Friday I left work early to get started on a SIFF-full weekend which started at Pacific Place for Gromozeka. A bleak, Russian film, Gromozeka weaves together the sort-of midlife crises of three school chums who sing together about the “bird of happiness” who is coming for them, but not today. One is a philandering surgeon, another is an impotent policeman, and the last is a widowed cab driver with a wayward daughter. Part funny, part sad, Gromozeka may be worth checking out on DVD in the near future.
Afterwards, I made a mad dash to SIFF Cinema for the documentary Project Nim. While the previous film was a fictional portrayal of human misery, this film is a factual account of how miserably awful humans can be. Nim was a chimp born in 1972 and taken from his mother at two weeks old to live with a human family to study whether chimpanzees can be taught to communicate like humans. The film is put together with archival footage, photographs, and contemporary interviews with some of the humans involved in Nim’s livelihood over the course of his life. These people were not evil or anything, but some of them acted with such arrogance and disregard for consequence, that it can be a bit sickening to witness at times. And some of them acted with compassion that maybe compensated for the others. That’s a question that probably can’t be answered. Project Nim is coming to a theatre near you.
Category Archives: pop culture
SIFF 2011 Day 04: Everett or Bust!
Monday, a holiday, found me taking mass transit to a whole different county for film festival screenings. I would have loved to take the Sounder train, but alas it does not run on holidays, and instead took a bus. It is actually a coach, and it only took 45 minutes from downtown Seattle. (I may one day write about my experience getting to downtown Seattle that morning, as that was an adventure all to itself.)
The first film (of three) was A Cat in Paris (Une vie de chat). The biggest disappointment of this film is that it was not in French. They’re in Paris, no? However, it seems that it is deemed a children’s film, and obviously children cannot read subtitles. The English dubbing wouldn’t be so bad if they hadn’t used such ridiculous accents. Each character was from somewhere else. I heard a few American accents, German, English, possibly Russian, etc. Why couldn’t they speak English with French accents? The animation is nice – no Pixar smoothness here. I dig the fluidity of the cat burglar’s movements as he makes impossible leaps and dodges in the night. There’s a nifty scene in the dark, rendered as white on black line drawings. The story resolved itself a bit too quickly for my taste, and some of the dialogue felt a wee bit contrived (perhaps the fault of the English translation). I really think you should see this in French, but if you just can’t wait (or don’t care) A Cat in Paris is playing again in Kirkland on 5 June and at the Egyptian on 11 June.
The second film was Page One: Inside the New York Times. Documentarian Andrew Rossi filmed a year inside the offices of the Times and gave us a glimpse of life on a newspaper. Interspersed between snippets of men at work (and it was mostly men) are interviews of members of other media outlets with their take on the State of Things at the paper and in media in general. It showed some interesting perspectives from inside the industry and gives the audience some things to chew on, should they choose to do so. In fact, one aspect of the commentary is that the American audience really doesn’t want to chew on things anymore. I hope this film can get people to stop and think about the future of journalism and what our relationship as a society will be, and what we want it to be. A lot of times we, collectively, don’t consider the ramifications of our actions or inaction, and then lament later the loss of things we had the power to retain. Times reporter Brian Stelter was on hand for a healthy Q&A following the screening. Page One is scheduled to be released in late June.
The third film was Simple Simon (I Rymden Finns Inga Känslor) from Sweden, a tale of a young man with Asperger’s syndrome figuring out love in the process of finding a new girlfriend for his brother. The Swedish title I believe means “in space there are no feelings” or something to that effect. It is a sentiment the title character expresses in the film, which is why he can often be found in a metal drum which he pretends is a spacecraft orbiting Earth. He doesn’t like change, so when his brother’s girlfriend leaves, he needs to find a new one to maintain the status quo. This proves to be quite awkward for all involved, with sometimes hilarious results. I actually chuckled out loud a couple times, this movie was that funny (I maintain virtual silence during almost all films in theatres). Simple Simon plays again at SIFF Cinema on 1 June.
SIFF 2011 Day 03: Death Becomes Her
I saw two films on the third day of my film odyssey, both involving a death in some way, as well as new love.
The first film was Über uns das All (Above Us Only Sky). Schoolteacher Martha is ready to leave Köln for Marseilles to begin a new life in the sunshine. Her plans get derailed when she discovers her husband has been living a secret life. (Funnily enough, I came home last night and watched an episode of Waking the Dead with a similar situation, but with very different results.) The remainder of the film is Martha dealing with the repercussions in the best way she knows how, which is, of course, not necessarily how most people would. Luckily, she stumbles upon someone who is in the right place at the right time, and they are able to work through it together. He just doesn’t know it right away. I wouldn’t say it is a love story so much as a portrait of acceptance and choice, and beautifully done. There are no more screenings this festival, but look out for the film later this year.
The second film was Late Autumn, a South Korean film made mostly in Seattle and entirely in the Pacific Northwest. It is a story of a young Chinese woman returning home for her mother’s funeral, yet feeling unwelcome and apart from her family and her past. At the same, she is courted by a carefree Korean man who has troubles of his own. She reluctantly accepts his attentions, which eventually allow her to process some of the baggage she’s been holding onto. Hyun Bin is delightful as the incorrigible escort, and Wei Tang has her moments, too. A mixed bag for Seattlites, I think, for there are improbable leaps in locale (maybe that’s just me being too literal), but also nice views of the actual city. Hey folks, this is not Vancouver playing the part of Seattle! Great timing of shooting in the last days of the Fun Forest rides, the setting very much adds to the overall melancholy. Late Autumn plays again at the Egyptian on May 31.
