Recent Stories with tag siff

It's the long holiday weekend, so it's good that there's lots of new movies out on DVD.  Let's run down the list of new films, care of our friends at Scarecrow Video (now with video games!).

The biggest release this week is definitely Hot Tub Time Machine, which I saw in a theater of people laughing so loudly that I will need to see it again, just to catch all the jokes I missed the first time.  There's also Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the popular children's book series, and the remake of The Crazies, in which virus-infected water makes Timothy Olyphant something-something.

In terms of foreign films, there's the Oscar-nominated black-and-white looming dread of pre-WWI small-town Germany in The White Ribbon, which director Michael Haneke accurately described as "a horror film without the horror." There's also The Eclipse--no not that one.  This is an almost-perfect Irish ghost story set at a writers' conference.  Spooky scary!  Let's hope that there's never an American remake.  Same goes for Everlasting Moments, a delicate look at a female photographer challenging societal norms in early 1900s Sweden.  And for something completely different, Warlords features Jet Li and lots of epic Chinese battles....

Laura Poitras' film The Oath won a documentary award at Sundance for its portrayal of two men's involvement in the War on Terror: Abu Jandal, a Yemeni taxi driver who was Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard, and his brother-in-law, Salim Hamdan, Bin Laden's driver who you might know from a little court case called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. 

Poitras explores the divergent roads these men's lives took through interviews with the cagey Jandal, whose political views changed post-9/11, and Hamdan's letters written from Guantanamo Bay. I talked to Laura during SIFF—the first part of the interview is here. The Oath is following up its SIFF showings with a run at the Northwest Film Forum, through Thursday. 

An interesting topic that comes up in your film is the conflict between the old members of Al Qaeda versus the newer ones. They have different goals, different ideals, and different ideas of who is staying true to Islam and who isn't. We tend to view Al Qaeda as monolithic and paint the entire organization with a broad brush.

We do, the general public does, but the people working intelligence don't. And I think that it is important to recognize the difference between the younger and older generations. It's interesting that [Abu Jandal] is being threatened by the younger generation, by—in a sense—his own people. And I think that teaches us a lot about the inner workings.

Your film also takes a look at The Dialogue Committee [a kind of terrorist rehab], which is a movement you never hear about, with the idea that that jihadis can be reformed. It's also interesting to see Abu Jandal as terrorist turned family man, where he's just a dad and a taxi driver, but he also has this history, and he's still talking to men about jihad.

I found it pretty compelling…. It's the fact that people get older. I think that there is something about family and responsibilities that has its inherent de-radicalizing effect. So it's a combination of that, being in prison, and then having The Dialogue. Everything kinda contributed to him turning away from the tactics [of terrorism]. ...

Director Caroline Kamya is bringing her homeland of Uganda to the world, one screening at a time. Imani, Kamya's feature film debut, marked the first Ugandan film ever to screen at the Seattle International Film Festival. It gave SIFF audiences one of their best left-of-center surprises, and it's been reaping acclaim as it travels festivals across three continents. The movie follows three disparate Ugandans, each facing their own particular crisis: Mary (Rehema Nanfuka), a maid, is forced to make a wrenching personal choice in her attempts to bail her troubled sister out of jail. Breakdancer Armstrong (Philip Buyi Roy) finds his wild past catching up with him on the eve of a gig for his dance troupe. And young Olweny (Stephen Ocen), a former child soldier, leaves a rehabilitation center to reestablish his relationship with his parents.

Kamya takes what could be so much melodramatic pot-boiling and imbues it with a slow-burning unique rhythm and flavor. Her unobtrusive directorial eye presents this world with a documentarian's objective clarity, at an unforced pace with ebbs and surges guided by the hot, dry climate. Andrew Mark Coppin's camera finds unadorned beauty in Uganda's people, and in the slums and humble villages they occupy: men navigate the dusty streets of Kampala balancing sofas on bicycles, and poetic messages of affirmation emerge from ghetto walls like faint but persistent whispers to passersby. The screenplay (by Kamya's sister Agnes Nasozi) does its own gentle bending of cliche, bypassing hopelessness yet offering few easy answers to its protagonists, and the actors (amateurs, all) deliver utterly natural, affectingly real performances. In its own low-key way and on its own terms, Imani accomplishes what all really good movies should: it invites viewers to visit a unique universe.

That universe is seldom seen by Western eyes, so talking to its driving force especially intrigued me, and the director does not disappoint. Kamya speaks of Imani like a proud mother, in a sonorous English-accented voice that never slows down; and her energy, brio, and mega-watt smile are genuine and infectious....

Undaunted by the arrival of spring weather, Team SunBreak followed SIFF's call, getting inside theaters to soak up screening during the festival's final weekend. Below, we weigh in with our picks and pans of the festival films we saw over the weekend.

Audrey spent the weekend with two fine Americans: American Faust is a comprehensive look at the Bush administration through the prism of Condeleeza Rice, and really it's a brilliant study of one woman putting power before all other things. By the end, you both pity and hate Condi for her version of the American Dream. Meanwhile, American: The Bill Hicks Story chronicles the rise of the outspoken controversial comedian, using tons of rotoscoped photos, home videos, and interviews with friends and family to really get to Hicks as both a caustic comedian and an intensely loved individual.

MvB: A science-fiction film from Switzerland, Cargo was notably short on novelty, mashing up bits of the Matrix with Blade Runner's off-world colonies, but Anna-Katharina Schwabroh has an off-beat charm, and the idea of P-Patchers as terrorists of the future is delightful.

Johnnie To's Vengeance stars French singer Johnny Hallyday in a black fedora and trench coat, and with a bullet in his brain. Honor, brotherhood, and going down in a hail of bullets and blood packs is the order of the day. A stunning Kurosawa-like set piece employs of bales of recycled paper.

The documentary Plug & Pray surveys the spectrum of techno-belief, from the spooky Raymond Kurzweil and his dreams of cyborg life, to scientists working on AI for military or commercial applications, to Cassandra-like professor emeritus of computer science at MIT, Joseph Weizenbaum, who owns the movie. Ostensibly about thinking gadgets, the film demonstrates that it's what people think that still matters most....

