SIFF is once again beginning its marathon of a film festival tonight, showcasing some 421 feature films over the course of 24 days. By any objective measure, that’s a lot. Below are short reviews of a large number of films that are playing in SIFF’s first few days. I’m trying to keep posting reviews before they screen and hope this provides some guidance for what to see. I’m hoping it uncovers a few hidden gems out there.
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Chucks (2015, Austria, dir. Sabine Hiebler and Gerhard Ertl, 93 minutes)
This Austrian film is a definite crowd-pleaser, as it has already won the award for most popular film at the World Film Festival in Montreal. It’s also a pretty great movie overall. Mae (played by Anna Posch in a star-making performance) is a street punk kid. The film is named after her favorite article of clothing, her late brother’s Converse shoes. Her hooliganism catches up with her and she’s sent to an AIDS clinic to work as community service. There, she falls in love with Paul, a patient at the clinic who saw his diagnosis as a radical change from the life he thought was perfect up until then. It has a nice soundtrack that made me want to reach for Shazam often and the acting is great, so, I say thumbs up. (* Important note: I had gotten an advance screener of this movie and was able watch it at home, as was the case with many of the movies shown below. Don’t actually try to use Shazam while in the theater. The punishment if caught using your cell phone is swift and severe. Go here instead.)
- May 24, Lincoln Square (Bellevue), 8:45pm
- May 30, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 9:30pm
Death by Design (2016, China, Ireland, dir. Sue Williams, 73 minutes, World Premiere)
A short (73 minutes), but potent documentary shows an alarming look at the health, cultural and environmental impact addiction to technology causes. The movie notes that less than 1% of Apple’s expenses for an iPhone goes to the cost of labor. Factory workers in China work around the clock, with few breaks or allowed time off, to create hundreds of millions of devices annually, and those devices are only built to last about 18 months. The movie is at its strongest when it’s making a solid case about the real-world (but often unseen) costs of technology. The interviews with people affected by the harmful chemicals in factories are very affecting. Much respect is due also for getting interviews with current factory workers and contraband footage inside of Foxconn, and other Chinese factories. It’s a very damning documentary of an issue that most people will find convenient to ignore. Most people I know view their cellphones like hotdogs in that they are best enjoyed when you don’t think about how they’re made.
- May 21, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 12:30pm
- May 22, Lincoln Square (Bellevue), 6pm
Finding Kim (2016, USA, dir. Aaron Bear, 82 minutes, World Premiere)
At a time when North Carolina is involved in a shitstorm of their own making by trying to restrict restroom access for transgender people, a movie like Finding Kim feels revolutionary because Kim is simply telling his story. Kim is a Seattleite that begins transitioning before his 50th birthday. Kim is forthright with the camera about his insecurities about transitioning, how his friends will react, how his body will change, coming out as trans to his parents, and his ambivalence with being part of the lesbian community. {As an aside, I’m just putting this out there, but TERFs can go to hell and stay there.} There’s a nice balance between highlighting Kim’s transition while mixing interviews with Buck Angel, Dan Savage, Calpernia Addams, and Carmen Carrera for some historical context and insight. The point isn’t to show how remarkable Kim is (though he’s easy to like onscreen) but to show how he wants to feel normal and happy. We need more stories and more movies like this.
- May 23, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 6:30pm
- May 31, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 3:30pm
, 88 minutes, World Premiere)
The IF Project showcases a writing program at the Women’s Correction Center in Gig Harbor, WA (where I went to High School; Go Tides!). Seattle Police officer Kim Bogucki is the hero, as she set up a program where women in prison (reportedly the fastest-growing prison population) are asked one question: “If there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led you here, what would it have been?” I’m glad the program and this documentary exists because it lets women in prison tell their own stories (when many others would rather forget about people in prison) and because it’s a nuanced take on the real-life struggles women face in prison and after. It also gives the inmates a chance to reflect on the choices (and circumstances) that led them to where they are now, and their own thoughts about law enforcement). I’m not sure a movie theater is the appropriate venue for this (I think more people would want to watch if it was featured on, say, PBS), but it helps build empathy. It’s good, and good for you.
