Can you believe it’s already the third and final week of the Seattle International Film Festival, otherwise known as Seattle’s Most Effective Sunblock? Indeed, there are just seven more days to dive into film so start taking chances; Lake Washington will be around all summer. This week is a Very Quincy Jones week at SIFF, beginning with a screening of Sidney Lumet’s Pawnbroker, for which Jones wrote the jazz score. Next, there’s An Evening with Quincy Jones where he will be presented with SIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Wednesday June 4th at SIFF Cinema, followed by a screening of his film Keep On Keepin’ On. The festivities continue on Thursday with an Evening with the Justin Kauflin Trio,  the blind jazz pianist from Keep On Keepin’ On, who will be performing in concert at the sonically beautiful Triple Door following an introduction from Quincy Jones (Thursday June 5).

In addition, this year’s “Gay-La” includes a screening of Helicopter Mom with an after party at Q Nightclub (description below).

 

 

Chris’s Picks:

Ballet 422 Ballet 422 eschews most documentary conventions (like narration) for a fly-on-the-wall view of the New York City Ballet as one of its young performers and choreographers, Justin Peck, is putting on his first original ballet. The backstage access supersedes any other tenet of documentary filmmaking, so it provides an intimate glimpse of how ballets are crafted, or as close as we’re going to ever get. (Producer Anna Rose Holmer scheduled to attend).

• June 2 Monday 7:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 3 Tuesday 3:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Helicopter Mom Nia Vardalos is always fun to watch, and she stars in SIFF’s Gay-La film as a mother who suspects her son is gay, and goes out of her way to prove she’s supportive by setting up dates, and doing the usual, overbearing parent act. (Director Salomé Breziner, and actors Kate Flannery and Jason Dolley scheduled to attend.)

• June 4 Wednesday 7:00 PM Egyptian Theater (Gay-La Film and Party)
• June 5 Thursday 4:00 PM Egyptian Theater

Big in Japan Seattle rockers Tennis Pro have been toiling in rock clubs for at least a decade. In SXSW hit Big in Japan, they’re discovered one night by former Green River drummer Alex Vincent in a club that looks suspiciously like Chop Suey, he convinces them that their elusive fame and fortune is just a trip across the Pacific. The movie is a fictionalized account of their trip to Japan, and it’s played for laughs, hitting a high percentage of the time. (Director John Jeffcoat and Tennis Pro – David Drury, Phillip Peterson, and Sean Lowry – scheduled to attend.)

• June 5 Thursday 7:00 PM Egyptian Theater
• June 7 Saturday 12:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Josh’s Picks

The Better Angels Terrence-Malick produced this dreamy tale of young Abe Lincoln growing up in the rural setting of young America.  Braydon Denney plays the future president, Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, and Jason Clarke appear as other Lincolns in this allegedly impressionistic portrait. 

• June 3, 2014 Tuesday 7:00 PM Egyptian Theatre
• June 5, 2014 Thursday 4:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

The Great Museum Johannes Holzhausen provides an in-depth look behind the scenes at both the art and operations of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Museum of Fine Arts) during a year of renovations.

• June 3, 2014 Tuesday 6:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 7, 2014 Saturday 2:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

10,000 km  An irresistible year-long artist’s residency in Los Angeles motivates a Barcelona couple’s technology-mediated long-distance relationship. Indiewire calls the two-hander an insightful, moving romance; Variety compliments the film’s intelligence and control exhibited by the balance of form and content. (First-time director Carlos Marques-Marcet scheduled to attend)

• June 5, 2014 Thursday 9:30 PM Harvard Exit
• June 6, 2014 Friday 4:15 PM AMC Pacific Place 11

Tony’s Picks:

B.F.E.  I had the chance to talk to Seattle director Shawn Telford at length about his funny, honest, and richly-shot debut a week or two ago, and his movie still stands as one of my favorite discoveries of SIFF 2014.

• June 02, 2014 Monday 9:00 PM Harvard Exit
• June 03, 2014 Tuesday 4:00 PM Harvard Exit

A Masque of Madness  Norbert Pfaffenbichler’s feature mashes up fifty years of performances by screen icon Boris Karloff into one fictional narrative. Experiments like this are a crapshoot, but any excuse to see one of the great character actors of the 20th century on a big screen is hunky-dory by me.

• June 03, 2014 Tuesday 9:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 08, 2014 Sunday 8:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

African Metropolis  Six different short films directed by six different directors, each focusing on a specific African city, comprise the backbone of this anthology. SIFF’s African Pictures series has been consistently rewarding for the last couple of years: This should be no exception. Tomorrow night’s 6:30 screening is on StandBy only.

• June 03, 2014 Tuesday 6:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 04, 2014 Wednesday 3:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Keep track of the SunBreak’s SIFF coverage on our SIFF 2014 page, plus news updates and micro-reviews on Twitter @theSunBreak.