This is one of the top "I WANNA SEE IT NOW" movies on my list. I was frustrated as could be when I couldn't see it up in Rotterdamn when I was at the RIFF, but the publicist said I'd get a screening back in the U.S. (See I was leaving the same day it debuted there) So I've been hoping to see it... and hoping. Knowing that it seems to be my type a flick. But... ya know... Sometimes it's fun to wait. BUT THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM. Just kidding. Personally, I'm a big fan of the International Worldwide Release Date. When a film opens... It opens everywhere. But that's still a couple of years/ a decade or so away I think. But Digital Projection is the big step towards dealing with it. Of course the other issue is mounting worldwide same day promotional campaigns where talent needs to be EVERYWHERE at the same time. That's gonna be next to impossible. We'll see how the industry adapts. But for now... Let's hear more about RUN LOLA RUN, and the wrap up and awards from the Seattle International Film Festival!
I haven't sent anything to AICN before, but thought I'd write in from the last day of the Seattle International Film Festival, with a report on the film that won the Best Picture award here, Run Lola Run. You probably saw this film at Sundance, where it won some award, too. You may call me Agent DZ-015.
Last night I went down to the Egyptian Theater in hopes to get into Run Lola Run after a failed attempt to get into the Friday screening, (which I'm told the director and the actress attended). Fortunately I fared much better the second time around, and even got a decent seat. First off, I completely agree with Mongo that a festival like this is a terrific place to see a film. The audience is great, really enthusiastic, and even though the theaters aren't state of the art (the Egyptian doesn't even have digital sound), they more than make up for it in atmosphere. Now about the film...
Run Lola Run is a terrific film. I didn't see too many of the other films at the Festival, but I'm not surprised that Lola won for Best Film. It's one of the rare films that successfully combines action, romance, suspense, humor, and actually has a point and is thought provoking. The direction is also terrific, featuring frenetic camerawork and mixing 35mm film with digital video with animation in a way that is reminiscent of Natural Born Killers. Combined with the pounding techno soundtrack, it often comes out with an MTV feeling.
Lola, a bright red-haired punkette, has got 20 minutes to come up with 100000 DM that her boyfriend Manni lost. If Manni doesn't get the money, the gangster he works for will kill him. So with the clock ticking, Lola starts. . . running.
What makes this movie really interesting though, is that the same 20 minutes are relived multiple times (kind of like Groundhog's Day), and each time, slightly different decisions are made by Lola and the other characters, that have a huge effect on everyone around them. Tom Tykwer, the director, also chooses to show us glimpses of what eventually happens to the characters Lola interacts with, hammering home the importance of each choice that is made. And each time the clock starts over, you start to empathize more and more with the characters.
Anyway, if any of you get a chance, go see this one. I think it's coming out on the 18th. It's not just for those looking for an "alternative to your standard Hollywood fare this summer." It's just a really good movie period.
Agent DZ-015
And now for Mongo...
Yo King Geek,
Well the fest is over, the cutains closed, and the awards have been given out. If you came to see the AWARDS results, just scroll down to the area titled ***AWARDS***, I have one or two small comments regarding them but otherwise it's just the straight dope listed out as they were announced. As for films, let me tell you -Oh Copious One- there were some real skunks out there. Most of them not guilty of being necessarily *BAD* just fuckin' boring.
Lots of furrowed brows and long-toothed discussions; deep thoughts, personal revelations, lots of men and women who realize they're queer or mad as hell... just pick a personal problem. Basically... it's all about individuals finding the mental stick up their ass and s.l.o.w.l.y, v.e.r.b.a.l.l.y, pulling it out. Yeesh.
All those films that required a drool cup or just trudged on forever, I tried not to even go into, it's so damn easy to give a bad review. But there was one that I remembered seeing and hoping it would be good, thinking it must have something going for it. The title stuck in my head, the poster image stayed with me and after seeing it I can honestly say that it's one of the three or four films that I would sit through again.
The movie is RUN LOLA RUN and from the poster to the soundtrack to the film itself it's a tight package that wins my own award, The *LA FEMME NIKITA AWARD*: the movie most likely to be remade by Hollywood.
I'm a poster collector and in general I'm bored with the standard photoshop cut-&-paste profiles. The wunderkind (and posterboy for Lucas and Speilberg) Drew Struza is even getting repetative.
On the plus side you have Tarantino, Gilliam, and a few others that always seem to have eye popping posters. RUN LOLA RUN has one of those striking posters: a woman (actress Franka Potente) with a shock of red hair, pumping her arms, running straight at you - out of the poster wearing a sweaty worn tank top. Of all the posters I saw over the course of the fest, this one stuck out, I continually checked to make sure I hadn't missed it's screening.
