Hello there, Media Babe here!

For those just coming to visit for the first time, welcome! My name is Mimi, but over the years I have garnered the nickname "Media Babe" for my savvy knowledge of movies, good taste, entertaining re-enactments of movie scenes, and colorful summations. For years I've been told that I should write reviews, so here I am ... ummm, writing reviews! My 'credentials' are that I've loved movies of all kinds ever since I was child during the advent of the VCR, I've been working at Scarecrow Video (the coolest video store on the planet!!) for over ten years, and 2009 marks my seventh year working for the Seattle International Film Festival! Needless to say, I love movies and if you're here, then you probably do too!

My current website needs a DRAMATIC (insert hand to forehead here) makeover, so in the meanwhile I'm directing everyone here which is, quite honestly, where all the current stuff is going on anyways! I'm pretty much exclusively watching SIFF movies right now, with today being Day One of the festival! Yaaaaa-aaaay! I try to keep my reviews as spoiler free as much as possible, though if there is something 'spoilerish' that I just MUST rant/rave about, I will put it behind a cut-tag so as not to ruin anything for you purists out there. :-) Please bear in mind that I try to write reviews as soon as possible after seeing a movie and I don't always catch little grammatical errors due to lack of sleep or lack of time. It's not that I don't care, it's just my brain being full of movie still, or the tap running a bit too fast and messy in my eagerness to get it out on the 'page' as it were. ;-)

Thanks for visiting! I hope that you find my reviews helpful, informative and, most of all, enjoyable to read.

Happy movie watching to you all!!

So I just found out today that the SIFF Screeners are available to be borrowed. Hooray! So I couldn't have done any SIFF movies before now anyways, cause they wouldn't have been available!

I'm toying with the idea of doing a Movie Night this coming Saturday, but I'm not sure. It's going to be a very packed weekend as it is, so I don't know if people would be interested or not. If you are interested in doing a Movie Night this Saturday, June 27th, speak now or forever hold your peace. ;-)

( Here is the list of the screeners, put behind the cut tag because LOOOOOOOOOOONG! I've marked movies that I've already seen in italics, movies I know I'm planning to borrow in bold, just FYI. )

Naturally if I do this, I cannot guarantee what movies I'll be able to grab, but I'll do my best. I was thinking that I would announce 4 or 5 potential films and then make another announcement when I've actually got the movies in hand.

So if you're interested in doing some movies this weekend, let me know! And if you have any in particular that you're interested in seeing, also let me know. :-)

Did you miss some of the movies this year at SIFF? You must have, because there were more than could be seen no matter how many movies and press screenings you attended! Per usual, Scarecrow has a lovely assortment of them now available for your viewing pleasure. Per usual, if the movie is only available in some odd format, it will be duly noted. Support your local video store! Three cheers for Scarecrow Video!! :-)

The Admiral
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Le Amiche
The Bear
Beast Stalker
La Cienaga
Cliente (aka French Gigolo) (Code 2)
The Conversation
The Country Teacher
Daytime Drinking (Code 3)
Il Divo (Code 2)
Dodsworth
Eldorado
In Your Absence
Forever Enthralled
The Great Race
Hansel & Gretel (Code 3)
Kabei - Our Mother (Code 2)
Katia's Sister (Code 2)
Miao Miao
Mother's at the Hairdressers
North Face (Code 2)
Nurse, Fighter, Boy
Once Upon a Time in the West
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (PAL Code 2)
Quiet Chaos
Sniper
So Long at the Fair (PAL Code 2)
Spring Breakdown
Bruce Springsteen
Still Walking (Code 2)
Summer Hours (Code 2)
Sunset Boulevard
Tears of April (Code 2)
The Third Man
This Charming Girl (Code 3)
Wallace & Gromit - Master of Loaf and Death (Code 2)
Warlords (Code 3)
West of Pluto
White Night Wedding (PAL)
Woman Under the Influence
Yes, I can See Dead People (Code 3)

SIFF is OVER! WHAAAA-AAAAA-AAAA!

I am bummed. Bum, bum, bummed. There is the Best of SIFF next weekend but, sadly, it's not much of what I consider the 'best' of SIFF. :/ There's a few films I might check out, but not a whole lot. Details of what will be showing can be found here, though it's a bit buggy at the moment.

I managed to break my record this year by a much higher margin than expected. 79 films last year, 93 films this year. I guess that means I'll need to aim for 100 next year? Scary.

Right now I'm mostly trying to decide whether or not to go to the Staff Wrap party which starts in 2 minutes and runs till dawn. I'm awake, but not really sure if I want to go. In the past I have found that I hardly know anyone who is there and end up feeling kinda bored and out of my element. I'm just not a big 'party' person, I don't drink, and as such I feel a bit like the odd-woman out under such circumstances. Hmmmmm. On the other hand, I kinda feel like if I don't go, I'm not being a team player or something weird like that. Not that anyone probably actually cares though, right? It would be nice to bring someone with me, but the one person I thought would like to go needed sleep. A bummah, but more than reasonable for someone who actually has to work the next morning.

Waffle, waffle, waffle. The coin tells me to go (flipped it three times) but apathy is telling me to stay.

Sorry more short reviews! I would have waited till tomorrow morning to write them, but there is one movie that you need to know about ASAP! So here they are. :-)

North - A wickedly subtle and funny dark comedy about an ex-skier who suffers from depression and anxiety that despite these conditions goes on a off-the-road road trip through frozen wastelands to visit his ex-wife and son. Brilliant use of music, silence, with deliciously dry and deadpan acting and humor. Highly recommended.