The 2010 Golden Space Needle glassware

This morning at a tasty brunch celebration in the Space Needle's Observation Deck, the Seattle International Film Festival celebrated increased attendance figures, a record number of films presented, and announced the winners of this year's 25 day film marathon.

Some awards were decided by esteemed juries, others were chosen by the people who make this the country's most attended festival. Only a few winners were on hand to claim the blown glass statues; so we have to hope that the fest invested in some quality shipping containers.

Overall, it was a great year for female directors. Audiences loved the Hedgehog most of all the narrative features, split between Waste Land and Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life in the documentary category, and chose Debra Granik as best director for Winter's Bone. 

Full list of winners, runners up, and jury statements after the jump. Congrats to all of the winners and to SIFF's entire team for putting on such an outstanding festival....

Well friends, this is it. The final weekend of SIFF! The festival closes on Sunday night with Get Low, a showcase for some of Hollywood's finest actors of a Certain Seniority. Robert Duvall is fantastic as the mysterious and feared hermit who comes into town from his woodsy cell to ask Bill Murray to plan his funeral party. The mostly comedic enterprise sets in motion a series of emotional encounters, revealed secrets, and gestures toward catharsis. While opening and closing selections often fall into the territory of inoffensive blandness, this one oozes with charm and benefits from its cast of stately older actors at the top of their game.

Of course, a good part of the appeal is that whole thing is followed by a blowout gala at the Pan Pacific featuring lots of drinks, food, dancing, and a chance to debrief with fellow filmgoers about the fest (Screening is at 6:30 p.m. at Cinerama; party follows).

Many slots in the festival schedule originally listed as TBA have been announced. Along with additional screenings for festival favorites, three new films have been added. There's Thunder Soul, the story of a reunion of a high school band turned funk sensation (June 13, 1:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian); Vengeance finds a French chef in Hong Kong returning to his former killing ways (June 12, 9 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; June 13, 11 a.m. @ Harvard Exit); and Michael Douglas and an all-star cast in Ebert-approved Solitary Man (June 12, 8:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place). And, those interested in a mass singalong to Grease, probably already bought their tickets weeks in advance (June 12, 3:45 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema).

Before you send the festival off into the good night, consider some of these selections for your weekend and use the comments section to let us know if we've missed any highly recommendable films. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

Protektor a love story between a radio operator and his glamorous Jewish actress wife during the Nazi occupation of Prague during the 1930s. He cooperates to survive; she takes up with a subversive projectionist to fight depression. (June 11, 6 p.m. @ Pacific Place; June 13, 4 p.m. @ Egyptian)

The Wildest Dream Chronicles two journeys to the summit of Mount Everest: Mallory's original fatal quest and  Conrad Anker's attempts to follow in his footsteps to vindicate the early explorer's achievement. Did we mention that it's all in IMAX? (June 11, 7 p.m.; June 12, 1:30 p.m. @ Pacific Science Center)

Cargo: Swiss in Spaaaace! Suspenseful science fiction on a shoestring aboard long haul space flight. (June 11, 9:15 p.m. @ Egyptian; June 12, 1:30 p.m. @ Egyptian)

Rocksteady: the Roots of Reggae: Genre pioneers reunite forty years later for a tribute concert in Kingston. (June 11, 9:30 p.m. @ Uptown; June 13, 11 a.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Howl James Franco plays Alan Ginsburg in this celebration of the Beat poet laureate, complete with simulated interviews, recreated readings, and hallucinogenic animations. Rush tickets only. (June 12, 7 p.m. @ Egyptian)

Micmacs Jean-Pierre Jeunet's affection for quirky characters, coincidence, and contraptions combine in a comedic conspiracy to pit a pair of warmongers against each other as payback for inadvertent offenses against a protagonist with a bullet lodged in his brain. This has been on rush forever and opens in wider release later this month. (June 11, 7 p.m. @ Uptown)

Leaving: Kristin Scott Thomas faces mid-life French ennui. (June 12, 9 p.m. @ Uptown)

Last Train Home China's rural past confronts its industrial present during a holiday week in which factory workers swarm to available trains to spend precious time with their physically distant family members. (June 12, 6 p.m. @ Pacific Place; June 13, 1:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place) 

Au Revoir Taipei A night in the life of disaffected lovesick youth, in which Parisian plots are reconsidered, friends are kidnapped, and new crushes develop. (June 13, 9:15 p.m. @ Pacific Place; June 12, 6:00 p.m. @ Kirkland)

Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives The title says it all, really. (June 12, Midnight @ Egyptian; June 13, 9:30 p.m. @ Egyptian)...

Here we are, watching our way through the last week of SIFF, seeing as much as we can before the sun and World Cup vie for our attention. All of us at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the festival films we saw so far this week.

It seems like everyone saw 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with varying levels of affection for the film and the live score composed & performed by Stephin Merritt. Once I came to accept it as the LOST of its time (with its intersecting storylines, mysterious island, characters with unclear motivations, multiple flashbacks, abrupt entry of characters and set pieces, and dramatic special effects), I allowed myself to appreciate the serialized drama and its showcase of undersea cinematography. Still, with high expectations from his other work and some of the other overwhelming experiences from past SIFF presentations, I didn't think that Merritt's fairly minimal score added as much as it might have.  

Don: Organ melodies, synthesizer bleeps, a tuba, a trumpet, and vocals through two megaphones provded the background to the invention of underwater filming. Watching was a lot like flying: a few moments of sheer terror, separated by long stretches of boredom. Except it was more like a few moments of audible or visual humor, separated by long stretches of repetitive melodies backing a couple fish swimming in a grey ocean. A couple remarked that it was "hilarious" on the way out and two people rose for a standing ovation. I thought the organ looked cool.

Tony: Film purists probably balked at its irreverence and more than one of my eminent SunBreak colleagues were nonplussed, but I enjoyed this SIFF archival presentation with musical accompaniment. Merritt's playful music included some hummable melodies, and I found the bits of atmospheric texture scattered throughout to be pretty immersive. As for the film itself, it's a dated but fascinating artifact--really the Avatar of its day (1916) what with its underwater cinematography and lavish production values. For a very early silent, it also sports an impressively ambitious structure containing three intersecting stories and flashbacks from multiple sources--pretty heady stuff for a movie that's older than your great-grandparents.

MvB: agreed with the previous assessments.

Reactions to other films after the jump.