Writer Director Tom Tykwer said he wanted to make a film that dealt soley with human energy and he did it with a vengence.
Lola's boyfriend Manni lost 100,000 bones acting as a courier for a local Berlin Henchman, he calls Lola in a desperate state - 20 minutes to deliver the dough, if Lola can't come up with it Manni is gonna hit a local market in a suicide run.
Lola's out the door and off in search of the cash to save her man! The movie throws us around, slamming into passerby's and hapless acquaintences and in a brilliant move, showing their unltimate demise or rise into the future in quick snapshots then propelling us back into Lolas world as she continues her furious hump to save poor Manni.
The ironic thing is that she goes to her daddy. Lola, the street smart kid is nothing but a rich girl playing at the scene, but no matter, this is no time to think of such things, her man is feeling the squeeze!
Lola runs through the same sequence of events a full three times until she gets it right. Each time, like a spoiled child playing a game, when she's not satisfied with the outcome actually reverses time and starts over. If you are looking for reality this is *not* the flick to see which in turn ended up being the one point that bothered me about the film. It was so lax with any sort of grounded rules in reality that it quickly became apperant that _No Matter *WHAT*, It Would Turn Out Aall Right_. Yeesh.
At a few points during the film, Lola screams so loud all the glass around her shatters and a roulet ball can do nothing but obey her commands, but when it's IMPERATIVE that Manni hear her, Lola's cries go unheard. An audience member asked about this, "why could she shatter glass yet Manni could not hear her?" Hrm...
Well, Tykwer didn't have an answer, "I don't know," he stated. That's not the answer I was looking for, nor the rest of the audience. But who cares right? He rocks with a camera slaps us like a bitch with the editing to create a standout F.L.I.C.K.
And we get to watch a sweaty babe hump it around the Berlin streets! Her ass shakes, her tits bounce, the only thing better would have been that she didn't wear a bra, or a shirt for that matter.
Why?
Why not?
Damn it Jim! This is a movie about energy, not logic! Accept it or move on! Overall it was a fun rolicking time with a striking, throbbing lyric heavy, rave-like soundtrack. See it if you are in the mood for a sweatyinsaneadrenalinechargedtime. *whew*
Now here are the:
***AWARDS***
~~~~~~~
The one thing I want to say is that of all the high brow anal squeezing films to come out of SIFF this year, it's ironic indeed that the one true GEEK film (other than the Midnight vampire flick ANGEL OF THE NIGHT) won the hightest award.
Why is this such a big deal? Cause there were so few! There are good, hustling films out there that everyone wants to see! Last year at SIFF, they premiered KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE to such a packed crowd that they *DEMANDED* a second showing that drew the execs at Disney. Now that was a show!
They could have pulled in PRINCESS MONONOKE! IRON GIANT! MYSTERY MEN! THE BLAIR WICH PROJECT! Just name a show you are dying to see! But they didn't.
They had one (maybe a southern few more counting Aguirre and Limbo) or two and the rest were brain crunchers which I don't mind but COME ON! Balance SIFF out!
It CAN be so much more! You can see it, you can feel it, the crowds and the critics alike injected LOLA like a month dry junkie firing a crack pipe. Give the crowds more of what they want! Aah, well. I know it falls on deaf ears. Sorry for the rant. Here are the awards.