Forever Enthralled - Lavish, epic, period, and pretty dang fabulous. The movie is quite long, but I was well entertained for the full length of it. Beautiful costumes, some really incredible acting and the Peking Opera is, in a word, fascinating. Men playing women! Women playing men! Fascinating look at the history of the time as well, which I have only recently been learning about.

Fifty Dead Men Walking - Wow. This film is FABULOUS. Haven't decided yet if I think it is the best film of the festival, but it is easily in the top four or five. It is based on the true story of Martin, an Irishman who chooses to infiltrate the IRA and spy on them from the inside in the hopes of saving lives. This decision does not come easily, stands in the face of his community and family, and throughout he struggles with the role he has chosen to play, whether it is right or wrong. The film is dramatic, arresting, engaging, and incredibly intense. Most of all, though, it feels very real, very true to the times, the situation, with every detail lovingly and carefully attended to in order to make the film as authentic as possible. The cinematography is perfect, with a subtle sense of artistic menace and tension that never becomes greater than the story being told or taking center stage to the action. The accents are at times hard to understand (more a problem with the theater's sound system I think) but it does not interfere in your ability to understand what is going on. Jim Sturgess' and Ben Kingsley's performances are nothing short of brilliant. I cannot recommend this film enough. It is so good that I am actually thinking of seeing the second showing of it on Sunday. Be sure that you don't miss it!!

Il Divo - Starts off great! Stylish cinematography, excellent use of music and editing, fascinating character, a theatrical presentation of his story with affected lighting and composition - but it doesn't manage to grow from there. Having a greater knowledge of the politics would probably have helped, but as it is character after character is introduced and there is talking, talking, talking all throughout the middle, but a dramatic dearth of the action from the beginning, save when they show you the same shots over again, but with far less cleverly designed impact. It started off as a solid 4 and dwindled down to a 3. What a pity. Still, I'm glad that I saw it.

I just noticed that the review I put up for the Closing NIght film, OSS 117: Lost in Rio got removed from the SIFF website. Wu oh. Hopefully I'm not in trouble with the film festival now. I had debated on whether or not I should have put up a review ... guess I made the wrong choice there. :/

I'm am full of the sleepy, so just some real quickies which I'll flesh out later.

Kimjonglia - Interesting documentary that pitted brutally tragic interviews with North Korean refugees with snippets of North Korean propoganda films, images, and events. I felt it really could have used some fleshing out, but the director seemed to want to really focus down on the experiences of the escapees. Would make a good double feature with State of Mind, which does a much better job of showing how most North Korean's view their country and their lives.

Swimsuit Issue - Totally funny and charming film about a bunch of guys who turn a bachelor party joke into a serious bid for men's synchronized swimming at the World Cup in Berlin. Though it was pretty predictable most of the time, it was full of wry, good-natured humor and made me laugh lots and feel good. Not brilliant or wickedly clever, but a solidly enjoyable film.

Well SIFF is almost over and my feelings are very mixed. Part of me is grateful, been feeling very burnt out, and part of me is sad, because, well MOVIES! I LOVE MOVIES! What's a girl to do?

Well, one thing I'm going to do is do the SIFF IS DEAD, LONG LIVE SIFF! parties where I will show as many SIFF screeners for films that I missed and wanted to see that I can. VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN! for any films that you are specifically interested in seeing again or for the first time!

The second thing I'll be doing is watching a large number of Magic Realism movies as a favor to Mr. Magic Realism (Bruce Taylor) who runs a Magic Realism website that is woefully behind in its movie reviews. If anyone is interested in seeing Magic Realism movies, let me know and I'll make them Movie Parties as well. :-)

SIFF is also going to be doing a Best of Fest event from June 19th-21st. No announcements yet as to what will be playing, but this could be a great chance to see some movies that I missed on the big screen. Yay!

And then of course there is just a lot of general movie catching up to do. In looking at what iS playing around I want to see Up of course, Sunshine Cleaning, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Night at the Museum 2 - Electric Boogaloo, Rudo Y Cursi, and others I'm sure.

Craziness. Okay, catch you guys later. :)

News: For those who missed out on Departures, it is currently playing at the Seven Gables theater ... just FYI. :-) It's a great movie, I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't already. Heck, I may very well go see it again. They've finally announced the TBA movies and while two of them really took me by surprise, I thought Marcello Marcello at the Cinerama was an excellent choice. If you like charming, sweet, romantic, warm-hearted comedies with the gorgeous setting of Italy, well, then you should see this movie. Nothing particularly deep or astonishing, but an exceedingly well-made, well paced film that is a delight in every way.

Changes: I picked up work on Friday (siiiiiiigh) so my schedule for that day is now slightly changed ...

Here is my schedule for the last three days of SIFF. I fear the ending of the festival. Part of me will be grateful that the madness is over, part of me will be very sad, and part of me will likely go into shock and then massive withdraw. Ugh. That won't be fun. But in the meanwhile ....