MvB: Secrets of the Tribe exposed how anthropologists studying the Yanomami's every word and gesture failed to remark on their own signal contributions to this "virgin" culture: bribery with modern weapons and tools, rapacious pedophilia, exposure to new diseases. But any outrage gets watered down by bitchy talking-head sequences that reduce things to anthro-politics.

The Wedding Cake is a droll French comedy that skewers the fetish for "perfect" wedding days, marriage itself, class pretension, youthful infatuation, and new car smell. It's fun, but even the young lovers (*Harry Potter*'s Fleur Delacour stars) aren't that likable or mature, and by the end you begin the share the elder participants' "You kids stay off my lawn" sentiments. (screens again tonight, June 10, 9:30 p.m. @ Uptown; June 13, 4:00 pm @ Uptown)...

As SIFF marches into its final week, the festival continues pulling out all of the stops as we all barrel toward a manic finale. Tonight a live musical score to Captain Nemo competes with a former Facts of Life star in the Gay-la spotlight. Eastsiders will be pleased to know that festival stays in Kirkland for a few more days. 

Scour these selections for some ideas of filling the remaining slots on your SIFF dance card and let us know if we've missed any highly recommendable films. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields fame) and friends (including Daniel Handler, or Lemony Snicket to your kids) composed an original soundtrack to the 1916 film version of Jules Verne's undersea adventure. They'll perform it live tonight in the grandeur of the Paramount with accompaniment on the venue's infamous organ. (7:30 p.m. @ the Paramount)

Violet Tendencies Natalie from Facts of Life all grown up. She's surrounded by loving gays, but needs a little male companionship of her own. Get ready for an exploration of emerging language life "fruit fly" and "fag stag". Tonight's showing is followed by a gay gay gay-la at Re-bar with DJs, cocktails, dancing, and mingletime; you'll have to make your own afterparty for Thursday's showing. (June 9, 7:00 p.m. @ Egyptian; June 10, 4:00 p.m.) ...

A detailed winter tableau from Marwencol.

Jeff Malmberg has me dead to rights.

"I saw you walking around outside," he tells me as our interview begins, "and before you even came near the hotel, I figured you were a movie guy." He relates this observation not with any condescension or derision, but with a sense of genial fraternity. Malmberg, you see, is a movie guy himself--and an observant one, at that.

His feature directorial debut Marwencol just may stand as the best documentary to screen at SIFF in 2010; this during a festival already packed stem-to-stern with great docs. Shot in a low-key verite style on hi-def video, it follows Mark Hogancamp, whose near-fatal beating at the hands of a gang of thugs leaves him without any memory.

To combat his demons and rehabilitate physically Mark builds Marwencol, a fictional town in World-War-II Belgium, entirely out of 1/6-scale action figures and Barbies. So, yeah, it's about a guy playing with dolls in his backyard. Except that it's not. It's much more about human creativity flowering through adversity--and about fleshing out its troubled but inarguably lovable subject--than it is about gawkery.

Marwencol also celebrates Hogancamp's art; an incredibly detailed and beautifully-rendered world full of two-fisted heroes, buxom catfighting women, time travel, and Nazi skullduggery (you can see samples here, and even order a Marwencol storybook here). It's entirely telling that Malmberg spends nearly our entire interview talking about his subject, not about himself: And after seeing Marwencol, you can't blame him.

Marwencol director Jeff Malmberg.

This is such an amazing story, and you--very consciously, I'm sure--keep yourself out of it, and let Mark tell his story. How did you discover him?

I was looking for something to shoot. Editorial, documentary-wise, was just so much fun. It's almost like writing, it's like really trying to find the truth; and not forcing your opinion on it...but I thought, "Now, if I could just find a subject that I could go and shoot, then I could come back and cut it, and be in charge." As fun as it is to work with a director (and I very much love working with directors), you also, as an editor, kind of go, "Well, I don't agree," you know? [laughs] Especially where there's a subject that's rich enough that you can head different ways....

As we enter the final week of SIFF, you have just seven days left to overdose on film. The festival stays in Kirkland for a few more days, and there's another chance to catch the prison drama that launched a party of epic paella over the weekend. Bring an umbrella for the ticketholders' line with a few of these Monday and Tuesday selections, and let us know if we've missed any highly recommendable films. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

Altiplano Drama ensues when Peruvian villagers discover too late that the disease plaguing them is caused by a nearby mine and not supernatural forces or well-meaning physicians. (June 7, 6:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; June 9, 4:00 p.m. @ the Egyptian)

8: The Mormon Proposition Dustin Lance Black narrates this investigation into the long-term efforts of the Mormon Church to thwart gay rights and to support the passage of California's gay marriage ban. With portraits of former missionaries and gay couples, this political documentary is likely to preach to the choir, just not the tabernacle. (June 7, 7:00 p.m. @ Egyptian;  June 8, 4:15 p.m. @ Egyptian)

Mugabe and the White African A covert documentary out of Zimbabwe provides a startling look at the dangerous fight of a white farmer to hold on to their livelihood under the brutal dictator. (June 7, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Perfect 10  Shot across Washington State, Seattleites Kris and Lindy Boustedt tell the story of a plus-sized businesswoman convinced to go to her high school reunion to show off her successes to an unrequited crush and the classmates who made her life miserable. (June 7, 9:15 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 8, 4:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema) 

Secrets of the Tribe The egos, inconsistencies, and academic showdowns are on display in this previously-recommended documentary about the researchers who have built careers studying the isolated Yanomami. Weaved into the escalating battles are archival footage and testimonials from tribe members. (June 7, 9:15 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Disco and Atomic War Despite the best efforts of Soviet culture jammers, this documentary explains why Estonians know who shot J.R. (June 7, 9:30 p.m. @ Egyptian; June 9, 7:00 p.m. @ Kirkland)...

Here we are at the last week of SIFF (*sniffle*). All of us at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the festival films we saw this weekend.

