Three (Johnnie To, 2016)

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This guest review comes courtesy of critic Jaime Grijalba.

I’m not an expert on Johnnie To, nor do I pretend to be one. Not because I don’t find him interesting, and I will end up watching his entire filmography before too long. I’m wary of clogging the feed of the many people who are unaware of his talents with my half-assed thoughts, especially when there are so many critics and fans that have spent way more time than I’d ever spend examining and studying the style and everything that surrounds the films of To and his Milkyway Image studio. So, with all that I’ve said, what lead me to write about the latest film from one of the most well-regarded Asian directors of the past two decades?

Continue reading Three (Johnnie To, 2016)”

The Frances Farmer Show #10: Three and Shock Corridor

This week Mike and Sean, for the third time, trek out to downtown Seattle to catch the opening night of the new Johnnie To film, the hospital-set thriller Three, with Louis Koo, Zhao Wei and Wallace Chung. Paired with it is another thriller set in a hospital, Samuel Fuller’s 1963 Shock Corridor, about a journalist who goes undercover in a mental institution and comes unglued.

You can listen to the show by downloading it directly, or by subscribing on iTunes or the podcast player of your choice.

A Correction:

Philip Ahn, who played Dr. Hong in Shock Corridor, was Korean-American, not Chinese American.

Friday June 24 – Thursday June 30

Featured Film:

Everything, I guess

Each week in this space I pick a movie or series to highlight one of the necessary film events of the week on Seattle Screens, but this week it’s simply impossible to choose. There is an embarrassment of greatness in theatres this week, more than I’ve seen in the year and a half history of this website. The Northwest Film Forum not only has Kaili Blues, one of the very best films of 2015, an audacious debt from Chinese director Bi Gan, and Touki Bouki, a classic of African cinema, but also a 35mm print of John Cassavetes’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. SIFF not only has a mini-retrospective of some of Brian De Palma’s greatest films to accompany their presentation of the new documentary about him, but they’re also playing the greatest Shakespeare film ever made, Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight. The Grand Illusion is bringing back Belladonna of Sadness, The Grand has a two nights only show of King Hu’s Dragon Gate Inn, the Central Cinema is playing ET and Aliens and, oh yeah, the Pacific Place has the premiere of Johnnie To’s latest Three. And there’s more: from Raman Raghav 2.0 to Willy Wonka to last year’s Palme d’Or winning Dheepan to continuing runs of The Lobster and Love & Friendship. My best advice to you is to take the week off work and just watch some movies.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Proof of Innocence (Kwon Jong-kwan) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) Fri-Mon
Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) Fri-Mon

Century Federal Way:

Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs
Sardaarji 2 (Rohit Jugraj Chauhan) Fri-Thurs
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Sun & Weds Only

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
Dragon Gate Inn (King Hu, 1967) Fri & Sat Only Our Review 
Hockney (Randall Wright) Tues Only
We the People 2.0 (Leila Conners) Weds Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Lady Battle Cop (Akihisa Okamoto, 1990) Sat Only VHS
Convergence and Cacophony: Experimental Documents from Dustin Zemel Tues Only
Re-Sounding: Imagining Within and Beyond the Sonic Sphere Weds Only

Landmark Guild 45th:

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard) Fri-Thurs
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Oka Manasu (Ramaraju Gottimukkala) Fri-Thurs
Raman Raghav 2.0 (Anurag Kashyap) Fri-Thurs
Te3n (Ribhu Dasgupta) Fri-Thurs
Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs
Gentleman (Mohan Krishna Indraganti) Fri-Thurs
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Sun & Weds Only

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973) Fri-Sun
Kaili Blues (Bi Gan) Fri-Sun
School’s Out Screening of Best of Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2016 Sun Only
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) Weds Only 35mm
And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead (Billy Woodberry) Starts Weds
Eurovision: Iconic Song Performances Thurs Only

AMC Pacific Place:

Three (Johnnie To) Fri-Thurs Our Review

Paramount Theatre:

Why Be Good? (William A. Seiter, 1929) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Seven Gables:

Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Obsessions: Classic De Palma Fri-Thurs Full Program Discounted Admission

Sundance Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
The Duel (Kieran Darcy-Smith) Fri-Thurs
The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad) Fri-Thurs
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1965) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Music of Strangers (Morgan Neville) Fri-Thurs
The Dog Film Festival Sun Only

Varsity Theatre:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Weds Only

De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow, 2015)

Brian-De-Palma-in-De-Palma-Documentary

Coinciding with the release of a new documentary about the director from Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, the SIFF Film Center is playing a mini-retrospective of Brian De Palma’s films this weekend, June 24-26. Certified Classics Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Obsession, Blow Out, Body Double, Scarface and Carlito’s Way present a neat cross-section of some of his Best Work, and they’re all playing digitally at a discounted ticket price (and free for members).