Friday, June 12th

* American Primitive - Egyptian - 7:00
* Swimsuit Issue - Egyptian - 9:30

Saturday, June 13th

* Afghan Star - SIFF Cinema - 11:00
or
* North - Uptown - 11:00 (more likely North, as I could use something funny for a change)
* Forever Enthralled - Cinerama - 3:00
* Fifty Dead Men Walking - Uptown - 6:30
* Il Divo - Cinerama - 9:15

Sunday, June 14th

* Home - SIFF Cinema - 1:00
? Kaifeck Murder - Harvard Exit - 4:30
or if I don't see it on Friday ...
? Pain in the Ass - Uptown - 4:30
* Troubled Water - Uptown - 7:00
? The Overbrook Brothers - Pacific Place - 9:15 (I think it sounds stupid and awful, but it has all 5's for reviews ... hmmmmmm)
or
? Manhole Children - SIFF Cinema - 9:00
or
? Summer - Uptown - 9:30
or maybe I won't see anything at all and go to the Closing Night party ... or maybe I'll go see something like Up. ;-) As you can see, I'm not deeply excited by any of the choices really ...

Not a very inspiring final weekend, I must say. Seems like most of the really good movies happened in the first week and half this year.

My most excellent Venue Manager Wathana just brought me chocolates from the W! Dilettante chocolates if I'm guessing right! YAY! Sooooooo delicious!

Nothing important to say really. I'm working on transferring reviews to the SIFF site and fleshing out some of the picos and I finished fleshing out Day, ummm, Day 17? Something like that. You can find it here if you're interested. ;-)

And yes, yet again, no regular screenings for me today, only press screenings! Oooh la la!

Hachiko: A Dog's Tale - This movie is just about a simple as you can possibly get. There is no depth here. NONE! What there is emotionalism. Lots and LOTS of emotionalism. The cynics out there will likely find it ridiculously sentimental and scoff at its almost syrupy non-story. You sentimental sops out there (and here I am, raising my hand and showing my membership card) are going to want to bring Kleenex. Lots and LOTS of Kleenex. Cause you're gonna cry. Like, a lot. I did! Sobbed like a baby! This movie doesn't just pull on your heartstrings, it rips them out of your chest and tosses them on the ground and then stomps on them a whole bunch. Sadly though, there doesn't seem to be any actual ... plot. When the movie starts it's pretty much all about the OMG! SLAIN! BY! CUTENESS! But what little bits might actually be plotty and meaningful (Why is the wife so reluctant for her husband to adopt this dog? What was the story with 'Luke'?) are left unexplored entirely, and the rest of the characters involved seem to have very simple, almost two-dimensional lives where nothing except the ordinary and expected seems to happen. The dog is naturally wonderful and charming, but I was surprised at how little the humans did for the dog once it begins its daily vigil for his master. It seemed, in many ways, very peculiar and unrealistic. Whereupon I discovered that this true story never took place in America, but instead in Japan back in 1924! This places the story in a far more appropriate cultural context, one that really doesn't quite ring true for an American setting. This film is based on the 1987 Japanese film called Hachikō Monogatari which I really think I'd like to see now, just to compare the differences. It's sweet, it's a beautiful if at times painfully sad story, and there is some playful filming going on (the perspective of Hachi, for example, is filmed in near black & white) but mostly it's just a film to make you go "Awwwwww-wwwww!"

Every Little Step - If you loved A Chorus Line, then you need to see this movie. If you love musicals, you need to see this movie. If you have any interest or curiosity in how musicals and theater is made, how the audition process works, and just what it means to be a dancer, a singer, a performer, this is definitely a movie to see. Ironically I have never seen A Chorus Line in person. I've sung many of the songs, I saw the movie, but I never had the chance to see it live. This is almost better than that though - it's seeing the actual chorus line process for A Chorus Line. It was fascinating to meet the different people involved, from those who created the original to those trying out for the revival. It was a surprise to me just how much work was involved paring down from and open casting call of thousands to just 16 parts, the process taking eight months in total. It was intriguing to see how different performers approached the characters differently, finding the ones that seemed perfect to you and then waiting to see if the directors and creators would make the same choices or not. The most powerful moment of the film however was the audition process for the character of John, whose story is one of the most intense and emotional. Actor after actor was tried, all of them falling far short of the necessary performance and then there was Jason Tam. OMG. His performance is nothing short of extraordinary, the panel of judges brought to tears as I was. Just ... wow. It's a really great film, if the topic is of interest to you, with wonderful archival footage and photographs and a real up-close and personal look at the creation of this groundbreaking musical.

No regular screenings yesterday, but I did see three press screenings!

Unmistaken Child - Though slow and at times long, this is a gentle and fascinating film about the search for a reincarnated Lama taken on by his assistant and long-term companion monk. I applaud the filmmakers for allowing the story to tell itself, for placing no bias, judgment, or opinions upon the situation, the people, or their beliefs. The young monk is nervous at the responsibility being placed upon him because he is not a Buddha, and as such he does not think he will be capable of recognizing a Buddha, being a higher spiritual being than he is. It is a interesting and complex search, based on divination, intuition and object recognition. It reminds me of a teacher I had from Nigeria who when questioned about the Yoruba religion and why people believed in it replied, "If it didn't work, then people why would people believe?" Clearly the Buddhist beliefs regarding reincarnation work; whether truly through the divine or through determination and faith creating a reality is up to the viewer to decide for themselves. A very simple film, a very simple story, but still I found it quite captivating. Just make sure you're not too sleepy when you start watching it. I noticed that I was feeling very dozy once it was over.

