Featured Film:

Mountains May Depart at the SIFF Film Center

We didn’t do a poll of our favorite films of 2016 so far, rather just a listing of individual ballots. But if we did, Jia Zhangke’s epic melodrama would have won easily. A story of a love triangle and a family told in three separate sections (1999, 2014, 2025). In the first, Zhao Tao plays the center of a love triangle with a rich man and a poor man. In the second, she’s come to regret her choice as she reconnects with her young son, now living with his father and step-mother in Shanghai. In the third, the boy, now a young man living in Australia, has forgotten both his homeland and his mother, and embarks on a precarious affair with his teacher, Sylvia Chang. We covered it extensively at last year’s Vancouver Film Festival, with reviews by me and Neil Bahadur and discussion of the film on the VIFF Wrap-Up episode of The George Sanders Show.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986) Fri-Sun, Tues
Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986) Fri-Sun, Tues-Weds
Coffy (Jack Hill, 1973) Weds Only Our Podcast 
Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) Thurs Only

SIFF Egyptian:

The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Century Federal Way:

Sardaarji 2 (Rohit Jugraj Chauhan) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
Dough (John Goldschmidt) Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973) Sat, Tues & Weds Only Our Review 
Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita, 1973) Fri-Sun, Tues & Thurs Our Review 
Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance (Toshiya Fujita, 1974) Fri-Sun, Weds
SexWorld (Anthony Spinelli, 1977) Thurs Only

Landmark Guild 45th:

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard) Fri-Thurs
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs
Tickled (David Farrier & Dylan Reeve) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Rojulu Marayi (Murali Krishna Mudidani) Fri-Thurs
Gentleman (Mohan Krishna Indraganti) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Three Wise Cousins (Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead (Billy Woodberry) Fri & Sat Only
PALMS Starts Thurs

AMC Loews Oak Tree:

The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn) Fri-Thurs Our Review

AMC Pacific Place:

No One’s Life is Easy (Kim Jae-yung) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Seattle Art Museum:

Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Thurs Only

Landmark Seven Gables:

Wiener-Dog (Todd Solondz) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
An Evening with Steve De Jarnatt: Miracle Mile and Cherry 2000 Weds Only

Sundance Cinemas:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs
Buddymoon (Alex Simmons) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Swiss Army Man (Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) Our Review