MVB:  Based on Cell 211, it looks like somebody in Spain has been watching Oz. It's a dark, brutal, bloody prison riot parable with Basque terrorist spice that left people stunned (today, 4 p.m. @ Neptune).  Imani is a walking-paced Ugandan movie, charting post-war life through three different story threads. Subtle, but it builds (June 11, 4:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit). I almost skipped The Tillman Story; now I'm very, very glad I didn't. Feels like I finally got a real glimpse of that guy. Downside: complete disgust with U.S. military command. Ondine is a fairy tale about how directors like to cast super-hot Romanian girls to wear lingerie. Sigur Ros songs suggest artistic depth! Ireland looks nice, though (June 13, 11:30 a.m. @ Pacific Place).

Audrey saw three heavy docs this weekend: David Guggenheim's Waiting for Superman, about the overwhelming failure of the American public school system, is simultaneously inspiring and heartbreaking.  Look for it to win the Best Documentary Oscar come next February.  The Tillman Story, about the search for truth behind the myth of the most famous man to serve and die in Iraq, was only slightly less of a well-made downer.  So by comparison, Garbo the Spy, about the greatest double agent freelance spy ever, was downright fun--yes, even though it culminates in the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  Thankfully, Meet Monica Velour was there to lighten the mood. It's obvious to say that this awkward teen's romancing of a washed-up porn star (played dead-on by Kim Cattrall) is cinematic cousins with Little Miss Sunshine and Napoleon Dynamite, but there's more to Keith Bearden's film than just simple quirks.

Josh: Somewhat surprisingly, I think that my favorite film of the weekend was Leaves of Grass, another Edward Norton split personality triumph, that takes the themes of a a Greek tragedy and wraps it in the cloak of a pot comedy. Norton is hilarious in both roles, with strong folksy charm from Tim Blake Nelson (who also wrote and directed), Keri Russell, and Susan Sarandon. The film starts as a light comedic contrast between twin brothers with very different career paths, but things get more and more intense once the classics professor is tricked into returning to small-town Oklahoma, where he has to deal with unresolved family drama and gets wrapped up in a convoluted hydroponic marijuana operation.

Fans of the band are the most likely to relish Strange Powers, the Stephin Merritt documentary (today with Merritt in attendance, 4 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema). While the filmmakers aren't able to pry too deeply below his famously cantankerous surface, the directors do a fine job of making a concert film that also chronicles the history, trajectory, and interpersonal dynamics that have made the Magnetic Fields so well-loved. Of local interest is the brief section on the infamous EMP Pop Conference "Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah" rockist-racist blogger fiasco, complete with a mea culpa from Sasha Frere-Jones. Though the film necessarily required artist approval, it doesn't come across as too sugar-coated and should make a nice companion to Stephin's live performance this week during 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (June 9, 7:30 p.m. @ Paramount)....

One of the more controversial films at SIFF this year was Stolen, a Rashomon of a documentary by Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw that they say did not at all turn out the way they planned. The film details the hornet's nest the two stir up after "discovering" slavery in a Western Sahara refugee camp, a claim aggressively denied by their erstwhile hosts, the Polisario Front, and subsequently by their interviewees.

For North Americans, the film may turn out to be an eye-opening course in geopolitical history from the moment it begins, just as it was for the Australian (Fallshaw) and Bolivian (Ayala) filmmakers.

The documentary's impact (and limitations) stems from its presentation of the two walking into a decades-old North African conflict between Morocco and the Algerian-supported Polisario (a nationalist independence movement), involving Spain, France, and even Mauritania.

Somewhere between 80,000 and 160,000 people live in Algeria's Tindouf province, in refugee camps run by the Polisario, in precisely the conditions that you'd expect in the Sahara desert: lots of sand, no water, no vegetation. While they don't go hungry, adequate nutrition is a problem, and so is diabetes, according to Ayala.

But they also have cable TV, cars, and plenty of free time. Besides the functioning of the camps, there's little in the way of work there. The residents live in a political limbo, largely forgotten by everyone except the people who want them there, and the people who want them gone. "I feel like for everyone in the camps, their lives have been put on hold," Fallshaw told me.

Fallshaw and Ayala were initially following a human interest story that dealt with costs of the conflict: UN-sponsored family reunions that began in 2004 and allowed members of the camps short visits with relatives in Morocco, after 30 years of separation. Fallshaw explained that while the two were in Mauritania, filming the short documentary Between the Oil and the Deep Blue Sea, they spoke to a member of the Tindouf province camps, and were intrigued to hear about the reunion program--and by the fact that she spoke Spanish....

From Duvall, YouTuber Iamthecourtjester filmed the Monroe funnel cloud--people are still confirming whether it touched down and achieved tornado status--that accompanied our windy, rainy week. Cliff Mass says his book explains why our convergence zone will create spinners like these (he's more excited about the coastal radar system getting set up a year early).

It felt like a slow news week locally: the Gulf oil spill claimed much of the headlines, as did the Israeli boarding of the Gaza flotilla, and the Dow finished the week below 10,000. In Seattle, the three police chief finalists were making the rounds, Mayor McGinn and Governor Gregoire mixed it up over the tunnel, and Boeing's experimental scramjet hit Mach 5. PETA set up a naked shower in Westlake, and probably overloaded several cameraphone-uploading networks. Ken Griffey Jr. retired. King County pending sales dropped off a 44-percent cliff, now that that housing tax credit has expired.

Speaking of overloaded networks, AT&T announced its new data plans and tethering for the iPhone, and TechFlash announced that Amazon's Jeff Bezos was trying to patent online nodding ordering, and that Microsoft's Bing was no long cash-backing. A Virginia man argued that Starbucks coffee and steroids led him to kill his wife. Costco is still selling up a storm....