~~~~~~~~
1999 GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARDS
BEST FILM: RUN LOLA RUN (Germany) Director Tom Tykwer
Runners-up 2nd Place: THE RED VIOLIN (Canada) 3rd Place: LIMBO (USA) 4th Place: EARTH (Canada/India) 5th Place: SAY YOU'LL BE MINE (USA)
BEST DIRECTOR: John Sayles For LIMBO (USA)
Runners-up: 2nd Place: Tom Tykwer for RUN LOLA RUN (Germany) 3rd Place: Deepa Mehta for EARTH (Canada/India) 4th Place: Don McKellar for LAST NIGHT (Canada) 5th Place: Francois Girard for THE RED VIOLIN (Canada)
BEST ACTOR: Rupert Everett, AN IDEAL HUSBAND (Great Britain)
Runners-up: 2nd Place: David Strathairn, LIMBO (USA) 3rd Place: Hugo Weaving, FOLLOWING (Great Britain)/ BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS (Great Britain)/ THE INTERVIEW (Australia) 4th Place: Roshan Seth, SUCH A LONG JOURNEY (Canada) 5th Place: Alex Dimitriades, HEAD ON (Australia)
BEST ACTRESS: Piper Laurie, THE MAO GAME (USA)
Runners-up: 2nd Place: Julianne Moore, AN IDEAL HUSBAND (Great Britain) 3rd Place: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, LIMBO (USA) 4th Place: Helen Mirren, THE PASSION OF AYN RAND (USA) 5th Place: Sandra Oh, LAST NIGHT (Canada)
BEST DOCUMENTARY: BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (Germany) Director Wim Wenders
Runners-up: 2nd Place: GHENGIS BLUES (USA) 3rd Place: SHADOW BOXERS (USA) 4th Place: REGRET TO INFORM (USA) 5th Place: RABBIT IN THE MOON (USA)
BEST SHORT FILM: 12 STOPS ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE (USA) Director Jay Lowi
Runners-up: 2nd Place: PEEP SHOW (USA) 3rd Place: THE GIRL WITH THE SCISSORS (Norway) 4th Place: QUEST FOR THE NOBLE DESERT POODLE (USA) 5th Place: TULIP (Australia) The winner of the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Short will be awarded a prize package worth $70,000 of donated goods and services from local vendors to encourage the winner to film future projects in Washington State.
ALSO PRESENTED were the 25th Seattle International Film Festival's juried awards: The American Independent Award and New Director's Showcase Award, as well as the Atom Films Short Award.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT AWARD:
DEAD DOGS (USA, 1999) Producer Regge Bulman Director Clay Eide
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER AWARD SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
PIPER LAURIE for her performance in THE MAO GAME (USA, 1999) Produced by Jodi Leesley, Gail Niederhoffer, Josh Woodward Directed by Joshua Miller
The American Independent Award is a juried competition instituted to provide a spotlight for directors who make exceptional films with smaller budgets. Jurors examined ten films making their World Premieres at the Festival. Jurors for this competition were Frank Beddor (producer of SOMETHING ABOUT MARY), Alexander Nohe (Director of Programming for IFP/West) and Kevin Thomas (L.A. Times Film Critic).
NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE AWARD
Patrice Toye for ROSIE (Belgium, 1998)
NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE AWARD SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Oskar Reif For THE BED (Czech Republic, 1998)
NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE AWARD SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Torun Lian for ONLY CLOUDS MOVE THE STARS (Norway, 1998)
The New Director's Showcase Award juries debut feature films from emerging international directors, selected for this special showcase by the programming committee. The films are judged for their fresh vision and deft cinematic techniques. Jurors in the New Director's Showcase were John Horn (Senior Writer/Premiere Magazine), Lance Rosen (Vice President of Business Affairs/Clear Blue Sky Productions) and Stewart Stern (Screenwriter/REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE).
ATOM FILMS SHORT FILM AWARD
MUTINY (USA, 1998) Director Henry Griffin
ATOM FILM SHORT FILM AWARD Honorable Mention:
IN THE MIRROR OF THE SKY (Mexico, 1998) Director Carlos Salles
The first Atom Films award is a part of our on going dedication to the extraordinary impact short films have in launching careers for emerging filmmakers and as a cinematic art form in it's own right. Jurors were Kevin Jones (Creative Director/Cole & Weber), Suzy Kellet (Director of Washington State Film Office) and Miki Salmi (President of Atom Films). The winner receives a cash prize of $1,000.
WASHINGTON STATE SCREENWRITER AWARD
DRAGONS By George Wing
The Grand Prize Winner of the Second Annual Washington State Film Office Screenplay Competition will receive $1,000 cash prize and a performed Script Read-Through, presented as a Special Event of the Cinema Seattle Screenwriters Salon.
EMERGING MASTERS SHOWCASE AWARDS
Special awards for our Emerging Masters Showcase were presented during the run of the Festival to: Michael Winterbottom Francois Ozon Tom Tykwer Dorota Kedziersawka
The Silver Anniversary of the Seattle International Film Festival marked a record-breaking year for attendance. We experienced an 8% increase in ticket sales resulting in a projected overall attendance of 142,560. Honored guests of the Festival this year included: Minnie Driver, Nick Nolte, Bruce Willis, Richard Harris, Piper Laurie, Adrienne Shelly, Julia Sweeney, Donny Most, Don McKellar, Franka Potente, Michael Winterbottom, John Sayles, Alan Rudolph, Lucia Rijker, Tom Tykwer, Joshua Miller, Francois Girard among others.
