Day: January 30, 2015

January 30th – February 5th

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night at the SIFF Cinema Uptown
Beatlemania hits the SIFF Uptown with four “Deconstructions” of classic albums, including Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and The White Album, along with screenings of Richard Lester’s 1964 classic A Hard Day’s Night. Goo-goo-ga-joob. Our Preview.
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Playing This Week:

Central Cinema:

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) Fri-Sat, Mon-Wed
Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola, 2003) Fri-Wed

SIFF Cinema Egyptian:

Reefer Madness (Louis J. Gasnier, 1936) Fri Midnight
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975) Sat Midnight

Century Federal Way:

Eh Janam Tumhare Lekhe (Harjit Singh) Fri-Thurs
Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968) Sun Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Baby (Neeraj Pandey) Fri-Thurs
Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968) Sun Only

Grand Cinema:

Food Chains (Sanjay Rawal) Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

When Evening Falls on Bucharest, or Metabolism (Corneliu Porumboiu) Fri-Thurs
Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991) Fri & Sat Our Preview.
Saturday Secret Matinee (The Sprocket Society) Sat only

Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas:

Baby (Neeraj Panday) Fri-Thurs
Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968) Sun Only

Northwest Film Forum:

Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2015 Program Details
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Ridley Scott, 1982/2007) Mon Only – 35mm
The Guitar Mongoloid (Ruben Östlund, 2004) Thurs Only – 35mm

Regal Parkway Plaza:

The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin (Wenn V. Deramas) Fri-Thurs

Scarecrow Video Screening Lounge:

Pariah (Dee Rees, 2011) Sun Only
The Jerk (Carl Reiner, 1979) Mon Only
Corpse Bride (Tim Burton & Mike Johnson, 2005) Tues Only
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007) Weds Only
House of the Long Shadows (Pete Walker, 1983) Thurs Only

Seattle Art Museum:

Fellini Satyricon (Federico Fellini, 1969) Thurs Only – 35mm

Landmark Seven Gables:

Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts  Fri-Thurs
Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Amira & Sam (Sean Mullin) Fri-Thurs
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour) Fri-Sun
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (Mary Dore) Fri-Sun
National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman) Mon Only Our Preview.

Sundance Cinemas Seattle:

Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) Fri-Thurs
Match (Stephen Belber) Fri-Thurs
Paganini: the Devil’s Violinist (Bernard Rose) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) Fri-Thurs
A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, 1964) Sat-Sun Only Our Preview.
Deconstructing the Beatles Program Details
Frozen Sing-Along (Jennifer Lee, 2013) Sat-Sun Only
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (Mary Dore) Mon-Thurs
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour) Mon-Thurs
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, 1936) Tues Only

National Gallery

~ Sean Gilman

national-gallery

Following a successful two-week run at the Northwest Film Forum late last year, SIFF is bringing Frederick Wiseman’s latest documentary, National Gallery back for one Monday night this week as part of their Recent Raves series. At about three hours long, Gallery is only a medium length Wiseman film, a look at the venerable British art gallery, the paintings within it, the people that run it and the public that visits it. The 85 year old filmmaker is probably more well-known for his examinations of public institutions in films like Welfare (1975), Titicut Follies (1967), At Berkeley (2013) or High School (1968, followed by a sequel in 1994), but he’s also one of cinema’s great chroniclers of art as work. His dance films (Ballet, 1995; La danse, 2009; and Crazy Horse, 2011) are astounding, and, along with 2010’s Boxing Gym, form with National Gallery as expansive a look at the business, craft and sheer effort that goes into the presentation of art to an audience. Like those other films, Gallery is divided into a series of segments highlighting different aspects of the institution: the tour guides explaining a work or an artist; the craftsmen and women building frames, gallery spaces, designing and testing lighting; restorers at work fixing paintings damaged by time; and administrators debating the best ways to persevere the museums brand and grow its audience. The segments are broken up by shorter series of shots, much like the pillow shots of a Yasujiro Ozu film, where we get to look at the paintings and, as interestingly perhaps, the faces of the people as they look at the paintings. 19th Century landscape painter JMW Turner, himself the subject of a fine biopic directed by Mike Leigh starring Timothy Spall, is one of the featured artists. That film, Mr. Turner, is currently playing at the Sundance Cinemas. The pair would make for an excellent, if lengthy, cross-town double feature.

National Gallery plays at the Grand Cinema on Tuesday, March 3rd.

A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, 1964)

~ Michael Strenski

beatles bow

Which Beatle came up with the title A Hard Day’s Night? Which Beatle was later cast in such meaty roles as Merlin the Magician, The Pope, and Frank Zappa? Which Beatle never wrote a bad song while a member of the band? Which Beatle is the true lead of A Hard Day’s Night?

Bingo, it’s all Ringo.

Ringo-bashing has been a pastime for so long that it’s no longer considered contrary and hip to be a staunch defender of the man. No matter, I will fight for Ringo’s honor until he garners the respect he truly deserves, not only for his contributions to the band but for his general, all-around awesomeness. All of this malarkey against Richard Starkey is baseless and unfair. He is a good drummer. He is hilarious. He is a downright cool rock ‘n’ roll star. There is no better example of Ringo’s worth than the entirety of A Hard Day’s Night.  Continue reading “A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, 1964)” →