Hey folks, Harry here... I have to say this is a great sounding lineup showing up in Seattle. I've seen a great many of these and many of them just rule school. If you're in the area, do not let 800 BALAS, PING PONG or INFERNAL AFFAIRS pass you by. Those three films are just exceptionally good times and quality films. You should be so lucky as to see them in a movie theater. Here's Fishmael...
Hey Harry,
Long-time reader, first time blah-blah.
I got a chance to go to a special "Members-only" preview tonight of the upcoming Seattle International Film Festival (May22-June13) line up, which isn't announced to the general public until Thursday. For those who don't know, SIFF has been bringing quality flicks to Seattle for nearly thirty years and is a huge, audience-friendly smorgasbord of film (as opposed to some of the more increasingly exclusive, anemic yet undeservedly well-known festivals *coughSUNDANCEcough*) Lately, they've been especially good at bringing Asian flicks over; I was one of the lucky few to see BATTLE ROYALE here two years ago at a sold out screening at Seattle's biggest and best theater, the Cinerama. Bottom line, SIFF brings films to the big screen that may never play anywhere in the US again, which is especially cool considering the sad decline of art-house and repertory cinema in Seattle the last five years.
The program started off with a selection of trailers, which I've listed (not necessarily in order) with my initial reactions below:
SIFF 2003 trailer - Bland model chick walks in blue space, finds old-fashioned movie ticket. The world springs to life around her when she picks it up, camera whooshes into a closeup of the words on the ticket; No Deja Vu. Better than last year's trailer, anyway.
MISSING GUN - Chinese policeman loses and tries to recover his service revolver. Looks interesting, although it seems to be essentially a remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic STRAY DOG.
DOUBLE VISION - Strange and creepy-looking Taiwanese serial killer story with a supernatural element. With David Morse as an FBI agent brought in as an advisor to the investigation!
SO CLOSE - Dumb-but-fun looking girls kick ass movie from Hong Kong. Stars the ravishing Shu Qi.
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE - Based on the novel by Dodie Smith (she wrote the book that inspired 101 Dalmatians). Period piece about a poor British family living in a crumbling castle and the Americans (Henry Thomas and Riley from BUFFY) that visit them. Looks Merchant/Ivory-ish.
L'ABUERGE ESPAGNOLE - French student goes to Barcelona and shares tiny apartment with other young Europeans. Looks cute. I swear I saw Audrey Tatou in it, but her name wasn't featured in the credits that I saw.
WHALE RIDER - This one gave me goosebumps. Young Maori girl trains to become chief of her tribe, a position that only men can hold. Amazing cinematography of New Zealand land (and water) scapes
RESPIRO - Another beautiful looking movie, this one set in a small Italian fishing village. Hard to tell what's going on in it, but it's got a blond, tan and sexy Valeria Golino!
THE SEA - Young couple travels to Iceland to meet his eccentric family. Looks quirky in a low key, Jim Jarmusch way.
BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY - Pre-teen girls coming of age in Germany. Next!
PING PONG - WOW! High energy and awesome looking adaptation of a popular Japanese manga. Can't wait to see this one.
THE SEA IS WATCHING - "Based on the final script by Akira Kurosawa". Didn't look anything special, but the last posthumously filmed Kurosawa script that SIFF showed in 2000 was my favorite movie of that year, "When the Rain Lifts", so I'll be checking this out.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS - Another must-see. Tony Leung and Andy Lau as deeply placed undercover moles, each on opposite sides of the law. Looks like John Woo-quality police actioner. Speaking of John...
LE CERCLE ROUGE - Jean Pierre Melville flick from the 70's spruced up and re-released "presented by" John Woo. Standard-looking caper flick with some admittedly intriguing-looking stylistic flourishes.
OWNING MAHONY - "Based on actual events", Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a loan officer who is also a gambling addict. He convinces clients to take out higher than needed credit lines, skims cash off the top and then hits the casinos. Cast includes Minnie Driver (looking dreadful as a bleach blonde) and John Hurt. With this cast, it has potential.
TOGETHER - Poor Chinese family goes to the city to find a violin teacher for their prodigy son. Reminded me (not in a bad way) of the Red Violin. By the director of Farewell My Concubine.
Then the lights came up and the various programmers of the festival gave their spiels on different aspects of the fest. Here's what I felt were the highlights:
*Nine martial-arts films from the golden age of the Shaw Brothers Studios (60's, 70's) with brand new prints. The titles I remembered were Come Drink With Me, One-Armed Swordsman, 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
*Midnight movies seem strong:
Bubba Ho-Tep (although I heard talk by the folks in the row behind me that Bruce Campbell won't be attending the screening. Shame on you, Bruce! This screening is practically in your backyard! Although I'll still go see the movie.)
Cabin Fever - Hope it lives up to the hype.
Hebrew Hammer - Jewish superhero fights crime? Whatever.
No Blood No Tears - Balls to the wall action flick from Korea.
CHOW YUN FAT BOY MEETS BROWNIE GIRL - from the demented mind that brought you TEENAGE HOOKER BECAME KILLING MACHINE IN DAEHAKRO.
*Animatrix - okay, this is just freaking awesome! 3 days before the Animatrix bows on DVD, SIFF-ers get to see all nine shorts on the big screen (not just Final Flight of the Osiris like the rest of you poor saps). I'm getting in line for this one RIGHT NOW.
*Ever Since the World Ended - described as a post-apocalyptic mockumentary. Plague survivors manage to get film equipment working and set out to interview what's left of the human race. Piqued my interest for garnering favorable comparisons from one of the programmers to Stephen King's THE STAND, one of my favorite books. Sounds like the quieter, gentler (and more intelligent) 28 Days Later.
*Alex De Iglesia's 800 Bullets - Hot damn! I thought I would have to wait for this one to come out on video! And it's playing at the Cinerama!!!
*The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - doc about the recent attempted coup in Venezuela that Harry raved about from SxSw 2003.
*My Architect - documentary by and about son of a famous architect that tries to investigate Dad's life and work. I could care less about architecture, but nearly every programmer gushed on about this one, so I'll check it out.
*Traces of the Dragon - Jackie Chan discovers his parents have been keeping secrets from him. A documentary!
*Jason and the Argonauts with Ray (living-freaking-legend) Harryhausen in person!!! HOLY CRAP!
*Demonlover - Olivier Assayas's cyber-sex industry film. Another one that I thought I would have to wait for video to see. At the Cinerama!
Well that's all for now. I need to go get my rest, so I can try to see these and maybe some more of the 200+ features and docs SIFF screens over it's marathon 26 days of screenings.
If you use this, call me Fishmael.