In Your Absence - This movie is very beautiful and lush, with long lingering shots over sun glazed fields and hills, dramatically spiced with red and white flowers, drowning in oceans of purple-blue flowers, with lovingly upward glances into wind ruffled tree branches. Sadly pretty landscapes do not make for a quality film. Only the characters of Pablo and the stranger can act in this movie it seems and the story that they are forced to slog through is long, tedious, and obvious. Even more annoying, it's one of those movies where only a ridiculous line of coincidences leads up to its traumatic and "shocking" end ... which didn't shock me at all. It only managed to bore and irritate me. Much of the film is also just stupid. People making stupid choices, doing stupid things, so much so that you just want to smack them all on the head. People being petty, people being nasty, and naturally the two fairly decent people in the tale take the brunt of the damage of it. It also goes absolutely nowhere, with a beginning and matching ending that you think is going to be somehow meaningful but in the end only serves as an ugly and pointless framework to the actual story being told. Yawwwwwwwwwwn!

Buddenbrooks - If you like lavish historical pieces, filled with exquisitely beautiful costumes, a decent if slightly dysfunctional family, high drama told through a layer of subduing manners, and an examination of a family over time and three generations, then you've come to the right movie. It's perfectly excellent in every way that it needs to be, but it didn't quite win over my heart. This is mostly because there are so many characters involved, with no one being the main focus of the teller of the story, you don't get to know anyone terribly well. This is unfortunate but inevitable when you try to take a massive and complicated story and fit it into two hours ... well, two hours and twenty minutes. Something has to go by the wayside and often it is a deep sense of who the characters are. That said, the actors do an excellent job of making each of their characters accessible and distinctive, each with their own problems, viewpoints, and sense of duty. I just found myself wanting to know something more. I also wanted to know more about certain characters who disappear only to return quite dramatically changed, like the brother Christian. You sense that there is a story there in and of itself, something that perhaps happened to him, that is never revealed thus making it difficult for you to empathize with his wild ways. Sister Toni is probably the most accessible to the audience, her sacrifices and disappointments many, yet her spirit remains strong. In the end a very pretty film to watch with many interesting, if not particularly fascinating or exciting, things going on, but it doesn't have quite the depth I would like nor did it touch my heart and make me feel for this once great family dwindling into decline.

Boy am I ever losing steam. Urge to write reviews is pretty much nil at the moment, but still I will press on! Press! Press! My apologies if they, well, stink. Yesterday was Day 19, skipped press screenings in the morning which apparently was too bad - I heard that Home and North were both good. Siiiiiiigh. Ah well, you win some you lose some. I did manage to see three films yesterday, and two of them were not the ones I was planning on! Surprise!!

Poppy Shakespeare - This film is good but ... confusing. For one, while it is in English I found the British accents difficult to understand about 30-40% of the time, which means that I surely missed important things. For the other, the story is told from the perspective of the admittedly (literally and figuratively) insane and as such one begins to wonder what is true and what is delusion! This creates a viewing experience that is curious and intriguing, but also a trifle frustrating as you, the viewer, want to know what the truth is. While the perspective of the inmates does, tragically, fit the facts of the story best, some of said theories are difficult to swallow and, if true, outright horrific and unforgivable. N has been a lifelong mental patient and currently is enrolled at an outpatient clinic where she must spend her weekdays with the other inmates and therapists. A breath of fresh, and outraged, air blows in one day in the form of Poppy Shakespeare, a gorgeous woman full of confidence and fury as she insists that she is perfectly sane. And thus the uncertainty begins. Poppy does, indeed, seem completely normal and sane and yet you are not sure if there is something that perhaps is hidden, that you the viewer doesn't know yet. N, assigned to assist Poppy, does her best to help the newcomer, but all Poppy wants to do is get out of this place. Ironically, though, she doesn't have the means. For some reason (which I find utterly bemusing) there is no one for her to talk to about why she is there in the first place. She can't afford a lawyer, and the one lawyer who represents such people cannot help her because she doesn't receive Mad money (I kid you not) with which to cover his fees. However, if she fills out the application stating that she is insane then she can get Mad money and hire him to prove that she's ... not insane. Insane, no? And as Kurt Vonnegut said, "Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be." It's an interesting movie, an unusual movie, a funny movie, and a tragic movie. But most of all it is striking because it is one of the few movies that will force you to think. At times it's a bit of a slow and rough ride, but overall well made.

The Girl from Monaco - From seeing the trailer, I had a theory of what this film was going to be about. I was wrong. What is unfortunate is that the movie that I imagined was better than the movie shown. Siiiiigh. What could have been, and should have been, a clever, wicked, and twisty tale of deceit, revenge, and manipulation was nothing more than an airy affair with a peculiar, and somewhat inexplicable, twist. A lawyer defending a woman who has committed a brutal murder is assigned a bodyguard for his protection, supposedly against the questionable family members of the victim. While in Monaco at the trial he meets and falls for a beautiful local weather girl, despite the warnings of his bodyguard against doing so. What follows though is a painful romance of two ill-matched individuals of which the lawyer can't bring himself to quit what he knows is a bad habit. The film is funny, and the lawyer is played with great charm and sweet sort of befuddlement that makes him a most winning character. But the story is just so much less than it could have been and the ending makes, in my humble opinion, little sense. I can understand why the lawyer might feel responsible, and thus makes the choice that he does, but there were clearly other choices, other solutions, available (especially to one versed in the law) that he doesn't seem to take into account, and that just baffled me. It was fun, but it could have been, and should have been, so much more than it was.

