Well…mostly reviews. I was only in Seattle for five days, which puts me at a distinct disadvantage when trying to review a festival that’s over three weeks long. It’s still going strong, the 900+ screenings starting each afternoon and continuing until well past midnight. I can talk about my impression of the festival, which was professionally run, with an endless stretch of outstanding films screening all across this gorgeous, welcoming city. But in the true spirit of SIFF, I’ll focus on the films. The screenings were always packed, with an attentive, demanding audience. I guess the expectations are pretty high for an international fest entering it’s 34th year, but with this lineup, I doubt there was a cinephile in Seattle sitting home unhappy.

Here’s a bit about some of the true standouts from the first week of the fest:

THE FALL
Tarsem’s long-awaited follow-up to the stunning but uneven thriller THE CELL delivered on every level. David Fincher and Spike Jonze went to bat for this film, and it was immediately clear what caught their attention. Winner of a Special Mention at the Berlin International FF, this surreal journey through a little girl’s imagination, a suicidal stuntman’s pain, and the epic vision of the director kept me entranced until the final frame. Every ounce of the production was over-the-top gorgeous (see Jordan’s Blog for one of the many reasons why), and the simple story twisted in deceptively complex directions. A must-see theatrical experience.

OPIUM - DIARY OF A MADWOMAN
Crazy. That’s all I can say. Drawn from the unfinished diaries of a turn-of-the-20th-century Hungarian neurologist, OPIUM tells the story of a morphine-addicted doctor suffering from writer’s block who falls for a MASSIVELY disturbed patient at an isolated women’s asylum, who’s only peace comes from compulsively writing in her diaries. Frank, graphic, disturbing, and beautiful all at the same time, the film put my own problems and concerns in perspective, and kept me squirming on the edge of my seat for two hours. The primitive methods used to treat the mentally ill, portrayed with a prolonged, almost adoration, was brutal. And I thoroughly enjoyed the green faces of certain audience members who left the theater obviously expecting something a little less…everything. Well, hey, you saw the title and read the description, what didn’t you understand?

BOY A
Probably my favorite film of the festival, this British narrative tells the story of a young man paroled after spending his teenage years incarcerated for a terrible crime, who is forced to hide his true identity upon release due to enduring public outrage. The protagonist’s story is portrayed with a tense realism, colored by a slowly evolving string of flashbacks that give the tragic tale it’s anxious heart. Incredible performances, powerful images — I literally couldn’t move from my seat afterwards. Find this film and see it immediately!

THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI
Based on real events, the film opens in the midst of war-torn 1930s China, where British journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, in an inspired performance) tumbles through an unexpected set of circumstances that lead him to rescue 60 orphaned children from destitution and to spirit them on a three month journey across the Liu Pan Shan Mountans to safety on the edge of the Mongolian border. Filmed almost entirely on location by director Roger Spottiswoode, not only was this a gorgeous and powerful tale of personal strength and redemption, but it was also the first time the Chinese government has cooperated on a co-production with a foreign company — as striking a political statement as the one underlying the film, and possibly more important for the future of world cinema. Also featured are impressive performances by Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, and Michelle Yeoh.

MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE
Seattle native (and all-around awesome gal!) Lynn Shelton directed this ode to broken friendships in the backwoods of her home state, taking us along for the ride as self-absorbed novelist Eric Lambert Jones (played to ridiculous glory by Sean Nelson) tries to win back his life-long buddy by dropping by his cabin unannounced. Beer, arguments, silences, and a cougar hunt fuel their efforts to reconnect, with painfully mixed results. Sometimes funny, always truthful, MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE is exactly that.

ELEGY and The Tribute To SIR BEN KINGSLEY
I was thrilled to snag a ticket to the sold out Tribute to Ben Kingsley, which opened with the North American premiere of ELEGY. Based on a novella by Philip Roth, Kingsley stars as an aging college professor who experiences jealousy for the first time when a one-night stand with a beautiful student (the elegant and sensual Penelope Cruz) turns into a long term romance. The cast is filled out with extraordinary performances by Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Deborah Harry, each more than holding their own in challenging roles. An excellent film about the fragility of relationships and the uncompromising truths of aging, with Ben Kingsley at his absolute best, ELEGY was a fitting opener to the tribute.

After the screening, Sir Ben took to the stage to a raucous standing ovation. He’s so unassuming, so gracious — he made the audience feel they were sitting with him in his livingroom. The interview that followed, conducted in easy chairs by Journalist David Poland, further cemented the feeling. Poland guided the audience through a series of clips highlighting Kingsley’s many incredible performances, while the actor told incredible behind-the-scenes stories with true humility. He also described the key to his artistic process, which Kingsley explained is vital to the delivery of such truthful, out on the edge performances — “to come from a core of happiness”. He attributes this state of being to a strong relationship with his wife, but however it has occurred, it’s in stark contrast to the tortured artist mystique that so many wrap around themselves. That he works from happiness, not anger, not misanthropy, not even passion…

This stuck with me long afterwards, and seemed in many ways to sum up the festival itself. The SIFF staff, volunteers, organizers and promoters come from a contented core — the dedication to sharing the magic of film — which cast a glow over me I wore all the way back to New York, and hope to keep in my heart as long as I possibly can.