Film

SIFF 2011 is upon us. The Northwest’s largest film festival and one of the biggest in the country continues its grand tradition of bringing a vast cornucopia of films to the Seattle area. This year the festival will feature 441 films from countries all across the globe, and will spread them over 25 days at various theaters in the region.

I don’t have any screeners yet, but I can already point to a handful of movies that I’m incredibly excited for.

Cult director Alex de la Iglesia returns with The Last Circus, a blood and guts romp about two warring circuses during the Spanish Civil War. I loved his Accion Mutante and 800 Bullets, and this film seems to be in a similar vein.

Miranda July also brings her twee sensibilities to the festival with The Future. Like in Me and You and Everyone We Know, her new film also stars July and is sure to be about almost everything except for what the blurb says it’s about.

Norwegian Wood is a Japanese film based on the Murakami novel. From the trailer, it features a lot of sad, longing looks and snow. The soundtrack is by Jonny Greenwood, who, if you’ve seen There Will Be Blood, is actually pretty good at this kind of thing.

Late Autumn is a Korean love drama filmed right here in Seattle. It stars one of the hottest Korean actors (in every sense of the word), Hyeon Bin (of My Lovely Samsoon fame). It’s a piece of Locale-porn (“Hey! I’ve been there!”) wrapped around a Korean melodrama, which I’m always a sucker for. From director Kim Tae-Yong, who made the very capable Memento Mori.

Also, Seattle gets to watch the new Winnie the Pooh film about a month earlier everyone else. That’s kinda cool, right?

Anyways, there are way more films than this that will be worth watching, but these are the ones I can name off the top of my head. Watch this space for previews, reviews and more.

If you are looking for films from today, Sunday, the 30th, you can see them here. Below are choice picks for the FINAL week of the San Francisco International Film Festival! Get your butt out there.

Full festival details and movie listings here.

—

American Teacher

If you’re an average American, you know that teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. This film certifies this, by chronicling the stories of four teachers throughout the United States.
Directed by Vanessa Roth – USA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Thu, May 5 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)

the ballad of genesis and lady jaye

A combination of HD and 16mm, Marie Losier’s first feature film documents a love story between Losier and her former love and muse, Lady Jaye. Plenty of sound collages and whimsical sets.
Directed by Marie Losier – USA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, May 5 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)

the black power mixtape

Sweden — land of the blue-eyed, blonde-haired lasses and lads! This collage-style documentary exposes recently redscovered Swedish footage from the 1967-75 Black Power Movement, with commentary by leading African American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars.
Directed by Goran Hugo Olsson – SWEDEN

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams

Warner Herzog becomes the first filmmaker allowed into Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caverns in Southern France, site of the world’s oldest prehistoric art. Listen to his soothing (?) voice narrate about centuries-old drawings, and see it all in 3-D.
Directed by Werner Herzog – USA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

Cinema Komunisto

Ah, the Yugoslavian film industry — perhaps as tumultuous as its political past — and just as much influenced by it, including direct intervention from President Josip Broz Tito, to create and recreate the nation’s history, in a 1982 revision of history kind of way.
Directed by Mila Turajlic – SERBIA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 6:30 (PFA)
Wed, May 4 @ 3:15 (Kabuki)

detroit wild city

Detroit is a city that evokes as much dread as it does curiosity, depending on who you ask. This documentary explores how complex Detroit’s present situation, and its future, is and can potentially be.
Directed by Florent Tillon – FRANCE/USA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 2:45 (New People)
Wed, May 4 @ 8:40 (PFA)

the dish and the spoon

When one tries to make the most out of heartbreak, beautiful things can happen. Two young, hurting souls explore how to act the part of happy lovers.
Directed by Alison Bagnall – USA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)

la dolce vida

A classic Fellini of high society life in postwar Rome. Newly restored and beautiful.
Directed by Federico Fellini – ITALY/FRANCE