The Dark Harbor - This film is not really dark ... more kinda gray. It starts off with great promise of being a charming, slightly surreal, playful little romantic comedy and then someone must have said, "But hey! This movie is called Dark Harbor ... we need some darkness!" Siiiiiigh. I always find it really annoying when someone starts off making one kind of story and then changes it to another, especially when the other story actually ruins the experience of the film. All the whimsical humor and charm pretty much washes down the waterway, vanishing into nothing. A fisherman in a small village full of fishermen desperate for wives is willing to do just about anything for a wife ... and then suddenly there is a complete family hiding in his cupboards. The film is very quiet, but that works for it, the humor often subtle and more about timing and expressions than words.

I think I'm reaching a burning out point right about now. I've had the time to write reviews - skipped all the press screenings today just so I could stay home and chill out and get stuff done around the house. But I just don't feel like writing up reviews today. I'll be working tomorrow, so perhaps I will feel up to writing reviews then between box office rushes. EDIT - finally filled these reviews out!

I ended up changing my mind yesterday as passholders recommended two different films to me very highly - The Secret and The Necessities of Life. Had been planning to see The End of the Line which is also apparently very good, but with all the end of the world, destruction of the ocean documentaries I've seen already I felt okay skipping that one to see on DVD and checking out one of these other films instead. Good choice!

The Necessities of Life - Really lovely, touching, and beautiful film all about a Inuk Inuit being taken away from his wife and daughters during the 1940's because he has tuberculosis, only to end up trapped in a sanatorium with no one who understands him and no one to talk to. As his depression reaches suicidal levels, a compassionate nurse manages to find an Inuk boy who likewise has tuberculosis and has him transferred so the two can keep each other company. Delicate, striking, sweet, tragic, and touching this film is a very gentle exploration of human nature, differing cultures, and the value and importance of human connection. It's a fascinating look at racism, differences in cultures and beliefs, and how people can reach past their differences to find a common ground.

Flame & Citron - Very long, very dark (visually and contextually), and layered story about two infamous patriots struggling against Nazi occupation of Denmark. The film started off great, got slow and a bit cumbersome in the middle, and then picked up dramatically once again toward the end. A compelling and fascinating look at how even those who might be considered the 'good guys' are often just covering their own asses and worried about their personal bottom line. It raises in a very powerful way the question of "Who can you really trust?" as our two patriots struggle between what they are told to do and what they believe is right. Lines between good and bad, turncoat versus double-agent become blurred making the truth something that is nebulous at best sometimes. I particularly liked Flame, the actor both dashingly handsome with his bright red hair and wonderfully bold and dynamic in his persona and performance. Citron is a little harder to get a hold on and his arduous and awkward relationship with his family tends to drag the film down, even if it is contextually important. My one complaint would be that while it is made clear, during the film and at the end, that Flame and Citron were great war heroes, the exact nature of extent of their successes is left unclear. We only see them on a few assignments and it is never said exactly how many collaborators and enemies they actually killed in all or what other acts of heroism they might have performed for their country. One of the most delightful moments, however, is when the story comes full circle from the voice over during the beginning of the film, these words suddenly imbued with much greater personal importance, a particularly powerful sucker punch to the emotional gut.

Well I ended up working on Sunday and only seeing one movie which, unfortunately for me, turned out to be totally NOT my cup of tea.

World's Greatest Dad - For me this is another misnamed film, one that I would like to call World's Worst Movie except for the fact that it wasn't that awful, I have certainly seen far worse movies, but it is such a fun play on the original title. I'm also sure that many people not just liked it, but really liked it. I know of at least one person who did. I recognize that this film was unappealing to me for purely personal reasons. So why, might you ask, did I find this film so distasteful? Well let's see, it starts off with a totally pathetic father and his utterly worthless porn-obsessed son who is beyond disgusting. Think Cartman from South Park and then take away his better qualities and there you go. Heck, if that was my son I think I would have either beaten the crap out of him or disowned him. The father is pretty much an inoffensive loser, with no friends, endlessly rejected manuscripts, teaching an unpopular poetry class. Then disaster strikes this pathetic pair and a series of lies are born, turning a tragedy into treasure. At first the lies are understandable, trying to protect perhaps the reputation of his son and/or himself. But they spiral out of control as everyone in the school, most of whom are fairly annoying and unlikeable people, decide that they want a piece of this angst pie for themselves. It's a film about liars and users, sycophants and manipulators, and I have no interest in those sorts of people or stories. Sure, there were moments that were funny, points where I laughed and enjoyed myself, but I disliked nearly everyone in the film and had absolutely no respect for the father figure. During the screening the bulb in the projector went out, and I nearly got up and left right then, utterly uninterested in watching this house of cards go down with a huge crash when lies stacked upon lies finally became too heavy to hold up their own weight any more. The only kudos I can give it is that in the end the father at least realizes what I had known all along and there is an awkward, but respectable, moment of redemption.

For those who might care, Day 16 reviews are finally full-fledged and can be found here.

I'm working a fair amount this week, so I won't see anything playing regularly on either Wednesday or Thursday, though I should be catching some press screenings. It's a very odd week, full of very iffy movies for me. Hopefully some of them will be good.

Monday the 8th

* The End of the Line - Pacific Place - 5:00
? Kanchivaram - Uptown - 7:00
* Flame & Citron - Uptown - 9:30

Tuesday the 9th

? Fruit Fly - SIFF Cinema - 4:40
or
? Poppy Shakespeare - Harvard Exit - 4:30
* Alisa's Birthday - Pac Place - 7:00
* The Dark Harbor - Harvard Exit - 9:30

Friday the 12th

* The Girl from Monaco - Pac Place - 1:30
* What's On Your Plate? - Pac Place - 4:00
? No idea what to see here - nothing really appeals much
* Swimsuit Issue - Egyptian - 9:30

I saw World's Greatest Dad today. Boy did that ever stink. Totally NOT my cup of tea.

