Month: February 2020

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975) Fri & Sat Only
Day of the Dead (George Romero, 1985) Fri Only
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955) Sat, Sun, Tues & Thurs
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972) Sat-Mon
The Church (Michele Soavi, 1989) Sat Only Pre-movie Live Set from Mortiferum
Megazone 23 (Ishiguro Noboru, 1985) Sun Only
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007) Sun, Mon & Weds Director’s Cut
Penitentiary (Jamaa Fanaka, 1979) Tues & Thurs Only
The Zodiac Killer (Tom Hanson, 1971) Weds Only

The Last Starfighter (Nick Castle, 1984) Fri-Tues
Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) Fri-Weds

Ik Sandhu Hunda Si (Rakesh Mehta) Fri-Thurs
Sufna (Jagdeep Sidhu) Fri-Thurs

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov) Fri-Thurs
The Assistant (Kitty Green) Fri-Thurs
Cat Video Fest 2020 Fri-Thurs
Tales from the Hood (Rusty Cundieff, 1995) Sat Only
Recorder: the Marion Stokes Project (Matt Wolf) Tues Only

Olympic Dreams (Jeremy Teicher) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only

Seberg (Benedict Andrews) Fri-Thurs
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
Doordarshan (Gagan Puri) Fri-Thurs
HIT (Sailesh Kolanu) Fri-Thurs
Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal (Desingh Periyasamy) Fri-Thurs
Thappad (Anubhav Sinha) Fri-Thurs
Bheeshma (Venky Kudumula) Fri-Thurs
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Hitesh Kewalya) Fri-Thurs
Forensic (Anas Khan & Akhil Paul) Sat & Sun Only

Regal Meridian:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Daniel Roher) Fri-Thurs
Ordinary Love (Lisa Barros D’Sa) Fri-Thurs

Children’s Film Festival 2020 Starts Thurs Full Program
The 3rd Seattle BPP Film Festival featuring Mama C Weds & Thurs Only

AMC Oak Tree:

Seberg (Benedict Andrews) Fri-Thurs
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Daniel Roher) Fri-Thurs

Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa) Fri-Sun
Election (Alexander Payne, 1999) Weds Only

AMC Southcenter:

Las Pildoras de Mi Novio (Diego Kaplan) Fri-Thurs In Spanish with No Subtitles

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
Seberg (Benedict Andrews) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Uptown:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
63 Up (Michael Apted) Fri-Thurs
Nordic Lights Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926) Sat Only

Weathering with You (Shinkai Makoto) Fri-Thurs Subtitled or Dubbed, Check Listings

In Wide Release:

The Rise of Skywalker (JJ Abrams) Our Review
Little Women (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Parasite (Bong Joonho) Our Review Our Podcast

Friday February 21 – Thursday February 27

February 20, 2020February 27, 2020 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Celine and Julie and Susan at the Beacon Cinema

The Beacon this week has Jacques Rivette’s masterpiece Celine and Julie Go Boating, about two French women who meet and become friends and with the help of a magic candy become witnesses to, and ultimately deconstructors of, a Henry James-ish melodrama. They’ve paired it with a film it inspired, Susan Seidelman’s classic Desperately Seeking Susan, along with another 80s film that has a similar screwball energy, Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild. But if a more classic screwball is your thing, check out the SIFF Film Center on Saturday, where our pal Kathy Fennessy is dissecting Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday. Or if you want a wholly different Celine entirely, the Egyptian and the Lincoln Square have the long-awaited release of Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Hitesh Kewalya) Fri-Thurs

Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974) Fri-Sun, Thurs
Shock Waves (Ken Wiederhorn, 1977) Fri Only
Journey Into a Burning Brain: A Tangerine Dream Mystery Triple Feature Sat Only
Project A-Ko (Katsuhiko Nishijima, 1986) Sun Only
Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) Sun Only
Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seildelman, 1985) Mon, Tues & Thurs Only
Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986) Mon, Tues & Weds Only
Gaza Fights for Freedom (Abby Martin) Weds Only

Bring It On (Peyton Reed, 2000) Fri-Weds
Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011) Fri-Weds

