video.
SIFF Closing Night Party - just because it's fun to mingle with people who've seen way too many films over the past 25 days. That's right - 25 days of fest (plus three weeks of press screenings). Read it and weep film fans not from Seattle.
A series of film writer "tweet-ups" organized by Jason of NewMovieFriday.com (and others).
Attending one of my better post film Q&A's of the year with Javier Bardem talking about his film Biutiful in Palm Springs. While somewhat stealthily recording video of the event (the Q&A, not the film of course).
Snagging a MondoTees limited edition Dumbo poster when they went onsale. I have a fair number of their posters now (one day I'll need to actually hang them). But Dumbo holds a special place in my heart as one of the earliest films I remember seeing in a theater that didn't scare the living crap out of me (Sleeping Beauty), have me recoil in horror at the cruelty of the world (Bambi), or have my first recallable serious WTF moment (Fantasia)

My Favorite Films of 2011

2011-12-30T11:51:00.000-08:00

One of my least favorite questions is "what's your favorite film this year?" Clearly due to my violently strong feelings that no one should be in the business of stack ranking artistic endeavors. Though it could be I'm just too lazy to pick just one out of the 250+ theatrical releases I've seen in 2011. Or maybe my weak personality lives in fear of upsetting someone with my choice. Yeah - definitely one of those. Anyway - bottom line - every year I end up caving and publishing a list after all. Just note it's my "favorites" not the "best" of the year. They're offered without apology - these just happen to be the ones that made the strongest impression on me. Either because I thought they were truly great, they perhaps lacked something but made me personally happy inside, or they were so batshit crazy they deserved an A for effort. Actually for that last set I've designated a separate list for which I'll post in the next week. I'm sure I missed something in both categories I'll regret later.

Oh - one more thing. As opposed to most of the lists you'll be seeing I don't waste time trying to figure out which year the film came out. If I saw it in something that looked like a theater in 2011 then it's eligible for my list. In practice it means a lot of things may not have hit theaters yet - and may never in the US. Oh, and in case you wonder when you not its absence, I have seen Attack the Block. Actually I've seen Attack the Block twice, because after the first time at SXSW I thought maybe I'd missed something huge given the incredible things I heard about it. I think it's a perfectly fine movie - but like The Artist I just didn't fall as in love. Though that's totally not fair - compared to The Artist I did fall head over heals for Attack the Block. At least the former is definitely worth seeing. The other one, err - was sort of boring if you ask me, sorry...

Alright, alright - enough stalling - here we go. These are in alphabetical order. I am not ranking them against each other. I've seen most of the big Oscar contenders you'll see in other lists. They're mostly fine films - these are just the ones I personally enjoyed the most. Doesn't hurt to be different, except in some very specific cases, of which I don't believe this is one.

Without further delay, my favorites of 2011. As ~~I am lazy~~ is my custom - my lists go to eleven...

Boy and His Samurai (Japan) - Cramming in genre elements of time travel, samurai lore, and offbeat romantic comedy this one's got something for everyone. The story revolves around single mom Yusa, a modern woman in Tokyo who struggles in her job due to also having to care for her son Tomoya (the boy of the title). Good at her job Yusa can't help but be frustrated when her commitment to it is questioned in the office by the men without child care responsibilities who can stay later. One day she runs into a fellow dressed in traditional samurai garb (haircut included) and carrying a large sword. Kajima is clearly lost, afraid of ringing telephones and speaks in a bizarrely formal manner. Long story short he was praying to a Buddha statue and got sucked forward in time. Could happen to anyone. Really enjoyed this and am rapidly becoming a fan of the director, Yoshihiro Nakamura. His first film Fish Story about the Japanese punk rock song which saves the world is also kicking. I haven't seen his middle picture Golden Slumber but as soon as it's available I'm going to check it out.
Drive (USA) - Turns out I don't always get around to writing something about a film even if I'm quite taken with it. That's the case with Drive, a slow burner of a picture that far too few people saw. Ryan Gosling plays "the Driver" a man who can do what you need with a car, whether it's an on-set movie stunt or a well choreographed getaway as a wheelman for hire. When he's taken with neighbor Carey Mulligan his emerging humanity gets him into a mess that's hard to get out of. With a measured style, a properly pulsing soundtrack and visual style to spare this slow thriller really delivers. It's not an action movie, and it's not intended to be - bits of violent violent violence notwithstanding. It's a real movie experience that deserves to be seen on a big screen. After you've seen it you can also enjoy the ridiculous controversy around a woman who sued because the trailer didn't depict the film accurately and her lawyer who claims the film is anti-semetic.
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Brazil) - One of my top films from Fantastic Fest 2011 and Brazil's submission this year for the Foreign Language Oscar category. I really dug this one. Smart, intense and a view of Brazil only hinted at in Fast Five. I liked the earlier Elite Squad too - but maybe this one more. The action/thriller aspect of it was top notch. And the real world political underpinnings of it were fascinating. Not to mention scary as heck. I heard folks after comparing it to The Wire. The two do feel very different to me (outside of corruption) but I think the quality and realism made the same connection for me at some stages of the film. Do ... not ... miss ... it!
Headhunters (Norway) - This story of a corporate headhunter with height based self esteem issues and a side gig as a high end art thief ... rocked. It looks great and takes a turn from caper to revenge picture without missing a beat. The lead actor does a terrific transition through some key milestones making it a pleasure to watch from start to end. Keep an eye out for it and pray you can get to it before Summit who just bought the English language rights does heaven knows what to the film. Maybe adding teen vampires and Eddie Murphy for all I know.
Midnight in Paris (USA) - sometimes when your parents call you and say you really need a see a film they couldn't be more right. Woody Allen hits one out of the park, perhaps the easy way - showing Paris every chance he gets. This time traveling romantic comedy in which Owen Wilson gets sucked back each night into 1920's Paris does the unthinkable. It makes me not want to punch Owen Wilson in the nose. At least not the entire run of the film. It's really a beautiful work whose romance subject is more a city, and artistic inspiration than an actual person. There are at least two other films this awards season that are fine, but in my view are getting over the top accolades because they appeal so strongly to reviewers love of the movies (The Artist and Hugo). Maybe Midnight in Paris is getting a pass from me because I think the city it's named after is one of the most gorgeous things going. But I think it's mainly because this is a great film. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Again, forced to mention Hugo is way better than The Artist in my estimation.
Pariah (USA) - a 17 year old high school senior in Brooklyn is a lesbian. It's an open secret except within her household. This coming of age story deals with how the family deals with it and how the main character grows. It's a familiar sounding story, even if it's less often told within a mainly African-American community. But the filmmakers and extremely talented actors involve make every moment feel fresh, and undeniably real. For what I expect was a low budget production the look is great - every visual choice seems to pay off. Right down to what appears to be handholding during static shots that introduces a gentle feel of motion that's adds a subtle dynamism throughout. Also noteworthy is how they came from an angle that she knows she's a lesbian, but as a young woman struggles with the confidence for her first sexual encounters. It's hard to overstate how well put together the actors are here. I really, really liked this film.
Por El Camino (Brazil) - Was one of my top picks of SIFF 2011. An uber-watchable road movie that meanders through absolutely breathtaking parts of Uruguay. The most dangerous thing about the film is that you're going to want to book a ticket as soon as the credits role. Like many road movies it also involves a guy and a girl. Santiago is a former investment banker who is in the process of making changes in his life and en route to check out some property left to him after his parent's death. Juliette is on her way to pickup a romance that started in Costa Rica. In addition to presenting one of the least douchey investment bankers in the history of cinema the film takes us along on a relaxed and romantic trip. The chemistry between the pair is great, the other characters are interesting, and there's always something interesting to watch. Even the music doesn't suck. It's a very enjoyable way to spend 84 minutes is what I think I'm trying to say.
Rabies (Israel) - One heck of a darkly funny folks stuck in the woods and bad shit happens story. Ostensibly the first Israeli slasher film made. If true they've caught up in a BIG way. Works as a well plotted, beautifully shot, clever and slightly subversive take on the genre. Then there are the preternaturally gorgeous female members of the cast. And for the trifecta Rabies provides an opportunity to ~~argue~~ discuss post-viewing whether there's a socio-political subtext to the whole affair. The fact that I don't even like slasher films should make folks sit up and take notice. Seriously - if I could I'd stop writing this post right now and watch it again. For reals.
Sound of My Voice (USA) - Peter and Lorna are a couple whose work on a documentary about cults has them seeking to infiltrate one. Specifically one worshipful of the eerily compelling Maggie (Brit Marling). They earn enough trust to be brought to meet Maggie in an undisclosed basement location. She never leaves this basement where cult members grow her food, donate blood to her and listen to her lessons about the upcoming crisis about to beset the earth. I'd strongly suggest not reading anything else about this film and just making sure you see it first opportunity. If I haven't sold you already then let me add that it features both the creepiest use of patty-cakes in a motion picture and the best use of a Cranberries song ever. 'nuff said.
Viva Riva! (Democratic Republic of Congo) - A dark film, full of not very nice characters in film that blends exploitation film elements with class noir. Making a very watchable film - as long as you're not looking for a picture about nice people. Riva is a player, both in business and love. Back home with a large cache of fuel - a commodity that is in short supply in the capital he's poised to make a financial killing. Chased by the people he appropriated the gasoline from, the gangster whose woman he's seeking to bed and some others for good measure. No one is innocent and it's not looking as though anyone is getting out alive. I may be a cynical bastard of the highest order - but Viva Riva! was a fine piece of entertainment.
Young Adult (USA) - Charlize Theron is absolutely fearless in her portrayal of Mavis Gary a woman described partway through film as a "psychotic ex-prom-queen bitch." Like everyone else she's gotten older since high school, but she hasn't fully grown up. Making her living writing young adult books about teenage dufus royalty she's numb to the world. When a birth announcement from her high-school boyfriend Buddy arrives out of the blue it serves as a kick in the head. Rather that taking stock and becoming a better person she decides to take action - heading back to small-town Minnesota to get Buddy back. It's a break from reality, except it's not altogether clear that Mavis has ever functioned fully within the confines of reality. A tightly crafted black comedy from the pen of Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman it's a very interesting experience. You won't like Mavis or necessarily any of the "friends" she re-acquaints herself with. But I'd be surprised if you want to look away either. OK, I liked Mavis just a bit at times. Sue me.

Runner's Up (aka 15 more films I really liked) - basically other stuff I loved that I tortuously weeded out of the top ~~ten~~ eleven

Another Earth (USA) - One of those fine films that uses a science-fiction premise to tell a story mainly about the human experience. How would we feel if we learned there was a second life-sustaining planet in our universe? What if it was in our own solar system, rotating just out of sight, always blocked from our view by the sun? Well, of course like the people in the film we'd probably name it Earth 2 in a show of extreme geo-centrism. But if and when that day comes be sure to pull over while driving before staring at the new planet (suddenly visible due to a gravitational shift) in the night sky. Because if you don't you may cause a catastrophic accident that results in the death of someone's wife and child. Brit Marling plays a student who on the eve of her college career makes that mistake, killing a man's family. Years later she goes to apologize and ends up more deeply involved than intended. In the backdrop of this looms slowly revealed "reality" of Earth 2, which at least for a while has been a literal mirror image of our own. What opportunities does it pose for those who have lost, for those who want to speak with another version of themselves? Big issues such as these are explored implicitly in what other than the fantastical device is truly a small, very personal story. An extremely well executed one. If you can catch a double feature of this and Womb I think you'd be investing time on some of the best low budget dramas with sci-fi themes in a while.
Bull Head (Belgium) - isn't an entirely easy film to describe. Set amongst farming communities of Belgium it's a character study of bovine related criminal activity, testosterone fueled violence, and a family tragedy buried for years. When a young boy suffers horrific violence at the hands of a son of a local organized crime figure there's not much to be done for him. With his sense of manhood deeply (and quite literally) crushed his overcompensation and emotional betrayal is palpable onscreen. He's a brute of a man, mostly quiet, but one senses with a tremendous and powerful rage simmering just below the surface. In an agricultural world awash with illegal drug use (mostly on the cows) there's a lot that can go wrong. And this dark character study takes us through it. It's not a fun watch, but it's a fascinating one - well organized and viewable on several levels. Though all of them are likely to keep you sticking to certified organic milk. Absolutely dynamite performance from both the adult lead actor and the boy who plays the same character as a child.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Werner Herzog takes viewers deep into the Chauvet caves which house the oldest known drawings in the world. Located in Southern France and unavailable previously to all but scientists with a need to be there Herzog captures some amazing footage. To which he adds his signature narration style. Probably the only movie I've ever seen that truly needs to have been made in 3D. The drawings are on a cave wall and the pictorials use the natural dimensions of the surfaces to tell their stories - shot in 2D they'd be fascinating but missing something. The film is beautiful to look at, though clearly a Herzog piece. He even manages to find a way to stick in albino alligators at the end. ;-)
Confessions (Japan) - beautiful, dark and suspenseful - and crazy as all heck. I wrote a bunch about it while trying to avoid all the plot points I could. Just see it when you get a chance if horror/suspense with teens in serious jeopardy doesn't turn you off too much.
Dog Sweat (Iran) - With a feel that reminded me of No One Knows About Persian Cats this film from Iran really worked for me. Following a loosely interwoven set of young people just trying to do what young people do. Make music, date, love the gender of their choice, smooch, drink and play with their friend's dog. None of which is really on the agenda for good kids in Iran. No artistic, interpret it yourself, lone child wandering through a village without shoes Iranian filmmaking here. With the look of a US indy shot in Tehran it's easy to like the characters and feel their pain as they chafe against societal restrictions. Hard to see how that's going to hold up there long term - but in the meantime the filmmaker took a lot of risks to make this strong film. The opening scene showing three male friends joke around and argue about the different categories of Johnnie Walker was just great.
Even the Rain (Spain) - A group of Spanish filmmakers produce an updated Christopher Columbus tale intended to be sensitive to imperialistic exploitation of less fortunate peoples. So of course they travel to Bolivia to get the best bargain they can on local labor. Which they do coincidentally during the water crisis there where the government sells off the right to all water (even the rain) to private concerns who plan to charge more than the poor can pay. That based on actual events twist takes things up a notch. But also makes for an official festival description that I thought could signal a horrible film. Either too earnest, too trivial - a lot of ways for it to go wrong. Instead we get a finely calibrated piece that works as a movie about filmmaking, relationships, and the exploitation issues of water and labor - threading the needle along the "just right" path.
Le Havre (Finland) - sometimes a minimalist film feels like it needs more. But when done right it has just enough and not a drop more. Le Havre is solidly in the latter category. The main character Marcel Max shines shoes for small amounts of dough which he brings back each night to his wife Arletty. It's clear things haven't always been this good (and it ain't great) for him - but thanks to his wife they manage on the edges of society, in a neighborhood where as Arletty bluntly puts it, miracles don't happen. Into his life stumble an illegal immigrant boy who's just trying to reach his mother in London. Marcel is drawn in, Arletty deals with her issues - and it's just an engrossing and sweet ride.
Littlerock (USA) - 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.
Moneyball (USA) - I'm a big fan of the books of Michael Lewis from Liar's Poker to The Big Short. In part because he's able to induce fascination in topics I generally couldn't care less about. Moneyball, his book ostensibly about baseball was one I couldn't put down. Which is really saying something as I'm probably one of the only people who (on the rare occasions I've been dragged there) has brought a book. You know - so I would have something interesting to do during the game. It's in part due to the talents of Mr. Lewis that I so much liked Moneyball - but it probably didn't hurt that it's only tangentially (in my view) about baseball and more about what can happen when quantitative thinking runs smack into truthiness. Even if you're not as ~~personally obsessed with~~ nerdy about that sort of thing as I, who doesn't like to watch the little guy get the edge on the big fat cats? And that's one of the several aspects of the non-fiction book by Lewis that transfers effectively to the big screen. Oh, and director Bennet Miller actually makes a visually rich piece out of what could easily have been a strictly dialog based endeavor. So yeah - I think this is one worth seeing.
Poetry (South Korea) - I really cannot dispute the description on IMDB for Poetry. As described, the plot is indeed about "a sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class." In fact, that description doesn't really do justice to all the crappy things going on in the main character Mija's (Jeong-hie Yun) life. But something about her quiet strength and search for beauty in simple things makes the serious drama taking place more than palatable. There's a lot of elements at work making it a feast for those who love dissecting the themes of a film. One of which to my eyes was a rather scathing indictment of some goings on in Korean society. Most importantly it's a film that shows you what is going on and rarely if ever tells the viewer something directly. All the while without having the actors so much as look directly at the camera for more than brief periods giving the viewer a fly on the wall experience that felt well matched to the material. Overall it's the sort of great achievement by writer/director Chang-dong Lee that makes one want to go back and watch everything he's made.
Poupoupidou (Nobody Else But You) (France) - Well, I'm getting a bit lazy. So I'm going to just quote my friend Amie who recently added this picture to her best of 2011 list. "This movie sounds like it would suck: a local cheese queen who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe is murdered, and a writer investigates her story after falling in love with her - post-mortem. But this one still sticks to me - I can't stop thinking about how clever it was. Just a really solid little mystery." - I concur!
Rise of Planet of the Apes (USA) - never would I have thought the onscreen depiction of the end of our species be as entertaining to behold. Even James Franco couldn't make me get too cynical about this one. Knowing that all the apes were computer generated just makes it all the more interesting to behold (because I really would not have guessed that during the film).
The Sandman (Switzerland) - Bright, beautiful, romantic, and incredible bizarre The Sandman is a must see film. Benno is an ultra-uptight neat freak who works in a stamp shop. When he's not ripping off the gullible he obsesses about his weight each morning, provides brutally critical feedback to friends about their life's work and gives untold grief to a young woman who works in the coffee shop below his apartment. All in all a real mensch - or perhaps not. Then out of nowhere he develops and unusual affliction. He begins to leak sand. And nor just regular sand but magical instantaneous sleep inducing sand. Which similar to normal sand tastes horrible in pasta. This explosion of essentially dirt doesn't really fit in with his other lifestyle choices. Especially when it causes his hot girlfriend to think he's bedding the coffee shop girl (it makes perfect sense in context). Even his earnest protest that it can't be true that he's hooking up with the presumably frumpier woman because "looks are important to me" fails to mollify her. Oh, almost forgot. In the meantime he's also beginning to share a recurring dream with the waitress he professes to hate. This is a strange film - in a very colorful visual way that reminds me of a Michel Gondry creation, though more fun for me than his recent work. If you're not sold by now there's nothing I'm going to be able to help you with...
Somewhere (USA) - Sofia Coppola has made some beautiful and complex films. With Somewhere she makes a film in which nothing much happens, the camera is fixed in position and the main cast is one man. Yet somehow it caught me from the opening scene. It starts with that man driving literally in circles for minutes at a time yet kept me intrigued and engaged. Maybe there's some kind of evil hypnotism at work. But if there is I wish Coppola would teach more filmmakers the secret. I know this technically opened most places in 2010 - at least in "official critic circles." But I saw it this year - so I'm putting it on ones of my lists. It's my blog and I'll make up the rules if I want to.
Womb (Germany) - is really well done, a solid execution of marvelously fucked up premise. Girl meets a boy by the shore - they hang out and grow close until the girl has to move away with her Mom to Tokyo. Years later she comes back and the soulmates pickup - this time with a physical relationship. Then he dies. So she clones him - giving birth to her former lover herself. Yep, as you would imagine everything goes totally fine. No, not exactly... Set in the near future where this sort of thing goes on, with dramatic seaside backdrops and limited dialog this film pulled me into its world. Most positive additional thing I can think to add is that this is a model of showing vs. telling - no musical cues, no big exposition. The film just ensures you know what's going on when you need to without smashing your face into things.

