Month: November 2017

Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990) Fri-Mon
Better Off Dead (Savage Steve Holland, 1985) Fri-Mon

The Disaster Artist (James Franco) Fri-Thurs

The Swindlers (Jang Chang-won) Fri-Thurs
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Sun & Weds Only

Novitiate (Margaret Betts) Fri-Thurs
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Bill Nye: Science Guy (David Alvarado & Jason Sussberg) Fri-Thurs
Tragedy Girls (Tyler MacIntyre) Sat Only
Te Ata (Nathan Frankowski) Tues Only

Free Lunch Society (Christian Tod) Fri-Thurs
The Nightmare (Akiz) Fri-Thurs

Aval (Gruham) (U. Milind Rau) Fri-Thurs In Tamil or Telugu, Check Showtimes
Jawaan (B. V. S. Ravi) Fri-Thurs
Firangi (Rajiv Dhingra) Fri-Thurs
Oxygen (Jyothi Krishna) Fri-Thurs
Mental Madhilo (Vivek Athreya) Fri-Thurs
White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954) Sun & Weds Only

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Explosion (Chang Zheng) Fri-Thurs
Daisy Winters (Beth LaMure) Fri-Thurs
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
My Friend Dahmer (Marc Meyers) Fri-Thurs
A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, 1983) Sat Only

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Fri Only Live Score
La chinoise (jean-Luc Godard, 1967) Sat & Sun Only
Bruk Out! A Dancehall Queen Documentary (Cori McKenna) Sat Only
Seasonal Songs (Nathaniel Dorsky) Weds & Thurs Only Two Different Programs, 16mm, Director in Attendance
All the Colors of the Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972) Weds Only

Jane (Brett Morgen) Fri-Thurs
Thiruttu Payale 2 (Susi Ganeshan) Fri-Thurs
Daisy Winters (Beth LaMure) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) Thurs Only

AMC Seattle:

Thelma (Joachim Trier) Fri-Thurs
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs

Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990) Fri-Sun
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982) Fri-Sun
8 Women (François Ozon, 2002) Weds Only

A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, 1983) Sat Only
Black Clover (Tatsuya Yoshihara) Weds & Next Sat & Sun Only Subtitled Monday

SIFF Uptown:

Jane (Brett Morgen) Fri-Thurs
The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Petersen, 1984) Weds Only

Varsity Theatre:

The Square (Ruben Östlund) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Our Review
Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Our Review

Friday November 24 – Thursday November 30

November 24, 2017November 30, 2017 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Lady Bird in Limited Release

I still haven’t seen any of the big art house movies, including Lady Bird. And I’m running late this week because of the holiday, so I’m going to stick with this, now expanded to a few more theatres around the Sound. Although it should be noted that Takashi Miike’s Blade of the Immortal is now in its fourth week at the venerable single-screen theatre, so you should probably check it out. Here’s Ryan on Lady Bird: A24 continues their remarkable streak of films that played at the New York Film Festival and focus on young people with Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut Lady Bird. While it has clear strands of DNA from Gerwig’s prior great films co-written with Noah Baumbach, the movie possesses a easy sprightliness all its own. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the eponymous high school student over her senior year as she navigates filial, romantic, and platonic relationships in the staid environs of Sacramento, it is one of the sweetest and most deeply felt films of the year.

Playing This Week:

AMC Loews Alderwood:

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) Fri-Tues
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) Fri-Tues

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Monday
Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003) Sun & Weds Only

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Jane (Brett Morgen) Fri-Thurs
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Bugs (Andreas Johnsen) Tues Only
Of Race and Reconciliation Thurs Only Free Screening
Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life (Bill Finnegan) Thurs Only

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) Fri-Sun, Tues & Thurs
The Light of the Moon (Jessica M. Thompson) Fri-Thurs
Wheels of Terror (Christopher Cain) Sat Only VHS

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Tumhari Sulu (Suresh Triveni) Fri-Thurs
Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (Vinoth) Fri-Thurs
Mental Madhilo (Vivek Athreya) Fri-Thurs
Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Monday
Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003) Sun & Weds Only

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Explosion (Chang Zheng) Fri-Thurs
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Novitiate (Margaret Betts) Fri-Thurs
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
My Friend Dahmer (Marc Meyers) Fri-Thurs
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Monday

We the Workers (Wenhai Huang) Fri-Sun
Escapes (Michael Almereyda) Fri-Sun Our Review
Brimstone & Glory (Viktor Jakovleski) Sat Only
Shadowman (Oren Jacoby) Weds & Thurs Only
Don’t Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972) Weds Only
The Illinois Parables (Deborah Stratman) Thurs Only 16mm