Continue reading De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow, 2015)”

Friday June 17 – Thursday June 23

Featured Film:

Sunset Song at the SIFF Uptown

After helping launch the Seattle International Film Festival a mere four weeks ago, Terence Davies adaptation of the classic Scots novel is back for a week-long run at the Uptown. It’s a gorgeous inversion of Hollywood women’s melodrama. Sure, his heroine Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn) suffers considerably, but where the Golden Age classics trafficked in schadenfreude at the sufferings of their independent women, Davies finds absolution in Chris’s determined resistance to the patriarchal psychoses that possess first her father then her husband. An Old World rebuke to American solipsism: tomorrow is not another day–only the land endures. Our full review.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

Bound (The Wachowskis, 1996) Fri-Mon
Xanadu (Robert Greenwald, 1980) Fri-Tues

SIFF Egyptian:

Twist of Pride Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program
Out & In: Pride Comedy Showcase with Nico Santos Tues Only
Peaches Christ’s “Whatever Happened to Bianca Del Rio?” Thurs Only

Century Federal Way:

Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
I am Thalente (Natalie Johns) Tues Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Other Side (Roberto Minervi) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Guild 45th:

Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
A…Aa (Trivikram Srinivas) Fri-Thurs
Te3n (Ribhu Dasgupta) Fri-Thurs
Udta Punjab (Abhishek Chaubey) Fri-Thurs
Gentleman (Mohan Krishna Indraganti) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Jeremy Coon & Tim Skousen, 2015/Eric Zala, 1989) Fri-Sun Double Feature
The Long Haul (Amy Enser) Sat Only Live, Interactive Performance
Touki Bouki
 (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973) Starts Weds
Kaili Blues (Bi Gan) Starts Thurs
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959) Thurs Only

AMC Oak Tree:

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

AMC Pacific Place:

Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs

Paramount Theatre:

The Flapper (Alan Crosland, 1920) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Housefull 3 (Sajid-Farhad) Fri-Thurs
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Seven Gables:

Genius (Michael Grandage) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Film Center:

Honeyglue (James Bird, 2014) Fri-Thurs Filmmakers in Attendance Fri & Sat

Sundance Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari) Fri-Thurs
Clown (Jon Watts) Fri-Thurs
Gurukulam (Jillian Elizabeth & Neil Dalal) Fri-Thurs

Regal Thornton Place:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

Sunset Song (Terence Davies) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Last King (Nils Gaup) Fri-Thurs
Best of SIFF 2016 Fri-Thurs Full Program

SIFF 2016 Report #3: Disintegration (The Bitter Stems, Thithi, Trivisa, The Mobfathers, Tag)

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Proving once again that no film festival should ever last longer than an Olympic Games, the 2016 SIFF limped to its conclusion this weekend after a soul-crushing 25 days. While the festival had run impressively well over its first two weeks, organized and on time and with nothing in particular for a picky festival-goer like me to complain about, the last week saw an inexplicable series of outrages.

This began on Sunday night, when the programmer tasked with introducing the Johnnie To-produced film Trivisa managed to be both disrespectful, mildly offense and factually inaccurate when he claimed To was the “Roger Corman of Hong Kong”, a producer who would make any movie you had in mind as long as it had “guns or titties”. That same presenter ran the Q&A with actor/producer Chapman To the next night, which was largely unobjectionable (To was the one who mentioned “titties” at least), but the programmer did at one point refer to Mr. To as “Chapman Ho” and later, “Herman”.

Continue reading “SIFF 2016 Report #3: Disintegration (The Bitter Stems, Thithi, Trivisa, The Mobfathers, Tag)”

Friday June 10 – Thursday June 16

Featured Film:

Ali at the Century Federal Way and the AMC Southcenter

There’s still a full weekend of SIFF left to go, but sneaking onto a couple of multiplex screens this weekend is Michael Mann’s 2001 biopic about The Greatest, Muhammed Ali, starring Will Smith and featuring some of Mann’s first tentative forays into the digital video that would dominate his future filmmaking. The first thirty minutes or so are some of the best work of Mann’s career (and that’s saying something), using musical live performance footage (Sam Cooke and more) to weave together disparate spaces, emotions and unconnected actions. It’s an episodic narrative, focusing on key points in Ali’s career over ten years, from the first Liston fight to Zaire and his complex relationship with the Nation of Islam (Mario van Peebles is really good as Malcolm X, as is Jon Voight as Howard Cosell: and by the way, what a pair of friends for a guy to have!). I don’t know that anyone but Mann would make Ali this brooding, this soulful. And certainly no one else could make the end of an Ali biopic feel exactly like the end of Last of the Mohicans and Miami Vice and BlackhatAli is also playing at the Regal in Lakewood, and The Grand Cinema in Tacoma is playing the 2013 documentary The Trials of Muhammed Ali on Monday.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Central Cinema:

The Last Unicorn (Rankin & Bass, 1982) Fri-Sun, Tues Q & A Tuesday
Space Jam (Joe Pytka, 1996) Fri-Sun, Thurs
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (DA Pennebaker, 1973) Thurs Only

SIFF Egyptian:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Century Federal Way:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin) Fri-Thurs
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) Sun & Weds Only
Ali (Michael Mann, 2001) Sat & Sun Only

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
The Trials of Muhammed Ali (Bill Siegel, 2013) Mon Only
Pele: Birth of a Legend (Jeff & Michael Zimbalist) Tues Only
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959 Weds Only
Time to Choose (Charles Ferguson) Weds Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

The Ones Below (David Farr) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Guild 45th:

Time to Choose (Charles Ferguson) Fri-Thurs Q & A Friday
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
A…Aa (Trivikram Srinivas) Fri-Thurs
Te3n (Ribhu Dasgupta) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Viktoria (Maya Vitkova) Fri-Sun 
Work in Progress: The Long Haul (Amy Enser) Mon Only
Anna Nicole Smith: To the Limit
 (Raymond Martino, 1995) Thurs Only

AMC Oak Tree:

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

AMC Pacific Place:

Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Sun Full Program

Paramount Theatre:

Chicago (Frank Urson, 1927) Mon Only

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Housefull 3 (Sajid-Farhad) Fri-Thurs
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Love Me Tomorrow (Gino Santos) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Seven Gables:

Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
Iggy Pop: Live in Basel 2015 (Roli Barlocher) Thurs Only

SIFF Film Center:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

AMC Southcenter:

Ali (Michael Mann, 2001) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs

Sundance Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Maggie’s Plan (Rebecca Miller) Fri-Thurs
Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari) Fri-Thurs
Blackway (Daniel Alfredson) Fri-Thurs

Regal Thornton Place:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Friday June 3 – Thursday June 9

Featured Film:

The Seattle International Film Festival, Week Three

The third week of SIFF features archival gems from King Hu (the masterpiece Dragon Gate Inn) and the Film Noir Foundation (Argentine thriller Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems), along with new films from Jia Zhangke, Sylvia Chang, Johnnie To, Herman Yau, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and José Luis Guerín. The capper is a presentation of Buster Keaton’s greatest film, The General, accompanied by a new score from the incomparable Joe Hisaishi. Check out our Week Three Preview, along with our continuing coverage and the Mid-Festival Report episode of The Frances Farmer Show.

Playing This Week:

AMC Alderwood:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin) Fri-Thurs

Ark Lodge Cinemas:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Central Cinema:

¡Three Amigos! (John Landis, 1986) Fri-Mon
9 to 5 (Colin Higgins, 1980) Fri-Mon
Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli, 1984) Tues-Thurs Sing-along Our Podcast

SIFF Egyptian:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Century Federal Way:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin) Fri-Thurs

AMC Gateway:

Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) Fri – Thurs Our Podcast 

Grand Cinema:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino) Fri-Thurs
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise (Bob Hercules & Rita Coburn Whack) Tues Only
SOMM: Into the Bottle (Jason Wise) Thurs Only

Grand Illusion Cinema:

T-Rex (Zackary Canepari & Drea Cooper) Fri-Thurs
The Case of the Three-Sided Dream (Adam Kahan, 2014) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Guild 45th:

A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino) Fri-Thurs
Weiner (Josh Kriegman) Fri-Thurs

Cinemark Lincoln Square:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program
A…Aa (Trivikram Srinivas) Fri-Thurs
Housefull 3 (Sajid-Farhad) Fri-Thurs

Regal Meridian:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Northwest Film Forum:

Destiny (Fritz Lang, 1921) Fri-Sun 
Sweet Bean 
(Naomi Kawase) Fri-Sun
The Song Collector
(Erik Koto) Sun Only Director and Subject in Attendance
Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (Jack Sholder, 1985) Thurs Only

AMC Oak Tree:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino) Fri-Thurs

AMC Pacific Place:

The Final Master (Xu Haofeng) Fri-Thurs Our Review
The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

Regal Parkway Plaza:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review
Housefull 3 (Sajid-Farhad) Fri-Thurs
Love Me Tomorrow (Gino Santos) Fri-Thurs

Landmark Seven Gables:

Dark Horse (Louise Osmond) Fri-Thurs
As I AM: The Life and Time$ of DJ AM (Kevin Kerslake) Weds Only

SIFF Film Center:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program

AMC Southcenter:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

Sundance Cinemas:

Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman) Fri-Thurs Our Review 
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs
Ma Ma (Julio Medem) Fri-Thurs
Almost Holy (Steve Hoover) Fri-Thurs

Regal Thornton Place:

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) Fri-Thurs

SIFF Cinema Uptown:

The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival Fri-Thurs Full Program