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 12:30 (Castro)

end of animal

Explore darkness with the U.S. Premiere of this South Korean, genre-hopping film in which “a pregnant teenager finds herself in a taxi with a passenger who counts down to cataclysm.”
Directed by Jo Sung-hee – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 4:15 (Kabuki)

kinyarwanda

An atypical, well-rounded film documenting of the Rwandan genocide, through narratives from Tutsi and Hutu perspectives.
Directed by Alrick Brown – USA/RWANDA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 12:30 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 8:00 (New People)
Thu, May 5 @ 5:00 (Kabuki)

the journals of musan

When refugees escape to new lands, transitions are different on even basic human needs. With The Journals Of Musan, N. Korean defector Seung-chul discovers the difficulties of assimilation, even with a shared language.
Directed by Park Jung-bum – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 29 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:30 (New People)
Mon, May 2 @ 1:00 (Kabuki)

the light thief

“An electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This allegory of a man confronting injustice dramatizes the challenges facing the economies of Central Asia.”
Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

microphone

Ahmad Abdalla’s second feature film explores Alexandria music scene, and about the struggle of succeeding as an artist in the Egyptian city.
Directed by Ahmad Abdalla – EGYPT

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

mind the gap

“A series of experimentally minded shorts from established masters such as Jay Rosenblatt, Peter Tscherkassky and Kerry Laitala and relative newcomers such as Zackary Drucker — and featuring Jonathan Caouette’s (Tarnation) newest work — this program will be sure to surprise and confound and illuminate worlds real and imagined.”

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 9:45 (Kabuki)

position among the stars

A film that follows an Indonesian family dwelling in the countryside, Position Among The Stars explores how traditional Islam and Western materialism clash.
Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich – NETHERLANDS

SHOWTIMES
Wed, May 4 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)

the salesman

A used car salesman in his 60′s ponders the meaning of life as he ages.
Directed by Sebastien Pilote – CANADA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 1 @ 6:15 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 8:50 (PFA)
Thu, May 5 2 2:00 (Kabuki)

yves saint laurent l’amour fou

“Few figures loom larger in the annals of 20th-century style than legendary French fashion designed Yves Saint Laurent. Thoretton’s film documents his high-glamour, high-drama career via surviving business and life partner Pierre Berge — just as the latter prepares to sell off much of their astounding art collection in ‘the auction of the century’.”
Directed by Pierre Thoretton – FRANCE

SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 3 @ 7:00 (Kabuki)
Thu, May 5 @ 8:15 (Kabuki)

This review is written just in time for National Poetry Month, which is April of every year.

To throw a bit of personal experience into this review, I have to say first and foremost that poetry has been of vital importance in my life, serving as a non-judgmental outlet when I had nowhere else to turn to. Through the positive and the negative, it provided the storytelling framework for me, a struggling individual, to share my stories, without judgment.

Louder Than A Bomb, by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, documents the Louder Than A Bomb high school poetry slam, an event which takes place in Chicago every March. Over six hundred students from throughout the city participate in the event annually, hailing from massively different backgrounds. Yet, all of them are linked by their love for writing and performing, all of them finding in poetry a very real sense of community.

Highlighted in the documentary are four schools with widely different profiles, teaching styles, and economic backgrounds, but all had placed in the previous year’s competition. Louder Than A Bomb follows the entire process of the poetry slam and each team as it prepares, but focuses more closely upon four students, in particular:

Lamar “The Truth” Jordan (Steinmetz)
Coming from a school full of largely “atypical” slam poets — lower-income, largely African-American youth, Jordan finds in poetry a source of pride. He begins the film, saying, “When I was coming up, I was a bit of a troublemaker, and I did some things I regret. I would like damage a lot of things in my house, but my father never cried about that. When I got arrested, my father didn’t cry about that. First time I made my father cry, was the first time he heard me perform poetry.”

Novana Venerable (Oak Park And River Forest)
Despite growing up in suburban Chicago, Venerable is not without her family problems, and poetry helps her manage the difficult emotions that come associated with childhood trauma. She has not spoken to her father since she was twelve and often plays mother to a younger brother with a host of physical and mental problems. Though she says early on in the film that she “would choke people” and “stab people with pencils” when she first entered high school, Venerable later explains, “My life just sort of seemed to fit when I started writing.”

Nate Marshall (Whitney Young Magnet)
Nate Marshall is from south Chicago, so far south that the L train doesn’t even run there. Poetry has been his number one passion, and he has been involved with it for longer than any other student featured in the documentary. In one of his slam poems, he reveals just how important the artform is to him, saying, “But a mic, a stage, a pen, a page helped end my rage and mend my ways. So I’ll admit, I’ve been afraid of leaving this, cause when I stayed, I found my voice, but now my time is up.”

Adam Gottleib (Northside College Prep)
Unlike many of the other slam poets, Gottleib comes from a privileged background, but still inspires respect from all for his positive, inspiring poetry. His coach testifies that, “He really thinks and wants there to be a better world, and he lives that better world.”

