This Week in Seattle Cinema: Fall Approaches
Despite the fact that yesterday might've felt like one of the sweatiest days of the year, Seattle is now officially one day into autumn -- the windy, blustery time of year that would probably look pretty identical to any other around here if not for all the vibrant color it introduced to the evergreen state. Get out of the house for a few, become acquainted with all the beautiful budding reds and yellows, then cram yourself into one of the following theaters before you get rained on.
Shut Up, Little Man!
Northwest Film Forum (9/24-9/29)
This offbeat documentary explores the rise to prominence of two San Francisco punks who made quite a hefty chunk of change out of recording their combative, perpetually drunk neighbors' oft-violent conversations and sharing them with a public all too hungry for the schadenfreude -- and this was before Youtube! One of the more fun documentaries to come out of this year's Seattle International Film Festival, SU,LM! takes a look at not only the incoherent screaming matches witnessed and recorded by the film, but also the much-more-disturbing feeding frenzy that comes about from their stash of audio tapes wantonly transmogrifying into a vein of gold. By the end, you might be surprised how much sympathy you have for a gay, remorselessly aggressive drunk and his virulently homophobic roommate, whose begrudging, but ultimately caring companionship really manage to ring true through all the greed and jealousy their melees inspired.
The Mill and the Cross
Harvard Exit Theatre (9/24-9/29)
I absolutely love Rutger Hauer. That being said, Hauer hasn't offered pure film snobs very much to chew over as of late, with perhaps his most notable roles coming in over-the-top violent action films like Sin City or Hobo With a Shotgun. Here, Hauer trades in his 12-gauge for the dusty tunic of 16th Century Flemish renaissance painter Peter Bruegel, through the perspective of one of his greatest works "The Procession to Calvary": an epic triumph of both form and context that contained over five hundred unique figures and sought to criticize the Spanish for horrific crimes against his home Flanders. Director/screenwriter Lech Majewski already has cred as a filmmaker who knows his way around art history, both known for his innovative video installations and co-developing the indie star-studded 1996 Jean-Paul Basquiat biopic. Even if you aren't a huge fan of art depicting Jesus's long march to crucifixion, breathtaking visuals and poignant performances make this one worth a look.
Kidnapped
SIFF Cinema (Tonight, 9:30 PM)
This weekend, SIFF Cinema's exciting Festival of New Spanish Cinema draws to a close, celebrating a culture whose raw, organic films have enriched the world's view of cinematography for probably as long as movies were worth watching. I'd recommend the entire stable of films if this column were a smidge more timely, but for now I'll just beg you to catch tonight's self-explanatory thriller, Kidnapped. Following of the footsteps in semi-anonymous home invasion horror classics like Funny Games or Straw Dogs, you could easily make the argument that Kidnapped manages to surpass the fairly lukewarm remakes of either. Kidnapped made waves at last year's film geek heaven Fantastic Fest by providing another classic case of a new Spanish director reinvigorating a sub-genre on the brink of irrelevance,