SIFF Egyptian:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs

Sufna (Jagdeep Sidhu) Fri-Thurs
The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985) Sun Only

The Assistant (Kitty Green) Fri-Thurs
Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968) Sat Only
Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991) Tues Only

Goldie (Sam de Jong) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
Olympic Dreams (Jeremy Teicher) Sat-Thurs

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) Fri-Thurs
Love Aaj Kal (Imtiaz Ali) Fri-Thurs
Bheeshma (Venky Kudumula) Fri-Thurs
Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship (Bhanu Pratap Singh) Fri-Thurs
Mafia – Chapter 1 (Karthick Naren) Fri-Thurs
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Hitesh Kewalya) Fri-Thurs
The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985) Sun Only

Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Earth (Nikolaus Geyrhalter) Sun Only
We Believe in Dinosaurs (Monica Long Ross & Clayton Brown) Sun Only
Heedless into Night (Nifemi Madarikan) Weds Only
Children’s Film Festival 2020 Starts Thurs Full Program

AMC Pacific Place:

The Assistant (Kitty Green) Fri-Thurs

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Hitesh Kewalya) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Boyfriends and Girlfriends (Eric Rohmer, 1987) Thurs Only

The Cordillera of Dreams (Patricio Guzmán) Fri-Sun
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Sat Only Dissection with Kathy Fennessy

AMC Southcenter:

Las Pildoras de Mi Novio (Diego Kaplan) Fri-Thurs In Spanish with No Subtitles

The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985) Sun Only

SIFF Uptown:

Corpus Christi (Jan Komasa) Fri-Thurs
63 Up (Michael Apted) Fri-Thurs
Cat Video Fest 2020 Sat & Sun Only

Weathering with You (Shinkai Makoto) Fri-Thurs Subtitled or Dubbed, Check Listings
Standing Up, Falling Down (Matt Ratner) Fri-Thurs
Manou the Swift (Andrea Block & Christian Haas) Fri-Thurs
The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985) Sun Only

In Wide Release:

The Rise of Skywalker (JJ Abrams) Our Review
Little Women (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Parasite (Bong Joonho) Our Review Our Podcast

Friday February 14 – Thursday February 20

February 13, 2020February 20, 2020 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Noir City at the SIFF Egyptian

Always a major highlight of the movie year is Eddie Muller’s Noir City Festival, the 2020 version of which plays all this week at the Egyptian. The theme this time is international noir, and Muller has brought with him a wide swath of films from around the world, none of which I’ve seen. Sunday’s all-Japanese program in particular looks amazing, with Suzuki Seijun’s Branded to Kill (starring the late Joe Shishido) along with A Colt is My Passport, Pale Flower and Rusty Knife. Elsewhere around town, the Beacon has a Seattle repertory rarity in that they’re playing Indian movies. Two of them: Mani Kaul’s 1973 Duvidha and Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, from 2007. Both look amazing. But if new Indian cinema is what you’re looking for, the Lincoln Square has Imtiaz Ali’s latest, Love Aaj Kal. It’s apparently neither a sequel to nor a remake of his 2009 film, also called Love Aaj Kal, but it does star the daughter of one of the stars of the first film. The 2009 version is pretty good, odds are this one will be too.

Playing This Week:

Matt Christman’s Guide to Springfield Fri Only
Burial Ground – The Nights of Terror (Andrea Bianchi, 1981) Fri Only
Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973) Sat & Tues Only
The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947) Sat-Tues Only
Jupiter Ascending (Lilly & Lana Wachowski, 2015) Sat-Mon Only
Five Element Ninjas (Chang Cheh, 1982) Sat Only
Andromeda Stories (Sasaki Masamitsu, 1982) Sun Only
Song to the Siren: The Beacon Guide to 4AD Sun Only
Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan, 2007) Weds Only
Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004) Weds & Thurs Only
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (Itô Shunya, 1973) Thurs Only

Joe vs. the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990) Fri-Tues
Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993) Fri-Weds
Midsommar (Ari Aster) Weds & Thurs Only Director’s Cut