Alright - that's probably enough for now. I'll be back later to speak to other films I enjoyed during the year that didn't quite make the list. And the few bat-shit crazy ones that I've got to mention just out of respect for the effort.

Palm Springs 2012 - By the Numbers

2011-12-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

Distribution of films by country at Palm Springs 2012 - click through for better view

Each year I enjoy taking a look at how many countries are really represented in each "international" film festival I attend. After going through the full list of films on the site for the Palm Springs International Film Festival 2012 I've put together the above histogram of films per country. After the jump I have the info in simple tabular form along with a full list of films. The basics are that there are 180 films scheduled (not counting a few marked as "secret") which represent 61 unique countries (counting a film as being from a single country, which in current productions is not 100% accurate). Not surprisingly the top three are the US, France and Germany. In the top ten perhaps only Belgium with nine entries strikes me as a film surprise given past festivals in Palm Springs. One statistic that I haven't had a chance to measure directly is what feels like an extraordinary number of films whose descriptions make mention of Nazis. There's always a significant number of Holocaust subject matter films in Palm Springs, but anecdotally at least it seems like way more than usual. I'm so curious I'm probably going to walk back through the list of all 180 films to count it out proper.

I also made a list of films in the second half that struck me interesting. These are ones I can't see but I'd definitely have on my list if I was planning to be around. Simply from the descriptions - which isn't always the most reliable indicator. In fact it's often pretty horrible. So if you happen to catch any of these would really appreciate the feedback.

Baikonur
Come as You Are
Eliminate: Archie Cookson
Expiration Date
Innocence
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Pig
Return to Murder
The Forgiveness of Blood
The Woman in the Fifth

Here's the breakdown of film by country in tabular form

Country	Number of Films from Country
USA	26
France	16
Germany	10
Belgium	9
Canada	9
UK	7
Denmark	6
Argentina	5
China	5
Israel	5
Italy	5
Spain	5
India	4
Japan	4
Austria	3
Brazil	3
Czech Republic	3
Egypt	3
Mexico	3
Norway	3
Russia	3
Finland	2
Netherlands	2
Sweden	2
Albania	1
Algeria	1
Australia	1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
Bulgaria	1
Burkina Faso	1
Chile	1
Columbia	1
Cuba	1
El Salvador	1
Estonia	1
Greece	1
Indonesia	1
Iran	1
Ireland	1
Jordan	1
Lebanon	1
Lithuania	1
Malaysia	1
Morocoo	1
New Zealand	1
Pakistan	1
Palestine	1
Phillippines	1
Poland	1
Portugal	1
Romania	1
Serbia	1
Singapore	1
Slovakia	1
South America	1
South Korea	1
Switzerland	1
Taiwan	1
Thailand	1
United Arab Emirates	1
Venezuela	1

And here's the complete list of film titles (to the best of my knowledge - obviously not counting the small number of public by "secret" screenings schedule.

Abu, Son of Adam (India)
Albert Nobbs (Ireland)
All Your Dead Ones (Columbia)
Almanya, Welcome to Germany (Germany)
Alois Nebel (Czech Republic)
Apartment in Athens (Germany)
Arranged Happiness (Germany)
Asma's (Egypt)
A Thousand Cuts (USA)
Attenberg (Greece)
August (USA)
Back to your Arms (Lithuania)
Baikonur (Germany)
Beast (Denmark)
Bert Stern, Original Madman (USA)
Beyond (Finland)
Bitter Seeds (India)
Black Bread (Spain)
Blood of My Blood (Portugal)
Bol (Pakistan)
Breathing (Austria)
Brightness (Burkina Faso)
The British Guide to Showing Off (UK)
Bullhead (Belgium)
By the Fire (Chile)
Café de Flore (Canada)
Cairo 678 (Egypt)
Cairo Station (Egypt)
California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown (USA)
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (USA)
Chronicle of My Mother (Japan)
Cloudburst (Canada)
Cold Steel (China)
Come as You Are (Belgium)
The Conformist (France)
Corpo Celeste (France)
Cousinhood (Spain)
Cracks in the Shell (Germany)
David (USA)
Declaration of War (France)
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (USA)
Die Standing Up (Mexico)
Dolphin Boy (Israel)
Edwin Boyd (Canada)
Elena (Russia)
Eliminate: Archie Cookson (UK)
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Brazil)
Escort in Love (Italy)
Expiration Date (Mexico)
First Position: A Ballet Documentary (USA)
The Flowers of War (China)
Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (USA)
Footnote (Israel)
Foreverland (Canada)
The Forgiveness of Blood (Albania)
The Front Line (South Korea)
Generation P (Russia)
The Girls in the Band (USA)
The Goddess (India)
Goodbye First Love (France)
The Graveyard Keeper's Daughter (Estonia)
Guilty (France)
Gypsy (Slovakia)
Habemus Papam (France)
Habibi (Palestine)
Happy, Happy (Norway)
Happy New Year Grandma! (Spain)
Haywire (USA)
Headhunters (Norway)
Holiday By the Sea (France)
Hotel Lux (Germany)
The House (Czech Republic)
How Big is Your Love (Algeria)
If I Were You (Canada)
If Not Us, Who? (Germany)
In Darkness (Canada)
Innocence (Czech Republic)
The Invader (Belgium)
The Island President (USA)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (USA)
Jose and Pilar (Brazil)
The Kid With a Bike (Belgium)
Kiss Me (Sweden)
Land of Oblivion (France)
Las Cacacias (Argentina)
Last Winter (Belgium)
Le Havre (Finland)
Lena (Belgium)
Let My People Go! (France)
Love in the Medina (Morocoo)
Lovely Man (Indonesia)
The Loving Story (USA)
Lucky (South America)
Man Without a Cell Phone (Belgium)
Michael (Austria)
Michel Petrucciani (France)
Miss Bala (Mexico)
The Monk (France)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
Motevideo - Taste of a Dream (Serbia)
Morgen (Romania)
Mulberry Child (China)
My Australia (Israel)
My Best Enemy (Austria)
My Father Baryshnikov (Russia)
Nino (Phillippines)
North Sea Texas (Belgium)
Off White Lies (Israel)
Old Goats (USA)
Omar Killed Me (France)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
On The Edge (France)
The Orator (New Zealand)
P-047 (Thailand)
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (USA)
Pariah (USA)
Ptagonia (Argentina)
Perfect Sense (Denmark)
The Perfect Stranger (Spain)
Pig (USA)
Pina (Germany)
Postcard (Japan)
Real Truths. The Life of Estela (Argentina)
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Japan)
Restoration (Israel)
Return (USA)
Return to Murder (Malaysia)
The Rif Lover (Belgium)
Rose (Poland)
Rumble of the Stones (Venezuela)
Run for Life (Japan)
Sacrifice (China)
Sal (USA)
The Salesman (Canada)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (UK)
The Salt of Life (Italy)
The Sandman (Switzerland)
Sea Shadow (United Arab Emirates)
Semper Fi. Always Faithful (USA)
A Separation (Iran)
Shakespeare High (USA)
The Silver Cliff (Brazil)
Simon and the Oaks (Denmark)
A Simple Life (China)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (France)
Sonny Boy (Netherlands)
Sons of Norway (Denmark)
Sound of My Voice (USA)
The Squad (Argentina)
Starbuck (Canada)
The Story of Film: An Odyssey (UK)
The Student (Argentina)
Summer Games (Italy)
SuperClasico (Denmark)
The Tall Man (Australia)
Tatsumi (Singapore)
Terraferma (Italy)
Thin Ice (USA)
The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (Lebanon)
Three Quarter Moon (Germany)
Tilt (Bulgaria)
Time to Spare (Netherlands)
The Tiniest Place (El Salvador)
Transit Cities (Jordan)
The Turin Horse (France)
Turn Me On, Dammit! (Norway)
Unfinished Spaces (Cuba)
Vito (USA)
Volcano (Denmark)
Warriors of the Ranbow" Seediq Bale (Taiwan)
Watch Indian Circus (India)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (UK)
When the Night (Italy)
Wish Me Away (USA)
The Woman in the Fifth (France)
Women with Cows (Sweden)
Wreckers (UK)
Wrinkles (Spain)
Wunderkinder (Germany)
You've Been Trumped (UK)

Palm Springs 2012 - Some of my random choices

2011-12-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well I've been through my list and been checking it twice. I mean, seriously, there are a lot of films available to choose from at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The full schedule is now online.

While the final state of my plans is still a bit up in the air, one thing I know is that if I'm going I needs some tickets. While a few days will be covered by a media pass (which also apparently results in tickets) I needed to do a bit more pre-planning than usual this year. So I've taken the step of locking in a run an an initial core movies. I'd expect I may make some changes - but as things sell out I figured better safe than sorry. There are some fantastic looking films playing that aren't on this list (such as A Separation) - but that means I couldn't making them work and/or they will be pretty easy to see in the Seattle area within the next month. Also, best case I'll only be in town for the first half of the festival - there are a lot of great sounding options in the second half I didn't look closely at.

Some of the films on the list have great word of mouth from industry or friends - other's are just huge gambles I took on gut instinct. I figure I'll be wrong at least a few times. Hoping to get a chance to see these - and interested to hear what everyone's looking forward to.

Gypsy
Back to your Arms
P-047
Declaration of War
Turn Me On, Dammit!
Omar Killed Me
Pina
Miss Bala
Tatsumi
Footnote
Let My People Go!
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Attenberg
Happy, Happy
Postcard
Thin Ice
The Student
You’ve Been Trumped

Palm Springs 2012 Recommendations - What I've seen so far...

2011-12-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

Based on my first pass through the full Palm Springs International Film Festival schedule I've seen twelve of the films so far. That feels a bit lower than usual for me, though it's possible I missed something I'd seen before (that tends to happen here and there). This post is intended to capture some recommendations from that list as well as a brief synopsis of each film I've seen.

The list below is alphabetical. If you just want me to pick-out the really great stuff for you that would include Headhunters, Sound of My Voice, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, and The Sandman. With very solid props to Le Havre, Bullhead and Almanya as well. Tilt has enough to recommend sneaking it in if possible. Honestly, the only one I've seen that I didn't really care for at all is The Squad.

Update 12/28 - I just saw Pariah tonight - a thirteenth film playing in Palm Springs this year. While I can't publish my full review until it opens in Seattle on 1/6 I can say it was a truly wonderful experience and is a solid contender to make my top films list for 2011. So even though it's going to be hitting theaters in many places at the same time it will be in Palm Springs it's still worth serious consideration as you make up your schedule.

Update 1/11 - If you're looking for film recommendations for the festival you might want to checkout this related post I did after attending the first week of festivities.

OK - onto the full set of info for the readers amongst you...

All Your Dead Ones
(Columbia) - According to the festival description,"this scathing allegory for a country’s apathy centers on Salvador, a Colombian farmer, who gets up one morning and finds fresh tire tracks running through his cornfield that lead to a pile of dead bodies. ... All Your Dead Ones uses dark humor to turn the spotlight on the complicity of Colombia’s political institutions in violent crime. " That's all pretty true and not what I'd call subtle. Bodies are found, people are stressed, in part because every time someone comes to look at the bodies they're clearly considering if it wouldn't be easier to just kill the family members and add them to the pile. And Salvador clearly knows this. It's not really that humorous to me, but it's well made and if you think it sounds interesting there's I suppose a chance you'd enjoy it more than I. Frankly, I thought I'd be in the "love it" camp. Admired the craft but never fully was pulled in.
Almanya, Welcome to Germany (Germany) - Screened at SIFF under the slightly shorter title Almanya this festival closer is worth seeing. Maybe not necessarily worth what I believe is the closing night surcharge. But it's a nice, enjoyable film that is the sort of the audience friendly fare some might tease Palm Springs about. But that doesn't mean it's not good. And how often does a multi-generational humorous and occasionally touching piece also leave you with an understanding of the history of guest worker programs in Germany? No, not very often.
Bullhead (Belgium) - isn't an entirely easy film to describe. Set amongst farming communities of Belgium it's a character study of bovine related criminal activity, testosterone fueled violence, and a family tragedy buried for years. When a young boy suffers horrific violence at the hands of a son of a local organized crime figure there's not much to be done for him. With his sense of manhood deeply (and quite literally) crushed his overcompensation and emotional betrayal is palpable onscreen. He's a brute of a man, mostly quiet, but one senses with a tremendous and powerful rage simmering just below the surface. In an agricultural world awash with illegal drug use (mostly on the cows) there's a lot that can go wrong. And this dark character study takes us through it. It's not a fun watch, but it's a fascinating one - well organized and viewable on several levels. Though all of them are likely to keep you sticking to certified organic milk. Absolutely dynamite performance from both the adult lead actor and the boy who plays the same character as a child.
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Brazil) - One of my top films from Fantastic Fest 2011 and Brazil's submission this year for the Foreign Language Oscar category. I really dug this one. Smart, intense and a view of Brazil only hinted at in Fast Five. I liked the earlier Elite Squad too - but maybe this one more. The action/thriller aspect of it was top notch. And the real world political underpinnings of it were fascinating. Not to mention scary as heck. I heard folks after comparing it to The Wire. The two do feel very different to me (outside of corruption) but I think the quality and realism made the same connection for me at some stages of the film. Do ... not ... miss ... it!
Headhunters (Norway) - This story of a corporate headhunter with height based self esteem issues and a side gig as a high end art thief ... rocked. It looks great and takes a turn from caper to revenge picture without missing a beat. The lead actor does a terrific transition through some key milestones making it a pleasure to watch from start to end. See it in Palm Springs while you can before Summit who bought the English language rights does heaven knows what to the film. Maybe adding teen vampires and Eddie Murphy for all I know.
Le Havre (Finland) - sometimes a minimalist film feels like it needs more. But when done right it has just enough and not a drop more. Le Havre is solidly in the latter category. The main character Marcel Max shines shoes for small amounts of dough which he brings back each night to his wife Arletty. It's clear things haven't always been this good (and it ain't great) for him - but thanks to his wife they manage on the edges of society, in a neighborhood where as Arletty bluntly puts it, miracles don't happen. Into his life stumble an illegal immigrant boy who's just trying to reach his mother in London. Marcel is drawn in, Arletty deals with her issues - and it's just an engrossing and sweet ride. Mix it in between some more adrenaline focused features and it'll make a wonderful bridge.
Perfect Sense - The world is ending, Eva Green and Ewan McGregor fall in love and it's all directed by David Mackenzie. Yes, I realize that sounds beyond awesome. To be totally honest my memory of the film from SIFF is a bit vague. What I remember thinking is that it's part of the recent collection of sci-fi/fantasy films that are really just genre wrappers on personal dramas (Womb, Another Earth, etc.) but that it wasn't quite as good as most of the other examples that came to mind. Going back to "the record" on twitter yields the following contemporaneous utterance "Suspect many will disagree. just not especially impressed by Perfect Sense. Eva Green plenty nice to look at. But Womb way better." So, there you go.
Restoration (Israel) - comes to Palm Springs via a bunch of awards in Israel and a best screenplay award from Sundance. It's chock full of family drama, serious acting, loving shots of restored furniture, and the dark yet rich look that's all over Israeli films these days. If you tend to like films of that description it's worth a watch. There's something about the story that left me less than completely sold - but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it. But it definitely is nice looking cinematically. So statistically there's a good chance that you may be in the (apparently) large population that loved the film more than I did. Though come back if you see it and tell me if you didn't just want to smack a key character due to a particularly (I guess) poignant business transaction in the final reel.
The Sandman (Switzerland) - Bright, beautiful, romantic, and incredible bizarre The Sandman is a must see film. It would easily have been one of my top films of SIFF 2011, except for the fact that it playing at STIFF 2011 instead. Main character Benno is an ultra-uptight neat freak who works in a stamp shop. When he's not ripping off the gullible he obsesses about his weight each morning, provides brutally critical feedback to friends about their life's work and gives untold grief to a young woman who works in the coffee shop below his apartment. All in all a real mensch - or perhaps not. Then out of nowhere he develops and unusual affliction. He begins to leak sand. And nor just regular sand but magical instantaneous sleep inducing sand. Which similarly (I'd image) to normal sand tastes horrible in pasta.