Okay, so it's 2 in the morning and I'm actually thinking of trying to catch an 11 am film tomorrow, which pretty much means that sleep has to happen NOW, so it's pico review time! Per usual, these will get upgraded to full reviews when I get the chance, most likely tomorrow evening. :-)

Black - This replacement for Mesrine is, in short, a wild ride. Part crazy heist gone wrong film and part supernatural voodoo magic film it pretty much just goes all over the map and then some. I really liked it while I was watching it, it just picked me up and rushed me along like a runaway river rafting expedition. In retrospect, however, I recognize that it is riddled with flaws. Some people who wanted just the heist film or something more cohesive were less than impressed. There could have been a better connection between the two concepts, I have to agree. It's a bit like two different movies in one film. They probably would have done better if they had made it either purely a caper film (which is the predominant and strongest plot line) or integrated the supernatural aspects more thoroughly throughout, such that each plot was strengthened, rather than weakened by the other. I really don't think I can describe the film better than SIFF did so I'm just going to quote what they wrote here. It's what made me see this film after all. ;)

"A funky riff on the theme music from 2001: A Space Odyssey opens Black, a new crime thriller from France. The catchy redux leads to a bank robbery that goes quickly awry, a maniacal, island-dwelling millionaire who’s slowly turning into a snake, a volatile and crazy Russian general, witches, witch doctors, bare Nubian breasts, gunfire, machete-wielding wrestlers, and two antiheroes imbued with cat powers who dress up like the members of an African Kiss tribute band."

Melodrama Habibi - This was another replacement film, one which had already shown twice in the festival. Personally, I was having a hard time understanding why they showed it twice to begin with, let alone a third time. Surely they had an actually good movie that they could have shown again?? It tells the story of a washed up singer, a one-hit wonder, who now works in a hotel. His career is shot, his voice is shot, and his love-life is shot. A rich woman in Lebanon, however, remembers him dearly and for her birthday her husband brings this singer over to perform. But then random and rather pointless events occur - said wife is 'accidentally' kidnapped, her manicurist ends up having to babysit said singer (whose song also a profound effect on her life), and said singer claims that he never ever played in Lebanon in the first place and it, in short, a total wet blanket. The film is random and illogical, funny in brief bursts but more often just sort of tedious and pointless, and while his trip reinvigorates all of the main characters, you just don't really care for the most part. What a disappointment.

Black Dynamite - This was pure black gold! Both an homage and a spoof of blaxploitation films, it runs the gamut from amazing to ludicrous and is pretty much hilarious all the way through. A total funktastic blast! I do have to say that I liked it best when it was more of an homage, with loving attention paid to every detail from the clothes, the music, the dialog, the characters, the kung-fu (Oh God, yes, the kung-fu), and most hilarious of all the on purpose low-budget film styling and blunders, like boom mikes showing, car chases with rear projection, repeated special effects, and continuity errors galore. When Black Dynamite's little brother is killed fighting drugs on the street, he takes up the cause of trying to clean out the smack that the white man has been polluting his community with. But he realizes over time that things are for more insidious than that and that if he is going to save his fellow black man from a fate worse than death, he is going to have to take it all the way up to the top! The end of the film as I said becomes more parody, which wasn't as funny to me as the rest, but once the ideas and sources of what they were specifically parodying was made clear, I could understand where they were going with it and why. I still think that it goes too far and reduces the over-all excellence of the film, but it was still ten pounds of fun in a five pound bag. The film has been picked up by Sony, so keep your eyes out for it!

So a number of people have been telling me that I write really well and that they enjoy my movie reviews. This is getting me thinking that maybe I should take a stab at doing this semi-professionally. I've had this thought often over the years, but low self-esteem, modesty, and a lack of knowledge as to how one goes about doing such a thing have kept me from trying.

But now I'm seriously thinking of trying and seeing what happens.

What seems logical to me is to start by looking into some of the local free papers and seeing if they would be interested in having me write for them, most likely for free at first, but perhaps over time for money? The Stranger and The Seattle Weekly naturally come to mind first, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other papers they would recommend or other suggestions on what might be the best way to go about this?

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions. :-)

Well! Today has been a BUSY day! Four films and then working till midnight at the Humpday Centerpiece Gala Party. That's where I am now and Lordy is it ever LOUD! Yikes. Note to self, next time bring earplugs.

As you might have guessed, from all the writing to follow, work (selling drink tickets and catalogs) has been on the slow side of things. Ahhhh well. I didn't write all of these tonight, just the last two. But go me, I'm all caught up! I finished up and improved the reviews from yesterday and did all the reviews for today. Rockin.

