Seattle International Film Festival

I was lucky enough to attend quite a few SIFF films this year!

How Sex Sold Hollywood - a presentation by a local professor on sex and sexuality in film- I'd seen almost all of it before, being the hollywood-ophile that I am.

Ahead of Time- GREAT documentary about an incredible woman named Ruth Gruber- the youngest woman ever to receive a PhD. Highly recommended.

Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant Garde Cinema- Intriguing glimpse into the history of Avant Garde cinema. Definitely made me want to whip out a camera and play. (Also enjoyed the clip of a very young Robert Downey Jr acting in one of his father's films).

Wheedle's Groove- Nice little documentary on Seattle's 70's Funk scene.  I love watching the "detective" story unfold on this one, and the music can't be beat.

RoboGeisha- Two huge thumbs up for this deliriously wonderful Japanese horror film. Once you see the trailer, you know what you're in for, and it's a joyous ride!

K-20: The Fiend with 20 Faces- Not a bad little action adventure film, but I could have done without the poor little starving orphan cliches.

Rejoice and Shout- Documentary on the history of Gospel music... Excellent vintage clips- am now in love with some vintage gospel I had never heard before! Could have done w/o the 20 minutes of attempted Christian conversion at the beginning, however. Obviously I appreciate the religious origins of Gospel music and the power that faith played in its creation.  However, you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy Gospel music and I think the filmmakers sold themselves short by implying that that's the only audience Gospel music could have. 

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould- a Documentary on Glenn Gould that fails to illuminate its subject. Perhaps Glenn is just too much of a mystery. Or perhaps the assumption is that the audience is familiar enough with Gould's eccentricities and the zillion films made about him already, that there's no need to explain it further. Or perhaps this just isn't that great of a documentary.

Marwencol- EXCELLENT documentary about a man who was beaten so severely that he lost all his memory. He now creates incredible art using GI Joes and Barbies to help him deal with his tragic past.

Brownstones to Red Dirt- Documentary about children from the US and children from Africa touching each others' lives through a pen pal program. The kids are fascinating to listen to, but the film sells itself short by being a little too self-conscious in its attempts to garner sympathy (and likely an Oscar vote). And COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE TURN THE SOUNDTRACK DOWN?! The music is so loud it is hard to hear the children speak. And they are worth listening to. It is not a perfect film, but the children left an impression.

Reykjavik-Rotterdam- A solid and engaging thriller from Iceland. This was a surprise gem for me...I really enjoyed the pacing and the tension. And a good solid group of actors! Thumbs up.

Secrets of the Tribe- A documentary that was incredibly difficult to watch. I have a degree in Anthropology, so naturally I would hope that all Cultural Anthropologists live up to the ideals of learning about but not interfering with whichever group of people they happen to be studying. It becomes clear in short order that this is not the case and perhaps can never be the case. There are no real good guys here. The direction of this film is incredibly skillful- you never anticipate what is going to happen next, and each step further into this story, is more unbelievable than the last. Sometimes truth is stranger and more horrifying than fiction.

Disco and Atomic War- A delightful documentary about how American Pop Culture managed to hasten the demise of the Soviet Union via a pirated Finnish TV signal. Again, I point out that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!!

Garbo: The Spy- Hands down, my favorite film of the festival! This is a quirky documentary about a Spanish man who becomes a double agent for the British in a most unconventional way. I really don't want to give away any of the incredible plot twists, but this film is absolutely mind-bogglingly wonderful! I can't recommend it highly enough!

Double Take- I was disappointed in this little experimental film featuring Alfred Hitchcock and a running commentary about the Cold War. I enjoyed the actual Cold War documentary footage that was tossed in and found myself impatient to get back to that whenever the director would meander afield and focus on the fictional side story. Blah.  Probably my least favorite SIFF experience this year.

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields- If you like Stephin Merritt and/or the Magnetic Fields, you'll enjoy this film. If you know nothing about Stephin Merritt or the Magnetic Fields you may come away with an appreciation of the music, but you will not have learned much about the subject(s).  Alas.

Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields performs 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- I had a great time at this event- enjoyed seeing the 1916 version of this film (impressive underwater footage for the time!), and I enjoyed Merritt's delirious musical score. Unfortunately, the layout of the theatre made it difficult to hear his voice a great deal of the time.

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within- An "OK" documentary about Burroughs. I didn't feel that I had learned much more than I already knew. If you like Burroughs tho', you'll probably find something to like in this film. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't brilliant.

Miss Nobody- a quirky black comedy that was fairly enjoyable. I liked the lead actress, and some of the dialogue was fresh and crisp.  And who can resist Adam Goldberg as the Knight in Shining Armor?

The Wildest Dream - in IMAX- I was disappointed in the quality of this film- the picture was often grainy and blurry, and I'm not talking about the vintage footage here- I'm talking about the footage of Mt. Everest!  But I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary tidbits in this film, and came away quite intrigued by George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. I would have liked to have heard more about Conrad Anker's discovery of Mallory's body, however... what an unlikely feat that was!

Grease Sing-along- Mish and I had a great time at this one- the whole audience did. And Dinah Manoff was in attendance. She delighted the audience with behind-the-scenes commentary.

Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives- Mish and I were approached by protesters while waiting in line for this one. Apparently the concern is that all Transgender people will be viewed as knife-wielding maniacs. But this film was made by people in the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender community and tho' it was too brutal for my tastes, the director (who was in attendance) said he was trying to point out that violence (towards anyone) is not the answer. Again, I found this film too brutal for me, but I thought he did a pretty good job of empowering the Transgender stars in this film, not belittling them. Therefore, I am a bit puzzled by the protests.