This explosion of essentially dirt doesn't really fit in with his other lifestyle choices. Especially when it causes his hot girlfriend to think he's bedding the coffee shop girl (it makes perfect sense in context). Even his earnest protest that it can't be true that he's hooking up with the presumably frumpier woman because "looks are important to me" fails to mollify her. Oh, almost forgot. In the meantime he's also beginning to share a recurring dream with the waitress he professes to hate. This is a strange film - in a very colorful visual way that reminds me of a Michel Gondry creation, though more fun for me than his recent work. If you're not sold by now there's nothing I'm going to be able to help you with...
Sound of my Voice (USA) - Peter and Lorna are a couple whose work on a documentary about cults has them seeking to infiltrate one. Specifically one worshipful of the eerily compelling Maggie (Brit Marling). They earn enough trust to be brought to meet Maggie in an undisclosed basement location. She never leaves this basement where cult members grow her food, donate blood to her and listen to her lessons about the upcoming crisis about to beset the earth. I'd strongly suggest not reading anything else about this film and just making sure you see it at Palm Springs. If I haven't sold you already then let me add that it features both the creepiest use of patty-cakes in a motion picture and the best use of a Cranberries song ever. 'nuff said.
The Squad (Columbia) - About a squad of soldiers trying to figure out where everybody went in the area they're sent to storm. And what to do with the crazy seeming lady buried inside a chamber within one of the buildings. But for all the attempts at tension it was rather boring. Ultimately felt a lot like recent M. Night Shyamalan films - aka not one of the good ones. Given all the positive hype I'd heard about this film ahead of Fantastic Fest there are clearly some who would differ greatly with me on the content of the picture. If you choose to see it I sincerely hope you fall into that blessed category.
Tilt (Bulgaria) - Skateboarding, pinball, love and broken dreams in 80's Bulgaria. Snappy music and a kinetic style. Lots to like here. I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I thought I might from the description - though it's certainly not bad - even engrossing at times. My less than 100% stellar reaction might only be because it's possible that the Bulgarian concept of a happy ending of a romantic drama may be bleaker than I'm used to from Hollywood and beyond. Worth a look if you can sneak it into your schedule.

Sound of My Voice

2011-12-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

The following post was written around the time I saw Sound of My Voice in March 2011 at SXSW. I'd thought to hold onto the review in part because I thought the film would be released in the not too distant future. As it turns out the delay was pretty significant (aka not in 2011). The film is appearing at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in Jan 2012 - so as I'm featuring it as one of my must see films of the festival it feels right to finally publish this.

Brit Marling appeared in two movies I saw at SXSW this year (Sound of My Voice and Another Earth). They were fairly different films and both worked well in their own way. I wasn't at all familiar with Marling's work before SXSW but suffice it to say she'll be on my radar from now on. Not just a solid actress she shared a writing credit in both films - in the case of Sound of My Voice with director Zal Batmanglij.

Brit Marling during the post-film Q&A

I almost didn't see Sound of My Voice. The description mentioned a story about a couple working to infiltrate a cult and the "trailer" which turned out to be the first few minutes of the film didn't grab my attention. At least not in a positive way - it did look creepy but in a way that I thought might end with screaming and rivers of blood. But it turned out that I had nothing to see on Friday evening that would fit so just to fill the time I walked into the first Sound of My Voice screening at the beautiful State Theater. Wow - am I glad I did...

The setup for the film is that Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are a couple whose work on a documentary about cults has them seeking to infiltrate one that is worshipful of Maggie (Brit Marling). After time spent gaining the group's trust they've been invited to enter the inner sanctum. Which involves scrubbing themselves clean at a nondescript suburban house, being blindfolded in a garage and being taken to an undisclosed basement location where Maggie lives. It seems Maggie never leaves this basement where cult members grow her food, donate blood to her and listen to her lessons about the upcoming crisis about to beset the earth. I'd strongly suggest not reading anything else about this film and just keeping it on your list of things to see at first opportunity. My guess is most reviews will probably talk more about the film's plot - and I have to admit it's pretty darn tempting to - but I will resist.

Marling and director/co-writer Zal Batmanglij onstage for the Q&A

I will say that the performances of everyone are dead on. Denham is very effective as the extreme skeptic who seems perhaps too-driven to expose the cult, as is Vicius as his girlfriend who at some point may be taken in by Maggie. Marling is amazing as Maggie, a figure so charismatic that we begin to wonder if she's telling the truth. And that last part is where the film works hard to screw with the viewer's head. There's actually only a few ways the concept can end - but even though I believe I figured out it's destination early the final reveal was so effective I still had that creeped-out twitch deep inside the filmmaker's were going for. At the same time it feels like a very realistic portrayal of group coercion on behalf of a cult, pulling you into all the character's emotional states as the story progresses.

While I feel the script itself is fairly strong without a compelling actress as Maggie the picture wouldn't work as well. The camera loves Marling her making it easy to see how people might believe her far-fetched sounding tale. Her ability to switch from all-knowing leader to someone with human frailties as she reveals herself to Peter in order to get him to deliver the one thing she wants most is spookily natural. The filmmaker's are also smart enough to relieve the dramatic tension in ways that deliver a laugh (best use of a Cranberries song ever) but sometimes get re-purposed later for another yikes moment (for example winning an award for the creepiest use of patty-cakes in a motion picture).

At the end I've got to admit I enjoy a good mind-fuck, and Sound of My Voice delivered all the way through. 'nuff said.

Screening Notes:
Both Marling and co-writer/director Zal Batmanglij were in attendance for the screening of the film and conducted a post-film Q&A. Frankly, a lot of such sessions are pretty boring but the duo made the post-film session almost as interesting as the film itself. While watching one can sort of guess that Sound of My Voice may have been made on a shoe-string budget. But at the same time it really looks very good, more of the clues are the limited locations. During the Q&A the pair discussed the tech used (a pair of Canon 7D's - which resulted in a much richer look than I'd previously seen with that level of DSLR technology) and some of the corners they cut (repeatedly buying and returning MacBook Pro's at the Apple Store and then Best Buy when they ran out of Apple stores to have editing equipment available). Good speakers, so if you get a chance to see the film with them in attendance I wouldn't leave early.

I'll leave you with part of the origin story about Sound of My Voice - shortened a bit due to SXSW constraints on how much video can be published. Given some more time (and interest) I'll transcribe the key parts of the Q&A as a written summary of the events seems OK, just not an audio or video record of it. :-)

Very mild plot spoiler mentioned in the clip below - nothing you wouldn't find in the description of the film in most cases (just not above)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

2011-12-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

A crusading journalist and an antisocial master-hacker with a photographic memory whose approach to justice is refreshingly direct return to the big screen in David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Fincher has fashioned a good looking and relatively tight presentation of an enjoyable book that's a bit of a kitchen sink sort of mess. The film even manages to poke at the source material with good natured humor. Most memorably when Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) explains his family tree to Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who mutters he's never going to keep everyone straight. That's OK we want to assure him. Most readers couldn't either. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself - what with assuming folks already know the story. If you haven't read the book, so let me back up...

Or better yet - let me direct you over to the full review at Three Imaginary Girls.

If you want the super short version, I'll leave you with the closing paragraph on the full review:

As a whole The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be a win for most readers of the book who inexplicably haven't seen Noomi Rapace nail Salander in the original films. It's also a great way to checkout the story if you haven't read the original series (much like seeing Twilight is better for not having read the book). Frankly, unless you're super dogmatic about no remakes I think there's plenty to admire in this film regardless where you fall in terms of experience with the series. Imperfections that do exist can be traced back to the books - which were super fun but don't necessarily improve with each revisiting.

I am falling seriously behind...

2011-12-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Even though I feel I've been writing a film review here and there I suddenly realized I'm way, way behind on posting something about every film I saw in the last few months. Even if I skip over some of the more embarrassing choices (like Abduction) there's still a ton to get to. Unless I suddenly start counting 140 characters of snark on Twitter. In the interests of giving myself some incentive to come back eventually here's a partial list of some of the more substantive things I've seen in recent memory but not written about here.

50/50
The Artist
Le Havre
The Muppets
My Piece of the Pie
Margin Call
Like Crazy
The Descendants
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
My Week with Marilyn
Take Shelter
Young Adult
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

All of the films have something to recommend them - actually most on the list are pretty good. Though I may stand alone from most film-goers from saying the main thing to recommend The Artist is the incredible supporting performance of the pooch Uggy. Not that it's unwatchable - I just thought it was a little boring overall. I'm sure I'll come back to some of these eventually. If you need an opinion earlier than that - you know how to ask ;-)

Palm Springs 2012 - Initial Films Announced

2011-12-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's that festive time of year again, and lots of folks are anxious to start making a list and checking it twice. No, I'm not referring to that jolly heavyset fellow that so many parents set the seeds for a lifetime of distrust with their children about. But people lucky enough to attending the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Scheduled to run from January 5th through the 16th they'll announce the full slate of films later this week. Over the last few days there have been press releases over the various celebs that will be honored at the festival. While some of these tributes are very interesting I'm more keen to get a peek at the films appearing throughout the main festival. Thankfully today some of the silence was broken with a press release detailing some of the goodies.

As always there's a significant focus on films submitted by their home country for the Foreign Language Oscar competition. This year 40 of the 63 submissions will be available for attendees to view. The press release also detailed a number of other movies, bringing the publicly disclosed list to 69 (best I can count at least).

Below I've listed all of the films I could locate announced to date - along with a link to the movie's IMDB page(where available). In the next day or two I'll post some notes on the five films I've already seen. But in short you'll probably want to save some time for Bullhead, Le Havre, Elite Squad, and Almanya.

Asma's (Egypt)
Cairo 678 (Egypt)
Habibi (Palestine)
How Big Is Your Love (Algeria)
Love in the Medina (Morocco)
Man Without a Cell Phone (Palestine)
On the Edge (Morocco)
The Rif Lover (Morocco)
Sea Shadow (United Arab Emirates)
The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (Lebanan)
Transit Cities (Jordan)
Breathing (Austria)
Bullhead (Belgium)
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Brazil)
Tilt (Bulgaria)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
The Flowers of War (China)
Alois Nebel (Czech Republic)
Superclasico (Denmark)
Le Havre (Finland)
Declaration of War (France)
Pina (Germany)
Attenberg (Greece)
A Simple Life (Hong Kong)
The Turin Horse (Hungary/France, Germany, Switzerland)
Volcano (Iceland/Denmark)
Abu, Son of Adam (India)
A Separation (Iran)
Footnote (Israel)
Terraferma (Italy)
Postcard (Japan)
The Front Line (Korea)
Back to Your Arms (Lithuania/Germany, Poland)
Miss Bala (Mexico)
Omar Killed Me (Morocco/France)
Sonny Boy (Netherlands)
The Orator (New Zealand/Samoa)
Happy, Happy (Norway)
In Darkness (Poland/Canada/Germany)
Jose and Pilar (Portugal/Spain, Brazil)
Morgen (Romania/France, Hungary)
Montevideo - Taste of a Dream (Serbia)
Tatsumi (Singapore/Indonesia)
Gypsy (Slovakia)
Black Bread (Spain)
Beyond (Sweden/Finland)
Summer Games (Switzerland/Italy)
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (Taiwan)
Once Upon a time in Anatolia (Turkey/Bosnis-Herzegovina)
Patagonia (United Kingdom/Argentina, Wales)
Rumble of the Stones (Venezuela)
Almanya, Welcome to Germany (Germany)
Generation P (Russia)
The House (Slovakia)
The Invader (Belgium)
Las Acacias (Argentina)
Last Winter (Belgium)
Off White Lies (Israel)
Old Goats (USA)
Wreckers (United Kingdom)
Arranged Happiness (Germany)
Bert Stern, Original Madman (USA)
Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel (USA)
Die Standing Up (Mexico)
First Position: A Ballet Documentary (USA)
The Tiniest Place (Mexico)
Unfinished Spaces (USA)
Wish Me Away (USA)
You've Been Trumped (United Kingdom)

SIFF screening and Q&A with Gary Oldman

2011-12-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

As 2012 winds down one of the more anticipated films of the season for many is the new adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I was lucky enough to get to see it last weekend with star Gary Oldman in attendance. I'll have a full review sometime before the film opens in the Seattle area. But right now I just wanted to post some related materials for Oldman fans who weren't able to attend.

For those super-curious there's nothing about the movie that should scare you away. As opposed to the new Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film which I saw yesterday I hadn't read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy text nor seen any of the earlier film adaptations. So I went in completely fresh. The material is rather dense in terms of information content. Only afterward did I recognize it would have been valuable to have reviewed the "dossier" handed out at the screening which included a who's who of characters as well as a glossary of British intelligence terms. I've included photos of the materials below as I'm expecting standard screenings won't include such Cliff Notes.

I like that sort of mental challenge where you're thrown into the story and have to sort out the motivations and context on the fly. But can see how some might find it overwhelming. Most impressive is how with a serious economy of words, and physical motion Oldman and the director build up serious tension throughout. Though it's so intense that the ending was somewhat of a letdown for me - given the stakes being played for. Worth seeing just for Oldman's performance - which is how I feel about Shame, a picture that couldn't be more the polar opposite.

Anyway.... enough about the film here's some snapshots of the surprisingly utilitarian ~~publicity materials~~ "dossier" and 16 minutes of the 30 minute Q&A discussion post film moderated by Carl Spence. And of course the trailer for the picture to whet one's appetite.

(Update 12/18) Thanks to alert reader Kelli I can point everyone to a more readable version of the dossier below. I probably should have assumed it was online, but something about snapping a picture of the document seemed in keeping with the spirit of the film. But if you want to actually easily consume the information Kelli's pointer is quite useful.

Moviepass (experience and gift guide update)

2011-12-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Last week I wrote about the new fixed price and (sort of) unlimited theatrical movie service Moviepass. The original post can be read here. In short, you can purchase a pass on a monthly basis that's good for up to one film per day, every day at a subset of theaters. I decided to give it a try and so far have been really pleased with the experience. It's quite easy to use and except for a few strange looks at the theater (employees tend to be unfamiliar with the vouchers issued) it's worked well. And even the curiousity of employees only slowed me down at most 2 minutes in one case. Having the pass does change one's thinking about whether to go to the movies or not. Much like Amazon Prime making me not think twice about ordering something to be delivered quickly vs a trip to the store, or Netflix streaming making me less resistant to trying something new. Only downside I've seen so far is that it lowers the bar for trying a new film does go down when you feel you're not paying for it. Case in point, this weekend there was a tiny moment when I thought to myself "I wonder if New Year's Eve is even worse it looks? - maybe I should just go and see..." Upside being I got out to try some films I'd been putting off, and quite enjoyed one of them.