SIFF Egyptian:

Noir City Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Sufna (Jagdeep Sidhu) Fri-Thurs

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Sat Only Free Screening
Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011) Sat Only
Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli, 1984) Tues Only Our Podcast
Downtown 81 (Edo Bertoglio, 2000) Weds Only

Buffaloed (Tanya Wexler) Fri-Thurs
Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only
Dark Romances: Bleeding Hearts Sat Only VHS
Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990) Mon Only
The Sensually Liberated Female (Matt Cimber, 1970) Weds Only

Love Aaj Kal (Imtiaz Ali) Fri-Thurs
Oh My Kadavule (Ashwath Marimuthu) Fri-Thurs
World Famous Lover (Kranthi Madhav) Fri-Thurs
Jaanu (C. Prem Kumar) Fri-Thurs
Malang (Mohit Suri) Fri-Thurs
Varane Aavashyamundu (Anoop Sathyan) Sat & Sun Only

Regal Meridian:

Ride Your Wave (Yuasa Masaaki) Weds Only

Eros + Massacre (Yoshida Yoshishige, 1969) Sat & Sun Only
Heroic Purgatory (Yoshida Yoshishige, 1970) Sat & Sun Only
Perfect Revolution (Matsumoto Junpei) Weds Only
Blood Quantum (Jeff Barnaby) Weds Only
The Great Communist Robbery (Alexandru Solomon, 2004) Thurs Only

AMC Pacific Place:

The Assistant (Kitty Green) Fri-Thurs

AMC Seattle:

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (Karim Aïnouz) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (Eric Rohmer, 1987) Thurs Only

After Midnight (Jeremy Gardner & Christian Stella) Fri-Tues
Matewan (John Sayles, 1987) Weds Only Our Podcast

Ride Your Wave (Yuasa Masaaki) Weds Only

SIFF Uptown:

2020 Oscar Shorts Fri-Weds Animated
Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov) Fri-Thurs
And Then We Danced (Levan Akin) Fri-Thurs
Bird (Clint Eastwood, 1988) Thurs Only

Weathering with You (Shinkai Makoto) Fri-Thurs Subtitled or Dubbed, Check Listings
Spy Intervention (Drew Mylrea) Fri-Thurs
Camp Cold Brook (Andy Palmer) Fri-Thurs

In Wide Release:

The Rise of Skywalker (JJ Abrams) Our Review
Little Women (Greta Gerwig) Our Review
Parasite (Bong Joonho) Our Review Our Podcast
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) Our Review Our Other Review

Enter the Fat Dragon (Wong Jing & Tanigaki Kenji, 2020)

February 12, 2020 ~ Sean Gilman ~ 1 Comment

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Things have been tough in Hong Kong lately. Months of protests over the lack of democracy and transparency in the Special Administrative Region sparked violent reprisals by police, with fears of the coronavirus outbreak on the Mainland only making things worse. The protests have split the entertainment community, with many stars and other figures, who thanks to the integration of the Hong Kong film industry with the Mainland market are pressured to literally toe the party line, coming out as pro-cop and anti-protestor. Even as likable a figure as Donnie Yen is not immune from the controversy, as some recent pro-Beijing comments inspired HK protestors to boycott his Christmas film, Ip Man 4. I don’t know if anyone is planning to boycott Enter the Fat Dragon as well, its Mainland release was cancelled because of the virus, though apparently it was a hit in Singapore over Lunar New Year. But those hoping for Yen to pivot to a more Hong Kong specific message, as opposed to the PRC-friendly pan-Chineseness of Ip Man 4 are going to be disappointed. Not really for any political reason, outside of a generic “all Japanese people are yakuza” vibe, there isn’t a political message to be found in it, but nor is there any distinct Hong Kongness that you’d find in Donnie Yen and Wong Jing movies of old.

