Month: July 2019

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

The Beacon Cinema:

Streetwise (Martin Bell, 1984) Fri-Thurs
Return of the Living Dead (Dan O’Bannon, 1985) Fri Only Live Score by Cerebral Rot
Tiny: the Life of Erin Blackwell (Martin Bell, 2016) Sat, Sun & Weds Only Our Review
Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968) Sat, Mon & Tues Only
A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974) Sat, Sun, Thurs & Next Weds Only
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) Sun, Weds & Thurs Only
Night of the Comet (Thom Eberhardt, 1984) Mon Only

The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Petersen, 1984) Fri-Tues
The Wicker Man (Neil LaBute, 2006) Fri-Tues
The Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón, 2004) Weds Only

SIFF Egyptian:

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Tues, Thurs

Ardaas Karaan (Gippy Grewal) Fri-Thurs
Arjun Patiala (Rohit Jugraj Chauhan) Fri-Thurs
Chal Mera Putt (Janjot Singh) Fri-Thurs
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Our Podcast

Echo in the Canyon (Andrew Slater) Fri-Thurs
Hampstead (Joel Hopkins) Fri-Thurs
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (Allen Arkush, 1979) Sat Only Our Podcast
Harry Potter Marathon Sat Only Then Spilt Up Mon-Thurs
The Tomorrow Man (Noble Jones) Tues Only

Bug Wars (Timothy Hines, 2000) Fri Only VHS
In the Aisles (Thomas Stuber) Fri-Sun

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Thurs
Arjun Patiala (Rohit Jugraj Chauhan) Fri-Thurs
Dancing Elephant (Lin Yu-hsien) Fri-Thurs
Dear Comrade (Bharat Kamma) Fri-Thurs
iSmart Shankar (Puri Jagannadh) Fri-Thurs
Judgementall Hai Kya (Prakash Kovelamudi) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Girlfriend (Upendra Sidhaye) Sat & Sun Only
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Our Podcast

Regal Meridian:

Maiden (Alex Holmes) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Dancing Elephant (Lin Yu-hsien) Fri-Thurs
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Our Podcast

A Bigger Splash (Jack Hazan, 1974) Fri-Thurs
Barbara Rubin & the Exploding NY Underground (Chuck Smith) Fri-Sun Our Podcast
Nureyev – Нуре́ев (David Morris & Jacqui Morris) Sun Only
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack) Weds Only
Jawline (Liza Mandelup) Starts Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Thurs
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (Nick Broomfield) Fri-Thurs
Looking Up (Deng Chao & Yu Baimei) Fri-Thurs
Dancing Elephant (Lin Yu-hsien) Fri-Thurs

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Thurs
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sun, Mon & Weds Only Subtitled Mon Our Podcast
Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story (Troy Miller) Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

Sword of Trust (Lynn Shelton) Fri-Thurs
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs
Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945) Sat Only
Ghost Fleet (Shannon Service & Jeffrey Waldron) Tues Only

Varsity Theatre:

Three Peaks (Jan Zabeil) Fri-Thurs
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) Sun & Mon Only Our Podcast
The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979) Tues Only
Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story (Troy Miller) Weds Only

In Wide Release:

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) Our Review

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)

July 24, 2019December 20, 2019 ~ Sean Gilman ~ 2 Comments

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood can be seen, as most of the best Quentin Tarantino movies can, as a collection of short stories (along with Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds and Kill Bill; Jackie Brown is a novel; Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful Eight and Death Proof are plays; I have no idea what Django Unchained is–I haven’t seen it since it was first released and I’m as baffled by it now as I was then, but I suspect it’s a movie). He’s best when he’s building out of small, discreet scenes, rather than trying to follow a single thread through various permutations. The approach allows his movies time to breathe, and lets his actors do their thing. Hollywood is, for its incredible first two-thirds, a series of sketches around two days in the life of three characters: former TV Western star Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio; Dalton’s longtime stunt double and best friend, played by Brad Pitt; and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), the young actress who has just moved in next door to Dalton on Cielo Drive with her husband, Roman Polanski. It’s February of 1969, and we know, but they do not, that the night of the Manson Family murders is only six months away.