This weekend at SIFF, the festival hits Kirkland, Spain gets the prison film gala of their dreams, and Ed Norton comes to town (which means a midnight showing of Fight Club tonight). For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

The Tillman Story  In a wartime marked by egregious offenses, the way in which football player/soldier Pat Tillman's death was deliberately misconstrued and mythologized for the Bush administration's own benefit is egregiously offensive, even by those standards.  See this doc, but be prepared for feelings of anger, sadness, and overwhelming frustration.  (today, 4 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 6, 7 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Beyond Ipanema  The multi-culti Brazilian music scene truly offers something for everyone. (today, 5 p.m. @ Kirkland Performance Center)

A Tribute to Edward Norton  SIFF honors the intelligent actor with a Q&A and a screening of his latest film, Leaves of Grass, starring Ed Norton and Ed Norton as identical twins: One's a tweedy professor, the other's a weedy drug dealer. Antics most certainly ensue with a funeral and crime boss thrown into the mix.  (tribute tonight, 7 p.m. @ the Egyptian, only rush tickets available; additional screening of Leaves of Grass, June 5, 1:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian, only rush tickets available; other Ed Norton films showing all weekend)

Imani  Caroline Kamya's acclaimed drama marks the first Ugandan film ever to screen at SIFF, and it looks as starkly beautiful as its country of origin. (tonight, 7 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; June 6, 4:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; June 11, 4:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Ondine  Colin Farrell's fish story aims to be the Irish Splash. (tonight, 7 p.m. @ Kirkland Performance Center; June 6, 9 p.m. @ Uptown; June 13, 11:30 a.m. @ Pacific Place)

Agora  Rachel Weisz gets swords and sandals about a closeted lady mathematician [!] in ancient Alexandria.  (tonight, 7 p.m. @ Neptune; June 6, 4 p.m. @ Neptune)

Waiting for "Superman"  Another assuredly frustrating doc from Inconvenient Truth director David Guggenheim, this time about the national disaster that is the American public school system.  (tonight, 7 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema, only rush tickets available; June 5, 1 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema, only rush tickets available)...

Yep, another week of SIFF here and gone.  All of us at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the films shown at the festival this week.

Tony saw Ahead of Time, a concise, solid doc on the achievements of Ruth Gruber--arctic explorer, World War II Correspondent, and chronicler of the 1947 Exodus. At age 94, Gruber's more articulate and sharp than 99.9 percent of people a third her age; her restless streak, eloquence, and charm made her an enchanting documentary subject.

Josh had a shortish SIFF week: Waste Land, a meandering but discussion-provoking documentary about Vik Muniz and the garbage-pickers who inspired his portrait series. At times I couldn't tell if this film wanted to be about the artist, the gleaners, or the way that large-scale portraits made from materials found at the world's largest landfill could transform lives. It succeeds a little bit on each of those fronts, but could have used a stronger narrative focus and a critical voice stronger than the artist's wife (who falls out of the picture midway, via an off-screen mid-project divorce). Quibbles aside, the artwork is astounding and Muniz found incredibly charismatic subjects. We left wondering not about how to "save" the pickers of Jardim Gramacho, but curious about whether similar poverty-driven recycling efforts happen here.

I really enjoyed I Killed My Mother, a très style-y collage chronicling the growing pains between a temperamental teen artiste and his single mother. The explosive tantrums and outlandish verbal spats felt true to the spirit of adolescent angst; the mix of hypersaturated fantasy sequences, off-center camera angles, quick cuts, and philosophical confessionals captured the spirit of a young auteur. Against likely temptation, Xavier Dolan doesn't let himself off the hook too easily, revealing an awareness of his own childish behavior and rendering a sympathetic portrait of his mother. (June 6, 2010 7:00 PM @ the Egyptian)

Audrey also had Quebecois fun at I Killed my Mother, but I wonder if writer-director-lead actor Dolan has another film in him; this one is so personal. Coincidentally, Bilal's Stand is another intimately personal film, in which writer-director Sultan Sharrief has made his first feature, based on the story of how he, as a black Muslim teen, made it from an inner city Detroit taxi-stand to the University of Michigan, via an ice-carving college scholarship. It's a solid first film (and the community involvement it took to make it is inspiring), though of course it's not as OMG as I Killed My Mother....

Nicholas Terry made a quality feature film for peanuts (between $100 and $300, depending on who you talk to). It's screening at the most-attended film festival in the country. Without trying, he's getting the kind of regional media attention that most aspiring filmmakers would kill for. And he's navigating the avalanche of press interviews like a pro. In a lot of ways, it's a typical story of a first-time director getting his vision seen by a large and appreciative audience, except for the fact that the director in question hasn't yet graduated high school.

With his slender frame, slightly mussed head of red hair, and polite smile, Terry's combination of awkwardness and precocious smarts suggests Neil Patrick Harris by way of Topher Grace, but he possesses a clarity of focus that'd be impressive in anyone--never mind a seventeen-year-old. That singularity of purpose makes sense in the context of the movie he's made.

Senior Prom received its world premiere to a packed house at the Seattle International Film Festival's SIFF Cinema last Friday (it also plays at 4:30 p.m. today at the same venue). It's one of the buzz movies of the festival, largely because of its solidly homegrown pedigree. Terry, a Mountlake Terrace High School senior, devised and directed the movie as a senior class project. He cast several of his school drama pals in the leads, and encouraged them to freely improvise on his basic outline of a story about high-school seniors preparing for that most momentous of hurrahs: senior prom.

Rough around the edges as it is, the movie's incredibly entertaining, more Waiting for Guffman than Sixteen Candles. Its characters alternately conform to and transcend expected high-school tropes: There's Miles (Michael Ward), the not-as-cocky-as-he-acts sorta-jock with an unrequited crush on all-business ASB president Brittany (Jessica Weight); exuberant nerd Zach (Max Watson), who pines for razor-tongued wiseacre Lynsey (Lynsey Lorraine); and the annoyingly lovey-dovey steady couple Shelley and Shawn (Alix Deenan and Alan Garcia), among others. Senior Prom manages to be funny as hell, while still acknowledging the little pains and dramas at the root of being a teenager, and it pulls that balance off with a first-hand immediacy that could only come from someone living on those front lines....

Believe it or not, with Memorial Day behind us, we are now a full twelve days into SIFF, sitting right at the midpoint of the fest. All of us here at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the films shown at the festival over the weekend.

Before heading to Sasquatch, Josh checked out Senior Prom: a high school movie by high schoolers, which received a hero's welcome at its world premiere. "A" for effort.  (June 1, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Morgen saw Every Day, a very real look into dealing with elderly parents and how that brings out the midlife crisis in all of us. Throw in a gay son and a job writing for a raunchy tv show with over-sexed coworkers, and you've got a recipe for a dark, tearjerker drama.  (June 11, 7 p.m. @ Kirkland Performance Center)

Tony: Friday's Midnight Adrenaline presentation of RoboGeisha packed the Egyptian and gave that crowd all the blood, guts, hyperkinetic action, and over-the-top absurdity it could've asked for. For once, the trailer doesn't even come near capturing all the pulp looniness on display. (June 8, 10 p.m. @ the Neptune)  Speaking of Midnight Adrenaline, I saw the Belgian giallo-inspired fever dream Amer for a second time, and its sensory-stimulating, color-saturated pocket universe was even better the second time around. I'm officially in love.

