FATHER GEEK here with a report from MONGO on what's happening at the Seattle International Film Festival up in the land of tall trees and mucho rainfall. Well old Mongo seems to be having a pretty good time at SIFF this year so I'll cut my talk and let you get right on to his...
Yo King Geek,
It's mongo here again, spewing out some info from the ongoing Seattle Film Fest (locally known as SIFF). Last night was one of those rather exclusive nights similar to the Breakfast of Champions screening but this time the wait was worth it.
At SIFF, there are always two lines, the pass holders line and the ticket holders line. Now if you are a passholder, you get in first and the lines are always shorter. The more aware passholders hit the showing *before* the one they want to see. They do this to save their seats for the next showing, which this time was the 7pm showing of LIMBO including an interview with John Sayles follwed by a Q&A from the audience. Let me tell ya Harry, I KNEW this baby was gonna be packed and the only way I had a hope of not sitting in the rafters was to go that route. I needed to hit the 5pm show and snag some seats. This was rather difficult while holding down a 9to5 job as well. But I'm a peon (read pee-on), a grunt, a temp, which allows me some freedoms. I stuck a mop in my chair and draped one of my shirts around it, like a slack jawed manager could tell the difference. I made my getaway 15 minutes early and hoofed it to the Egypian Theatre getting in right under the 15 minute late time deadline when they shut down admittance into the theatre.
"Yo Floyd..." I yelled as I ran though the doors of the theatre and instanly hit with the sounds and smells of a classic movie theatre. Floyd is this hulking guy that works at SIFF for 3 weeks every year. "Wherever I am," Floyd said, "they always find me and ask me to work at SIFF. Afterward, I gotta lock myself in a room alone for a week or so just to get over always being in a crowd."
I can believe it, SIFF is like a comic con for film lovers of international movies. The crowds are tremendous and the lines... well the lines for STAR WARS: Ep 1 aint got nothin' on SIFF. Once I got into the theatre, being genetically *built* for film fests and movies, my eyes instantly adjusted to the dim light.. I love movie theatres, it's like coming home when I'm in one. I think most of the SIFF filmgoers feel this way. I heard a rumor that some yuppie with a ringing cell phone was later burned at the stake afrer the screening. Wouldn't suprise me. I quickly found an eampty seat in the Petrified Forest the Egyptian calls seating and caught my breath for 10 seconds before DANCE OF DUST started.
Looking around the theatre, I realised that most of the people there were doing the same thing, sizing up where they wanted to sit when LIMBO started. Ah well, I knew I had my seats, I was cool. I kicked back and sipped at my whisky flask as Dance of Dust spun out it's cryptic religious images.
Dance of Dust has no subtitles, set in Iran, it tells the hauning story of migrant brick makers who spend their days slapping mud into molds and flopping them into rows to later be fired into finished bricks. It's a harsh, gritty life that understandably borders on madness. The images tell the story, there is little to no dialogue which is handled well and matches the rhythm of the film. The images aren't as spectacular as they could, it runs a little long but over all it's a solid flick.
As the lights went up and the curtains closed over the large screen I moved to snag the seats I wanted for LIMBO: one row behind the aisle that cuts parallel to the screen. Perfect for the sound and size of the screen. After laying out my coat on the chairs and covering the seats with my siff schedule, I cleared the theatre and got in line with the other pass holders so the frazzled employees could clean the theatre. A quick wait in line, gawking at the ticket holders line that wrapped around the theatre, through the alley and out into the street, we were let back in. By the time everyone filed in the balcony was full and everyone was eager to see the flick.
HERE'S A QUICK REHASH OF THE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SAYLES:
*He didn't see a subtitled movie until college, SAyles said he grew up on westerns and notably Hitchcock..
*After 3 writing gigs, he had scrapped together $40k and decided to make his own flick which turned out to be Secaucus Seven.
*He was impressed with Nashville and knew camera movement (even for 16mm) was tough. So with lots of story threads, he had more reason to cut. Lot's of threads, lot's of cuts, he said.
*The actors he uses are (jokingly) the ones that will still work for scale.
*His crew, he said, are mostly compsed of other filmmakers, be it a grip or props, they are dedicatd filmmakers with a single goal in mind - we try not to do long hard days but we do work fast. Continuing this thread, he said 'our' films are generally betwen genres, none are really genre films. Amen to that.
*Writing as a hired gun, he said it all goes into his head and helps in making his own films - seeing how others work. A funny side note, a certain filmmaker was discussing a film with the producer$ who wanted a rather stupid scene added, Sayles was about to balk when this other filmmaker took him asside and said " if you promise to write it, I'll promise *NOT* TO FILM IT! Right on!
*He also mentioned that he pays alot of attention to pickup scenes while shooting, not trying to get the whole scene, but making sure that the actors hit any bit of dialogue they previously missed. Since Sayles edits his own work, he can piece it together as in his mind as he goes.
*IN getting 4 angles from 2 cameras in one take with limited film (400 feetin each can), he said to each cameraman, "1 tap and you stop filming and zoom in, when I tap 2 times you start filming again." Starting the scene with camera1 rolling, he started the camera2 making sure there was overlap, then tapped camera1 to stop and zoom in - making sure there was overlap in filming _again_, he tapped camera2 who then zoomed in and eventually started to roll.
BINGO BANGO!
2 CAMERAS, 4 ANGLES, 1 TAKE.
Prior to the interview, we saw a short clip of LONE STAR just to get us in the Sayles mood. AFTER ALL THIS, the lights dimmed, the beautiful curtains parted and LIMBO lit up the screen.
**LIMBO**
If you are a fan of storyteller Sayles work, Limbo is a must see. Set in the bubbleing culdron of civalization known as Alaska, the people that inhabit the film are mostly stuck and struggling in that Limbo state of existance. Like the salmon that open the film, the characters are working furiously to get there, not really sure where there is but it's gotta be better that here. That's the mentality. One side character is a well dressed businessman who dreams of turning Alaska into a wilderness carnival ride - outdoing the mouse house cause it'll ALL be real. Under this sort of money haze, the main characters struggle to swim in and against the green that flows all around them, seeming to feed everyone but them.
Mary Elisabeth Mastrantonio is a welcome sight for sore eyes and as always she plays the hell out of her role as a tireless, weary single mother who feeds her soul by night as a bar singer who feels the songs. If she wants to shift gears and start a career as a singer, she could do it. The characters are drawn deeply with teh care and exactitude we have come to expect from a Sayled feature. This movie isn't about *ACTION* but about the characters as they make their way through the world, in the end, reflecting more of our own than most are willing to admit. The movie digs deep with these characters who are caught out in the cold, fighting merely to survive with some sense of respect and humanity left as they cross though life.
When the film was over, the audience was rocked and barked out, some in shock and some in disaproval. There was a quick rush of applause that grew. It's not a movie about answers but about questions and many had trouble with that.
This is not your standard fare, get used to it. As I said before, if you are a Sayles fan, chalk up another one, he's done it again. It's all there. I'm off to catch 12 or more flicks this weekend. I'll let you know how they go.
mongo