Egon and Donci - This film might be accessible to children, with its cute animated characters and the fact that even though it is a foreign film there is no dialog that requires translation or subtitles, but it isn’t really kid-comprehensible. I was not the only adult who was more than just a little uncertain of exactly what happened at the end of this film, that’s for sure! That said, it was really a weird but excellent piece of animated filmmaking. There were a lot of daring and unusual choices in the animation including film effects (lens flares, film burns, handheld camera techniques, etc.), humor that only adults would understand and appreciate, and the willingness to explore the simple beauty of animation and what one can do with it. The story is of Egon and Donci, an cheerful inventor and his cat, who are living happily watching the stars and keeping each other company. One day something falls from the sky and Egon finds himself in possession of the Voyager 3 disk. Once he sees the images upon it, he is compelled to build a spaceship and head off into the unknown in search of this magical place called Earth. I don’t really recommend this film for children, simply because I don’t think they’ll really get it or enjoy it, though if one is looking for an opportunity to talk to one’s children, exploring questions about the world we live in and the universe around us, this certainly will open many doors of opportunity. I do highly recommend this film to adults who enjoy animation and are interested in trying something different than the usual American fare. I thought this was a really well made, beautifully animated, and ultimately powerful film about the world we live in, what we have and can achieve, and what we can also just as easily destroy.

Art & Copy - As documentaries about advertising go this one is pretty dang good. It has a number of interviews with some of the most impressive and famous people in the advertising business, the people who really took advertising and revolutionized the field forever. These are the people who, for instance, made such classic advertising icons as “Got Milk?”, the Volkswagen “Think Small”, the Budweiser frogs (and later evil chameleons), Nike’s “Just Do It”, and Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?”. The film tends to focus more on the fact that 'good' advertising, which I will rename 'quality' advertising, is a worthy and valuable pursuit and how the advertising business is only ‘bad’ because so many companies make bad commercials. My main issue with advertising, why I consider most of it to be 'bad', is that it's convincing people to buy anything, support anything, whether or not that thing or person or cause is good or not. Advertising seduces, entices, teases, makes us think that we need something even if we don’t, and deliberately manipulates us, and usually not to our benefit, but to the clients benefit. This, and the fact that it permeates our lives and dictates who and what we are, is what I think is actively evil about advertising but is not, unsurprisingly, something that is talked much about in this film. On the other hand, I do agree that good advertising can be at the least entertaining and at its best a valuable cultural contribution. The slogan “Just Do It”, for example, has never convinced me to buy a pair of Nike sneakers. It has, however, inspired people to leave their abusive husbands, take a chance on a girl they like, quit that dead end job and follow their dreams, and more. This documentary was enormously informative and, despite the fact that I generally abhor advertising and hates sales, made me start seriously considering whether or not I would do well in the advertising business which is clearly booming and always has been. I learned a great deal that I never knew about how the business works, what the leading contributors have done to change and innovate it, and was thoroughly entertained by the many familiar and unfamiliar commercials that were shown throughout. Definitely a film worth checking out.

Marcello, Marcello - This film is, without a doubt, a Charmer. Everything about it is charming - the landscape, the village, the characters, the story, the lead, everything. The village in which Marcello lives has this crazy tradition that should be a source of joy and delight but instead seems to have resulted in only disaster. Whenever a girl turns 18, all the young men are invited to come courting an bid for her hand by bringing gifts to her house. But the gifts are not for the birthday girl, but rather her father. Whomever pleases the father gets to take the daughter out on a date that very day. Marcello has eschewed this tradition, having known from personal experience just how damaging it can be ... that is until the lovely Elena returns to the island and captures his heart. Determined to win a date with her, even though he is only a poor fisherman's son and she is the daughter of the mayor, he figures out the perfect gift and sets about to acquire it. But things are never as simple as they seem and before he knows it Marcello has a string of debts and trades to make in order to gain his prize. This wacky tale of love gone both wrong and right is a breezy and sun-dappled film of silly exploits, grand adventures, playful deceptions, and clever plots. Marcello is a handsome and winning young man that you cannot help but love and root for, so earnest is he in his love and his determination. It's a film that delights the eye, the mind and, most importantly, the heart.

Finding Bliss - This movie has all the best intentions and, for the most part, it succeeds in delivering them. It is an entertaining and lighthearted film about a young filmmaker fresh out of college, full of optimism and hope, who finds that Hollywood is a much harder row to hoe than she expected. So when she finally gets called back for a job as a film editor, she jumps at the chance only to balk when she realizes that the films in question are porn ... er, ah, excuse me, adult entertainment films. But quickly she realizes the silver lining available to her. If she takes this position she has access to all of the film and sound equipment that she needs such that she can make her own film that she's been desperately shopping around. But of course things, and people, are never as simple or quite what they seem to be ... or rather what you assume them to be. The story pretty much writes itself, with all the naturally occurring humor that comes part and parcel when porn is involved. And while the performances are entertaining, the chemistry is right, the film is just a little too pat, a little too Hollywood, a little too formulaic, which is both surprising and a little disappointing for a new filmmaker. While it probably will bode well for her in terms of distribution and pleasing Hollywood I was hoping for something a little more unique and unusual. I must say, however, that I'm amused by the fact that this film is my 69th for the festival so far. Oh the irony! ;-)

And oh what a day it was! Five movies for me, all of them good to great! It could have been six, but nothing in the 9:00 slot really excited me and with today being a very full day of movie watching and work it seemed wise to make tonight an early one for a change. ;-)

In very exciting news, I discovered that staff are allowed to watch press-only press screenings, most likely because during the really big movie events we will all be working! I know I am! So today I got to see ...

