It’s Memorial Day Weekend, so that means you’ve got an extra day of SIFFting to indulge in before going back to work. Then again, that could make things even more difficult, because Festival programmers have beefed up the film itinerary accordingly. Note that this weekend marks the beginning of a week of screenings for Renton’s IKEA Performing Arts Center. To help us out with this round of recommendations (and the the remainder of the SunBreak’s SIFF coverage, we’re delighted to welcome Chris Burlingame back into the fold.
Tony: Flight of the Concords fans are legion in this town, so the Saturday Night screening of Concord Jemaine Clement’s new dramedy People, Places, Things (replete with Clement attending and a post-film party at Kaspar’s) should be a hot ticket.
Chris: Technically not on Memorial Day Weekend, but football fans will still want to plan ahead: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is introducing a documentary he executive produced called License to Operate, on Tuesday evening, about gang violence in Los Angeles. The Q&A after the film will likely include someone asking former gang leaders and director James Lipetzky if they would have run from the one-yard line with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield in the closing moments of the Super Bowl.
Tony’s picks:
Gentle This Dostoyevsky adaptation, transposed to modern-day Viet Nam and starring former 21 Jump Street regular Dustin Nguyen, has been garnering some major critical acclaim.
- May 22, 2015 1:30 PM Pacific Place 11
- May 25, 2015 8:00 PM Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center
- May 26, 2015 9:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
808 If you listened to any new wave, hip hop, or soul in the 1980s, you heard the Roland TR-808 doing its beat-making thing, and its impact’s bled all the way through to today–Pharrell Williams counts himself among the instrument’s acolytes. SIFF music docs are usually worth catching, and this one looks to be no exception.
- May 23, 2015 9:30 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
- May 25, 2015 1:00 PM SIFF Cinema Egyptian
The Astrologer It’s not just silent films and films noir that get the rediscovery/restoration treatment. Case in point: This truly daffy-sounding (and previously undiscovered) 1975 semi-autobiographical account of a con-man who becomes a psychic astrologer–written, directed by, and starring astrologer Craig Denney. If you’re the kind of freak who makes the Midnight Adrenaline screenings your home away from home all SIFF long, it’s a fair bet you need to see this.
- May 24, 2015 11:55 PM SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Chris: Gentlemen, I’m thrilled you’d have me back for another go-round, and let me join in kind of late in the game. Here are some things that sound interesting to me:
Uncle Kent 2 A sequel of sorts to the 2011 low-budget Joe Swanberg film, but it’s directed by Todd Rohal (The Catechism Cataclysm) and stars Kent Osbourne (who also wrote the script) as a filmmaker who wants to make a sequel to Uncle Kent, but fails to secure Swanberg’s blessing and heads off to Comic Con for some reason. How meta!
- Saturday, May 23, 2015, 9:30 PM, Pacific Place
- Monday, May 25, 2015, 2:30 PM, SIFF Cinema Uptown
The Boss: Anatomy of a Crime (El Patrón, radiografia de un crimen) As much as I’ve said I want to spend my SIFF focusing on the Northwest Connections films, and some documentaries, this Argentinian film sounds too good for me to pass up. From the synopsis alone, I’m intrigued: “Based on true events, this incredible examination of crime and justice follows a young Argentinean farmhand butcher exploited to a murderous breaking point. A delicate expose of unscrupulous practices in the meat industry and society’s corruption and labor exploitation.”
- Sunday, May 24, 2015, 8:45 PM, Harvard Exit
- Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 9:30 PM, SIFF Cinema Uptown
West of Redemption I’ve been reading a lot of mystery novels and thrillers these days, and this World Premiere film from SIFF favorite and Seattle-based Cornelia Duryée Moore sounds like it’s way up my alley. It stars Billy Zane and was shot in just outside of Spokane. It’s about a farmer who lets a travelling stranger into his home, only to take that stranger hostage and uses what the Bush White House might charitably call “enhanced interrogation methods.” Secrets are to be revealed.
- Monday, May 25, 2015, 7:00 PM, Harvard Exit
- Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 4:30 PM, Harvard Exit
Josh: Expecting that you’ll have some time on your hands to hideaway at the movies, the weekend provides a few interesting opportunities for immersion in single topics:
You could spend most of Sunday hiding from barbecues with SIFF’s 101 course in the works of Indian auteur Satyajit Ray with back-to-back screenings of his Apu Triology, recently restored and presented in 4K resolution:
- Song of the Little Road (Pather Panchali)
May 24, 2015 AMC Pacific Place 11:00 AM - The Unvanquished (Aparajito)
May 24, 2015 AMC Pacific Place 2:00 PM - The World of Apu (Apur Sansar)
May 24, 2015 AMC Pacific Place 4:30 PM.
Alternately, for culinary aficionados, Sunday also brings the Little Forest quartet — four hours of chamber pieces, each covering a different season in the cooking life of a city girl who returns to the countryside after a breakup to live (and cook) off the land.
- Summer/Autumn May 24, 2015 SIFF Cinema Uptown 12:00 PM
- Winter/Spring May 24, 2015 SIFF Cinema Uptown 3:00 PM
Or, Franco-philes could spend a several hours of their weekend in the cinematic company of James Franco. I Am Michael finds Franco in the title role in the true story of onetime gay rights activist turned conversion-therapy christian pastor Michael Glatze. Zachary Quinto co-stars as the former boyfriend, Emmar Roberts plays the current girlfriend. Director Justin Kelly is scheduled to attend both screenings; expect a lively discussion.
- May 22, 2015 SIFF Cinema Egyptian 6:30 PM
- May 23, 2015 SIFF Cinema Egyptian 4:15 PM
Yosemite marks another adaptation from Franco’s short story collection. In this installation, the stories of a father (Franco) and three kids intertwine around the unrealistic goal of hunting down a mysterious mountain lion that threatens their suburb. It sounds questionable, but last year’s Palo Alto (from the same collection) was surprisingly good, so I’m willing to dip back into this dreamy world. Director Gabrielle Demeestere scheduled to attend both screenings.
- May 23, 2015 AMC Pacific Place 11 7:00 PM
- May 24, 2015 Harvard Exit 1:45 PM
Mistress America I’m always excited for a new Noah Baumbach film, and the late addition of this one to the SIFF lineup marks his second release in 2015. Hot on the heels of this spring’s pretty good While We’re Young, the director is back, working once again with Greta Gerwig as star and co-writer (2013’s excellent Frances Ha) in this 21st century screwball farce set in New York City.
- May 22, 2015 Harvard Exit 8:45 PM
- May 25, 2015 Harvard Exit 4:00 PM
Keep track of the SunBreak’s SIFF coverage on our SIFF 2015 page, plus news updates and micro-reviews on Twitter @theSunBreak.