Hints of that fateful night to come, one of those events that has transcended its own tragedy, like the Stones at Altamont, to become a symbol of the End of Something (Old Hollywood, the 60s, Innocence), abound through this first two-thirds: we see Manson’s young followers digging through trash and hitch-hiking through Hollywood; Charlie himself shows up looking for the former residents of Tate’s house; Pitt even takes a trip out to the Spahn Ranch with one of the Manson girls (played by Margaret Qualley, from Fosse/Verdon). But more time is spent away from them, with each of the principals going about their day. Tate takes a trip into town where she spots a movie theatre playing her latest movie, the Dean Martin vehicle The Wrecking Crew. Pitt works on DiCaprio’s house and reminisces about the time he beat the crap out of Bruce Lee while working on Green Hornet (Mike Moh does a very funny Lee impression). DiCaprio works on a TV western pilot, where he tries his best to act despite a hangover and depression over the state of his career (he’s considering an offer from Al Pacino to go make Westerns in Italy). It’s these stories, which have nothing to do with Manson but everything to do with Hollywood and Tarantino’s vision of it, that make the movie something special.

I’m toying with the idea of seeing them as three parts of a whole theory of Hollywood. DiCaprio as its heart: as an actor he’s highly emotional, it’s what allows him to achieve greatness in his performances, but it also sends him into rages and funks when he fails. Robbie’s Tate is all wonder and joy, a dream of youth and beauty and exuberance. Her sitting in a dark theatre, listening to the laughs her performance gets is maybe the warmest, happiest moment Tarantino has ever filmed. Pitt is all technique and skill, the muscle that makes it possible for DiCaprio to function (in work as well as life: he’s his driver and does odd jobs around his house, like fix the TV antenna). Supremely aware of himself and his own capabilities, he has all the quiet confidence in himself that the other actors (including the preening Lee) lack. He’s the Marlboro Man, a masculine ideal. And not so hidden within him is the threat of violence. He’s naturally attractive, but absolutely capable of murder, an uncomfortable dichotomy which will be put to the absolute test in the film’s final third.

Quentin Tarantino is the best director of actors of his generation. In any other hands, a movie like this, packed with famous names playing famous names, steeped in a historical place and time marked by wild behavior and wilder fashions, would degenerate into farce. Think of the wig acting of a movie like American Hustle, where brilliant performers are buried beneath a whole lot of noise and nonsense. Tarantino understands quiet as well as any mainstream American director. He has the patience to let the camera rest on an actor while they work, taking us inside DiCaprio’s head as he shows us the difference between mediocre acting and great acting. This might be my favorite Brad Pitt performance, at least since True Romance. He gets the swagger of a man who isn’t needy enough to be a movie star, who loves his dog but will without hesitation break your nose if you wrong him, exactly right.

There’s much more to say about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but it can wait until sometime later, after everyone has a chance to see it. Suffice it to say that I think it’s Tarantino’s best since Jackie Brown, and, going by imdb dates, it’s without a doubt the first great movie of 2019.

Friday July 19 – Thursday July 25

July 18, 2019July 25, 2019 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The Beacon Cinema’s Grand Opening Week

I can’t recall the last time a new theatre opening in the Seattle area was as exciting as this week’s launch of the Beacon in Columbia City. Maybe when SIFF bought the Uptown? It seems like all the news over the past decade has been beloved movie houses closing. It’s a small venue (only 50 seats), but hopefully that will make it more viable in the long run. And if the programming retains the spirit of what they’ve put together for their inaugural week of shows, we have a new favorite Seattle Screen. This week all the shows are free: no tickets, first come first served, and they’ve got a wild mix of art house (Duelle, High and Low) and mainstream (Speed Racer, Magic Mike XXL), classic (City Lights, Gold Diggers of 1933, To Be or Not To Be) and cult films (Django, Buddha’s Palm, Starcrash). I’m planning on going to five of the first six shows, and I’m wondering if I can sneak out of the house to catch a couple more later in the week.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (Aaron Lieber) Fri-Thurs

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

The Beacon Cinema:

Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) Fri & Thurs Only Free Screening
Magic Mike XXL (Gregory Jacobs, 2015) Fri & Thurs Only Free Screening
City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931) Sat-Mon Only Free Screening
To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) Sat & Sun Only Free Screening
Speed Racer (Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 2008) Sat & Mon Only Free Screening
Buddha’s Palm (Taylor Wong, 1982) Sat Only Free Screening
Duelle (Jacques Rivette, 1976) Sun Only Free Screening
Starcrash (Luigi Cozzi, 1978) Sun Only Free Screening
High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Tues & Weds Only Free Screening
Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) Tues & Weds Only Free Screening

Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) Fri-Weds
Mandy (Panos Cosmatos) Fri-Weds

SIFF Egyptian:

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Tues, Thurs
Artifishal (Josh Murphy) Weds Only Director, etc Q&A

Ardaas Karaan (Gippy Grewal) Fri-Thurs

Echo in the Canyon (Andrew Slater) Fri-Thurs
All is True (Kenneth Branagh) Fri-Thurs
Space Jam (Joe Pytka, 1996) Sat Only Free Screening
The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983) Sat Only
To Dust (Shawn Snyder) Mon Only
Ask for Jane (Rachel Carey) Weds Only

Pulp Fiction (Qeuntin Tarantino, 1994) Fri-Thurs 35mm
In the Aisles (Thomas Stuber) Fri-Thurs

The Farewell (Lulu Wang) Fri-Thurs
Aadai (Rathna Kumar) Fri-Thurs
iSmart Shankar (Puri Jagannadh) Fri-Thurs
Kadaram Kondan (Rajesh M. Selva) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Oh Baby (B. V. Nandini Reddy) Fri-Thurs
Article 15 (Anubhav Sinha) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Maiden (Alex Holmes) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Wild Rose (Tom Harper) Fri-Thurs

Blowin’ Up (Stephanie Wang-Breal) Fri-Sun
Instant Dreams (Willem Baptist) Fri-Thurs
Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury (Matt Hinton) Fri-Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

The White Storm 2 (Herman Yau) Fri-Thurs
Sea of Shadows (Richard Ladkani) Fri-Thurs
Looking Up (Deng Chao & Yu Baimei) Fri-Thurs

Continue reading “Rafiki (Dir. Wanuri Kahiu, 2018)” →

Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Easy Living (Mitchell Leisen, 1937) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

For All Mankind (Al Reinert, 1989) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989) Sun & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

Diamantino (Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Weds
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) Fri-Weds
Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952) Sat Only

Varsity Theatre:

Bottom of the 9th (Raymond De Felitta) Fri-Thurs
Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989) Weds Only
The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979) Thurs Only

Rafiki (Dir. Wanuri Kahiu, 2018)

July 12, 2019 ~ Sue Lonac

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Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu’s marvelous, joyful Rafiki tells the story of two girls in love. It’s a story that has been told before, replete with obstacles en route to what we hope will be a happy ending, but two things set this film apart from the rest of the star-crossed crowd. One, the girls live in Kenya, where a colonial-era law marks out homosexuality as a criminal offense. Two, despite the seriousness of the dangers and challenges before our heroines, their story is wildly, vibrantly fun.

Friday July 12 – Thursday July 18

July 11, 2019July 18, 2019 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

The White Storm 2 at the Pacific Place, the Meridian and the Lincoln Square

The first White Storm was a mediocre Hong Kong thriller starring Louis Koo, Nick Cheung and Lau Ching-wan. It was directed by Benny Chan, last seen here directing Koo in the space-cat family comedy Meow. White Storm 2 is almost assuredly unrelated to the first film, in what is a Hong Kong tradition, and is directed by Herman Yau, which means it is certain to be significantly better. Koo is back, joined by Andy Lau. The last time Yau and Lau teamed up was in Shock Wave, two years ago, one of the better action films to come out of Hong Kong in recent years. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but it’s my top priority for this weekend. If it ends up being bad, just pretend I recommended Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (playing Thursday at the Uptown) in this space instead. That movie is a national treasure.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Wild Rose (Tom Harper) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (Aaron Lieber) Fri-Thurs

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) Fri-Tues
Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn, 2010) Fri-Mon
Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009) Tues Only
Face/Off (John Woo, 1997) Weds Only

Munda Hi Chahida (Santosh Thite & Deepak Thapar) Fri-Thurs

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott, 1994) Sat Only
Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu) Tues Only
The Queen (Frank Simon, 1968) Weds Only

The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) Fri-Thurs 35mm
Summer Night (Joseph Cross) Fri-Thurs
Funan (Denis Do) Sat & Sun Only