Gift Options
Moviepass is currently in a limited beta (I still have some invites left if anyone wants to try it). But the folks behind the service are thinking smartly allowing for gift memberships to be directly purchased. This might make a great gift for that movie lover in your life, as long as the theater restrictions work for them. I'd previously published the list of Seattle theaters, so local folks can take a look there and see if it will overlap with the giftee's needs. I'd say that Moviepass is being less smart in not making it trivial to see the entire list of covered venues without first logging in. Maybe one can, but I couldn't quickly figure it out. The main thing to keep in mind is that if someone only goes to AMC, Regal and Landmark chains it doesn't look like this is going to work for them. I'm sure if you write to Moviepass they'll sort out the question of local availability for you. Their customer service has been tremendous for me so far. If not I should be able to generate some local lists of theaters via my account for a limited number of folks (just post in the comments to ask or email).

Gift memberships break down into three options:

One month ($49.99)
Three Months ($119.99 - or $39.99/month)
One Year ($359.99 - or $29.99/month)

Of course for the annual price one could buy a bucketload of Fandango or theater specific vouchers - all without the risk of the underlying company pulling the plug on the service in the next year. But for a serious film-goer it's hard to beat the price per film. I can see that a one-month membership during this awards season would be a great mini-vacation for a film fan the week after the holidays.

My experience so far
This weekend I caught two films via MoviePass. One at the Kirkland Park Place theater (Margin Call) and one at Lincoln Square Cinemas (My Weekend with Marilyn). The way the service works is that you select up to one film each day from their very intuitive website (screenshots below). Then you're mailed a certificate that uses the "Hollywood Movie Money" service to provide the box office a credit card like number they punch into their point of sale system. Based on my experience it's not something the employees see every day. At Kirkland Park Place they had to rustle up a manager to take a look (just a 2-3 minute process) though at Lincoln Square they punched it right in (while asking how one obtains such a virtual ticket). In the Seattle area the face value is $13 - meaning if it's a 3D film you might have to front up another $0.75 or so. Moviepass doesn't yet have a mobile app, but their site is mobile optimized and I haven't had a problem using it via the iPhone. It is a drag to print out the voucher if you're on the move (or as I have gotten used to not printing such things). I suspect one could talk their way into a theater using the pdf on the phone - but I haven't tried yet.

The vouchers themselves are typically good through the next full day. So if something comes up and you don't get into the show you'd signed up for there's definitely some leeway. Though it may be a gray area you can probably see two films on one day by using one allocated day's film a day late.

I've included step by step screenshots below for those curious about the process.

Select a theater to see what's playing. This is the Seattle view which can be changed to any location (MoviePass is good anywhere in the country they're accepted)

Then you can view movie times and select a specific show

At the end of the selection process there's a confirmation screen to lock in your selection for the day.

Finally, you're emailed (and linked from the page) a printable voucher to take to the box office

MoviePass - the theatrical version of Netflix?

2011-12-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

A few months back the film loving interwebs were all atwitter about the new MoviePass site which offered an all you can eat approach to movie-going. Tuesday I received an invite to join the service, which caused me to poke around a bit more on their beta-program site. I just love the let's try something different aspect of it - even if I'm not 100% sure it'll work for me. Admittedly, I have an annual pass to SIFF Cinema and am lucky enough to get into a good number of free previews. So likely an edge case for their business model.

Their pricing model is simple with just three pricing tiers - based on how many months in a row you're willing to ~~bet they'll be in business~~ for commit to. The prices for the Seattle area are:

$49.99 / month
$39.99 / month - 3 months commitment
$29.99 / month - year commitment

As you can see there's a hefty saving if you're willing to take a shot on the whole year. I'm going to do my best to summarize the list of theaters below. But obviously please check the site closely. Whether these economics makes sense are clearly a factor of how often you go to the movies as well. If you generally go 5x a month or less this won't make sense without a longer term commitment. If you travel a lot it's worth noting you can use the pass anywhere in the country. Also worth noting I understand the Alamo Drafthouse theaters are on the list. Just saying...

(Update 12/7: I looked a little more closely at the billing situation. Even if you sign up for a year they only bill you on a monthly basis. So if for some horrible reason MoviePass does a Kozmo you're likely no worse off. at $29.99 a month it means you only need to see 3 movies a month with them to break even. While I'm unclear how this makes them a profit (need to research their business model more) that wouldn't be hard to hit for a lot of people - so even more intriguing).

I think it's gonna be a tough go of it at this point with folks in Seattle who spend part of their film dollars on general release films. The situation is better on the Eastside with Kirkland Park Place and Lincoln Square Cinemas included. With a bonus of being accepted at the Bollywood focused Totem Lake Cinemas. Most of the independent theaters around the Seattle area are participating. So I'm finally going to have a super solid excuse to try Cinebarre. SIFF is in the mix too- that's very cool though at $5 for members the economics are way different (and a SIFF Cinema pass is cheaper if your focus is SIFF Cinema).

So far their customer support is truly incredible. I've gotten responses from Jamie (my Moviepass "concierge" with an average delay of less than 10 minutes. Stupendous! - and the main reason I'm willing to give it a shot.

I signed up to give it a try as an experiment. So far the site looks clean and simple to use once you're past the "pay-me" screens. They're in a limited beta so you have to apply to join. If you'd like me to try using their invite a friend shoot me an email, tweet, or comments comment and I'll send one if I can. At present looks like I've got five to share.

I took a pass through their Terms and Conditions. May have missed something onerous, but so far the constraints I've noticed includes

Limited to one film per day (I'm probably the poster child as to why they put this in place). Too bad though - without this limit I'd probably by a year pass right now.
Not all films included - you need to pay the bump for some things such as IMAX / 3D. For each film selected they provide a certificate with a dollar value on it. If the cost of the film is higher you pay the extra. I've been told the Seattle area ticket value assigned is $13 - so for practical matters I think this means a 3D movie at Lincoln Square will run you $0.75.
Can never see same film twice (my 8 year old Star Wars loving friends and I are probably the reason for this constraint). So don't fall asleep during a screening. :-)
Doesn't guarantee availability (which I suppose is reasonable) - though unclear at this point whether there's any quote or other restriction that might make some films hard to get into
You technically have to print out a physical certificate. Though I'm told they mail you a pdf version of the certificate. So likely social engineering would prevail in many cases if you cannot print.
Seems like it's auto-renewing so you need to remember to cancel it.

Update:
In case you're wondering how this works technically I did a test "buy" of a ticket. When you choose a film they send you a pdf voucher for the theater. It's based on a virtual credit card number system that the theater punches in to get paid for your ticket - in place of you paying by credit card. Which means three things. First, if the theater doesn't take credit cards this won't work (see my note below on the Grand Illusion). Second, the theater probably doesn't have to opt-in for this to work (meaning they may have never heard of it - again as per Grand Illusion). Finally, it also means that there's a bit more flex in the system than it first appears - mainly because the voucher is good for around 24 hours for any screening of that film. At least that's how it appears.

And without further delay here's a list of participating theaters 50 miles about Seattle

Admiral Twin
Bainbridge Cinemas at the Pavilion
Blue Mouse Theatre
Central Cinema
Chalet Theatre
Cinebarre Mountlake Terrace
Cinerama Theatre
Firehouse Theater
Galaxy Monroe
Galaxy Narrows
Galaxy Uptown
Grand Cinema - Tacoma
~~Grand Illusion Cinema~~ I'm researching this now. But it doesn't appear MoviePass really works at theaters that don't take credit cards. Which means Grand Illusion isn't gonna work.
Kirkland Parkplace Cinema
Lincoln Square Cinemas
Lynwood Theatre
Majestic Bay Theatres
Oak Harbor Cinemas
Olympic Cinemas - Bremerton
Olympic Theatre - Arlington
Rose Theatre - Port Townsend
Tin Theater
Totem Lake Cinemas
Uptown Theatre - Port Townsend
Vashon Theatre
Edmonds Theater
Enumclaw Cinema
Stanwood Cinemas at the Pavilion
Admiral Theatre - Bremerton
Everett Theatre
The EVERUS Theatre
Clyde Theatre
Dragonfly Cinema
North Bend Theatre
SIFF Cinema at the Film Center
SIFF Cinema at the Uptown

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

2011-12-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress is a documentary that follows the modern day equivalent of Willy Wonka through a year long cycle of their world famous restaurant. It's shot in a way that some people some people may dislike, possibly intensely. Absent are the talking heads viewers have been accustomed to, narrating what they're doing (or did) and why. Instead, El Bulli provides a fly on the wall perspective -- where no one speaks to or even acknowledges the camera. But for those patient enough to immerse themselves in it, what emerges is a beautiful meditation on food, art, and the creative process. The last in a way that I believe will be familiar to those schooled in any research like endeavor, scientific or artistic. Meaning - it's not just a film for foodies.
Actually for many of them, the process of El Bulli may seem like a foreign discipline. When I started realizing it was about more than preparing unusual food is when I got seriously hooked. It's definitely not one of those simple "listen to folks talk about how great a chef/musician/actor/whatever is" creations. As such not everyone will love it, but for the right amount of patience it can be a very rewarding experience.

For those not familiar, El Bulli is a restaurant of legendary reputation. Home of head chef Ferran Adrià, it's a Mecca of the molecular gastronomy movement. Otherwise known as one of those places that serves foam. A meal at this establishment is not a quick thing you do before a film or the theater. Outside of Barcelona, the beautiful environment on the bluffs overlooking the sea complement the meal...which is roughly 35 courses and three hours long. I won't attempt to retread all the fancy tech Adrià and his compatriots have established to do what they do to food. There are enough articles to be read on that topic on one's own. And the movie thankfully doesn't fetishize the tech. Instead, by providing a purely show vs tell observational perspective, it if anything fetishizes the creative process. Which is something I can get behind.

Which I explain in more detail in my full review over at Three Imaginary Girls.

Now I may have completely misunderstood what this movie was about. Not that I really care as I enjoyed it. First because watching greatness in invention and engineering a solution is always impressive. As I believe chef Oriol Castro says most accurately "You never know from where ideas will come." It's fantastic to see a treatment of creative process that does due justice to inevitable false starts. But ultimately the most amazing moments for me of the film where the last five minutes. As each of the courses is shown as a still photograph. At which point the viewer sees the realization of El Bulli's process come to life in beautiful relief.

Holiday Gift Guide - Part Deux

2011-11-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

From the Mondo Archives

I'm finally getting my strength back after the monster length list in my earlier gift guide post. Here's a few more categories with suggestions for the film lover in your midst. This set is a bit less Seattle focused but still has some bias. Even if the specific suggestions don't quite apply to where you are I hope they'll be useful in kicking loose some creative ideas for the holidays for everyone.

The don't let school spoil your education options
The category of interesting things to read and do for film fans is of course pretty endless. Many of these are also pretty obvious. So I'll just point to a few around town that seem fun, and a few randomly selected books.

Northwest Film Forum Workshops - making a return visit to the holiday list is the NW Film Forum. As I mentioned earlier they screen a fair number of interesting films, serve beer and wine in their lobby for pre-film relaxing and offer equipment rentals. There's also a significant number of workshops available to choose from. Options for those creating include primers on DSLR filmmaking ($15 members/$20 public), masterclasses with visiting artists such as Joe Swanberg ($15/$20), multi-day workshops on Art Direction ($45/$60), and longer sessions on editing with Final Cut Pro ($250/$280). They also have continuing "required viewing" series for folks looking to broaden their historical understanding of cinema (including screenings and discussions).
SAM film series - The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has held series of weekly deep dives into various areas of films for many years. Whether it's a focus on Film Noir or a director like Billy Wilder it's a great way to really focus on a specific area of film. This January they begin anew with a Truffaut series. It's $66 for the series for the general public and $59 for SAM/SIFF/NWFF/TheFilmSchool members.
The Film School - An organization focusing on the storytelling part of film, more so (best I can tell) than on the mechanics or visual tradecraft of making movies. Truth be told I know very little about the organization other than they now share office space with SIFF at the new Film Center and that Tom Skerrit's affiliation is prominently mentioned in all their literature. For those looking for something very intensive and screenwriting focused they offer a $3000 three week program. Perhaps a better (OK free) way to learn more first is to checkout some of their no-fee speaker series or First Tuesday meetings. If anyone has had personal experience with the full program I am curious to hear your thoughts.
Books by Roger Ebert - OK, OK - I haven't read either of these books. But I really do want to. In fact I'm going to go order his new memoir Roger Ebert: Life Itself ($17) as soon as I post this. In addition to the memoir which I've heard nothing but good things about he has collections of his reviews in a Great Movies Series ($13) the most recent of which was published this October. If your film fan digs Mr. Ebert you can also sign them up for The Ebert Club which is a weekly film newsletter. It's a fun treat full of random stuff dug up by Ebert and his staff - along with insider info on his annual festival. I am a subscriber and it's fun little diversion each week for a very modest investment ($10-$20/year)
Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film ($24) - The Amazon description of this book refers to this as "the most dazzlingly insane film reference book of all time." I do own a copy of this one and have got to say they're likely not far off. The goal of this book is simple - to categorize each and every film with the appearance of a punk in the 20th century. Not a even punk as a main character - just a punk appearing in the film. With descriptions of the films, interviews with actors/creators and tons of pictures this is the definitive work on a subject you likely never considered. I attended the book launch event for this film at Fantastic Fest 2010 and I still cannot get over the staggering level of work that went into this tome. The editors described taking home shopping bags full of films from Scarecrow Video and untold hours watching. The dedication shows. I've yet to think of a film with a punk in it that I haven't found in the book yet. Even if you're not a fan of punk rock this exhaustive piece should be fascinating reading. And a constant reminder of the triumph of the human spirit. You know, second maybe to that landing on the moon thing - but that was a long, long time ago.

Films at Home
These days more and more folks are just watching their movies at home. Lots of reasons for it - though personally I find it a sad trend. That said I'm not immune to the lures of the couch. For the first time this year I've invested a bit in the experience and I'm starting to see the allure. I'll dispense with tips on TV's and sound systems and go right to a few gifts to make the experience better.

Scarecrow Video - Every Seattle based film fan has likely worshiped at the altar of Scarecrow Video at some point or the other. With the most incredible selection of video treats one can imagine along with super knowledgeable staff they're the envy of many a city. Picture Willy Wonka's chocolate factory - but with movies. Hence you simple cannot go wrong with a gift certificate (most denominations available) from these guys. You may think Netflix has a big selection - but it's nothing on these guys.
Netflix - And speaking of Netflix ... I'm going to assume the film fan in your life already has a Netflix streaming subscription (and one including disc rental as well). If not - tell 'em to get over the admittedly incredible dumb Quickster debacle and sign up. Even better - give 'em a gift of the service for a year ($96/year - also available in shorter durations for less).
Amazon Instant Video - The options for watching video on demand via Amazon are growing fast. With free options available for Prime members. So it's worth noting that a recipient of an Amazon Gift Certificate can purchase both physical and digital movies with it. Not too shabby.
Apple TV - The main issue with Netflix streaming (besides their reduced content relative to physical discs) is how to get the stuff onto your TV. Now, it's very likely most film fans already have such a method in their home as Netflix connectivity is now built into most gaming consoles, TiVo and blu-ray players. But in case it's not another option is a < $100 Apple TV box. If you're already part of the Apple ecosystem it's particularly attractive - allowing streaming of movies stored on your Mac, Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, etc straight to your big screen TV. Media server problem - solved. It also enables streaming rentals of films from the iTunes store. I've recently watched several films that were currently or not yet in theaters using the iTunes/Apple TV combo and was very satisfied with the quality. So don't forget to include an iTunes GC (available in various denominations) to get them started.
Roku Streaming Player ($90 or less for older models) - If you don't want to be tied into Apple anymore or and/or want to be able to stream Amazon content then Roku might be the TV to Internet box you're wanting. Including Amazon, HuluPlus, Netflix, Pandora and other lesser known content sources it's another great way to connect the Internet directly to your TV.
Region Free Blu Ray Player ($70-$300) - If you're going to be going after the broadest film content possible physical discs are still where it's at. And why would you want your loved one to be limited to the distribution release schedule machinations of the film studios? Break them free via a region free player. With tons of options available online and in local locations such as Scarecrow Video let them watch what they want when they want to.
Film Movement - It's been a while since I've thought about the book of the month club (which is pushing forward after 85 years). But that's sort of what Film Movement is, except with independent and foreign language films. Gift subscriptions are available in 3/6/12 month increments (approximately $50/$85/$150 - discounts seem common) and include a new DVD each month. Each DVD is the member's to keep and provides an incentive to try something new. They also offer themed gift sets ranging from French language, to audience favorites, to Sundance hits ($175). I've never used the service but the selection of what's on offer doesn't seem unreasonable. Though personally these days I'm more inclined to go the video on demand route where I can choose spur of the moment what's interesting me. But as a gift their concept is intriguing.
Movies on the Go - For the serious film fan no portable device is going to do justice to the greatest films. But if you're going to be stuck on a plane or in a hotel for a while having more options is very much appreciated. There are really two core choices here outside a phone/laptop. Not surprisingly those are the iPad2 ($499 and up) and the new Kindle Fire. At $199 the Kindle is far and away the cheapest choice - and should make for a great traveling companion. It's overall storage space is and battery capacity is smaller than the iPad2. Meaning that if you're off the grid (aka on a plane) you can squeeze more choices and running time into the iPad2. But the Kindle is smaller, almost pocketable - and quite a bit less expensive. I've used both and neither that would make a poor gift for consuming film. Any traveling film fanatic will want one or the other. I can tell you from personal experience it's a lot easier to tolerate 11+ hours in the air when you've got some great new movies with you. Though a Xanax sort of helps too. If they've already got a tablet for travel consider upgrading their headphones ($100 through more than you want to spend). Better sound makes for a better movie.
Decorating your home theater space - There comes a time in the lives of most film fans when thoughts turn to movie posters. The standard ones are pretty easy to come by through Amazon or another specialty poster website. But there's a subculture of creative, licensed but non-standard posters being created all the time by talented artists. Those are especially worth checking out. One of the leaders in that space is Mondo, headquartered in Austin, TX. They sell both t-shirts and posters. Though it's the posters where they really shine. A great way to spend an afternoon of consumer lust is perusing their comprehensive archive site looking for posters you'd love to own. Their posters are done in limited editions and run between $35-$100 depending on the materials, artist and number printed. Once they're gone they're really, really gone - so buying one in advance for someone is hard. Luckily Mondo does sell electronic gift certificates. With which a lucky film fanatic could attempt to buy the poster of their choice in the future. Announcements of new posters are put on their blog and twitter feed. It can be difficult sometimes to land the poster you want, but it can be done. The one upside of the scarcity is that the posters do tend to appreciate with eBay hosting a brisk secondary market. Of course if there's a specific movie they love going direct to eBay works too.