- May 21, Pacific Place, 3:30pm
- May 22, Pacific Place, 11am
KEDI (2016, Turkey, dir: Ceyda Torun, 79 minutes)
KEDI is a neat and fun documentary about cats (and their owners) in Istanbul. It’s really charming because it follows different cats throughout the ancient city and talks with their owners and other cat lovers about felines’ mystical powers. One person said taking care of cats helped cope with his nervous breakdown and that they’re the reason he’s happier than he’s ever been. Another pointed to how a cat alerted him to an abandoned wallet that happened to contain exactly the amount of money he needed in the short term. What made the movie so charming, I think, is that it lets common Turkish people tell what makes their pets so remarkable, in what happens to be one of the world’s holiest cities. Despite considering myself both a dog person and an nonbeliever, I really, really love this quote about the differences between cats and dogs: “Dogs think people are God, but cats don’t. Cats know that people act as middlemen to God’s will.”
- May 21, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 11am
- May 28, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 3pm
- May 30, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 12pm
Long Way North (2016, France dir. Rémi Chayé, 78 minutes)
Long Way North is a wonderful French animated film about a young girl who is part of Russia’s 1%. She doesn’t believe reports that her famous explorer-grandfather has died, so she finds his itinerary and joins an expedition to the North Pole to find him and his ship. It has almost everything that I’m looking for in a film: class struggles, adventures, arranged marriages, bodies being frozen to death, and more. While there are some darker themes that run through its brief 78 minutes, it’s easy to see this being a family favorite because of the protagonist, Sasha, being an inspiring young female lead. Plus, the animation is wonderfully drawn.
- May 21, Pacific Place, 11am
- May 22, Lincoln Square (Bellevue), 1pm
- May 29, Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center, 1pm
Microbe and Gasoline (2015, France, dir. Michel Gondry, 105 minutes)
Michel Gondry’s newest film, Microbe and Gasoline is a charming French movie. It’s a buddy movie with two misfits who strike up a friendship. Daniel is called Microbe because he’s short. He’s a young artist overcome with teenage anxieties and puberty. Theo is called Gasoline because he’s a gifted mechanic and that’s what he smells like. Both have difficult families. Daniel’s is the more stable, but his mom (the always-wonderful Audrey Tautou) suffers from depression. Together, they build a car together (how they did it is illustrated here), and then turn the car into a house-car so that they might fool the police if they question whether or not the vehicle is street legal. Teenage hijinks ensued, obviously. The resulting film is delightful, fun, funny, and heartbreaking movie all at once.
- May 21, Majestic Bay Cinema, 1pm
- May 23, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 7pm
The Olive Tree (2016, Spain, dir. Icíar Bollaín, 98 minutes)
The Olive Tree is a wonderfully charming (if somewhat uneven) family drama from Spain that centers around three generations of a poor, Spanish family. The family has a tree that is over 2000 years old, and it is likely its most valuable possession. A dying grandfather is protective of it, while his adult children see it as the best effort to provide some stability to the family. Alma, the granddaughter, loves her grandfather and sees getting rid of the tree as something to rip apart the family. When she learns that the tree is now owned by a German multinational corporation, she embarks on a road trip to get it back. She tells a few lies along the way (and makes a few friends that we don’t see enough of), to acquire a truck and some loved ones to make the trip with her. There are some great moments of comic relief and the scenery is beautiful.
- May 22, Majestic Bay Cinema, 8:30pm
- May 29, Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center, 5pm
- June 1, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 6pm
Presenting Princess Shaw (2015, Israel, dir. Ido Haar, 80 minutes)
Samantha Montgomery is a poor, black woman in New Orleans who dreams of becoming a singer; Princess Shaw is her dba name. Watching this documentary, you get the sense that she holds this dream not as a route to stardom (and to escape poverty) but as a reason for getting up every day. She had a handful of subscribers on YouTube and doesn’t quite seem to know how to navigate a music scene. Her confessional vlog posts were becoming darker and more frustrating for her when, unbeknownst to her, one of her small number of viewers is a Israeli producer name Kutiman. He’s known for making mashups of music he finds on YouTube. He doesn’t notify anyone that he uses their music, nor seeks permission. Here, he mixes some DIY instrumentation found online to put a structure around one of Princess Shaw’s acapella songs and the results are stunning and it leads to some internet notoriety. Sometimes the movie feels somewhat exploitative because Kutiman’s profile has greatly expanded with his mashups and while he may say that no money changes hands, he’s clearly benefitted from the music of others. Regardless, Presenting Princess Shaw makes for a compelling Cinderella story. She’s an infinitely likeable person, and if you don’t find yourself rooting for her, you might just be an asshole.