The White Storm 2 (Herman Yau) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (Aaron Lieber) Fri-Thurs
Oh Baby (B. V. Nandini Reddy) Fri-Thurs
Article 15 (Anubhav Sinha) Fri-Thurs
Dorasaani (K.V.R. Mahendra) Fri-Thurs
NVNN (Caarthick Raju) Fri & Sat Only
Konttho (Shiboprosad Mukherjee & Nandita Roy) Sat Only

Regal Meridian:

The White Storm 2 (Herman Yau) Fri-Thurs
Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs
Wild Rose (Tom Harper) Fri-Thurs

Too Late to Die Young (Dominga Sotomayor) Fri-Thurs
Lumberjacks & Logrollers: Icons of Finnish Cinema Fri-Sun Full Program
Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984) Weds & Thurs Only

AMC Pacific Place:

The White Storm 2 (Herman Yau) Fri-Thurs

Continue reading “Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris, 1983)” →

Super 30 (Vikas Bahl) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Dick Dale: King of the Surf Guitar (Matt Marshall) Weds Only
After the Thin Man (WS Van Dyke, 1936) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

The Silence of Others (Robert Bahar & Almudena Carracedo) Fri-Sun

Regal Thornton Place:

Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969) Sun & Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

Halston (Frédéric Tcheng) Fri-Thurs
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) Fri-Thurs
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (Allen Arkush, 1979) Fri-Thurs Our Podcast

Varsity Theatre:

Firecrackers (Jasmin Mozaffari) Fri-Thurs

Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris, 1983)

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019 ~ Sue Lonac

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I first saw this film in the mid-1980s, when I was a mildly alienated, slightly chicken-hearted New Waver who was curious about what more dangerous versions of myself were up to. I remember thinking at the time that Suburbia was really cool. Its depiction of rebellious street punks who make a home together in a squat spoke to my need to feel affiliated with something wild and counter-cultural without actually taking any real risks myself. And as someone who was disillusioned with suburbia, I appreciated the movie’s frank commentary on the hypocrisies of middle-class life. Revisiting the film today, I realize that I overlooked a great deal the first time around—not just its major themes about the blindness of youth but also the directness of its depictions of the casual racism, misogyny, and homophobia of some of its characters (and their society as a whole). Watching it now, it looks like much more than a stylish time capsule of a not-so-great period in American history (the Reagan years). It looks like an honest attempt to tell the truth about the way that young people experience a harsh world.

This is not to say that the film is always good. The performances of its mostly non-professional actors (actual street punks) are often wooden, the dialogue is stilted, and the attempts at humor mostly fail. Even so, the film is bold and completely unflinching in its attention to human ugliness, to the simultaneous vulnerability and cruelty of the young, and to the way that disaster so often strikes with little warning and for no good reason.

Friday July 5 – Thursday July 11

July 5, 2019July 11, 2019 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Three Colors: Red at the Grand Illusion

A couple of archival series kick off this week, led by the Grand Illusion’s annual celebration of 35mm film, their Sumer of Celluloid. First up is Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Red, the conclusion of the Three Colors Trilogy. If you haven’t seen Blue and White, I’d recommend watching them first. But also why haven’t you seen the Three Colors Trilogy yet? It’s great! Later in the week, SAM’s film program returns with a summer series devoted to American comedies, kicking off with William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett’s alcohol-fueled sleuths in The Thin Man.

Playing This Week:

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs

The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996) Fri-Weds
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz, 1988) Fri-Tues

DSP Dev (Mandeep Benipal) Fri-Thurs
Shadaa (Jagdeep Sidhu) Fri-Thurs

Pavarotti (Ron Howard) Fri-Thurs
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot) Fri-Thurs
Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris, 1983) Sat Only
Non-Fiction (Olivier Assayas) Tues Only Our Review
The Bikes of Wrath (Cameron Ford & Charlie Turnbull) Weds Only Filmmaker in Attendance

Three Colors; Red (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1994) Fri-Thurs 35mm
Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991) Fri-Thurs
Funan (Denis Do) Sat & Sun Only

Oh Baby (B. V. Nandini Reddy) Fri-Thurs
Kabir Singh (Sandeep Reddy Vanga) Fri-Thurs
Article 15 (Anubhav Sinha) Fri-Thurs
Brochevarevarura (Vivek Athreya) Fri-Thurs

Red White & Wasted (Sam Jones & Andrei Bowden Schwartz) Weds & Thurs Only