SIFF scores yet another week of weather-to-see-movies-to! With the festival almost at its midway point, I don't think there's been a single day I've had to decide between sun and movie theater. Below are some films of note showing over the next two days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations which cost more.

Tuesday brings previously recommended Some Days Are Better Than Others and local high-school effort Senior Prom.

Bilal's Stand  Based on a true story, 25-year-old Sultan Sharrief’s first feature-length film introduces you to Bilal, a Detroit kid heading to the University of Michigan if he can win an ice-sculpting competition and convince his Muslim family he's not selling them out. Be warned: It's either "bursting with heart" or "incredibly hamfisted." (May 31, 6:30 p.m. & June 2, 4 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

Waste Land  It's already won best documentary at both the Sundance and Berlin International Film Festivals, so there you go. New York artist Vik Muniz visits Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill, outside of Rio de Janeiro, and enlists garbage pickers to help him create a new artwork. (June 1, 7 p.m. & June 2, 9:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

Henri Georges Clouzot's Inferno  In this documentary, Serge Bromberg investigates the 13 hours of 1964 footage shot by The Wages of Fear and Diabolique director Henri-Georges Clouzot before his heart attack shut down what was already a troubled production. It's like a sketchbook for a new cinema. (June 1, 7 p.m. @ the Harvard Exit)

Secrets of the Tribe  The Yanomami Indians have launched many an anthropologist's career; now director José Padilha's (Bus 174, Elite Squad) documentary studies the "tribe" of intellectuals and academics who are experts on the Yanomami, contrasting their findings with what the Yanomami actually think. (June 1, 7 p.m. & June 2, 4 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema, June 7, 9:15 p.m. @ the Harvard Exit)

Stigmata  First-time Spanish director Adan Aliaga has "hauntingly" translated a graphic novel in which gentle giant Bruno wakes up with stigmata, and it's not exactly the blessing you'd hope. Filmed in black-and-white, so you know it's serious and moody and symbolic. (June 1, 9:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 3, 4:15 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

I Killed My Mother  French-Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan directed this uneven but wickedly funny gay-son-vs.-mom movie when he was just 21. It's as much about him learning to direct as it is a comic coming of age story, so it should be fun for filmsters who like their moms, too. (June 2 & 6, 7 p.m. @ the Egyptian)

Mother Joan of the Angels  On the classics front, this 1961 Polish masterpiece about the 17th-century exorcism of a Mother Superior has no pea-soup vomit to offer, but instead delves into what repression does to people. Which is actually scarier, if you think about it. (June 2, 7 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)...

Coming-of-age flick Skateland is lighter than your typical drama but more serious than a mere comedy.  It occupies that amorphous area between childhood and the adult world, told through a pack of friends in a small East Texas town.  And there's a roller rink, of course.  Skateland has two more screenings at SIFF: today at 2:30 p.m. at the Uptown, and June 6 at the Kirkland Performance Hall.  Yesterday I spoke with the film's writer-director, cinematographer, and editor.

I was surprised to hear about how different the first draft of the Skateland script started out compared to the final film—that it was going to be a comedy about a roller skater trying to qualify for the Moscow Olympics.

Anthony Burns, director: Early early on, [co-writers and producers] Heath and Brandon Freeman had an idea, a comedy about this kid who worked at a roller skating rink who wanted to get into the Olympics.  Obviously, it's a complete fantasy--there's no roller skating in the Olympics, but that was the movie.  And that didn't last very long; we ended up wanting to do a much more serious film.  But that was the initial idea that brought us together, and it evolved really quickly into something totally different.

So did you used to go to roller rinks as a kid?

A:  Everybody did that I grew up with.  In Longview, Texas, where I went to high school, the roller rink was called Skateland.  And a lot of the reactions from people who have seen the film is that they had a Skateland in their hometown too. 

Peter Simonite, cinematographer: There's one in just about every small town. 

A: Lots of people had their first kiss during a lock-in.  Your parents dropped you off and you get to go off and be a kid.  In the early '80s, skating rinks were much more popular than now.  That's where high school kids would go to hang out, play pool, skate, smoke, drink a little underage.  Some skating rinks are still around, but the crowd has changed. It's much younger now.  

Robert Hoffman, editor:  In the film, Skateland as a place represents Ritchie's holding on to his past, having nostalgia for it, not taking responsibility, and not being an adult.  And now Skateland's closing, and so he's got to let go of his past.

A: Skateland closing is a metaphor for things changing. Times are changing, his life is changing.......

An embarrassment of cinematic riches awaits film fest attendees this Memorial Day Weekend, so let's just hop right in, shall we? For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde Cinema  Ace documentarian Chuck Workman serves up a great primer on Underground Cinema, with Anthology Archives curator and filmmaker Mekas functioning as a charming epicenter. Marilyn Brakhage (widow of underground film legend Stan Brakhage) and Workman will be attending. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Wheedle's Groove  Seattle's long-overlooked 1970s funk/soul scene gets some overdue props in this documentary, with everyone from Quincy Jones to Mark Arm to Sir Mix-a-Lot weighing in. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ Everett Performing Arts Center; May 30, 9:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema--the latter screening is sold-out, but rush tickets may still be available)

Farewell  In SIFF's Centerpiece Gala film, an unassuming French engineer working in Moscow gets pulled into big time international espionage, thanks to a high-level comrade disaffected with the course of communism. The spycraft hovers on the edge of untrained sloppiness, infusing the whole endeavor with a growing sense of dread as the consequences of their subterfuge take a toll on their personal lives. The build to the suspenseful finale is a slow burn, but well earned. (May 29, 6:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 31, 3:00 p.m. @ Everett; June 12, 6:30 p.m. @ Uptown)

Cane Toads: The Conquest--in 3D  They're louder, they're fatter, they're wartier, they're peskier...and they're in eye-popping 3D, for God's sake! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ The Neptune)

Restrepo  Described as a non-fiction companion piece to The Hurt Locker, this doc follows the progress of several U.S. soldiers doing battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan's peril-fraught Korengal Valley. (May 28, 6:30 p.m @ Harvard Exit; May 29, 3:45 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Southern District  Director Juan Carlos Valdivia tells a Bolivian Upstairs, Downstairs tale with languid circular shots and a largely amateur cast. The trailer portends a most visually stunning feature. (May 28, 6:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 29, 1:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

The Hedgehog  Cute but imperfect film version of the popular novel about a twelve-year-old French girl with a video camera and a suicide pact with herself, the apartment building's reclusive janitor, and a mysterious new neighbor. [spoiler: attempts to gain gravitas with a surprise death] (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ Uptown; May 30, 4:00 p.m. @ Uptown)

Senior Prom  World premiere of Mountlake Terrace high school student's feature film; take that, Shoreline/Shorecrest lipdubbers! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 1, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)...

