One of the great things about a retrospective of a great director’s works such as the one we’re in the midst of enjoying with this Seattle Hou program is finding previously unsuspected connections between the films. Millennium Mambo, released in 2001 and Hou’s first to be theatrically distributed in the US, is his first film set entirely (well, almost) in the contemporary world since Daughter of the Nile, and like that film it tends to be passed over in favor of more ostensibly serious works (which also, perhaps not coincidentally, have male protagonists). A chronicle of a young woman in a bad relationship struggling to get by in the trancelike neon club haze of Taipei, the film is told in voiceover from ten years in the future, as Shu Qi’s Vicky looks back on her life in a tangled chronology of memories, impressions, dreams and failures. There doesn’t appear to be a definitive order of events, and how one chooses to place the film’s final scene in the timeline goes a long way toward determining if you see the film as ultimately hopeful or depressing.
Day: March 27, 2015
Friday March 27 – Thursday April 2
Featured Film:
The Seattle Hou Hsiao-hsien Retrospective, Part 2
“The film event of the year” retrospective of the great Taiwanese director continues this week with four more films at three different venues across town, with two on film and two on video (and free!). Our Preview.
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Playing This Week:
What We Do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi) Fri-Sat Only Our Preview
Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) Fri-Weds
Shrek (Vicky Jenson & Andrew Adamson, 2001) Fri-Weds
Dune (David Lynch, 1984) Thurs Only
It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) Fri-Thurs
Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, 1958) Sun Only
Giant (George Stevens, 1956) Sat Only
Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore) Fri-Thurs
What We Do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi) Fri-Thurs Our Preview
’71 (Yann Demange) Fri-Thurs
It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) Fri-Thurs
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine (Michele Josue) Tues Only
Spring (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead) Fri-Thurs
Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2001) Sat Only 35mm Our Review
Saturday Secret Matinee (The Sprocket Society) Sat Only
Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams Vol. 3 w/ the Best of Felt-A-Thon Sun Only
EXcinema presents Roger Beebe Sun Only
Serena (Susanne Bier) Fri-Thurs
Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke) Fri-Thurs
Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore) Fri-Thurs
Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas:
Jill (Radha Krishna) Fri-Thurs in Telugu with no subtitles
Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, 1958) Sun Only
’71 (Yann Demange) Fri-Thurs
It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) Fri-Thurs
Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1995) Fri Only 35mm, w/Intro
VHSEX 3 Fri Only
Films for One to Eight Projectors: Multi-Projector Experiments by Roger Beebe Sat Only 16mm w/Director
Sabbatical (Brandan Colvin) Sun Only w/Director
Lost & Love (Peng Sanyuan) Fri-Thurs
That Thing Called Tadhana (Antoinette Jadaone) Fri-Thurs
The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985) Tues Only
The African Queen (John Huston, 1951) Fri-Sun
Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) Fri-Thurs
What We Do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi) Fri-Thurs Our Preview
It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) Fri-Thurs
Scarecrow Video Screening Lounge:
Seattle Screen Scene 