Through personal accounts, competition footage, and interviews with a broad range of individuals, Louder Than A Bomb highlights how poetry and writing surpass socioeconomic and personal boundaries to find their important places in the hearts of many. Poetry is more than a basic hobby for many of these students; it is a basic form of communication; it feeds the uncontrollable need for the words to explode out of their hearts and onto the paper.

I will close this review with a quote from Gottleib, which captures the essence of the film: “Writing a poem does not change the world. Learning about new people, and understanding new people, and really feeling inspired by people who are very different from you — I’d like to say that that is changing the world. And if not, it’s definitely coming much, much closer.”

www.louderthanabombfilm.com

—

OPENING SOON:
New York City, NY — Opens May 18 — IFC Center
Seattle, WA — May 6-12 — SIFF Cinema
Columbus, OH — May 13-19 — Drexel Theatre
Chicago, IL — May 20-26 — Gene Siskel Film Center
Boston, MA — Opens June 3 — Coolidge Corner Theatre
Palm Springs, CA — Opens June 3 — Camelot Theaters
Washington, D.C. — Opens June 10 — The West End Cinema
Portland, OR — Opens June 10 — Living Room Theatres
Salem, MA — Opens June 17 — CinemaSalem

UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Rochester, NY — April 30, May 1 — 360|365 George Eastman House Film Festival
Champaign, IL — May 1 — Ebertfest
Vancouver, BC — May 6, 11 — DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Salem, MA — May 13-14 — Massachusetts Poetry Festival

If you are looking for films from today, Wednesday, the 27th, you can see them here. Below are choice picks for the remainder of this week!

Full festival details and movie listings here.

—

Asleep In The Sun

This Argentine film evokes the tag words: “metaphysical mystery,” “canine-crazed,” “soul-deep,” “Kafkaesque world,” “psuedo scientists,” “self-possessed,” and “’50s decor.” It certainly targets a very specific audience, but that audience will love it.
Directed by Alejandro Chomski – ARGENTINA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)
sat, Apr 30 @ 6:15 (New People)

At Ellen’s Age

Like Eat, Pray, Love, this film documents what happens when the comforts of the middle-class life are disrupted. Unlike Eat, Pray, Love, this film is less “mall mom” and more surreal and quirky.
Directed by Pia Marais – GERMANY

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 29 @ 7:00 (PFA)

the black power mixtape

Sweden — land of the blue-eyed, blonde-haired lasses and lads! This collage-style documentary exposes recently redscovered Swedish footage from the 1967-75 Black Power Movement, with commentary by leading African American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars.
Directed by Goran Hugo Olsson – SWEDEN

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

the Cave Of Forgotten Dreams

Warner Herzog becomes the first filmmaker allowed into Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caverns in Southern France, site of the world’s oldest prehistoric art. Listen to his soothing (?) voice narrate about centuries-old drawings, and see it all in 3-D.
Directed by Werner Herzog – USA

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 6:00 (New People)

The Cinema Komunisto

Ah, the Yugoslavian film industry — perhaps as tumultuous as its political past — and just as much influenced by it, including direct intervention from President Josip Broz Tito, to create and recreate the nation’s history, in a 1982 revision of history kind of way.
Directed by Mila Turajlic – SERBIA

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 3:15 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 6:30 (PFA)
Wed, May 4 @ 3:15 (Kabuki)

detroit wild city

Detroit is a city that evokes as much dread as it does curiosity, depending on who you ask. This documentary explores how complex Detroit’s present situation, and its future, is and can potentially be.
Directed by Florent Tillon – FRANCE/USA

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 29 @ 7:00 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 2:45 (New People)
Wed, May 4 @ 8:40 (PFA)

the dish and the spoon

When one tries to make the most out of heartbreak, beautiful things can happen. Two young, hurting souls explore how to act the part of happy lovers.
Directed by Alison Bagnall – USA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 8:45 (PFA)
Fri, Apr 29 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)

end of animal

Explore darkness with the U.S. Premiere of this South Korean, genre-hopping film in which “a pregnant teenager finds herself in a taxi with a passenger who counts down to cataclysm.”
Directed by Jo Sung-hee – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sat, Apr 30 @ 9:00 (New People)
Tue, May 3 @ 4:15 (Kabuki)

the journals of musan

When refugees escape to new lands, transitions are different on even basic human needs. With The Journals Of Musan, N. Korean defector Seung-chul discovers the difficulties of assimilation, even with a shared language.
Directed by Park Jung-bum – SOUTH KOREA

SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 29 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:30 (New People)
Mon, May 2 @ 1:00 (Kabuki)

My Joy

Simply sold by this quote from Time Out, London: “There are hints of Tarkovsky in the poetic exploration of place and memory… the sense of a Dantean journey and a vision of utter hell are powerfully conveyed.”
Directed by Sergei Loznitsa – UKRAINE

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 5:45 (Kabuki)
Tue, May 3 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)

Nostalgia For The Light

This film captures parallels between natural surroundings, memory, and the mysterious by digging through Chilean history and events occuring in the universe.
Directed by Patricio Guzmán – CHILE

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 6:15 (PFA)

pink saris

Documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto captures the life and works of Sampat Pal Devi, founder of India’s Gulabi Gang, which defends the rights of untouchable women and fights for other social needs of repressed women.
Directed by Kim Longinotto – ENGLAND/INDIA

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 6:15 (Kabuki)

sound of noise

“The sound-and-image anarchists behind the 2001 cult short Music For One Apartment And Six Drummers concoct a delightful comic cocktail mixing modern urban symphony, police procedural and love story. The up-tempo feature debut boasts the most complex and wacky musical numbers since Caro and Jeunet’s Delicatessen.”
Directed by Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjarne Nilsson

SHOWTIMES
Thu, Apr 28 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)
Fri, Apr 29 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)

a useful life

“A man who has spent his entire adult life working in a film archive faces a new beginning with the threatened closure of the institution in this loving black-and-white ode to a life lived among the reels, a deadpan comedy of cinema and obsolescence from the director of Acne.”
Directed by Federico Veiroj – URAGUAY

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)

ulysses

Director Oscar Godoy explores loneliness and isolation, and the idea that money cannot bring happiness or love.
Directed by Oscar Godoy – ARGENTINA/CHILE

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 30 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)

Ocean State is Ted Ryan’s newest film, following New Yorker, Tim, as he attempts to conquer his phobia of the ocean. To better his chances of following through with his plan, Tim travels to Rhode Island, a place surrounded by the ocean. There, he begins to write an application for grad school, detailing his adventure, tries to deal with his split from his ex-girlfriend, and make friends with the locals. With so much going on right from the beginning, I thought the film was going to be immersive, deep, and intriguing. Unfortunately, the movie never delivers to its potential, leaving the audience wanting more in the end.

Visually, Ocean State is quite bland. Action is sparse. Instead, dialogue and interaction between characters are what visually drive the story. So, it gets quite boring at times when you watch a conversation going and all the shots are the same. Almost all the shots are either too high or too wide; it feels as though the camera is looking down on the characters, creating a disconnect between the characters in the film and with the audience. The audience feels as though they’re lording over the characters, making it hard to empathize with them. However, there were plenty of times when interesting camera angles are used (car ride, argument, entrance into the house after phone call from ex-girlfriend). It’s just a shame that more of it wasn’t used throughout the film, and more use of a tripod would have helped.

What Ocean State really suffers from is never reaching full realization of each idea. From the beginning, the film shows Tim desperately awaiting a call from his ex-girlfriend, Sarah. Memories of Sarah are nostalgic, viewed from Tim’s point of view; however, nothing really happens with Sarah in the film. Tim is clearly eager to talk to Sarah, but nothing is ever put on the line in their relationship. There is no real resolution because there is no conflict. It makes the relationship between Sarah and Tim cheap. She becomes so unimportant that after the middle of the film, she’s never mentioned again. Even though Tim is distraught in the end, the audience can’t really appreciate what he lost and why it’s important.

At the same time, Tim befriends a 16-year-old girl name Rachel. Being out of a relationship and having Rachel around seems like the perfect situation to create a horrible dilemma for Tim. Fraternizing with an attractive minor after getting out of a relationship screams taboo1 There’s a lurking dread that can be felt every time they say hello, with a well-placed fear that Tim might try to start a relationship with Rachel; yet, nothing really happens. They have a good talk and get to know each other better, but they only do this once. At one point in the film, I began wondering what happened to Rachel. It isn’t until the end of the film that she reappears, but by then, it’s too late. Her impact is lost, and her influence over Tim is weak. I’m not going to ruin what happens in the end, but I found myself having a “WTF?” moment. This is one huge part of the story that could have been expanded upon; it would have strengthened Tim’s situation with his phobia and everything else he was dealing with. Instead, the development fell short.