AMC Oak Tree:

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Hook (Steven Spielberg, 1991) Fri-Sun
Bill Nye: Science Guy (David Alvarado & Jason Sussberg) Thurs Only

AMC Southcenter:

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Continue reading “The 2017 Seattle Romanian Film Festival [TWO LOTTERY TICKETS, SIERANEVADA, SCARRED HEARTS]” →

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Monday

SIFF Uptown:

The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey) Fri-Thurs
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Square (Ruben Östlund) Fri-Thurs
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs

Varsity Theatre:

Novitiate (Margaret Betts) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Our Review

The 2017 Seattle Romanian Film Festival [TWO LOTTERY TICKETS, SIERANEVADA, SCARRED HEARTS]

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 ~ Ryan Swen

car

The unexpected programming highlight of the fall 2017 slate in Seattle for me has been the fourth edition of the Romanian Film Festival at Seattle, which took place this past weekend at SIFF Uptown. This perhaps isn’t the biggest surprise in the world, as the Romanian New Wave has been one of the most exciting, motivated filmmaking movements of this century, but as far as I can tell, last year’s selection was roughly on the same level as most other country-specific festivals in this city. But with this year, the festival managed to gather, among other movies, three immensely exciting and worthwhile films, all without stateside distribution and from three directors that span the gamut, from Romanian New Wave old guard to venerated festival regular to even semi-subversive newcomer.

The latter filmmaker is Paul Negoescu, who has a small but passionate following on the basis of his extraordinary, incredibly low-key debut A Month in Thailand from 2012. His follow-up is the opening gala selection Two Lottery Tickets, a straightforward and totally hilarious comedy. While the previous film side-stepped much of the conventions that have codified the Romanian New Wave – the crushing nature of bureaucracy and the police, a single-minded pursuit of a goal, the need for money – this one manages to take on many of these DNA strands without sacrificing the wry warmness that suffused his first film, even as it moves from a late Dardennes-esque door-to-door approach to the road movie. Concerning a group of three hapless friends who lose a lottery ticket worth six million euros and embark upon a farcical journey to take it back from two thugs they believe have stolen it, Negoescu’s film manages to interweave in genuine emotional subplots that augment rather than distract from the humor. And there is a great deal of comedy here, including a handful of totally sublime setpieces and even more deadpan one-liners, all pulled off in well-composed static shots.

Last Flag Flying (2017, Richard Linklater)

November 16, 2017December 13, 2017 ~ Ryan Swen ~ 1 Comment

NYC

Richard Linklater has cultivated a career based on two slightly clashing recurring interests: continual experimentation with the passing of time on film, and a love for the outsider and wanderer. As a result, Last Flag Flying is something of an anomaly because of its deceptively straightforward nature in the context of his oeuvre. A spiritual to Hal Ashby’s seminal The Last Detail co-written by the original novelist, the movie is at first glance a standard Iraq War drama. But this is first-and-foremost a Richard Linklater film, and through the lengthy, considered conversations that form its backbone the catharsis is generated naturally and truthfully.

I should note at this point that I haven’t seen the ostensible predecessor to Last Flag Flying, and while there are many seeming allusions to events that would logically have happened in The Last Detail, most of the references are apparently fashioned for the film or the novel it’s based on, and not the prior sources: the character names have been changed, their military branch has been altered from the Navy to the Marines, etc.

Continue reading “Last Flag Flying (2017, Richard Linklater)” →

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017, Martin McDonagh)

November 16, 2017December 13, 2017 ~ Ryan Swen ~ 1 Comment

sheriff

Discussing a film’s “timeliness,” regardless of what cultural and political climate it was conceived and produced under, is typically a foolhardy errand, prone to improperly deconstructing its complexities into a simple, digestible message or moral. And while these issues with the approach are only slightly less problematic when applied to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, it’s hard to ignore the litany of long-delayed outrages that have arisen in between the movie’s premiere and release, beginning with the well-judged withdrawal from Fantastic Fest and continuing with the (at least temporary) downfalls of Weinstein, Spacey, etc. With these events in mind, it’s tempting to take the movie as a straightforward condemnation of sexual assault and the indifference with which it was too long received. However, for better and for worse, the film is concerned with a more all-encompassing and thorny critique of American heartland culture, with equal parts finesse and head-thumping obviousness.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri‘s premise is relatively simple, concerning Mildred Hayes’s (Frances McDormand) attempts to find the man who raped and murdered her daughter seven months prior. At the moment the film begins, the efforts on the part of the town and the police department have come to a standstill. In a ploy to draw attention to the case, Mildred rents the eponymous billboards that point the finger, in bold black text surrounded by red, at Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the head sheriff in a losing battle with pancreatic cancer. This in turn sets off a torrent of outrage directed at Mildred, triggering a shocking spiral of seething hatred and scorn in the small town.