SIFF 2011 Day 02: Curry With a Twist
I discovered late last night that I titled yesterday’s entry as SIFF 2012, and I got a little freaked out looking through my archives thinking that I totally forgot to write about last year’s festival only to realize a moment later that it is NOT 2012. I’ve corrected that now. It’s one of the pitfalls of working in the apparel industry, where you are always working in the future.
My second film was the documentary film The Bengali Detective. It follows a few months in the life of Rajesh, a private detective in Kolkata. He and his team of investigators track down shopkeepers selling counterfeit hair oils, run surveillance on cheating husbands, and, in this film, take on their first murder case. The workload is exhausting, so to unwind the detectives dance. Boss man Rajesh even goes so far as to enter them to audition for a dance contest show, with hilarious results. There are poignant moments as well, as we get to know the woman with the cheating husband, the fate of the shopkeeper, and as we watch the decline of Rajesh’s ill wife. The Bengali Detective plays again in Everett on May 28, and in Kirkland on June 3. See it! I think it will make you chuckle, which is a good thing.
SIFF 2011 Day 01: French Fried
The Seattle International Film Festival started last week, but I was not able to begin my film odyssey until now (oh, woe is me, I had to spend a long weekend in NYC). I began my adventure with Homme Au Bain (Man At Bath), a film about two lovers spending a week away from each other after a fight. The film’s star, adult film actor François Sagat was on hand for some Q&A following the screening. He mentioned that it initially was supposed to be a short film, and he was right. The filmmakers would have done well to stick with the original plan, as there was quite a bit of extraneous footage. This was mostly what was shot in New York with a small non-pro camera, ostensibly by the second lead. There is a lot of male nudity, which I’m all for, but it is short on plot and much too long. Homme Au Bain plays again May 26 at 4:30 at the Egyptian.
Why I Like Celebrity Apprentice
I must say, I am not a fan of reality TV. Generally speaking, it does nothing but showcase the lowest common denominator in our society, and prevents us from seeing what is really important in our lives. It also prevents us from seeing quality art since it is so much cheaper to produce a reality program (even if it is somewhat scripted) than it is to produce a smart comedy or an exciting drama (like Sarah Connor Chronicles – how did they even get enough money to make 1-1/2 seasons?). Every once in a while, though, something will pique my interest. I really did enjoy Beauty and the Geek, even though they only had one female geek (too little, too late). But I really get a kick out of Celebrity Apprentice.
I never watched the regular Apprentice shows, probably because I don’t really care for Mr. Trump. The celebrity version intrigued me at first because it was full of personalities that we all sort know, and I wondered how these people would even be able to work together out of their element. It’s a familiar concept in celebrity reality shows – throw a bunch of strong personalities into confined quarters and let them duke it out. But in this case, they are doing – for the most part – real life work. Their tasks are mostly actual tasks any one of us might have to do in our own lives. Sure, we’re not all business people, but people get paid to do the things happening in these competitions. (Fine, people get paid to ballroom dance, I guess, but it’s a much, much smaller percentage of the population.) It’s fascinating and frustrating to watch how people totally dismiss someone like Tom Green, who is a successful business person by his own right, only because he has an off-kilter way of looking at things. Equally interesting is watching people like Lil Jon and John Rich, neither of whom I had any knowledge or interest in previously, really kick butt and accomplish things together. Most of all, though, I get a kick out of this show because I can put myself into the situation and think, “How would I approach this? What solution would I have?” And the ideas I have could actually be useful to me at some point. When will I ever need to eat a slug?
I have a great idea for an upcoming season of Apprentice, but that’s between me and Mr. Burnett. *wink*
My New Easter Tradition? Will You Join Me?
I was walking home from work Wednesday evening with easter grass and plastic eggs in my grocery bag when a thought occurred to me. Wouldn’t it be neat if Easter was like Hallowe’en? Most of the traditions are borrowed from the Pagans, so why not take it a step further? Little kids, and big ones too, dressed up in fun costumes – as opposed to scary – walking door to door to ask for candy from the neighbors. Everyone gets candy now for Easter anyway, why not make it a bit more challenging? This thought thrilled me, and I set about in my mind, formulating a plan of action to get this tradition going. Then Thursday morning, I happened upon a Christian Science Monitor article describing various Maundy Thursday traditions around the world.
Maundy Thursday is a scream for Swedish children. Many dress up as witches today to commemorate the folklore of witches today flying to Blocksberg (the Devil’s residence on Earth) and go door-to-door requesting candy.
So the Swedes are already (more or less) observing my new tradition! I double checked on Wikipedia when I got home.
In Sweden Maundy Thursday (skärtorsdagen) is connected to old folklore as the day of the witches. Young children often dress up as witches and knock on doors getting coins or candy for easter eggs.
Which leads me to this idea: Since people will not want to give up their egg hunts, the eggs would be traded at the neighbors door for the candy. So the more eggs you find during the hunt, the more candy you are liable to get visiting your neighbors. But it must be done in costume!
Who’s with me?