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.

…and that blogger isn’t me. I suppose I could’ve strung together three or four hundred words of gushing praise, but considering the fact that I acquired this fantastic debut feature of John Yost’s for IndiePix, I’m guessing folks might see through that.

But someone else gave it a try, so here it is.

Is it worth it, seeing a tiny movie like ‘Every Good Thing to Rust’? Well, as last night’s Oscar broadcast taught us, a stripper can write the best original screenplay of the year, and two unknown actors can run around with 100K and some mini-DV cameras and tell a story powerful enough to warrant an Oscar, and a congratulatory text message from fellow countryman Bono. Soo….

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FILM! IT’S, LIKE, WORTH IT!

So I know we usually write about Independent Films. Well, except Bennie, who prefers to write about highly-questionable studio projects. (Don’t worry, we love you anyway!) But I feel impelled to discuss Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf, which I caught in it’s stupendous 3-D Imax format at the Lincoln Square theater earlier this week.

Put aside the writing and some of the half-human performances - you’ve got to assume a bit of over-flowerification, glorification, speechification, and badass-ification in a Studio film based on what is essentially civilization’s earliest monster story. But on to the important thing, the treatment of the 3-D.

I confess to not being a 3-D aficionado. The last 3-D flick I caught was one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. I think it was Freddy’s Dead, the first supposed last film in a series that still continues today in a myriad of iterations. That was back in 1991, long before motion capture animation was a gleam in gollum’s eye. And my expectations for that seminal work were so abysmally low that a letdown was nigh on impossible. Even though Freddy’s 3-D experience lasted only for the final fifteen minutes of the film. And included highlights such as three dimensional sticks and twigs.

So with all that said, I admit I am in no way a 3-D expert. There’s probably a dozen awesome 3-D flicks that could be just as good. But the work they did on Beowulf was phenomenal. I was blown away before the movie even opened. IMAX is overwhelming as it is, but with enormous words shooting by you in all directions, paired with ear-rocking sound, dragons flying all up in your business…it reminded me of childhood theatrical experiences. E.T., Indiana Jones, Superman, all that is good about big screen spectacle when you can leave your cynicism at the door and just hop on board. And Angelina…Though Michael Tully did make a good point in his blog from December 3rd, I can’t think of anyone better to play a heartless, ancient demon. You see her in reality and she’s almost too striking to be human. It wasn’t even a small leap to buy her as the mother of a deformed cave creature. And that voice…

All I can say is go check it out. If only for the scene where buckets of 3-D blood cascade with drowning ferocity from what seems like directly over your head. And bring snacks you don’t have to look at to eat, ’cause your eyes will be busy.

Since you’ve got nothing better to do…
Click Here for some awesome ‘Freddy’s Dead’ Funk Action!

Last night was the opening event for the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival here in New York. The opening film was the much awaited (in India) new Bollywood film Saawariya by Sanjay Leehla Bhansali, distributed by Sony around the world. The film opens tonight in Mumbai, where I am told tickets for the premier are being sold on the black market for US$500.

The movie launches the careers of two eagerly awaited new stars, Ranbir Kapoor (the leading male and rock star) and Sonam Kapoor (the leading woman and beauty). In terms of who might have “won” in his or her debut performance, I would choose Sonam, but obviously these things are personal!

The sound track is also highly anticipated, but it seemed flat to me, not nearly as lyrical as perhaps Bollywood musicals are imagined to be.

Sony/Columbia is opening this film around the world more or less simultaneously, and those in my group thought the film had been crafted especially for the global expatriate Indian community. The film takes place in a thoroughly imaginary location that is some composite of Venetian and Parisian images, and it is based on a Russian short story (”White Nights” by Dostoyevsky). But in its intensely escapist imagery and sensibility, it’s all Bollywood.

There’s barely the faintest hint of an outside reality. Les Miserables (the Broadway play) has great songs, but it’s no stranger to real world struggles. Saawariya holds all that at arms length and more, and protects its audience from any unpleasantness that would divert your attention from the love story. Here’s a link to the film’s web site.

Hey, check out this fantastic animated short, courtesy of OurStage.com, a competitive site for independent filmmakers and musicians. This was the top animated film from September, and it’s good. Real good. And deeeep.

Loom

I recently watched a couple of wildly different independent films that truly captured my heart, and wanted to pass them on to you faithful readers (wherever you may be) for your viewing pleasure. The first we screened during our few moments of down time at the Woodstock Film Festival. The programmers were handing out DVD copies, and playing it in ‘fest hangout The Colony Cafe. It’s a film of truly Rocky-esque proportions, the tale of patriotism and shadow-rockin’ known as Air Guitar Nation.
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