Tetro - Watching this movie was like awakening after a long slumber of commonplace and mediocre films, suddenly being reminded of what films once were and what they can be - not just stories, not just moving pictures, but pieces of art. At first this is like finding some old black and white film that had been somehow lost or forgotten, almost feeling like it was made during a different time, during a different era, when things like light and shadow, composition and cinematography were used as much as any actor to tell the story, set the atmosphere, and engage the audience. I fell in love at once and was reminded of how the premature birth of color film has been cursed by many filmmakers over the decades, not because color is not a thing of beauty or of value, but because the art of black & white film barely got to be explored before being cast aside as old-fashioned and obsolete. This film was made for black & white, for the starkness, the film-noir-eque slashes of light and shadow, for the inherent emotion and intensity of the striking contrast, making the viewer see more because there is less to distract you. If that weren't enough, the story is also immediately intriguing - a young man, Benjamin, seeking out his older brother who vanished to go on sabbatical and write, who promised to return for Benny, but who never did. And once found, the brooding brother does his best to keep his distance, the past forbidden territory to trespass upon whilst the younger brother has nothing but questions that need answers. His need for the truth, his need to save his brother from his self-imposed exile and bitterness, drives Benny to trespass and take what he needs, what he believes his brother needs to finish in order to find release. This is interspersed with flashbacks (almost ironically shown in color) and the occasional fantasies, bringing this film firmly forward in time, the creation of a filmmaker who understands the artistry of the old and the opportunities of the new. I think my only complaint is that the film was strongest while rooted in reality with brief fantastical moments. Toward the end certain flights of fancy go too far, hobbling the connection with the audience, breaking with the perfection of what was started for something that is simply unnecessary. It goes too far and in doing so lessens the greatness of what came before in all of its rich visual elegance and simplicity. It is a nearly perfect film, done in only by the fact that its reach exceeds what it already had managed to grasp with graceful ease.

Amreeka - This very real and touching film about a Palestinian woman and her son who move to America shortly after the events of 9/11 is handled with great honesty and directness, at times difficult to watch even though it is laced with hopefulness and good humor. When their life in Palestine becomes too frustrating and the opportunity to move to the United States arrives, Muna and her son Fadi fly to Illinois to live with her sister's family. But a nation's paranoia and ignorance affects them all and both families find themselves struggling to make a living, find a place for themselves, and find acceptance while at the same time remaining true to their heritage, their history, and themselves. It isn't the sort of film that I would have chosen to see but the topic, the characters, and the situation is handled with grace and tact and I wondered if it was not even perhaps a little kinder than the truth or a fairly realistic depiction of what it is to be middle eastern in a culture that does not differentiate between Arab, Muslim, Iraqi, Pakistani, or Israeli.

OSS 117- Lost in Rio - If you saw the first OSS 117 movie and you liked it, then this one will not disappoint. Once again our French faux James Bond mockery is back, just as rude, offensive, womanizing, small-minded, and utterly un-politically correct as he can possibly be. This is definitely the sort of film that works best in a packed theater, where the audience becomes a part of the film experience as much as the film itself, the painfully bad, inappropriate, and tactless jokes funnier for the participation of all. In a less-crowded theater, the jokes fall a bit flat at times, less funny without the support of an audience's willingness to be crass in turn. Besides the obvious James Bond and spy film influences, there are some hilarious moments that are an homage to Vertigo and North by Northwest and over all the film is, as its predecessor, big, dumb fun. This time OSS 117 needs to track down a Nazi war criminal who has some potentially embarrassing information, a list of French collaborators when France is still insisting that the entire nation 'resisted'. He joins a skilled Mossad agent who also wants to capture this war criminal so he can be brought to trial in Israel. With that much fodder to work with, you know that this film is once again going to be peppered liberally with terribly inappropriate humor. Whether that sort of thing is your cup of tea or not depends, of course, entirely upon you.

Seraphine - Though the pacing is as slow and patient as Seraphine's own plodding steps throughout all of Senlis, there is an inherent grace and beauty to them both, a knowledge that they will get where they are going in good time and that the journey there is just as important as the final destination. A poor and struggling cleaning woman with a passion for painting is discovered by a collector and gallery owner who has a love for what he calls "modern primitives" and has brought to the attention of the world such artists as Henri Rousseau. Needless to say he is flabbergasted when he discovers that the very ordinary woman who cleans his home is an artist of great natural talent and intuition. She has never studied, never been encouraged to do art save by, she claims, her guardian angel who came to her while she was under the care of nuns. But alas, as always seems the case, great talent also seems to come hand in hand with great instability of mind. As an artist myself I found myself drawn to this story of a woman artist during an age when only male artists were exalted. The film has a beautiful simplicity and her works are so unique and gorgeous, born out of a love of nature, the world, and her faith. It was both uplifting and sad, but a lovely painting of a film that I'm very glad I chose to see.

Inju - the Beast in the Shadow - I had heard a number of conflicting reports upon this film, but most of them were positive and the trailer was intriguing, so I figured that I would check it out. I found it interesting and entertaining, though at times it seemed bit obvious (though not completely so) and I found myself shaking my head and wondering how our clever author could not see the signs that I did. It starts off with a loving and clever red-herring and continues from there to be intriguingly stylized and leaves you curious to see where its going to go in the end. The how of the film is in many ways more interesting than the film itself. It's based on a book but the very famous (at least in Japan) and controversial author Edogawa Rampo, who in turn was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe, so much so that he changed his name to emulate it. This particular story in turn was based heavily on American pulp fiction, and this film is a French film, with a French protagonist, and yet it takes place in Japan with a predominately Japanese cast and crew. Very international! In the end, it is engaging and curious, a bit kinky, with a loving amount of attention paid to the accuracy with regards to Japanese culture, and a relatively unadulterated retelling of Rampo's original story.