Now that SIFF is in full swing, all of us here at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the films shown at the festival this week.

MVB: Hidden Diary is the kind of movie Nicole Kidman would kill to be in, a family-secrets mystery with Catherine Deneuve as mom. Poignant, and filled with hot French women, it's also a take on feminism's before and after. (June 3, 4 p.m. @ Neptune; June 5, 11 a.m. @ Egyptian)

Devil's Town is equal parts brutality and black humor. Absurdist, satirical tour of dysfunctional post-war life in Belgrade. With tennis, hookers, and bunnies. (May 31, 4 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

UK comedy Skeletons gives you something like Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern as psychic detectives, but terrifically warm-hearted. Great performances all around--especially by a giant doughy redhead--and a remarkable score. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ Neptune)

Audrey also liked Hidden Diary, for both the general unresolvedness of the film, and the fact that the protagonist shares her name. Meanwhile, ReGENERATION is a good documentary to get the kids fired up and ready to go, to take an interest in politics and current events, and hopefully change the world for the better. Its high energy is sure to get the youngs engaged; however, despite the film's star power (Ryan Gosling, Talib Kwali, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky), for anyone older than college age, it probably won't help overcome political frustration and cynicism-induced apathy. 

Okay, so we all saw Hidden Diary, and again, you've got two more chances to do so. Take it away, Josh: A discovered cookbook journal found in an abandoned seaside house conjures ghosts, stirs memories, solves repressed mysteries. Catherine Deneuve turns in another solid performance as a guarded matriarch left fragile by her own mother's abrupt and unexplained disappearance. Her own daughter, another emotional mess played by Marie-Josée Croze, seemed suspiciously more flaky when speaking English.

Air Doll felt like a great concept for a melancholy and whimsical short film, but became painful as it inflated to a feature-length two-hour running time. Just as the light comedy and limited plot wear thin, the whole thing takes a disturbing turn for the outlandish, garnering unintended laughs.

The Maldives were an inspired choice to provide a soundtrack for Riders of the Purple Sage, a 1925 silent Western. Though the challenge didn't take them too far out of their comfort zone, they were the main draw for the double header at the Triple Door. Perhaps the swarming attentive waiters caused me to miss a title card or two, but the plot of the film was so incomprehensible that the enthusiastic live score was the only thing holding my attention through the hour-long film, with dozens of lookalike characters, too many identity swaps, and barely explained plot points.

The French Kissers was a cute comedy whose biggest innovation was that average-looking humans were cast in the role of tongue-obsessed teenagers. It doesn't stray too far beyond the geek-gets-girl formula, but balanced unfortunate hair and bad skin with real heart....

Well, at least the weather is cooperating with SIFF's slogan encouraging us to "get inside." Keep programming that miraculous iSIFF, grab a light jacket, and festival onward through the week!

Below are some films of note showing over the next two days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations which cost more. Don't forget, SIFF remains at the Admiral in West Seattle through Thursday, when the baton gets passed to Everett via a Thursday night red carpet gala presentation of Mao's Last Dancer (complete with Kyle Maclachlan update: Maclachlan had to cancel due to illness.).

Hideaway  A heroin-using mother raising her baby with her dead lover's gay brother. Will Francois Ozon ever run out of compellingly depressing characters to study? And will we ever tire of being enraptured by them? (May 27, 7:00 p.m. @ Egyptian; May 29, 1:45 p.m. @ Egyptian) 

Chihuly Fire and Light  Tacoma's wildly successful, though hardly universally adored, glassmaster considers adding neon to his portfolio. The documentary profiles his creative process, including the use of hundreds of glassblowers to execute his visions. The world premiere of Peter West's feature film is sure to be well-attended if not especially critical. (May 26, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; May 29, 1:00 p.m. @ Everett)

When We Leave  In Berlin, tradition and familial obligations force a Turkish woman back into a horrible marriage. One of those hefty immigrant tales of necessary child abandonment that make film festivals famous. (May 27, 6:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 29, 4:00 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

Amplified Seattle  The documentary counterpart to Lynn Shelton's upcoming set-in-Seattle web series $5 Cover. John Jeffcoat profiles thirteen Seattle bands in five-minute increments, giving you the backstories of some of the city's best and brightest noisemakers. (May 22, 2:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 26, 9:15 p.m. @ Neptune)

Turtle, the Incredible Journey  A touch of adorability in the form of a baby turtle as a chaser to some of the heavier festival fare. But it's not all unicorns and rainbows thanks to the films acknowledgment of the unpleasant effects of water pollution and commercial fishing. (May 26, 7:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 29, 11:30 a.m. @ Pacific Place)

Skeletons  British metaphysical comedy in the vein of last year's Cold Souls, about a service to remove emotional skeletons from metaphorical closets. (May 26, 9:15 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ the Neptune)

The Trotsky  An entry in the always entertaining Quebecois revolutionary teen humor genre, this one stars perpetually gawky out-of-her-league Jay Baruchel in the title role. (May 27, 6:30 p.m. @ Neptune; May 29, 11:00 a.m. @ Egyptian; May 31, 5:30 p.m. @ Everett)...

Laura Poitras' film The Oath won a documentary award at Sundance for its portrayal of two men's involvement in the War on Terror: Abu Jandal, a Yemeni taxi driver who was Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard, and his brother-in-law, Salim Hamdan, Bin Laden's driver who you might know from a little court case called Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. 