The do it yourselfer
In the last several years there has been an unbelievable reduction in cost of what it takes to make professional quality film. Stuff with HD sharpness and depth of field effects that used to cost a fortune to make are now readily available. And don't even start with me about the incredible special effects possible on a budget. Of course you're still getting nowhere without story and a visual aesthetic that works. But here are some steps to start off in the low budget film making direction (in addition to the NWFF courses I mention above.

DSLR Cinema: Crafting the Film Look with Video - rather than list every possible tool you can buy I'll point you towards this book length wish list for DSLR filmmakers. There's a lot of good advice on filmmaking in general, and specific gear suggestions at various price points. This book I do own - and even though I'm not planning on making my own movies anytime soon it's a great bit of insight into the tools that are dropping the cost of production more and more every day.
NWFF rentals - One way to go gift wise is to couple the above book with some coin to spend over at the Northwest Film Forum on equipment rentals. They've got a bit of everything from lights to cameras to editing suites rent-able by the hour. Rather than spending $1000 on microphones for the budding pro in your life maybe let them try before they buy.
iPhone add ons - They say the best camera is the one you have with you. Before I get into the truly expensive stuff there are choices for your budding filmmaker that won't break the bank. For those already with an iPhone or iPod touch gift them the Filmic Pro app ($2.99). In proper light the iPhone camera is surprisingly solid out of the box. Add this app and supercharge the capabilities of the tool they likely already have in their pocket. For practically nothing it enables multiple frame rates, selectable video resolution, easy focus, and adjustable light metering. For $4.99 more add iMovie for iphone/iPad. It won't replace a true editing suite, but for being able to do basic manipulation on the fly it's quite handy. Maybe throw in a book on filmmaking of your choice to get things rolling further.
DSLR Video Capable Camera - Quite a few movies on the festival circuit are being made today using the video options on digital DSLR cameras. Avoiding the possible holy war between Canon and Nikon users I'll just point to the camera line I know a bit better, Canon DSLR's. While I own a Canon T2i ($649 with kit lens - man these things drop in price fast) they've already produced a newer and slightly more video capable low end entry in their Rebel series - the Canon T3i ($720 and up depending on lens included). For those looking for better low light performance and feature-set you can jump straight to the Mark 5D II full frame DSLR ($2300 without lens) whose output in the right hands is phenomenal both for still images and video (especially at that price point). Of course the camera is just the start with lenses become a whole new obsession. Trust me, I use mine mostly for still photography and the constant lure of new lenses is a constant battle. But if you truly, truly loved someone... ;-)
Editing Software - even worse than the Nikon/Canon holy war is the one over editing software. So I won't go there. Options range from iMovie which does a solid basic job and likely came with your Mac to far more fancy choices. If this is something your giftee wants - just ask them what they're hoping for. Much better than guessing wrong.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for part 3 which will be focused on ideas for the most hardcore of the hardcore. AKA those willing to travel to see more movies earlier. With thoughts on four destination festivals spread out throughout the year including Palm Springs International Film Festival (Jan), SXSW (March), Telluride (labor day weekend), and Fantastic Fest (September). While I'll try to provide tips wherever possible on how to cut the costs, these are likely going to be some of the most expensive "ideas" of the set. Though can you really put a price on sunshine and warmth in January?

Seattle Movie Holiday Gift Guide - Part I

2011-11-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've watched many a website trot out a holiday gift guide. It's so common that publicists will send ideas of things to include. In the case of film lovers there's typically a batch of DVD (or their blu ray equivalent) to checkout along with lots of other physical stuff ranging from chotchkies to expensive tech. Let's face it though we probably all have enough junk around the house already. Though if you're looking for something really comprehensive, interesting and broad here's a great example via Ain't it Cool News. And of course if you're just looking for a way to gift the movie of someone's choice it's hard to go wrong with Amazon Gift Cards

Given all this my goal with this post is mainly experiential gift suggestions. Easier on the environment - plus my taste in movies may be very different than your loved one's. Anyway - I don't tend to buy DVD's, so I wouldn't even know where to start. I've tried to include a broad range of price points - most of the ideas can be had from less than $50 up to quite a lot depending on what's selected.

This post is very Seattle area centric. My apologies in advance to international readers - part II will include things of broader geographic interest. Would love to see folks suggestions for Holiday giving for film lovers in the comments. I'll be sure to move some suggestions up to the main post as well...

First up - Duh - prepaid movies
If you know someone who loves movies they may spend a fair amount at theaters each week. If most of their viewing is at home in front of the TV you might want to encourage them to get out and recapture the true cinema experience. You could run down to the local Regal or AMC chain and pick-up some gift tickets. But why not go just a wee bit bigger - or better. As Seattle lamentably doesn't have an Alamo Drafthouse here are some other suggestions, in no particular order. Any will happily sell you gift tickets. For those with dining options I suggest taking a look at the menu and purchasing a gift that covers at least a light meal and a couple of drinks. For each entry I've include a link to the theater's site.

Seattle Cinerama - I'm assuming I don't need to go into details extolling the virtues of the Cinerama. If I do you owe it to yourself to make a trip downtown to get correct on the situation. Huge beautiful screen, very solid projection, choice of balcony or floor seating. And a reasonably priced concession stocking chocolate popcorn, Theo's Chocolate, and cupcakes. Only downside is that with one screen you're at the mercy of what's showing there. But if it deserves the big big screen experience, then it deserves to be seen at the Cinerama.
Central Cinema - They may not always have the most recent movies, but they do have a fascinatingly eclectic set of films and other video based programming. One of the only spots in town with a pre-show reel worth watching - modeled after the type of stuff the Alamo Drafthouse chain does. With a set of forward facing booths in the front and raised college lecture style seating in the back, film-goers have a nice set of choices. Beer/wine, dinner, dessert - if you're hungry when arriving it's not going to be a problem. All the food I've sampled is pretty solid and the prices don't feel at all gougey. Best spot in town to see the cult hit The Room. Their projection options are a tad limited. But the quality is more than workable and I love the neighborhood joint feel of the place. Free street parking has never been an issue in my experience.
iPic theaters - Formerly known in these parts as Gold Class Cinema I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the place. When they first opened they stood out in two very specific ways (a) jaw droppingly high ticket prices and (b) super comfortable reclining chairs. Over time they've somewhat whittled back prices and introduced two tiers of seats. The lower ones on the weekend are around $18 and include no during film services. The more expensive ones (only ones with the recliner action now) are around $28 and include free soft drinks, weak popcorn and at your seat service. Weekday pricing is somewhat lower. I haven't eaten the food since the rebranding/purchase of the chain, but earlier incarnations were decent but not great. Prices range from reasonable (for fries/onion rings) to spendy. I've also had some less than positive experiences with chatty or cell phone wielding audience members. For all that money staff isn't really super quick to boot people for such offenses in my experience. Yep - another reason to pine for the Alamo Drafthouse (if you don't know what I'm referring to jump here). All said and done though the expensive seats are really super comfortable, and the theater's projection is better than many (though sometimes the theaters are not as dark as they ideally should be). Sometimes a guy just wants to watch a dumb movie on a big screen with a cocktail. In such a case you can do worse than iPic. This is the clear choice if you want to spend something significant and really wow a film fan that's gotten use to teens taking over their local multiplex. Did I mention you need to be 21+ to attend?
Cinebarre - North of Seattle lurks what looks to me like a straight up attempt to open an Alamo without the franchise fee. Right down to the heavily tattooed wait staff in the promotional photos. If they're even close it's a heck of a good thing. I haven't been up there myself yet - and I've heard mixed reviews. But when it's the thought that counts this looks like a great choice ~~to buy me a gift certificate to~~ consider.
Big Picture (both ticket and celebratory packages) - If we were ranking movie theater options by the quality of their bar there wouldn't even be a competition. Big Picture would win hands down. The lush looking waiting area of the theater reminds you that this is a classy operation. The prompt service and creative, full bar menu proves it. With locations in Seattle and Redmond there's probably one not that far away from you now. While food is on offer I'd suggest snuggling into a tub of cheddar topped popcorn and some adult beverages during the film and maybe eating something more substantial elsewhere (the facilities aren't really dining friendly inside the theater). I've had multiple trips to their Redmond location over the past few years. So I can vouch for the super comfy seats and layout that includes a rare center aisle - allowing you to sit dead center and still get in and out easily. No personal experience with the Seattle location. The theater offers festive gift outing packages that are would be most welcome by film fans over 21. With a few high end pool tables in the Redmond location's lounge you can easily make a night of it. The projection quality isn't going to wow a cinephile but the other perks can make up for it in most cases. If you're feeling particularly generous you can rent the whole place for a custom screening experience.
Landmark Cinemas - They may not be the most comfortable, newest theaters. They may have bathrooms that must have been designed on a dare (and while on a bender) by folks who flunked out of architecture school. But the Landmark Theaters bring some of the best films out there to Seattle each year. For that simple fact they've got to be considered for gifting occasions. One can buy physical gift cards online good for tickets and concessions. Presumably the same is available at any of their theaters. Unless there's been a big change recently at the local theaters one can also pickup a discounted ticket book that is good for shows on days other than Friday and Saturday. Sunday is my Landmark day of choice anyway due to the prevalence of free parking. So the Friday/Sat restriction may not be a deal killer for a hardcore fan.
SIFF Cinema Pass - The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) has had a pretty crazy year. Opening their offices in their new film center was a long dreamed about goal. But seemingly out of nowhere they also seized an opportunity with the closing of the AMC Uptown to greatly expand their theater capacity. Now sporting four active screens the "SIFF Cinema" branded juggernaut has been offering at least 4 unique films per week. With weekend evening specialized programming I wouldn't be surprised if an enterprising film fan could attend six or more different movies many weeks. Tickets are a steal for members ($5) - but why even leave that low barrier for a loved one. For $250 ($200/members) they can have a year round pass allowing them into any of the regular programming. Want to see Elite Squad: The Enemy Within at each and every showing for a week? - won't be a problem now. Oh, and if they're not a member don't buy the more expensive pass - just tack on an Enthusiast level membership for just $55. The free popcorn alone makes up the $5 difference. Passes are also offered on a monthly basis if they're not quite a $200 gift sort of friend.
Moviepass Gift Membership (update 12/11/11) - Since writing the original post I've learned the Moviepass all you can see in a theater subscription service is rolling out in the Seattle area. This allows the purchase of a pass on a monthly basis that's good for up to one film per day, every day at a subset of theaters. I've written about my experience with it and some of the pluses and minuses. I've been enjoying it - and for the right film fan it could make a very appreciated gift. Additional details on the experience and the company's gifting experience can be read here.

Those are some of the most unique theaters in the area for catching a film. If none of them appeal to you there's always the somewhat nicer than most Lincoln Square in Bellevue or the catch-all of a Fandango gift certificate. The latter seems more convenient than a chain specific gift ticket in many cases. As evidenced by the two AMC tickets someone gave me a while back that are somehow still sitting in my car.

When just one movie isn't enough - Immersive experiences via local festivals

Perhaps the film fan you're buying for is longing for a more intense dose. If they're Seattle based there are an abundance of festivals that are worth trying. Ranging from commitments of a day to almost 6 weeks there are a lot of options to choose from. Many historically have made use of the SIFF Cinema in Queen Anne. Now that SIFF has expanded to four screens I'd expect to see more of these type of rentals and perhaps some expansion for festivals making innovative use of the multiple screens. More pop up all the time - but here's a few that come to mind.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Film Festival - The smallest length of the ones I'm writing about today. This festival takes place over two - two hour sessions on February 4th. Each session consists of ten short films with the event held in the Cinerama. EMP and SIFF throw this shindig together and in years past it's been a heck of a good time. They're also nice enough to often hold the event on my birthday (as they are this year), so can't complain about that either. For a basic gift spring for the $18 ticket that gets your loved one into both sessions. To jazz it up consider buying them dinner in between the two sessions. There's a break from 6-7:30 and everyone's gotta eat. I'll have a preview post of the event closer to February. But I can say I've seen at least four of the shorts, and they're some of the better ones I've seen in 2011. If you do go this route point the recipient to the fantastic site Short of the Week that has a continuous curated dose of the best short form films online. Heck, point everyone you know at the site anyway.
Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival (MIFF) - Challenging the sci-fi folks for the longest fest name in Seattle is MIFFF - our homegrown genre film fest. The closest you're going to get to Austin's accurately named Fantastic Fest in Seattle they bring the horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and other genre specific films you won't see in the multiplex. Their 2012 dates aren't set yet, but history suggests it will be in the late September timeframe and take place over a weekend. If you'd like to learn more I've written a fair amount on their 2011 festival. Nothing looks like it's officially on sale yet, but I'm sure your friend will accept an IOU. Full passes are likely to repeat in the $50 range.
Seattle Jewish Film Festival - While I've kidded the folks at SJFF occasionally (OK repeatedly) it's still worth knowing about. They have passes for their 3/15-3/25 series on sale now (this link will take you direct to the order form). They've oddly decoupled descriptions of the passes from the order form (see, the kidding continues). You can buy "the whole megillah" pass for $250 ($225 student/seniors) which includes everything going on and all the basic parties. $200 gets you into the films but leaves you off some party. Personally - I'd suggest the flex pass at $90 ($75 student/seniors) which gives you eight entries into most of the films. The nice thing about it is that you can bring along friends - one per punch per film. Hence the pass can also be seen as four films for a couple attending together. Plus a brunch event I've never made it to. Honestly, this isn't my absolute favorite festival of the year. But I'm glad it's in Seattle and likely to at least be more appreciated as a Hanukkah present than socks.
Northwest Film Forum: Children's Film Festival Seattle - Finally, something for the small folks in your household. If you're a parent who dies a bit inside every time you take the wee ones to something like The Smurfs then the Northwest Film Forum has an answer. Coming up between Jan 26th and Feb 5th is the 7th annual Children's film festival. There are options for all ages including a 3 and up pajama party, a concert by Caspar Babypants (fronted by Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States of America) and what looks like a great selection of international children's films. There are also hands on workshops such as a movie making with sock puppets class, and one on claymation. I reviewed a bunch of the films last year and was super impressed. Looking forward to seeing some of the films this year as well. I know it may be hard to explain to your children that their gift is coming in late January. But that's no excuse not to take them. Did I mention the Pancake Breakfast event? Seriously - this is great stuff - tickets on sale as of 12/1. Schedule available here.
Seattle's True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) - From the title it's hard to imagine that STIFF wasn't started as a bit of a F-you to the folks running SIFF. There is a history of festival counter-programming, most notable Slamdance which coincides with Sundance each year. In years past STIFF also coincided with SIFF. Unfortunately in my view that reduced the opportunity for folks attending SIFF to take advantage of the coolness that STIFF offered. Thankfully in 2012 STIFF will preceed SIFF running May 4th-12th. In the case of Slamdance vs. Sundance when tons of industry types are flying into Park City to watch movies the two festivals butting heads makes sense. But in the case of STIFF I'm really happy they decided to de-couple them somewhat so I can checkout both. I did watch a decent number of STIFF titles this year and feel there's a lot of reasons to recommend the festival in its own right. It's also a heck of a deal, last year passes ran $50 for everything including parties. They're not on sale yet but I'm sure an IOU would work in this case as well. Of you can do something really different and sponsor a filmmaker application to the festival on behalf of your friend/family member.
Seattle International Film Festival - last, but definitely not least is the big kahuna of festivals - SIFF. Running May 17-June 10th 2012 the odds are good that your giftee is available to catch part of it. Lots of gifting choices lie within. For folks you really, really like and who might want the full experience there's the full series pass ($500 until 1/17 for members) which gets them into most films. Or even the super swanky Platinum Pass ($1100 until 1/17) which guarantees admission into pretty much everything. At those prices admittedly maybe more a group purchase for that special someone. The full series passes also includes admission to three weeks of press screenings before the festival - so for someone with endless free time that's roughly six weeks of movie watching for $500. There may be a better priced movie watching deal out there for the film fanatic. But if there is I haven't found it yet. Remember though there are lots of other options. At early bird pricing there's the Secret Festival Pass, four screenings of films on Sunday mornings during the festival that they can never, ever tell you about. It's a hit or miss endeavor - but what an air of intrigue. Gala only ($135) or party passes ($185) are nice options, especially if your giftee already buys a full series pass each year - as those don't include the galas/parties. Maybe less good gifts for anyone with a drinking problem as those passes typically include an open bar. There are also 6 pack ($45) and 20 pack ($140) options which let the recipient choose their films once the schedule comes out in May. I'll admit some of the choices are a bit confusing - so don't hesitate to reach out to the folks at the SIFF box office for guidance. I'm happy to answer questions by email or in the comments if I can.