Continue reading “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017, Martin McDonagh)” →

Friday November 17 – Thursday November 23

November 16, 2017November 24, 2017 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Lady Bird in Limited Release

I haven’t seen any of the big new movies out this week (Last Flag Flying, Three Billboards, Thirst Street, The Work), but the one I most want to see is Lady Bird. Ryan’s seen it though, and here’s what he has to say: A24 continues their remarkable streak of films that played at the New York Film Festival and focus on young people with Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut Lady Bird. While it has clear strands of DNA from Gerwig’s prior great films co-written with Noah Baumbach, the movie possesses a easy sprightliness all its own. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the eponymous high school student over her senior year as she navigates filial, romantic, and platonic relationships in the staid environs of Sacramento, it is one of the sweetest and most deeply felt films of the year. It’s playing now at the Egyptian, Lincoln Square, Thornton Place and the Seattle 10, which used to be the Metro and probably should be again.

Playing This Week:

Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984) Fri-Tues
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (John Hughes, 1987) Fri-Tues

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Rudy (David Anspaugh, 1993) Sun & Weds Only

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Jane (Brett Morgen) Fri-Thurs
Rise of the Guardians (Peter Ramsey, 2012) Sat Only Free Screening
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Sat Only
Trophy (Shaul Schwarz & Christina Clusiau) Tues Only

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) Fri-Mon
Bobbi Jene (Elvira Lind) Fri-Weds

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Tumhari Sulu (Suresh Triveni) Fri-Thurs
Khakee/Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (Vinoth) Fri-Thurs In Tamil or Telugu, Check Listings

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Novitiate (Margaret Betts) Fri-Thurs
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
My Friend Dahmer (Marc Meyers) Fri-Thurs
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Thirst Street (Nathan Silver) Fri-Sun
KINOFEST Seattle 2017 Fri-Sun Full Program
Brimstone & Glory (Viktor Jakovleski) Sat & Sun Only
The Problem with Apu (Michael Melamedoff) Sun Only Creator & Star in Attendance
The Work (Jairus McLeary & Gethin Aldous) Weds Only
The Laughing Woman (Piero Schivazappa, 1969) Weds Only 35mm

AMC Oak Tree:

Tumhari Sulu (Suresh Triveni) Fri-Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Qarib Qarib Single (Tanuja Chandra) Fri-Thurs
Tumhari Sulu (Suresh Triveni) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

Novitiate (Margaret Betts) Fri-Thurs
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Bill Nye: Science Guy (David Alvarado & Jason Sussberg) Fri-Thurs
Magic Mike XXL (gregory Jacobs, 2015) Sat Only Dissection w/Courtney Sheehan

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review

SIFF Uptown:

Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Square (Ruben Östlund) Fri-Thurs
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Romanian Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Our Review

Friday November 10 – Thursday November 16

November 10, 2017November 16, 2017 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

120 Beats per Minute at the AMC Seattle and Faces Places at the SIFF Film Center

Two of the very best movies of 2017 open this week on single screens in Seattle. Robin Campillo’s 120 Beats per Minute (BPM) is the story of the Paris branch of ACT UP during the early 90s, an expert melding of suspenseful political filmmaking with personal romance and tragedy. Faces Places, by venerable New Wave icon Agnès Varda and ambiguous photographer JR is the year’s best best buddy comedy and probably the nicest movie of the year too, as the two travel around France making large pictures of the people they meet. It’s also the 2017 movie most likely to make you want to punch Jean-Luc Godard in the nose. Taken together, these two French films make a compelling argument that European Cinema is not, in fact, dead. On the other hand, Palme d’Or winner The Square opens too this week at the Uptown and the Lincoln Square.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

This is Spinal Tap (Marty DiBergi, 1984) Sat Only Our Review

Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999) Fri, Sat & Mon

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Sardar Mohammad (Harry Bhatti) Fri-Thurs
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Sun & Weds Only Our Review

