Revenge of the SIFF
Here we are in the home stretch of the 31st annual Seattle International Film Festival. If you haven't seen a great foreign film/documentary/indie flick, or at least an advertisement featuring aspects thereof, you only have till this Sunday to do so. Between now and then, some festival films of note (and in a nutshell) include:
· 5 X 2 - Five Times Two, from the director of Swimming Pool, a look at five significant events in a relationship, starting with the divorce and working backwards
· El Crimen Perfecto, department store employee-killing dark comedy from Spain
· 9 Songs, Michael Winterbottom's latest features equal parts music and boning
· Vital, yet another Japanese thriller, this one in a med school setting
· Police Beat, über-Seattle production based on Charles Mudede's columns of the same name
· Max and Grace, nuthouse romance quirkfest
· Rolling Family, Argentinian comedy about four generations road-tripping the country in a trailer
· Fourteen Sucks, Swedish coming of age drama
· Steal Me, another coming of age drama, this one set in Montana
· Arvo Pärt, "24 Preludes for a Fugue", documentary on the exiled Estonian experimental composer
· Howl's Moving Castle, the newest work of art from Hayao Miyazaki, director of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away/Japanese animation god
· Junebug, Sundance-winning ensemble dramedy on in-laws and culture clash
· The March of the Penguins, a French documentary about Emperor penguins that Seattlest, with a soft spot for penguins, has not-so-secretly looked forward to more than any other SIFF film
Refer to the links above for information on screening date, venue, and time.
The fest closes 6:30pm Sunday at the Neptune with Last Days, the latest from Gus Van Sant. The film recently debuted at Cannes, but will have its North American premiere at SIFF---especially relevant given that the topic at hand is the tulmutuous final few hours in the life of a Kurt Cobain-esque figure. No word as to whether or not a Courtney Love-esque figure is the one who actually pulls the trigger. Closing night's pricey: Tickets are $40.
Or you could just wait till this weekend to go big Hollywood with Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