Membership has its privileges
A great way to plug more into the local film watching scene is to become a member of one of the strong arts organizations in our community. Some ideas along that direction:

Northwest Forum - SIFF may get a lot of the hoopla as far as Northwest film orgs go, but there are plenty of other important voices out there. A super key one is the Northwest Film Forum which both screens innovative movies and helps people make them. This is likely the best film organization to gift to someone who is interested in making films vs. just watching them. Though lovers of both will benefit too of course. Membership includes significant discounts on movie screenings, classes, performance and special events. Individual memberships are $45, dual (two people at same address) are $75 and families (4 people same address) are just $100. Memberships taken (new or renewing) in December include an admit-two pass and a free popcorn to get you started at the movies, lending privileges from their DVD library, and half price rentals of film-making equipment and post-production suites. For someone who's already a fan they have some pretty sweet 15th anniversary shirts and mugs available on their site. Gift certificates are also available if you just want to send your friends to the movies. I think it's important to point out the range of workshops available for those who want to learn more about the film process, or are interested in getting their hands dirty and making films. If you're buying for someone who wants to make films NW Film Forum is an organization they should be involved with in some way. Actually - this is probably a good place to point folks toward the 911 Media Arts Center if they know someone interested in making vs just watching. I don't have a lot of personal experience with their work - but it seems like a nice collection of educational opportunities there as well.
Grand Illusion Cinema - The Grand Illusion Cinema is the oldest continuously running theater in Seattle. It's also a non-profit volunteer run theater. It's not a huge place (70 seat theater) but they have creative programming mixing old and new and a true sense of history. Memberships start at $30 and include reduced admission to films, invites to members-only parties and screenings. Plus that unquantifiable sense of doing good. More expensive memberships include some films and presumably more of that positive vibe. Membership details are online here.
SIFF - with many levels of supporter ranging from $55/year through $10k you can certainly calibrate the size of your gift (significant portions of most are tax deductible). The full list of levels and benefits are here. All levels include a popcorn punch-card redeemable at SIFF Cinemas, the ability to buy early bird offers for the festival, and invitations to free preview screenings (typically admit-two) throughout the year. I don't fully understand the formula, but I believe $125 and up memberships include a bit more in the way of free invites. They also include may include tickets to the cinema year round and festival. Remember all memberships include $5 tickets to the year round (non festival) programming at the four screens SIFF runs in Queen Anne.
EMP/SFM - OK, OK - the the Experience Music Project/Science-Fiction Museum isn't really a film related thing. At least on the surface. But with exhibits like Can't Look Away: The Lure of Horror Film they still sort of fit. Membership includes free year round admission, and access to special offers/events as well. Starting at $50 for individual memberships. And yeah - there's a tax deduction too...

I'm going to take a break for now. I'm planning to come back with a part II gift guide section - covering local educational series, choices for the traveling film fanatic, DIY equipment on a budget, sources of at home content, and for the generous four destination festivals that are a heck of a lot of fun and easy to navigate for fans of all types. Until then... Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.

Kill All Redneck Pricks: A documentary about a band called KARP

2011-11-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a band named KARP. Three boys with a gleam in their eyes and a shared love of the Olympia WA music scene. Forming a band and chasing the dream. Playing louder and darker than their peers as they toured the country in the back of a beat up old van. With fungible jobs at theaters and bars to scratch by. Kill All Redneck Pricks: A documentary about a band called Karp is a story of comitted friendships crossed with a classic story of demons, adulthood drugs and incredibly bad luck tearing a promising thing apart. It's also a snapshot of a local music scene and it's ups and downs. KARP is a film that probably rewards how much intensity for the subject matter the viewer arrives with. And their personal tolerance for footage that sometimes would make the Blair Witch Project feel like it was shot on rails. It's definitely worth watching if you're a fan already or looking to devour anything you can find on the history of the NW music scene. Everyone else ... well ... it's perhaps less crucial. My full thoughts on why I came to that conclusion can be found over at Three Imaginary Girls.
{ Kill All Redneck Pricks: A documentary about a band called Karp opened Friday at the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle}

SIFF Cinema: An explosion of riches

2011-11-18T22:28:00.000-08:00

Geez - they've got a lot of stuff going on over at the new SIFF facilities. With SIFF Cinema at the Uptown and SIFF Cinema at the Film Center there are four screens to fill. And SIFF folks are definitely taking their new toy out for a ride. There are a ton of movies getting booked into the set of screens. Including special event screenings, the Italian Film Festival, and runs of films just making their way to Seattle. Plus Muppets, lots and lots of Muppets. So much stuff that their $25/month (less if you buy the whole year) all you can see pass starts to seem like a reasonable deal. Just don't forget that SIFF members pay just $5 for most shows.

Before I get into the films, a moment of editorial content... Maybe it's just me, but I feel it'd be a great time for SIFF to upgrade their website. It's getting a bit difficult to get a sense as to what's coming up. Each time I browse over there and poke through the calendar I get the feeling it's entirely possible I'm going to miss something really exciting that just shows up suddenly. I love the dynamism that's being brought to the programming, but it's easy to miss something. Not that I needed to plan two weeks in advance to see Human Centipede 2 (thank you very much, I was at the US premiere party early because I skipped the film at Fantastic Fest). But it still seems like it takes more digging than less nutty film fans may be willing to put in. The old style of site was totally fine for one engagement per week and the festival. But they may have outgrown the current design.

That said there are a lot of really interesting things showing up over the next few weeks. I've pulled out what I hope is a mostly complete list below. Personally I'm very excited to see The Swell Season, the documentary that follows the couple from Once. That was so even before Three Imaginary Girls gave it an absolute rave. Now it's on my must see list before it leaves town on 11/23. Also very intrigued by Le Havre which will be there through Nov. 24th.

This weekend you can catch one of those two, one of several Italian Festival films, or the Sundance award winning documentary Hell and Back Again. It sounds fairly interesting - here's a short description;

"From his embed with US Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris. The film seamlessly transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate portrait of one man’s personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where Harris confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life with the love and support of his wife, Ashley. Masterfully contrasting the intensity of the frontline with the unsettling normalcy of home, HELL AND BACK AGAIN lays bare the true cost of war."

Maybe less than humble as far as the description goes. But as the documentary was just put officially on the short list for this year's Oscar in the documentary category I suppose I'll let it slide.

I have seen a few of the films already. For some I'll come back with fuller reviews, but here are some quick thoughts on ones I've had a chance to screen.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Brazil) - One of my top films from Fantastic Fest 2011. In short - I really dug this one. Smart, intense and a view of Brazil only hinted at in Fast Five. I liked the earlier Elite Squad too - but maybe this one more. The action/thriller aspect of it was top notch. And the real world political underpinnings of it were fascinating. Not to mention scary as heck. I heard folks after comparing it to The Wire. The two do feel very different to me (outside of corruption) but I think the quality and realism made the same connection for me at some stages of the film. Do ... not ... miss ... it!
London Boulevard - I really enjoyed this gangster version of Notting Hill starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley. But really starring Colin Farrel. Farrell is a recently released ex-con whose "friends" keep trying to drag him into something dirty. He just wants to be left alone. Somehow he stumbles into a handyman/bodyguard gig for a reclusive famous movie star. Add in a sense of justice, some nasty London gangsters, an out there sister, David Thewlis and a knack for violence and it's gonna be an entertaining ride. The whole film was a pleasure, but as Farrel explains to Ray Winstone who keeps trying to pull him into a life of crime - "You don't want me to be a gangster. I couldn't stop if I started. So you get it?" I realized he should just play this role in every film. Not going to be an Academy Award contender but a quality popcorn flick.
The Weird World of Blowfly - Documentary about Clarence Reid, an accomplished musician who wrote and produced many significant soul/R&B songs and acts of the 60's and 70's. At the same time he was living a double life through his alter-ego named Blowfly. That Blowfly cat we're told may be one of the true original rappers. He's also the dirtiest version of Weird Al this writer has ever heard. Able to turn almost anything into a filthy, filthy tune he inspired a generation of musicians/rappers. It's partially a sad story as Reid sold his now lucrative rights to his not X-rated songs for a pittance. He now gets by on a limited income while having some success with his Blowfly persona. I'm hoping to have the energy to do a full review before it hits SIFF Cinema. It's an interesting film - though top-heavy. Once I learned a bit about his music my interest tended to fade as the film follows him on tour. And when I say filthy lyrics - if you don't believe me feel free to have a listen to "Let Me Cum in Your Mouth" or "Rap Dirty." Personally I don't know that it's "must see" - but it's certainly something I didn't know before, so I don't regret checking it out.
Sleeping Beauty (Australia) - to say the least an unusual film. About a young, beautiful and beyond passive young woman who struggles to make ends meet as a student. Numb to life she takes a job through an add through an ad in the school paper. The position ultimately involves being drugged, left in a bed naked to be used by old rich men. Not penetrated she's told repeatedly. But that doesn't make it any less creepy. I liked the spare, elegant style of the picture, full of fixed camera shots and minimalist dialog. Emily Browning as the woman in question delivers a compelling performance and is one heck of a sport for taking on the role. My brain is still processing it though and I'm not exactly sure what I took away from it. Many might view it as a pretentious art-house mess out of Cannes. I'm not quite there, but I understand how one might have that opinion. Like I said, still unraveling it mentally. Perhaps the main issue I'm struggling with is while it's really out there it still felt as though I knew where it was going from the beginning. Perhaps all fairy tales are just like that though.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (Finland) - either a brilliant tell-all film about the true origins of Father Christmas that the Coca-Cola company never wanted you to see…or a fascinating exploration of what the outcome would have been if darkly quirky Finnish movie types had remade a film originally starring Bruce Willis. It’s likely destined to become a Christmas classic for those who view Bad Santa as just a smidge too sweet for their tastes. Oh - in case you missed it, not a Santa film for little kids.

Near the border with Russia, the Sub-Zero corporation is in the process of trying to unearth the original Santa. Buried long ago in ice, this Santa is more of the “thrash bad children to the point of incapacitation with the occasional boiling them alive to keep things interesting” sort of creature. So of course when he’s pulled out of the ground some bad things are going to happen – at the very least he’s going to be hungry. And you won’t like Santa when he’s hungry.

There are scares, beautiful photography, well acted father/son moments and of course gingerbread. Not to mention copious amounts of blowing shit up. Basically something for everyone. The film skimps somewhat on character development, but it hits the highlights of what most people will be looking for. Namely a bunch of everymen taking up arms against jolly ol’ Saint Nick. In the end the concept and visual execution probably was a little stronger than the plot, but for a bit of anti-holiday cheer in a genre wrapper, it’s almost as much fun as it sounds. Just beware of one full frontal older elf nudity scene taking place in a communal shower. That may be one of the most haunting images you’ll see on screen this year. It can make you flash back to time spent in a YMHA locker room you’ve been trying to forget for 25 years. Or so I’d imagine… (longer review at Three Imaginary Girls)

One last thing I'm personally excited about and planning to attend if at all possible is the Dana Gould presents Plan 9 From Outer Space event. I love me some Mystery Science Theater so I think this is going to be well worth the money ($10 members/$15 public)

Edward D. Wood Jr's legendary "so bad it's good classic" is back on the big screen. Plan 9 From Outer Space is a notorious bit of 1950's science fiction/horror exploitation that is just begging for the comedy treatment, and SIFF has teamed up with The People's Republic of Komedy to provide just that--with three hilarious guest commentators.

Dana Gould is a comedian, writer on The Simpsons, and personal friend of the late Maila Nurmi (aka Vampira). Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu are living legends known for their work on Cinematic Titanic and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Together they will guide you through this confounding, enticing, ridiculous and exciting tale of grave robbers…from outer space!

Hope to see everyone at one of the SIFF Cinemas soon. And if you agree with me feel free to pass on some constructive criticism about their website. :-)

Upcoming Films at SIFF Cinemas

Le Havre (open through 11/24)
Muppets™, Music & Magic: Jim Henson's Legacy 11/5–22
Cinema Italian Style 11/16-20
Public Speaking: Fran Lebowitz (open through 11/22)
Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) 11/19
London Boulevard Opens 11/23
Another Happy Day Opens 11/23
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within 11/25
Miss Representation 11/30
Kinyarwanda 12/2–8
Dana Gould presents Plan 9 From Outer Space 12/8
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 12/9–11
Tyrannosaur 12/9
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale 12/9 & 12/10
The Princess Bride Quote Along 12/16–18
In Remembrance 12/16–22
NT Live: Collaborators 1/9 & 1/15
The Swell Season (open through 11/23)
Hell and Back Again (open through 11/23)
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator 11/25–12/1
The Weird World of Blowfly 11/25–12/1
Paul Goodman Changed My Life 12/2–8
Sleeping Beauty 12/9–15
Film Craft Commentary: Cinematographer Ben Kasulke 12/13

The Other F Word

2011-11-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

What is the other F word you ask? Turns out it's "fatherhood." What happens when the ultimate spreaders of an anti-authority message are forced to be voice of that authority as a parent? That's the question posed by this documentary that dives into the parenting challenges faced by aging punk rock frontmen. Having been a big fan of punk (though not hugely of all the bands portrayed) and of a similar age as the subjects, I've been interested in seeing the film since it played at SXSW 2011.

Since I missed it there, I practically jumped at the opportunity to check it out ahead of it rolling into town at the Landmark Varsity theater. Overall it's an entertaining film to watch. Some funny moments, great access, and interesting subjects -- though mildly disappointing. Not because the film is bad, but because it left unexplored some the best parts of the premise.

The basics are none too earth shattering. For the men onscreen, having children changes everything. Trying to make a living in a business that requires you to tour 200+ days a year causes real pain in being away from your kids. Several of the guys mention having not-so-present fathers and are working hard to be there for their children. So far so good, although it's nothing you haven't heard before. But… the film misses the opportunity to really get into the juxtaposition between having a fuck-off attitude and whether they seek to either instill it in their children or fear passing it along.

Or, for example: how does a punk rock father deal with a kid that tells him he's got no authority over them? Their time on tour away from their kids isn't what makes the subject matter unique. People who have to travel to put food on the table and their conflicts aren't that hard to imagine. It's the rebellion as identity and how they reinterpret the punk rock ethos as they age that's the draw to the film. At least it was for me.

Bottom line -- interesting for the peek into their private lives. There are seriously cute moments like Flea recounting embarrassing his daughter and seriously touching/painful ones with Art Alexakis of Everclear describing his own childhood. So it's worth watching if you're interested in the the music or musicians. I just exited disappointed it didn't deliver more insight into the questions the film's premise (and marketing) so clearly points to.

But wait, wait, there's more - you can read my fuller review over at Three Imaginary Girls.

A full list of the dads along with brief bios can be found on the film's website.

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone

2011-11-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

One of the films I most regretted missing at STIFF this year was the documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. So I was pretty happy to see it was going to be coming to the Grand Illusion theater for a week starting on Friday. The film embraces the fact that there are a subset of bands whose live show is so strong that it will forever diminish the feel of their recorded sessions. Personally, the top of that list of bands will always be The Ramones. Much as I enjoy their albums it always feels like a weak memory of their performances. More germane to this discussion is the manic but tightly orchestrated harmonic chaos of Fishbone playing live. We're taken on a ride through their origin story, the band's rise and fall, and into the present day as the diehard members deal with frayed but enduring friendships and compulsive need to keep playing for audiences.