Bearing absolutely no relation to the 1978 Sammo Hung classic of the same name, Donnie stars as a hero cop who is constantly breaking stuff with his badassery. He smashes cars, buses, people, a police headquarters, etc, and misses a photography appointment with his finacée, all because he’s so darn dedicated to stopping crimes. So the girlfriend dumps him and he gets transferred to the evidence room, where he eats for six months and doubles his weight (though this appears to cause him no other physical difficulties). Then he gets sent to Japan escorting a witness and gets involved with a ring of yakuza smuggling cocaine inside of fish, leading to more action scenes. It’s Donnie Yen, so these scenes are pretty entertaining, but the whole reason for the movie to exist seems to be that Donnie and Wong think it’d be hilarious to see Donnie in a prosthetic fat suit. Spoiler: it is not.

That’s not to say that the fat suit movie can’t be good. Johnnie To’s Love on a Diet, for example, has the prospect of icons Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng in fat suits as its primary draw, but ends up being an actually pretty moving comedy about friendship and depression. Sammo Hung’s Enter the Fat Dragon too relies for many of its jokes on Sammo’s rotundity, and the incongruity between his size and his speed and agility, but it’s also, as its title indicates, a showcase for Sammo’s uncanny Bruce Lee impression, as well as being the kind of low-budget, independent street-level contemporary genre film that would be a hallmark of the Hong Kong New Wave. That Enter the Fat Dragon was grimy; it had the feel of a bunch of people coming together to make a movie just for the hell of it, to show off what they could do. There’s a similar anarchic quality in Wong Jing’s best work: the freest man in 1980s and 90s Hong Kong, he would throw together movie stars and special effects and lowest common denominator slapstick and puns and highly dangerous action sequences all without the slightest regard for plot coherence or moral sensibility. At its best, it was glorious.

But that was all a long time ago. In recent years Wong has been cashing checks with Chow Yun-fat in the From Vegas to Macau series (a pale reminder of the greatness that was his God of Gamblers films) and making silly, overblown gangster pictures like the Chasing the Dragon movies. Enter the Fat Dragon, one would think, would be an opportunity for Wong to indulge his crude side, maybe even out-joking the occasionally funny Fat Buddies, a modest hit from 2018. But alas, it seems that in his advanced age, Wong had no chance of withstanding the sheer, wholesome niceness of Donnie Yen.

In this movie whose entire premise is “Donnie Yen in a fat-suit” there’s nary a fat joke. Hardly a moment of crudeness or poor taste. Instead we get a story about how Donnie is just so great that he drives everyone around him nuts. Not because he’s actually annoying or anything, but because everyone else is too selfish to realize just how unselfish Donnie really is. It makes the Razor’s Edge-lite can-do optimism of his Big Brother seem downright edgy by comparison. The supporting cast is occasionally fun, with Wong himself playing the even fatter sidekick Donnie finds in Japan, and flashbacks to earlier Yen pictures Flash Point and SPL are almost inspired, though the jokes don’t really land. But the fights are the only thing memorable about it: leaps around a Japanese street set recall last years’ Master Z and a finale in a tall tower is a fun fight marred by a nonsensical bit with a helicopter (why is the charmingly silly police translator played by Jessica Jann piloting the helicopter? Who knows, it’s Wong Jing!). Wong as the sidekick doesn’t get to do much, and his one set-piece, when his character accidentally ingests a bunch of cocaine and drives a forklift around like a maniac doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t act at all like a person high on coke. Now, I can believe that Donnie Yen has never done a drug in his life, but there’s no way Wong Jing isn’t intimately familiar with the physiological effects of cocaine on the human mind and body.

Because of the coronavirus, Lunar New Year movie season, traditionally the biggest and most crowd-pleasing time of year in the Chinese cinema calendar got cancelled. I’m not sure if Enter the Fat Dragon counts as a New Year movie (as best as I can tell it was originally scheduled for a Valentine’s Day release in China, but that may have simply been an earlier rescheduling), but so far in the US at least, it’s all we’ve got. Hopefully there are better times and movies ahead.

