Welcome to my SIFF 2009 Post Mortem. Highlights from this year: the 35th anniversary of the festival, Cinerama, West Seattle, and SIFFter. The last item being a nifty application, for online or for iPhone, giving access to all the films available at SIFF. On the face of it, a handy tool, but really it only served to offer me too many choices and making it diffcult to narrow down my schedule. In prior years, I’ve had to struggle to add more films to use up my vouchers. This year, I had to delete films from My SIFF. Oh, woe is me!

Following are the films I did manage to see, and some commentary. Some are already scheduled for theatrical release, so you will have the opportunity soon to find out if you agree with me. Others you may have to wait a bit for the dvd.

Morris: A Life With Bells On

My first film of the festival was quite a delight on several levels. My lovely parents were in town for the weekend, so I got to drag them with me to a movie each day of their visit! And what a great start. Morris is a mockumentary of what I thought was a fictional dance tradition from England. Imagine my surprise when actual Morris dancers were there, and performed a dance before screen time. The director/writer/lead of the film was on hand for Q&A afterward, which was quite lively with all the Morris dancers in attendance.

The film itself was both sweet and funny, with breathtaking landscapes of the English countryside.

My Dear Enemy (Meotjin haru)

We all agreed that this film was just a little bit too long. I personally felt like it had four or five endings, all in a row, like the director just didn’t know when to let go. Aside from that, the story was pretty good, and the leads were interesting.

Moon

Not surprisingly, Sam Rockwell won the Golden Spaceneedle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a man on a 3-year solo tour of duty on the moon. An Earthly corporation is mining the lunar landscape for cheap, virtually endless fuel, and they need someone to watch over the automated processes in case of a mechanical failure. Troubles arise just as his tour is about to end, and we watch his descent into madness. I knew this was a good movie when my parents and I continued to discuss it hours after it was over. And it was only days later when it really sunk in what a marvelous performance Rockwell gave.

The director, Duncan Jones, was on hand after for some Q&A, and he talked some about how lucky they were to be able to film at Shepperton Studios in England – the same studio where Alien was made. (I was impressed, anyway.) It was a low budget film, but they were able to get all these experienced filmmakers involved because the writer’s strike was underway and noone had work to do. (Interesting, but irrelevant, I just read on IMDb that the Jones is David Bowie’s son.)

A Woman’s Way (Strella)

Μίνα Ορφανού (Mina Orfanou) gave a wonderful performance as a transsexual prostitute/showgirl in Athens who starts up a tumultuous relationship with an ex-con. We are all human, and we are all wanting to love and be loved, and it is this aspect of life the title character shows us. They face hurdles, yes, but hopefully  they can be a family in the end.  This Greek film is not all kittens and bows – although there are a few incongruous animated sequences involving a small forest creature, but other than that, worth watching.

The Merry Gentleman

Michael Keaton’s directorial debut, he stars along side Kelly Macdonald in this quiet tale of companionship and separation. Sweet though dark film, with some amusing dialogue.

Downloading Nancy

The title gives this film an inappropriate, inaccurate frivolity. This is a story about a woman who, after years of systematic childhood abuse and an adult life that offers no relief to her suffering, is resistant to any kind of therapy and sees only one solution. Some have responded with the question, what is the point of making this film when there is no hope at all? Truly, the main characters have little to no redeeming qualities, and there really is no hope for any of them (with the exception of one, who at least has the opportunity to start over), but the point is this is reality. Thankfully, not for many, but for some people this is their life. It is important to acknowledge that. But if all you want to see are lovey-dovey couples, cuddly forest creatures, and Technicolor, this film is not for you.