Everyday Sunshine starts with the thesis that Fishbone is a band apart - due to their broad mix of styles, influence on others, and of course the strength of their live performances. It also provides a more in depth view of how a band can fall apart over the years. Something we hear about all the time - though few films deconstruct as well how it happens. The film begins with a series of talking heads espousing the skill and importance of Fishbone. It's hard to imagine a more diverse set of supporters on display. Ranging from front-men of the Circle Jerks and the Minutemen, Ice-T straight through to Branford Marsalis. For a band that can be lazily categorized into a punk-ska bucket the influences of Fishbone pretty diverse. One admirer describes it as "I've seen them do every style ... In the same song." Or in the more direct words of Ice-T, "It wasn't rock, it wasn't metal, it wasn't hip hop, it wasn't funk, it was just some different shit." Everyday Sunshine visually mimics that polyglot of techniques telling the story of Fishbone through a blend including talking heads, cartoon animation, moving photo recreations, voiceover and several other styles I've likely forgotten. It's a well matched approach and fills on gaps that may exist in archival video materials. There's not a lot to dislike with the exception of Laurence Fishburne's voice over. That just felt incredibly stilted. If you don't like music documentaries Everyday Sunshine may not entirely change your mind - it's deeper than many but will feel familiar in many ways. It's not my favorite genre truth be told. But Everyday Sunshine held my attention. My only lasting complaint is that for the life of me I can't get their song Party at Ground Zero out of my head now.

My review it its entirety is available over at Three Imaginary Girls

Sorry - No Midnight Screening Breaking Dawn coverage

2011-11-17T22:17:00.000-08:00

I've really enjoyed my tradition of trying to catch the latest Twilight film at the opening night midnight screening. I've gotten a vicarious thrill via the enthusiasm of crazy amped up fans, and their surprising DIY spirit when it comes to accessorizing. This year promised to be even more otherworldly with some folks encouraging fans to show up in wedding attire. I suppose to celebrate the onscreen nuptials between Edward and Bella. Or perhaps her romantic and chastity pledge approved rough deflowering by her 100+ year old dead yet sparkly husband. Followed of course by her accelerated pregnancy, hubby fang as scalpel c-section and subsequent love connection between Jacob and her infant daughter. Sure - maybe it's a werewolf thing - but it's still pretty freaky. Sorry, sorry .... getting a bit carried away. The final book of the Twilight series has always struck me as crazy weird if you stop to think about it, and possibly unfilmable. Some might argue they all have proved unfilmable. But I meant it as a challenge, not an insult to the prior films.

Anway - this is all a long winded way of saying I'm not going to the midnight screening starting in less than two hours. I've been battling a cold and getting zero sleep before having to be up for work Friday seems like a very, very bad idea. Instead I'm going to try and catch up on sleep and see the film as soon as I can over the weekend.

Normally I try to share some pictures from fans attending the screening. Obviously, won't be able to do that today. So instead I'm sharing the Spanish language poster for Breaking Dawn via my friends Kim and John who are vacationing in Zihuatanejo, Mexico‏. Appears John's attempt to get Kim out of the country to keep her from seeing the film may have backfired.

NWFF Adds a Happy Hour to Their Monthly Schedule

2011-11-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

OK, maybe I'm just not keeping up with the times effectively. So it was with significant glee I learned earlier this week about a new event at the Northwest Film Forum that I promptly (and believe accurately) labelled "brilliant." They've decided to take their not so new beer/wine license out for a spin - hosting a monthly Happy Hour Saloon. Meaning that every third Thursday of the month from 5-6:30pm you can stop by for a drink and some film related conversation. Everyone's invited - Film Forum staff members, film makers, and film fans. Sounds more like a salon than a saloon - but they can call it whatever they like far as I'm concerned. As it turns out this Thursday 11/17 is the third Thursday of the month. So before you head out to see the midnight screening of Breaking Dawn (with or without a bridesmaids dress) it's a chance to offset that guilty pleasure with some conversation about arguably more significant cinema. I'm sure non-Twilight fans are welcome too.

There are a lot of reasons to think this is a good idea. If you haven't been to the Film Forum before here's a great opportunity to meet the friendly, knowledgeable staff that run it. You can checkout their upcoming schedule, learn about their great classes or just ogle their fine lobby area. Word on the street is that their new Winter calendar will be available for perusing. And if you're a strictly mercenary sort there will be drink discounts to be had ($1 off hand-selected wines and beers - resulting in $3 beer, $4 house win, and $6 wine specials). All good reasons to participate even if the Northwest Film Forum wasn't an important part of the Seattle film family. Though of course they are.

As an added bonus this week's happy hour host is Janna Wachter - the next commissioned artist for their Live at the Film Forum Series. Giving everyone a chance to meet her performers and learn more about the upcoming event, aka Don't Assume I Cook.

As long as you're there you might want to consider sticking around or the 7pm screening of Curling on its last day in Seattle. I saw the Canadian film in Vancouver a year ago. Not necessarily for everyone and a bit uncomfortable at times - but I thought it well worth watching. The director Denis Côté is an interesting character. He'd been visiting the Film Forum earlier in the week for a retrospective of his work. If you want to try and pretend you saw him earlier in the week (or just recreate the experience post Curling) here's a way too dimly lit Q&A he did at the Vancouver Film Festival. The audio is fine, but the camera work does not do his tattoos proper justice.

Most importantly - everything ends early enough to get your way up to see Bella and Edward's nuptials at a midnight screening. Which for me is likely the most important constraint of the night. I'm hoping to stop by myself - so feel free to ask me if I'm kidding. Though don't be surprised if you get an earful bemoaning her co-dependent relationship with that sparkly bastard.

Melancholia

2011-11-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

If the thought of a nearly two and a half hour ode to deep deep depression sounds like your cup of tea, then boy - have I got a film for you. The latest film from the never boring Lars von Trier is considerably more easily watchable than Antichrist. Though you certainly won't mistake it for the feel-good experience of the season. Where it works it works well, and where it doesn't that's more a personal "do I really need to be watching this?" evaluation than a criticism of the film. He delivers a very localized story about relationships and dysfunctional family on the eve of mankind's extinction. Combining a keen visual look with strong performances and the ever present strain of Wagner it's both character study and perhaps a fantastical wish fulfillment scenario from inside the head of someone suffering deeply from depression. I'm glad I saw it. But you might want to temper your plans afterward. To give you a calibration, I wasn't as deeply down on the universe after seeing something like Precious or a recent Adam Sandler film. But it definitely left at least a small mark.

The film opens with the end of the world. Shot in incredibly beautiful super slow motion which takes ones mind off the contrast with the horribleness of the event. Not as dramatically as the beginning of Antichrist but in a similarly lovely looking manner. Then after an opening title card we're thrown back a few days to Justine's (Kirsten Dunst) wedding to Michael (Alexander Skarsgård). They're late to the reception as the ridiculously large limo she hired can't navigate the turns on the road leading to her brother in law John's (Kiefer Sutherland) estate. It's a home, hotel of a sort filled with all the accoutrement's of a lavish English country home, stables and all. The event is costing him a fortune, something the perpetually pissed off John isn't shy to point out. He's the least of the problems as we follow along at the reception meeting a surprisingly high number of dysfunctional relatives. With Dunst at the center as the depressive bride and her for some reason befuddled new husband. If you don't feel like being annoyed with family members there's also Justine's incredible asshole of a boss who both promotes her and gives her a work assignment to complete on this most special of days. Yep, he's in advertising...

Justine clearly has had her battles with depression and this evening doesn't do anything to help it. Everyone keeps asking her if she's happy or not. Each time it looks as though she'd rather someone rub sand in her eye than answer. As a rule of thumb something ain't right if the bride is crying and pounding alcohol from the bottle to stem the tears. Also not so good if same bride jumps some random non hubby dude out on the golf course between courses. Hence it's not a great surprise that things unravel pretty seriously as the night wears on.

That's just the first part. After much of the wedding might has been run through we're skipped ahead a day to continue the story from sister Claire's (Charlotte Gainsbourg) perspective. This second act is when more comes out about the rogue planet that's heading (allegedly) past earth. Why it's named Melancholia isn't clear at all - not the sort of name you should give to a planet you expect not to ram into the earth.That second half deals more with the relationship between the siblings and how they deal with the time they have left. Keeping in mind that for one of the two the end is probably a much desired (and expected) relief.

From a visual perspective most of the scenery is ominously beautiful. Shots of the people interacting feel harsher and uglier in contrast. The other-worldiness and ever present classical music reminded me of a more downer version of Tree of Life throughout. The film is leisurely paced, though not in a bad way. At about the 30 minute mark in this 2.5 hour odyssey is when I recall thinking that all this family strife just seems like a waste of time. Which I think is somewhat the point of the involved demonstration of the people emotionally hurting each other at the wedding as doom bears down. And perhaps that feeling of pointlessness is exactly the intent of a film that seems to be a metaphor for battling chronic depression.

The performances of the two female leads are strong, without a sense of believability for both Melancholia would be a dud. Given the other films I've seen Dunst in it;s shocking to see her smile so little. It took me a while to realize that was somewhat what's so unsettling about the whole affair. Her performance holds everything together. To the extent that if you've ever had personal experiences at similar to what Dunst's character is going through the film may hit a little too close to home. Enough to ruin the joy some might derive from her nude scenes. Point being this film demonstrates that Ms. Dunst has lots more ahead of her than cheerleader roles and being Spider Man's girlfriend.

I generally don't go in for purposefully downer films. But this one was interesting enough to hold my attention throughout. Certainly many of the visuals will stick with me for a while. Most positively, this time no one got any portion of their genitals snipped off. Instead everyone died together in a crash of planets. For those looking for a silver lining on the way out of the theater at least this spares the Alexander Skarsgård character a lifetime of a bad marriage.

Personally I'll keep hoping Van Trier will make a return to comedy someday. I really did enjoy Boss of it All.

The Corridor

2011-11-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there's a formal genre that covers films about guys trapped in a spooky cabin in the woods. I can't really think of many at the moment. But it feels as though people away from civilization and driven insane by an ancient unnamed evil has been done a few times before. Even so, The Corridor comes across as a fresh take on things. Mashing up themes ranging from

adults growing apart from childhood friendships,
realizations that you're getting older and things aren't all going to work out as you'd hoped, and
a mystical corridor of light in the woods that drives everyone into a homicidal rage.

Or perhaps more accurately everyone except the friend just released from a mental facility for maybe killing his mom. Though we know for sure about his slashing one friend in the face and stabbing the other. Hmmm ... Maybe I should back up a bit?

The picture opens with a rush as we watch the complete breakdown of a man. His mother lies dead on the floor. Bursting out of a room he hacks away at everyone in sight, wounding two friends who are trying to help. Fast forward and five friends arrive at a cabin in the snow covered woods. They're there to scatter the ashes of the dead woman and mark her son's release from the institution he was at. The official story is that the mother committed suicide which caused her son to have a break from reality. Though as we learn it may (or may not) be more complicated than that.

In the early parts of the film the gang sits around, sharing secrets in small groups, giving each other grief, and rehashing old memories and dreams. You might be forgiven for drawing parallels to The Big Chill except perhaps for the little issue of one of the gang appearing to hallucinate. When he drags one of the "sane" ones out into the woods though it becomes clear he's not hallucinating. The woods has a glowing walled off area that has some unusual effects on anyone stepping into it. Including feelings of euphoria, nosebleeds, telepathic ability to read the thoughts of one's cohorts and the aforementioned homicidal leanings. Ironically the only one immune is the guy on psych meds which block the effect of the supernatural force. This force tends to extend in a corridor like manner as its control over people grows. So there's the matter of preventing it from reaching civilization. But first the one sane member of the group needs to prevent them all from killing each other.

Things slide pretty quickly into bloody mayhem at this stage. Perhaps a little too quickly for my taste. I was enjoying the dialog between the characters and wouldn't have minded the downward spiral to be stretched out a bit more. But at the same time once the the section starts where they stop being "real" and start being bat shit insane things more forward at a good clip. So as opposed to a fair number of other horror films there's not just endless scenes of people brutalizing each other. This one is short and to the point. While there is some gore it's in reality pretty restrained. The film though does suggest a lot of things that take place offscreen that the brain fills in the blanks on. They're some pretty squirm inducing blanks at that. The film did make me jump (and hard) at least once, though most of the terror isn't really scare focused. More of a how far will these characters go freed of any moral constraints and with the ability to hear each other's weaknesses and fears.

Horror isn't my favorite genre and I wouldn't say this is one of my most standout experiences this year. I do tend to like my horror more tinged with a feel of malevolent fun, such as Rabies which also screened at Fantastic Fest. But I think there's definitely a lot to commend in The Corridor - most specifically the characters and dialog created by writer Josh MacDonald. I wouldn't at all mind watching the first half again to listen even more closely to the discussions between the friends. The other achievement of the film is the smart use of the closed in cabin spaces by director Evan Kelly. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for what comes next from these guys.

The Corridor won the best screenplay award at Fantastic Fest 2011.

A Lonely Place to Die

2011-11-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

If you were starting to think that mountain climbing might be for safe enough for you along comes A Lonely Place to Die to convince you otherwise. What starts out feeling like a tense if familiar man against the mountain flick becomes so much more more. When I first sat down to watch this Fantastic Fest entry I'd only intended to watch the first 15 minutes or so and then straight to bed to rest my cold. But that plan was blown to heck minutes in. There was no way I was voluntarily walking away from this thrill ride. Before reading further I'd suggest putting this on your checklists of films to see if the opportunity presents itself.

The picture starts with three climbers ascending a terrifyingly sheer cliff. At least to a wimp such as myself. I'm not entirely sure how the climbing scenes were filmed. But the dynamic and zooming camera work gives an intensely dramatic sense of scale to the climbing events. Making nature just as much a character as the people involved throughout the course of the film. The opening sequence pounds in that the land is not to be trifled with. As a momentary lapse of judgment almost kills two-thirds of the party. Setting the tone that danger is around every corner.

The three ascend to a rental cottage where they meet up with another couple who've left their child in the care of grandparents to join the outing. After a night of socializing they awake to set out for the day's climb. Unexpected weather changes their intended destination slightly. Randomness that results in a chain of events that are deadly for many of the team. And as remarked upon by one of the climbers, not necessarily to the positiveness of those that they try to help.

Hiking towards their day's destination the group makes a horrible discovery. A young girl trapped in an underground cell. She doesn't speak English and she's been there a while. Seeking to find help as quickly as possible but constrained by the girl's pace the group decides to take alternate paths for help. But of course someone put her in that box. And it wasn't the mountain. Meaning everyone is suddenly facing a far more dangerous vacation than they signed up for.

I'm going to stop there to avoid giving away any more away. This is a really well put together effort that keeps the tension high throughout the film. Not to mention delivering a storyline that while horrific makes a good amount of logical sense. The picture kept me wondering to the end what the outcome would be. Acting is solid, the dialog realistic and the characters well drawn enough to care. Development of the team isn't super deep but enough for the choices and sacrifices they make for each other to feel right. And there's more than enough to emotionally bond with to enjoy one of the more satisfying shoves in my recent cinematic memory. It's worth saying once more that the outdoor photography really was breathtaking.

In short, worth the time. And the adrenaline crash afterward.

&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;sd

The Skin I Live In (Spain)

2011-11-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Horror overtones, debatable black comedy, and maybe a fair amount of yuck/ewwww mash together to create a memorable -- if not altogether compelling -- mix in the latest film by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya, the visuals are as luscious and darkly seductive as ever. To some, Almodovar's latest will be a fascinating character study, stuffed with multiple interpretations ranging from sexual identity to how grief can drive you crazy. To others, maybe more a technically-gifted piece of filmmaking that's less emotionally engaging than it could be. Personally I'm in that latter group. Still worth a look for Almodóvar fans - unless you really want to avoid films about doctors conducting immoral experiments on gorgeous people of indeterminate origin. In which case, stick with Harold & Kumar this weekend. Not that those tastes are mutually exclusive.

My fuller thoughts are over at Three Imaginary Girls.

Tower Heist

2011-11-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of reasons to suspect Tower Heist may be the latest overly engineered star-vehicle that seriously screws up a beloved beloved genre for a new generation of fans. There are occasional moments of excessive seriousness (all involving Ben Stiller). Plus a few spots where things threaten to stall. But in the end it's an entertaining romp that's worth a look. I know - I couldn't believe it either. Almost makes me want to go double or nothing next week with the new Adam Sandler flick. Hey, I said almost....

As improbably ended as many such flicks Tower Heist was still pretty satisfying. All in all I think it's worth checking out if you want something light with a slight fuck the system flavor (which seems in the spirit of the times). My full review can be read over at Three Imaginary Girls. Oh, and if dedicated to hating the film my pal Brent has a really different take over at Beyond Hollywood.

The only question I remaining about the film is what Roman Polanski co tributes to earn a thanks in the end credits ... Anyone?

Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy

2011-10-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Punk's not dead. It's alive and well in rural Ohio, the unlikely home of skateboarding Mecca Skatopia. This documentary used the filmmaker's unique access and what I believe was a year of their lives to create a view into a world few of us have seen. While I'm not sure I came away having grasped higher truths about the human condition it certainly left some strong impressions. And that's not a bad thing when it comes to fly on the wall documentary film making. Fans of skating, modern counterculture and true DYI lifestyles will want to check this one out. It's not always pretty. And people may really disagree about the main subject. But whether he's a major league asshole or a living breathing model of American idealism - he's definitely different. Good or bad? I'll let you be be the judge.