Friday February 7 – Thursday February 13

February 7, 2020February 13, 2020 ~ Sean Gilman

Featured Film:

Ugetsu at the Beacon Cinema

Bertrand Bonello’s latest, Zombi Child, playing this weekend only at the SIFF Film Center, probably should get the spotlight this week, but I haven’t seen it yet. Bonello’s always an interesting filmmaker though and I’ve heard some good buzz on it I think. Instead, I’ve gotta stick with the Beacon and their presentation of one of my all-time favorite movies, Mizoguchi Kenji’s Ugetsu. A ghost story about two men who go off in search of war and riches and the miserable wives they leave behind, it weaves Mizoguchi’s favorite theme (the plight of women throughout history) with eerie and gorgeous images and brilliant performances from iconic actors like Kyō Machiko and Mori Masayuki (who starred together a few years earlier in Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon), along with Tanaka Kinuyo. Yes I’m going to start writing Japanese names in the correct order and yes it sounds extremely strange to my ears, long accustomed as they are to reversing them into the Western order.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

The Man Standing Next (Woo Minho) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska & Ljubo Stefanov) Fri-Thurs

Ugetsu (Mizoguchi Kenji, 1953) Fri-Sun
Tombs of the Blind Dead (Amando de Ossorio, 1972) Fri Only
Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948) Sat, Tues & Weds Only
Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987) Sat, Mon & Tues Only
Crippled Avengers (Chang Cheh, 1978) Sat Only
Takemiya Keiko Boys Love Double Feature Sun Only
On Cinema at the Cinema Oscar Special Sun Only
Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1970) Mon & Weds Only
Matt Christman’s Guide to Springfield Thurs & Next Fri Only
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Itô Shunya, 1972) Thurs Only

Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992) Fri-Weds
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Fri-Weds

The Man Standing Next (Woo Minho) Fri-Thurs
2020 Oscar Shorts Fri-Sun Animated, Documentary and Live Action
Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970) Weds & Sun Only

The Song of Names (François Girard) Fri-Thurs
2020 Oscar Shorts Fri, Sat & Weds Only Live Action
Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992) Sat Only
Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, 2008) Tues Only
After Parkland (Jake Lefferman & Emily Taguchi) Weds Only
Horror noire (Xavier Burgin) Thurs Only

Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska & Ljubo Stefanov) Fri-Thurs
Citizen K (Alex Gibney) Fri-Thurs
The Cave (Feras Fayyad) Sat & Sun Only
Saturday Secret Matinees Sat Only

2020 Oscar Shorts Fri-Sun Animated, Documentary and Live Action
Jaanu (C. Prem Kumar) Fri-Thurs
Malang (Mohit Suri) Fri-Thurs
Savaari (Saahith Mothkuri) Fri-Thurs
Vaanam Kottattum (Dhana Sekaran) Fri-Thurs
Jawaani Jaaneman (Nitin Kakkar) Fri-Thurs
Panga (Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari) Fri-Thurs
Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Sachy) Sat & Sun Only
Shylock (Ajai Vasudev) Sat & Sun Only
Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970) Weds & Sun Only

We Believe in Dinosaurs (Monica Long Ross & Clayton Brown) Fri-Sun
Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Earth (Nikolaus Geyrhalter) Sat-Thurs
2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour Sun Only
Berlin Bouncer (David Dietl) Thurs Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

2020 Oscar Shorts Fri-Thurs Animated and Live Action, Check Listings
Street Dancer 3 (Remo D’Souza) Fri-Thurs
Pain & Glory (Pedro Almodóvar) Fri-Thurs

Seattle Art Museum:

Merely Marvelous: The Dancing Genius of Gwen Verdon (Chris Johnson) Weds Only Q&A with Director & Produceer
The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer, 1986) Thurs Only Our Podcast

Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello) Fri-Sun

AMC Southcenter:

Weathering with You (Shinkai Makoto) Fri-Thurs Subtitled

Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970) Weds & Sun Only

SIFF Uptown:

2020 Oscar Shorts Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs Animated and Live Action, Check Listings
Fantastic Fungi (Louie Schwartzberg) Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs
Cunningham (Alla Kovgan) Fri-Sun, Tues-Thurs
Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley) Fri-Sun, Weds & Thurs
Foosballers (Joe Heslinga) Tues Only
After Parkland (Jake Lefferman & Emily Taguchi) Weds Only