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Jane (Brett Morgen) Fri-Thurs
78/52 (Alexandre O. Philippe) Sat Only
Boston (Jon Dunham) Tues Only
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) Weds Only
Demain (Cyril Dion & Melanie Laurent) Thurs Only

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) Fri-Mon, Weds-Thurs
Mansfield 66/67 (Todd Hughes & P. David Ebersole) Fri-Thurs
Alternative Views (John Behrens, 2014) Tues Only

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
The Square (Ruben Östlund) Fri-Thurs
Golmaal Again!!! (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs
Secret Superstar (Advait Chandan) Fri-Thurs
PSV Garuda Vega 126.18M (Praveen Sattaru) Fri-Thurs
Qarib Qarib Single (Tanuja Chandra) Fri-Thurs
C/O Surya (Suseenthiran) Fri-Thurs
Ittefaq (Abhay Chopra) Fri-Thurs
Dayavittu Gamanisi (Rohit Padaki) Sun Only
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Sun & Weds Only Our Review

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
My Friend Dahmer (Marc Meyers) Fri-Thurs

Don’t Break Down: A Film about Jawbreaker (Keith Schieron & Tim Irwin) Fri Only Bassist in Attendance
Signature Move (Jennifer Reeder) Fri & Sat Only
Brimstone & Glory (Viktor Jakovleski) Sat & Thurs Only
Kékszakállú (Gastón Solnicki) Sun Only
Almost Sunrise (Michael Collins) Sun Only
Moving History – Sound & Color Sun Only
Time to Die (Arturo Ripstein, 1966) Weds & Thurs Only
Short Night of Glass Dolls (Aldo Lado, 1971) Weds Only

Qarib Qarib Single (Tanuja Chandra) Fri-Thurs
Seven Sundays (Cathy Garcia-Molina) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

BPM (120 Beats per Minute) (Robin Campillo) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Seattle Art Museum:

The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925) Weds Only Our Podcast
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962) Thurs Only

Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Continue reading “Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)” →

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Sun & Weds Only Our Review

SIFF Uptown:

Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
The Square (Ruben Östlund) Fri-Thurs
Cinema Italian Style 2017 Fri-Thurs Full Program

Varsity Theatre:

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Weds Only Our Review
The Truth About Lies (Phil Allocco, 2015) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Our Review

Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)

November 9, 2017November 10, 2017 ~ Ryan Swen ~ 1 Comment

mother

Over the past decade, Greta Gerwig has become one of the most vital and vibrant stars of the independent film scene. In doing so, she has established an artistic identity apart from her acting: she co-directed Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg, and has cultivated a strong creative and personal partnership with Noah Baumbach, co-writing two of the most attuned comedies of the decade together. So it was only a matter of time before Gerwig made a film all her own, and with Lady Bird comes something expected yet totally delightful: a work of both nostalgia and anti-nostalgia, something both fleeting and grounded, all anchored in an utterly indelible character.

That character is Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), nicknamed (by herself) Lady Bird, a young woman in her senior year of high school literally living on “the wrong side of the tracks” in Sacramento circa 2002. An underachieving yet passionate student, she wishes nothing more than to go to a college on the East Coast in a city that, unlike her perception of her hometown, has culture and heritage. Sensibly, Lady Bird is effectively split into two stories: the more dominant portion, dramatically speaking, deals with Lady Bird’s tenuous relationship with her family, including her tough, loving mother (Laurie Metcalf) and her kindly but suffering father (Tracy Letts); and the second, more lighthearted but never lightweight one portrays her life at her Catholic private school, negotiating popularity, drama, poor math grades, and the college application process.

Daguerrotype (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016)

November 3, 2017 ~ Sean Gilman ~ 1 Comment

le-secret-de-la-chambre-noire

Halloween may have passed but it’s always a good time to watch a creepy movie by a great director, and that exactly what Daguerrotype, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa is. The artiest of the filmmakers to emerge in the J-Horror boom of the late 90s, or at least the one most likely to win awards at Cannes, Kurosawa’s formal precision and methodical rhythms have earned him comparisons to the usual suspects (Kubrick, Tarkovsky), and films like Cure and Pulse are indeed a far cry from the free-wheeling genre hysterics of Takashi Miike and Sion Sono. This isn’t his latest film (that would be Before We Vanish, which premiered this year, at Cannes), but rather the one that premiered last year, at Cannes, around the same time his other 2016 film, Creepy, was playing here at SIFF. It’s not getting a local release here in Seattle, but will be available on-demand starting on November 7.