Ocean State is a movie that has grand ideas, but can’t seem to follow through with them. It has broken relationships, high expectations, and realistic desires. It has an intriguing beginning that hypes up the adventure to come. Sadly, that adventure never reaches its climax and instead, slowly coasts on level ground. It is a film that could probably fix all its shortcomings in a remake (with new actors). Hopefully, it’ll get a chance to in the future. Until then, Ocean State sadly awaits to fulfill its potential.

Directed by Ted Ryan.

This week’s San Francisco International Film Festival round-up is quite beefy, so we’re splitting it into two parts! For now, what you can see from Sunday through Wednesday.

—

Asleep In The Sun

This Argentine film evokes the tag words: “metaphysical mystery,” “canine-crazed,” “soul-deep,” “Kafkaesque world,” “psuedo scientists,” “self-possessed,” and “’50s decor.” It certainly targets a very specific audience, but that audience will love it.
Directed by Alejandro Chomski – ARGENTINA

SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 24 @ 8:45 (Kabuki)
Thu, Apr 28 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)
sat, Apr 30 @ 6:15 (New People)

At Ellen’s Age

Like Eat, Pray, Love, this film documents what happens when the comforts of the middle-class life are disrupted. Unlike Eat, Pray, Love, this film is less “mall mom” and more surreal and quirky.
Directed by Pia Marais – GERMANY

SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 24 @ 6:15 (Kabuki)
Wed, Apr 27 @ 3:30 (Kabuki)
Fri, Apr 29 @ 7:00 (PFA)

the colors of the mountain

Soccer is a way of life in Latin America. What happens when soccer-playing youth come too close in contact with contended territories? The Colors Of The Mountain explores that idea.
Directed by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez – COLOMBIA

SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 23 @ 1:00 (Kabuki)
Sun, Apr 24 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)

hot coffee

Do you remember when a foolish (or is it brilliant?) consumer spilled hot coffee and turned around to sue McDonald’s for millions? Director Susan Saladoff does, and uses that case as a jump-off point to explore the ludicrous nature of the American legal system.
Directed by Susan Saladoff – USA

SHOWTIMES
Mon, Apr 25 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Tue, Apr 26 @ 2:00 (Kabuki)

the light thief

“An electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This allegory of a man confronting injustice dramatizes the challenges facing the economies of Central Asia.”
Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat

SHOWTIMES
Mon, Apr 25 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

microphone

Ahmad Abdalla’s second feature film explores Alexandria music scene, and about the struggle of succeeding as an artist in the Egyptian city.
Directed by Ahmad Abdalla – EGYPT

SHOWTIMES
Mon, Apr 25 @ 9:15 (Kabuki)
Sun, May 1 @ 8:45 (PFA)

Nostalgia For The Light

This film captures parallels between natural surroundings, memory, and the mysterious by digging through Chilean history and events occuring in the universe.
Directed by Patricio Guzmán – CHILE

SHOWTIMES
Tue, Apr 26 @ 6:30 (Kabuki)
Thu, Apr 28 @ 6:15 (PFA)

position among the stars

A film that follows an Indonesian family dwelling in the countryside, Position Among The Stars explores how traditional Islam and Western materialism clash.
Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich – NETHERLANDS

SHOWTIMES
Tue, Apr 26 @ 8:50 (PFA)
Wed, Apr 27 @ 6:00 (Kabuki)
Wed, May 4 @ 9:00 (Kabuki)

a useful life

“A man who has spent his entire adult life working in a film archive faces a new beginning with the threatened closure of the institution in this loving black-and-white ode to a life lived among the reels, a deadpan comedy of cinema and obsolescence from the director of Acne.”
Directed by Federico Veiroj – URAGUAY

SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 24 @ Noon (New People)
Mon, Apr 25 @ 7:00 (PFA)
Sat, Apr 30 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)

ulysses

Director Oscar Godoy explores loneliness and isolation, and the idea that money cannot bring happiness or love.
Directed by Oscar Godoy – ARGENTINA/CHILE

SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 24 @ Noon (New People)
Mon, Apr 25 @ 7:00 (PFA)
Sat, Apr 30 @ 3:45 (Kabuki)