Poitras explores the divergent roads these men's lives took through interviews with the cagey Jandal, whose political views changed post-9/11, and Hamdan's letters written from Guantanamo Bay. The film's final SIFF screening is today at SIFF Cinema at 4:30 p.m., but don't worry, The Oath will be back in town for a week at the Northwest Film Forum in June. I spoke with Laura yesterday, and here's part one of that interview. The rest will run before the NWFF screenings.

How did you meet Abu Jandal in the first place?  I know you were in Yemen, but did you just get in his taxi? 

It's not that good of a story, but it was by accident. I was asked if I wanted to meet Hamdan's family, and I said sure, expecting it would be his wife and kids, and it was also Abu Jandal. I had my camera on me and I turned it on. He was talking to a lawyer and I filmed it. It doesn't happen every day that you meet someone who has so much charisma. It was jawdropping. I mean, how is it possible that I'm sitting in a room with this guy and he drives a taxi cab? Why is this guy free and all those other guys aren't?

Jandal is such an interesting character. At times it's difficult to read him--how much of what he's saying is true, how much is boasting, how much is just propaganda. How did you negotiate that territory?

That was the challenge of working with somebody who is so trained, so charismatic, so smart, and so savvy. So that became really what the story's about: this character where you think you get him and then you're given more information and you understand him differently. Jonathan Oppenheim, the editor, and I just calibrated what we perceived to be the viewer's reaction to him. We knew that there would be whole waves of subtext of "Holy shit! Who is this guy, what is he doing free, and what is she doing with him?" And then there's questions of "Is he recruiting? Is this propaganda? What's his agenda?"...

 SIFF has made it through its first hard-partying weekend. By now your iSIFF skills should be warmed up with festival picks and you should be regaining some of the line zen that will keep you sane throughout the festival.   

With that in mind, let's take a look at some films of note showing over the next two days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations which cost more. Don't forget, just for water taxiing film fans, SIFF stays in West Seattle at the Admiral Theater through Thursday!

Riders of the Purple Sage  Seattle's nine-piece northwest americana rockers the Maldives perform an original soundtrack for Tom Mix's silent 1925 take on Zane Grey's novel. These live rock performances to archival classics are consistently among the best and most original events presented during the film festival. This one is at the Triple Door; so it includes the benefit of being able to have cocktails delivered while a band of brothers rocks away at dramatic cowboy music. Don't miss it! (May 25, 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. @ Triple Door)

ReGeneration sees its world premiere in Seattle. Ryan Gosling narrates Phillip Montgomery's documentary that considers the effects of corporate media on youth activism and disaffection. (May 24, 6:30 p.m. @ Egyptian; May 26, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Mount St. Elias  A pair of Austrian adventures scale Alaska's 18,000 foot peak for the thrill of skiing down, capturing a world record and thrilling footage along the way. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 27, 4:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 31, 8:30 p.m. @ Everett)

The French Kissers  French comic-book-writer-turned-director Riad Sattouf brings us French teens in search of French kisses. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Admiral; May 26, 4:15 p.m. @ Neptune)

The Freebie opens with a dinner party that raises the possibility of seeing Sean Nelson in drag. Unfortunately it never delivers on that promise. Within this same scene, though, you can also predict the unhappy course of the the sexual experiment posed by wide-eyed wishy-washy husband Dax Shepard. It doesn't take much longer to realize that the people in this film get exactly what they deserve. (May 25, 4:30 p.m. @ Egyptian)

How Sex Sold Hollywood  This archival presentation by Seattle U Professor James Forsher covers various aspects of onscreen sexuality, Hays-Code era-style. (May 25, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

The Chef of South Polar  The outpost may be isolating and set in an unforgiving climate, but at least the meals are fancy. Based on Jun Nishimura's autobiographical novel. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 26, 6:30 p.m. @ Admiral)...

Now that SIFF is in full swing, all of us here at The SunBreak weighed in with our picks and pans of the festival thus far.

Josh: Opening night film The Extra Man made up for what felt like overlong running time for the very light plotting with enough funny moments and good/weird performances to sustain the big audience until the very crowded gala. I'd say that anyone who says nothing good ever comes of MTV hasn't seen John Jeffcoat's generous and human document of Seattle's music, Amplified. The city looks beautiful through a Canon 5D Mark II in this diverse crash course in the backstories, motivations, and personal histories of fourteen wide-ranging talents.  (screening May 26, 9:15 p.m. @ the Neptune)

In Cyrus, the Duplasses go a bit mainstream, yet retain the quirky appeal from their lofi filmmaking roots. Marissa Tomei's character would be too perfect for John C. Reilly's barely rebounding divorcee if it wasn't for her meddling codependent son (screening today, 4:15 p.m. @ the Neptune). In Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, prejudice, mistaken intentions, and collegiate ineptitude make for a gory, hilarious, and heartwarming flick in desperate need of US distribution.

Tony did not enjoy The Extra Man as much as Josh: While it showcases a highly entertaining comic performance by Kevin Kline, who's aging with the rascally grace of a David Niven, in the end, the movie's too vaguely-sketched to stick to your ribs. The Extra Man sure feels like the first saved project on that Indie Comedy Maker 1.0 Program for Windows and Mac. 

Friday night, I took in the inaugural Midnight Adrenaline entry, Survival of the Dead, the sixth zombie opus from George Romero. I'll defend the first four Romero Living Dead features to my dying breath (haven't seen the fifth, Diary of the Dead, yet), but this one falls pretty damned short.

Seth: I saw The Crab Trap from Colombia. Made me nostalgic for South America...slow, ponderous, lots of characters and community strife. Kind of John Sayles-y (screening today, 4:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place).

Audrey: The Milk of Sorrow was well-shot, but kinda a downer, as you might expect from the title.  I had a lot of fun with restaurant comedy of errors Soul Kitchen, and I Am Love was just as lush and well-acted as you might expect (screening May 28, 9:30 p.m. @ Everett Performing Arts Center), but probably my favorite film so far was The Concert (screening May 28, 7 p.m. @ Everett Performing Arts Center). It's a pretty basic story--of course the ragtag group of Russian musicians trying to pass themselves off as the Bolshoi Orchestra will manage to pull it off--but director Radu Mihaileanu still infuses the film with sly wit, unexpected surprises, and music that says more than words. Also highly recommended for moms. ...