- May 20, Egyptian, 7pm
- May 21, Pacific Place, 1pm
Rainbow Time (2016, USA, dir. Linas Phillips, 91 minutes)
It’s early in SIFF (Opening Night hasn’t even happened yet), but Shonzie might be the festival’s most unforgettable character. Played by director Linas Phillips, he’s a developmentally-disabled, perpetually-horny, forty-year old man living at home with his aging father and he happens to be obsessed with Arthur Fonzarelli. He means well, and loves his family dearly, but he is unable to pick up on social cues and doesn’t understand boundaries or what is inappropriate. He complicates Todd and Lindsay’s relationship. Saying he’s a pain in the ass would be an understatement. When his brother Todd (Timm Sharp) brings his new-ish (6 months) girlfriend Lindsay (the always-wonderful Melanie Lynskey), Shonzie triggers some anger in Todd, but Lindsay sees a sweetness inside of him. And there is. Linas Phillips deserves a lot of credit for creating this character with a depth and kindness. I found myself really loving Shonzie, but I also couldn’t promise I wouldn’t want to kill him if he was my brother.
- May 20, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 9:15pm
- May 21, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 2:30pm
Slash (2016, USA, dir. Clay Liford, 101 minutes)
I suspect a lot of people will respond favorably to Slash (SIFF programmers seem to be fond of it and it has gotten pretty good reviews so far), but I’m just not there. It’s a teenage, coming-of-age story that revolves around Neil (Michael Johnston), a Texas freshman who uses fan fiction as the vessel to explore the confusion of his sexual awakening. He writes stories about the protagonists in his favorite sci-fi stories as same-sex lovers, and meets cute with lovely misfit Julia (Hannah Marks), who encourages him to publish his stories online, and introduces him to the Rabbit Hole (an adults-only website where fan fiction authors congregate). It’s also where he virtually meets the older, male editor (played by Michael Ian Black), who makes advances on Neil, not knowing he’s not an adult. The whole thing is well-acted and harmless enough (though mostly predictable), but there wasn’t anything depicted here that would let me think it resembled an actual fan fiction community.
- May 20, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 4pm
- May 21, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 8:30pm
Weiner (2016, USA, dir. Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, 100 minutes)
I’m trying to keep my hyperbole in check here, but it’s difficult for me to see how Weiner won’t be remembered as one of great political documentaries of our era. It basically documents one man’s implosion in real time on what is supposed to be his political comeback from an embarrassing sex(ting) scandal. It follows Anthony Weiner on the campaign trail as he runs for mayor of New York City in 2013. In the documentary we see how he’s such a charismatic and charming retail politician. When it comes out that he continued to send x-rated texts with women outside of his marriage (and constituency, or time zone), he becomes a punching bag with tools like Lawrence O’Donnell taking every opportunity to act the moral scold. It’s all very unbecoming and craven, even if he did invite the criticism by failing to control his basest impulses. The New York political media looks useless as he looks pathetic when he says during press conferences that he wants to answer questions on topic. Weiner says, at one point, that he wants to discuss housing in the Bronx and gets no questions. A constituent actually affected by housing decisions in the Bronx asks incredulously why they won’t ask him questions about things that will affect their lives. A lot of people are interested in the relationship with Weiner and Hillary Clinton advisor Huma Abedin, and that is a key dynamic in the film and in the 2013 election. I will just say (as this is already running long) that it reminded me of a line I’ll never forget from historian Garry Wills’ book Nixon Agonistes: “There’s one thing worse than being a violated man. Being a violated man’s wife.”
- May 20, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 4:30pm
- May 22, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 6pm
