Day: September 28, 2017

Friday September 29 – Thursday October 5

~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The Vancouver International Film Festival

Once again we at Seattle Screen Scene are headed north for the Vancouver Film Festival. Anticipated highlights include: Abbas Kiarostami’s 24 Frames, Hong Sangsoo’s Claire’s Camera, Agnès Varda’s Faces Places, Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl, Arnaud Desplechin’s Ismael’s Ghosts, Ben Russell’s Good Luck, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Killing of a Sacred Deer, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, Alex Ross Perry’s Golden Exits, Ruben Östlund’s The Square and Wilson Yip’s SPL3: Paradox, alongside the one of the best collections of Asian cinema to be found in any Western film festival and the finest in cutting-edge Canadian film.

Playing This Week:

Admiral Theatre:

Rooted in Peace (Greg Reitman) Mon Only

AMC Alderwood:

Tangled (Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, 2010) Fri-Thurs
Judwaa 2 (David Dhawan) Fri-Thurs
Brad’s Status (Mike White) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) Fri-Weds
The Fifth Element (Steve Barron, 1990) Fri-Weds Our Review

Cinerama:

Blade Runner: Final Cut (Ridley Scott, 1982) Fri-Weds

SIFF Egyptian:

Pearl Jam: Let’s Play Two (Danny Clinch) Fri-Weds

Century Federal Way:

Nikka Zaildar 2 (Simerjit Singh) Fri-Thurs
The Tingler (William Castle, 1959) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Columbus (Kogonada) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Midwife (Martin Provost) Fri-Thurs
Menashe (Joshua Z. Weinstein) Fri-Thurs
The Big Sick (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Viceroy’s House (Gurinder Chadha) Fri-Thurs
Lemon (Janicza Bravo) Sat Only
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge (Marie Noëlle) Tues Only
Tacoma Film Festival Starts Thurs Full Program

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Super Dark Times (Kevin Phillips) Fri-Thurs
The Search for Weng Weng (Andrew Leavold) Tues Only

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Stronger (David Gordon Green) Fri-Thurs
Judwaa 2 (David Dhawan) Fri-Thurs
Jai Lava Kusa (K. S. Ravindra) Fri-Thurs
Mahanubhavudu (Maruthi) Fri-Thurs
Spyder (A.R. Murugadoss) Fri-Thurs In Tamil & Telugu, Check Listings
The Tingler (William Castle, 1959) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Chasing the Dragon (Wong Jing & Jason Kwan) Fri-Thurs
Brad’s Status (Mike White) Fri-Thurs
Judwaa 2 (David Dhawan) Fri-Thurs
Spyder (A.R. Murugadoss) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Local Sightings Film Festival Fri & Sat Only Full Program
Danger Diva (Robert McGinley) Fri Only
Baywitch presents MIPoPS (Various) Sat Only Live Soundtrack
Unrest (Jennifer Brea) Starts Weds

AMC Pacific Place:

Tangled (Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, 2010) Fri-Thurs
Stronger (David Gordon Green) Fri-Thurs
Never Say Die (Yang Song & Chiyu Zhang) Fri-Thurs
Victoria & Abdul (Stephen Frears) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Judwaa 2 (David Dhawan) Fri-Thurs
Spyder (A.R. Murugadoss) Fri-Thurs
Til Death Do Us Part (Chris Stokes) Fri-Thurs
Brad’s Status (Mike White) Fri-Thurs
Pearl Jam: Let’s Play Two (Danny Clinch) Tues Only

AMC Seattle:

The Big Sick (Michael Showalter) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Stronger (David Gordon Green) Fri-Thurs
Brad’s Status (Mike White) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Lured (Douglas Sirk, 1947) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

Mattress Men (Colm Quinn) Sat Only
Irish Shorts Program 1 (Various) Sat Only
Emerald City (Colin Broderick) Sat Only
Song of Granite (Pat Collins) Sun Only
Irish Shorts Program 2 (Various) Sun Only
In The Name of Peace: John Hume in America (Maurice Fitzpatrick) Sun Only

AMC Southcenter:

Tangled (Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, 2010) Fri-Thurs
Stronger (David Gordon Green) Fri-Thurs
Til Death Do Us Part (Chris Stokes) Fri-Thurs

Regal Thornton Place:

Stronger (David Gordon Green) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Uptown:

Menashe (Joshua Z. Weinstein) Fri-Thurs
French Cinema Now Fri-Thurs Full Program
Pearl Jam: Let’s Play Two (Danny Clinch) Thurs Only

Varsity Theatre:

The Unknown Girl (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Columbus (Kogonada) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Manhattan Short Film Festival (Various) Fri Only

In Wide Release:

Mother! (Darren Aronofsky) Our Review
Wind River (Taylor Sheridan) Our Review

mother! (2017, Darren Aronofsky)

~ Ryan Swen ~ 1 Comment

paint

Give credit where it is due: it is rare to find any studio film this brazenly and recklessly self-confident in its own twisted and sick artistry, especially when carried out to the logical extremities of the subject matter, both literal and allegorical, without an iota of care for good taste. To be clear, mother! is a horrifically awful film, dull when it isn’t completely repugnant and so blatantly up its own ass that it becomes almost bemusing in its complete arrogance. But it is fascinating nonetheless, not the least because it has divided critical opinion so sharply and along entirely unexpected battle lines, but because the movie has somehow, through some alchemical combination of intention and luck on the part of Darren Aronofsky, managed to be both asininely clear and completely opaque in the ways it can and has been interpreted.

Perhaps the establishment of a film’s premise is a fool’s errand for a film like mother!, but it is useful nonetheless. The movie is centered around a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) married to a slightly older acclaimed poet (Javier Bardem) living in a house seemingly in the middle of nowhere – indeed, the woman, and by proxy the film, never leaves the house. He is busy grappling with a bout of writer’s block, while she is renovating and rebuilding the house after a fire that occurred in the house – which was the husband’s before he met his wife – an unspecified number of years ago. Their fairly idyllic existence is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of an ailing doctor (Ed Harris) and his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), who ingratiate themselves into the household by praising the work of the husband despite the protestations of the wife. From there, multiple turns occur, including a brief interlude before the movie culminates in a truly horrendous and apocalyptic third act free from any sense of coherent logic or structure, which will not be spoiled in this review.

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