If you think your hometown has got a bitchin' skate park near you I've got some Sobering news for you. Unless you live near Skatopia your local facility probably isn't as cool as you think it its. I'm not really sure about the size of the skateboarding areas within Skatopia. But with ever growing facilities, even over the course of filming, it felt immense. And the lack of adult supervision gives the area a sense of being a hardcore skating wonderland.

One of the characters of the film is the titled '88 acres of anarchy.' The other main one is Brewce Martin, the leader of the compound and its self appointed king. He's a 40 year old skate anarchist dictator with a self admitted anger management problem. Yes, I realize dictator and anarchy are mutually exclusive, but just roll with it for now... It's his land the park is built on and therefore everyone lives by his rules. Early on he explains his role pretty succinctly "Everyone needs a leader. Whether its Genghis Khan or Jim Jones. I've always been the leader". Rounding out the cast of characters are his teenage son, his long suffering (Brewce likes the ladies) significantly younger looking girlfriend, and various skaters who pass through the compound trading work time for a place to be.

The film does a good job tracing back through Brewce's childhood, some early motivations and who they led to the park as well as the day to day challenges of running things. There are scattered looks at some of the economics of the community built on their seriously non-poseur brand (such as a maybe not too successful shoe business) and some crazy parties. But it still felt as though there was some info missing. As it was hard for me to reconcile how Brewce kept things above water at all from the activities they were engaged in. There are minor peeks at the outside world and how it sees the skate park. As presented the chaos seems tolerated by the community. As one local business observes, "Once you cross their property line it's not our business as long as no one is getting hurt. "

While it's hard not respect the resistance to mainstreaming that the park represents not everything is peachy in paradise. Though maybe that's my bourgeois sensibilities at work. What you gotta like about Brewce is that there's no artifice at play. Without an observable filter between brain and mouth you get continual gems. Like his observation of respect for a Skatopia attendee "he comes to Skatopia for genuine reasons. To skateboard, get drunk and fuck chicks." Though that last part may be overly optimistic marketing. The male/female ratio looked rather skewed.

The picture is filled with memorable moments. From group construction of massive concrete skate facilities to wild parties. When I write wild parties I mean drinking, dancing, fireworks, guns, and destruction of cars. Not to mention a plethora of unusual bands. Including one clad mostly in not so artfully hung dildoes on overweight naked bodies hammering out lyrics such as "Everything's a dollar in the dollar store. Everything's a dollar in the dollar store. Well how come dollar stores don't sell whores?". Yes, I stopped the film to jot that down accurately. Surprisingly catchy.

Skatopia comes across as a personal injury lawyers wet dream. I'm sure it would be if Brewce wasn't effectively judgment proof due to his constant financial problems. My point is that it's a miracle no one died on site over the course of filming. Sorry for the spoiler there.

The film works best if viewed as an homage to the backstory of extreme skate videos. And less well if you're expecting a deeper message pushed in your face. The style is observational combined with lots of footage of ~~extremely stupid~~ extreme skate mayhem. What also helps is that the film doesn't judge. Though it's got to have sometimes been really tempting to do so.

I haven't had a chance to watch the DVD's included commentary track all the way through - though that seems especially interesting. I did catch though that filmmakers explaining how they lived near Skatopia for a year or so to make the film. That level of immersion shows as they follow Brewce and his ~~disciples~~ hangers-on through the good times, the winter, a brief stint in jail and the location's blow-out signature weekend bash. Not for everyone. But if any of the above sounds interesting it's worth checking out. I myself plan to go back and listen through the commentary track in its entirety. So I guess that's a recommendation of sorts regardless of whatever else I may have written.

Skatopia is available for purchase at Amazon.com yet sadly not yet on Netflix. I hope that's just an oversight and not another warning sign about Netflix's commitment to supporting long tail projects.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

2011-10-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

If you ask Sean Durkin the writer/director of Martha Marcy May Marlene (hereafter MMMM) about the film he's likely to describe it as documenting the psychological recovery of a recently escaped member of a cult. Given it's his film I shouldn't be one to argue. But my perspective is a bit different, viewing it as a suspense-thriller/horror film masquerading as a psychological drama. The fact that both views are equally legitimate is part of the genius of the film. Combined with the strong performance by Elizabeth Olsen in the lead role of Martha those reasons go a long way towards explaining the accolades MMMM has been earning since Sundance this January. While my partial detachment from the goings on keep me from giving it my highest ratings it's certainly worth checking out. It's a really solid tale of seduction by a cult and hoping with the aftereffects immediately upon leaving them. Whether that's something I really needed to see is something I'm less sure about. My fuller thoughts are available over at Three Imaginary Girls if you're interested.

In an interesting side note it's starting to feel like Fox Searchlight is becoming the go-to distributor for interesting cult themed films in 2011. In addition to MMMM they've also snapped up the "other" cult picture from Sundance, Sound of My Voice. While I don't have a review up on that yet (it's patiently awaiting the release) do make a mental note to catch that when it comes out. It's sort of fantastic.

Manborg

2011-10-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Often a film designed from the ground up to have cult appeal is a total waste time, Self indulgent hot messes that sounded better when the creators envisioning them were riffing on the idea between bong hits. Or so I'd imagine. Manborg could have easily been "that" film. Honestly the first few minutes made me fear the worst. But after settling in a bit this picture, which makes Troma productions look like they were done by ILM finds its ridiculously twisted stride and delivers. In a way anyone who has seen a straight to VHS sci-fi release will recognize. Or anyone who watched some of the more serious dreck the SyFy channel has put on in the past for that matter.

Only 60 minutes long it's an homage to so many things it's hard to keep track of them all. Dracula, cyborgs, jackbooted demons, light skate boards, hover crafts and sketchy special effects galore. A Frankenstein production of many, many bits of such nostalgia while consistently out cheesing them all.

Given all the the risks inherent in the above it's surprisingly entertaining. Not to mention one of the more quotable films I've seen since The FP.

The film opens with two brothers serving as GI's in a war against (literally) the forces of hell. Led by a very butch Dracula. When the older brother dies the other attempts to take his revenge. Only to get a serious beat down. Fast forward to the bleak dystopian future hundreds of years later as our protagonist awakens. Without his memory and with considerably more cyborg technology attached than he started with. He meets up with another human - a bare chested Asian kung -fu character straight from central casting. Together they and a few other outcasts take on a bunch of demons led by a human hybrid who takes her fashion cues from Ilsa. Soon captured they're locked up with other humans who fight gladiator bouts in an old school Tron like arena for the entertainment of the horned masses.

Into the mix throw a demon jail keeper ("The Baron") with a crush on Mina, the female member of the band ("I called her prisoner number 7. But to me she was always prisoner number 1. "), healthy distrust between everyone and more action film stereotypes than you can shake a nun-chuck at. On the way towards trust building, escape and vengeance there's a ton of entertainingly questionable special effects and snappy dialog. We're reminded of truisms such as "It's never too late to be a hero" and "It's not about the killing. It's about family. We're a family now." So it's a constructive film as well. ;-)

You can get a sense of the visual feel from the trailer below. In all honesty I really did not expect to like this film when I sat down with the screener after Fantastic Fest. I'd passed on seeing it during core festival screenings because it just didn't seem like a good bet. That turns out to have been a mistake. Because Manborg's level of destined to be an underground cult classic fun would be seriously enhanced with an audience. Or possible a bong. Maybe both. Or so I'd imagine...

Footloose (2011)

2011-10-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

My apologies in advance. This entire post assumes you're familiar with the storyline of the 1984 film Footloose. If you don't then I'm sorry, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore...

In short - this generation's Footloose was considerably better than I expected. I kind of expected to hate it. But it turns out to be fairly respectful re-imagining of the original. And when I say re-imagining I mean almost exactly the same except for the addition of iPods.

As a whole the 2011 film tracked the 1984 one very closely, including most of the key songs and scenes. Though occasionally in updated ways. For example they've reducing the vaguely positive messages around drinking and driving that appear in the original. And slipped in some reinterpreted covers of some of the classic tunes. Thankfully the title song was kept intact and used to open and close the picture. Each of the actors has in some way modeled their character the original performances as touchstones. With Kenny Wormald's performance as main character Ren particularly consistent with Bacon's. In that the performance is enjoyable but retains the occasionally awkwardly unbelievable city kid in the south who loves to dance feeling. Though to be blunt Wormald is likely in reality a more skilled dancer.

I'm not joking about it being largely the same film, hitting all the familiar beats. There are clear additional examples of improvements - the two most obvious include more varied dance styles and the filmmakers finding the South's citizens of non Caucasian backgrounds that had been lost in the 1984 version. As part of the tweak's the backstory has been modified - with dancing being banned as part of a teen curfew fixed after the tragic death of teens heading home late at night. The driver being the son of the local preacher. So yeah, it's possible the basis for the no dancing ban may actually make even LESS sense in the updated version. The dancing has been made just a bit dirtier and those who are supposed to be flaunting themselves to get back at daddy do so more aggressively. The overall acting (or perhaps the dialog) hasn't made any big advances in the past twenty years either. But the pivotal "dance your ass off" shirt hasn't been lost to history.

All in all watching the new Footloose was pretty fun. In a way reminiscent yet attenuated from the original. For viewers catching the remake first it's possible this one will work better - I'm quite aware how much my early teen nostalgia plays into my perceptions on this one. I was pretty aghast that someone has the audacity to violate my childhood by redoing this guilty pleasure. But I'll admit when I'm wrong - this is somewhat unnecessary but solid entertainment. Perhaps without my bias it would have been truly a lot of fun. The only downside I can see is that watching the new Footloose can make one feel both young at heart yet really freaking old.

In terms of unnecessary remakes that just sound ridiculous and feel like an affront to my teens appears we're not done. They've still got Red Dawn planned. Even if I was wrong about Footloose I'm sure that one they'll seriously fuck up. In the spirit of generational cooperation if we can all agree to stay the heck away from Say Anything maybe I'll let that one slide. OK?

SIFF Uptown Opening Night

2011-10-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday I attended the opening night / ribbon cutting ceremony at the new SIFF Cinema at the Uptown. The place has a new coat of paint, a less pink marque and a snazzed up lobby. The main theater is pretty much the same, albeit cleaner after a steam cleaning of all the seats. The standard cast of SIFF folks were in attendance along with Seattle's mayor, local business association leaders as well as the head of Seattle center. After some blessedly short speeches a ~~ribbon~~ film strip cutting the picture for the evening got under way. The Artist was the selection of the day. While I didn't absolutely love the picture it's a spot on choice for re-opening a theater that dates back to the 1920's. I'll write more about The Artist at some point, but for now I'll leave you with some photos from the evening.

SIFF Film Center Reception

2011-10-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Friday night I was lucky enough to have an invitation to an open house at the new SIFF Film Center. I hadn't been in the space since they started construction and have been really curious how things turned out. With the promise of office space for the organization, and small 100 seat theater and classrooms SIFF targeted fitting a lot of utility into the space. With the work going on for so long it was really exciting to finally get inside. I took a few photos of the new exterior, the jewelbox theater and some of the festivities. It was also fun to catchup with many familiar faces, both staff members and fellow festival attendees. The freshly made pizza courtesy of Via Tribunali didn't hurt either.

Overall things at the SIFF Film Center looked pretty good. I'm looking forward to watching a film in the new screening space at the first available opportunity. Those familiar with the Northwest Film Forum will recognize the similar wooden steps. The size of the screen though feels quite a bit larger than that space.
With open houses this weekend (check the SIFF site for details) and public screenings there starting next week there are plenty of opportunities to get inside yourselves. The new SIFF Cinema at the Uptown will be having opening week screenings of older films through Thursday the 27th.

Once again congrats to SIFF for getting this off the ground and running!

BTW - somewhat higher resolution versions of the photos below are available on Picasa.

Love Crime (France)

2011-10-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

I really don't know anything about the modern French workplace. But from watching Love Crime it's easy to believe their executive suites exist in a reality derived from 1980's Hollywood films. Meaning their offices are awash with credit stealing superiors who use fear and insecurity as management tools, sexually predatory female bosses, and employees who snort lines of cocaine off mirrors in their spare time. Into this world steps Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier) a brilliant beautiful blond obsessive who is willing to make her boss Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) look good no matter what. Just as long as she gets some love in return. It's been an issue since childhood for her. Even if we hadn't gotten the basis for Christine's ongoing manipulation ourselves the film helpfully has Isabelle blurt it out in an early scene as she's thrillingly sharing lipstick offered by Christine. If it has one, that's the problem with the film. There's a mix of completely unsubtle emotional manipulation that feels less than fresh. At the same time the film is a mostly competent psychological revenge flick that certainly does have its moments. And both Kristine Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier are more than a little compelling to watch onscreen.

The first half which sets up Isabelle's problems is, while not entirely new, arguably more interesting than the second half of the film. Once things move past the midway point there are noirish twists and turns galore as Isabelle has decided she's had enough of things. The conclusion may leave some viewers feeling it's all a bit too tidy how her plan falls into place perfectly. Though for me sometimes it's just nice when a film keeps things on the side of obvious that lets me feel superior for figuring out part of the plot. That may have left me in a more forgiving mood and from speculating why exactly she thought the plan was so sure to work. Which given even a small miscalculation it would not have.

As it turns out Hollywood has already targeted the film for a remake. Presumably they'll remove the part about the American parent company being alternatively clueless and overly impressed with their Paris division. My suggestion is catch it now (or in subsequent video release). Revel in the over the top themes and acting, treating it like the trashy guilty pleasure that it is. Those always sound better in French anyway. At least as far as I'm concerned.

Habana Eva (Cuba)

2011-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Sexy, subversive, often purposefully ridiculous and very entertaining Habana Eva is the sort of film I always hope for when I walk into a festival screening cold. In short I'm very, very happy I found some time to check out the film at this year's Seattle Latino Film Festival. In hindsight I wish I'd gotten a chance to see more of their offerings. But I'll definitely be back for more in 2012.

Eva (Prakriti Maduro) is a seamstress who should be a designer. But deviation from the mold in her union shop is not encouraged - even when the forewoman begrudgingly acknowledges Eva's changes are significant improvements to the design. At work she spends her days chatting with co-workers who are obsessed with their soap opera plots. And nights are occupied trying to convince her sweet but not exactly goal focused boyfriend Angel (Carlos Enrique Almirante) to finish building their mini apartment on a rooftop so they can get married and finally be together. Of at least to find a bed they can make love on - vs. a pile of sand with a towel spread over it.

Into this mix comes rich, gorgeous and probably douchebag Jorge (Juan Carlos García) a Venezuelan resident whose family left Cuba when he was a boy. In town ostensibly to collect photographs for a book he hires Eva as his guide. Clearly more for her looks than any true business need. She falls for Jorge and then is forced to choose between her two loves. While fighting to have a life bigger than the sewing by the numbers that's expected from her. Her partner in crime in navigating these problems and more is best friend Teresa (Yuliet Cruz) a trained attorney and practicing prostitute (I won't even bother with the obvious lawyer joke there). Like Angel (a trained architect) it seems that everyone in Eva's Havana is seriously underemployed.

It's a nice looking film from all angles. Eva is quite easy on the eyes, as is Havana as a character unto itself. It's hard not to have one's mind make positive comparisons with the Paris skyline as Eva twirls on a rooftop. Even if the buildings are suffering from decades of neglect. Along the way Eva meets Jorge's elderly aunts' who encourage her in unexpected ways towards a more fulfilling set of life choices. They're also green for reasons I really am totally unclear on. Which is maybe a good spot to say there's a fair amount of material that likely went over my head about Cuban society. Or maybe just right past me given the rapid pacing of the film. But I've got to say it was a treat of a ride. There was a smile on my face practically the entire running length of the picture.

This would make a dynamite double bill with another film out of Cuba, Juan of the Dead, I saw last month at Fantastic Fest. Both give a rich sense of Cuba as it stands today, the culture, the challenges and how people deal with it. Through escapist entertainment rather than documentaries or hard hitting dramas. In the case of Juan of the Dead this takes the form of neighbors dealing with an imperialist zombie invasion with an entrepreneurial spirit, by charging their countrymen to handle their undead family members. In the case of Habana Eva she sleeps around in a very sex positive way, chases her dream of becoming a designer and lives out a soap opera sets of ups and downs. All the way to a conclusion that's just so atypical of this genre that it's thoroughly awesome. Even if it is noticeably lacking in zombies. Whether Eva's choices have a subtext worthy of discussion about the decisions facing Cuba as a whole I'll leave to you to discuss after seeing the film. Or maybe it's just light escapist romantic entertainment within a well trod formula. Either way I totally dug it.

Keep an eye out for this one and see it when you can. That's the point I'm trying to make...