Daguerrotype finds the director working in France, in French and with an all European cast (the French title, Le secret de la chambre noir gives a much better sense of the film’s eerie vibe). Tahar Rahim plays a young man who gets a job assisting a photographer (Dardennes regular Olivier Gourmet) at his suburban mansion (or “old house with some land”). The photographer uses 19th century equipment and techniques to create life-sized and disturbingly like-like photographs of his daughter (Constance Rousseau), which require dressing her in old dresses and locking her into place using a terrifying brace so that she can remain totally immobilized for the inordinately long exposure times the daguerrotype process requires (they start at an hour and get longer as the film goes along). He previously used the process on his wife, now deceased and possibly haunting the house. The young man falls in love with the daughter, who wants to be a gardener, and so a real estate scam begins. The movie is essentially a film noir, except instead of Lana Turner seducing a working class guy into murdering her husband, it’s a ghost (or two) doing the seducing. Call it “The Ghost-man Always Rings Twice”.

But, like any film noir or horror film, to reduce it to its plot is to highlight its essential absurdity. Daguerrotype is far more mysterious an object than that, a black hole of a movie that sucks you in with the gravity of its deliberate movements, then revels in the terror that is the absence of explanation. Possible interpretations of the facts of the film abound (perhaps too many), but mostly it seems to come down to an act of revenge against the impulse to freeze things in time place, to stop the gradual process of change, both men ultimately driven by an obsolete patriarchal desire to lock women down, as wives, daughters, lovers, subjects. The entropic destruction of the father is inverted in the panicked scheming of the worker, both leading to their inevitable and not especially surprising doom. But perhaps most upsetting is that there’s no satisfaction to be found in this revenge, no cathartic joy at the destruction of an immoral system. The ghosts seem to be just as scared as we are.

Friday November 3 – Thursday November 9

November 2, 2017November 10, 2017 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Wonderstruck in Limited Release

On its surface, Todd Haynes’s latest appears to have little in common with prior works by the director of Carol, I’m Not There, Safe and Far From Heaven. But his adaptation of an illustrated novel by Hugo author Brian Selznick, about a deaf boy and a deaf girl, separated by 50 years who run away to New York’s Natural History museum epitomizes a lot of what makes me uneasy about his work, while also being a very satisfying family adventure film. Ryan and I talked about it across several emails over the past week, which you can read here.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Fri-Mon
Clue (Jonathan Lynn, 1985) Fri-Mon

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Weds Our Review Our Other Review

Sardar Mohammad (Harry Bhatti) Fri-Thurs

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Goodbye Christopher Robin (Simon Curtis) Fri-Thurs
Okja (Bong Joonho) Sat Only
Sidemen: Long Road to Glory (Scott D. Rosenbaum) Tues Only

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) Fri-Thurs

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Golmaal Again!!! (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs
Secret Superstar (Advait Chandan) Fri-Thurs
PSV Garuda Vega 126.18M (Praveen Sattaru) Fri-Thurs
Next Nuvve (Prabhakar) Fri-Thurs
Ittefaq (Abhay Chopra) Fri-Thurs
Faster Fene (Aditya Sarpotdar) Sat & Sun Only

Golmaal Again!!! (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) Fri-Thurs
Tragedy Girls (Tyler MacIntyre) Fri-Thurs
A Silent Voice (Naoko Yamada) Tues & Weds Only

Spettacolo (Jeff Malmberg & Chris Shellen) Fri & Weds Only
The Divine Order (Petra Biondina Volpe) Sat-Mon Only
The Resistance Saga Parts 1-3 (Pamela Yates, 1983, 2011, 2017) Sat Only Director & Producer in Attendance
Chavela (Catherine Gund & Daresha Kyi) Weds & Thurs Only
All the Rage (Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley & David Beilinson) Weds & Thurs Only
Death Laid an Egg (Giulio Questi, 1968) Weds Only
Don’t Break Down: A Film about Jawbreaker (Keith Schieron & Tim Irwin) Thurs & Fri Only Bassist in Attendance
Gilbert (Neil Berkeley) Thurs Only

Paramount Theatre:

The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927) Mon Only Live Score

Golmaal Again!!! (Rohit Shetty) Fri-Thurs
Seven Sundays (Cathy Garcia-Molina) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) Fri-Thurs Our Review Our Other Review
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Seattle Art Museum:

Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953) Thurs Only

2017 Seattle Turkish Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
Mozart’s Sister (René Féret, 2010) Weds Only
Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future (Peter Rosen) Thurs Only