By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
True story: I once got into such an intense pun battle with a co-worker that I literally chased him down the street shouting puns as he drove away. That said, I was today years old when I found out pun “slams” and tournaments are a thing. Abby Hagan’s documentary delves into pun culture. A fun watch (albeit for a niche audience) but may become redundant for some (I bet you’re glad I didn’t say “repundant”).
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
Writer-director July Jung’s outstanding film is reminiscent of Kurosawa’s High and Low, not just in the sense that it is equal parts police procedural and social drama, but that it contains a meticulously layered narrative that has (to paraphrase something Stanley Kubrick once said of his own work) “…a slow start, the start that goes under the audience’s skin and involves them so that they can appreciate grace notes and soft tones and don’t have to be pounded over the head with plot points and suspense hooks.”
The first half of the film tells the story of a high school student who is placed into a mandatory “externship” at a call center by one of her teachers. Suffice it to say her workplace is a prime example as to why labor laws exist (they do have them in South Korea-but exploitative companies always find loopholes).
When the outgoing and headstrong young woman commits suicide, a female police detective is assigned to the case. The trajectory of her investigation takes up the second half of the film. The deeper she digs, the more insidious the implications…and this begins to step on lot of toes, including her superiors in the department. Jung draws parallels between the stories of the student and the detective investigating her death; both are assertive, principled women with the odds stacked against them. Ultimately, they’re tilting at windmills in a society driven by systemic corruption, predatory capitalism, and a patriarchal hierarchy.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
Emanuele Crialese’s semi-autobiographical drama about a dysfunctional family (set in 1970s Rome) combines the raw emotion of John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence with the sense memory of Fellini’s Amarcord. Penélope Cruz portrays a woman in a faltering marriage struggling to hold it together for the sake of her three children, to whom she is fiercely and unconditionally devoted. Her teenage daughter Edri identifies as a boy named “Andrea” (much to the chagrin of her abusive father). Buoyed by naturalistic performances, beautiful cinematography (by Gergely Pohárnok) and a unique 70s Italian pop soundtrack.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
To call Lawrence (Isaiah Lehtinen), the 17-year-old hero of writer-director Chandler Levack’s coming of age dramedy a “film freak” is an understatement. When his best bud ribs him by exclaiming in mock horror, “I can’t believe you never masturbate!” Lawrence’s responds with a shrug, “I’ve tried to, but…I’d rather watch Goodfellas or something.” Levack’s film (set in the early aughts) abounds with such cringe-inducing honesty; eliciting the kind of nervous chuckles you get from watching, say, Todd Solondz’s Happiness (a film that Lawrence enthusiastically champions to a hapless couple in a video store who can’t decide on what they want to see).
Lawrence, who dresses (and pontificates) like a Canadian version of Ignatius J. Reilly, is obsessed with two things: Paul Thomas Anderson’s oeuvre, and the goal of getting into NYU film school in the fall (despite not even having been accepted yet, and that he’s not likely to save up the $90,000 tuition working as a minimum wage video store clerk over the summer). Wry, observant, and emotionally resonant, with wonderful performances by the entire cast, SIFF’s closing night selection is a real winner.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13th, 2023)
(Engaging sheepish mode). I’ve lived in Seattle 30 years…yet the “ambient metal” band Earth (led in numerous iterations by guitarist Dylan Carlson) somehow slipped under my radar. I felt a bit redeemed when I learned in Clyde Petersen’s documentary that they’re more well-known outside of the Northwest. Moody, experimental, and hypnotic (not unlike Earth’s epic drone pieces), Petersen’s film is, at its heart, an elegiac paean to that ephemeral moment Seattle ruled the music world.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
I missed “The Star Wars Christmas Special” in 1978…but after seeing Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s documentary, perhaps that’s for the best. Leaving viewers and TV critics aghast, the unintentionally kitschy one-off has since garnered cult status (George Lucas initially OK’d the project but disowned it following the broadcast). The backstory is recounted in a cheeky and entertaining fashion. Warning: this film may trigger nightmares about Bea Arthur tending bar at the Mos Eisley Cantina.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
“I’m WALKIN’ heah!” Aside from its distinction as being the only X-rated film to earn Oscars, John Schlesinger’s groundbreaking, idiosyncratic 1969 character study Midnight Cowboy (one of three special archival presentations at this year’s SIFF) also ushered in an era of mature, gritty realism in American film that flourished from the early to mid-1970s. The film was Schlesinger’s first U.S.-based project; he had already made a name for himself in his native England with films like A Kind of Loving, Billy Liar, Darling, and Far From the Madding Crowd.
Dustin Hoffman has seldom matched his character work here as Ratso Rizzo, a homeless New York City con artist who adopts country bumpkin/aspiring male hustler Joe Buck (Jon Voight) as his “protégé”. The two leads are outstanding, as is the supporting cast, which includes John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes and a teenage Bob Balaban. Also look for cameos from several of Warhol’s “Factory” regulars in a memorable party scene.
In hindsight, the location filming provides a fascinating historical document of the seedy milieu that was “classic” Times Square (New York “plays itself” very well here). Schlesinger won an Oscar for Best Director, as did Waldo Salt for his screenplay.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
The Breakfast Club meets Alice in Wonderland in Keiichi Hara’s anime, adapted from Mizuki Tsujimura’s novel. Seven middle-school students (all misfits) are given access to a magic castle via their mirrors. Once there, a “wolf girl” informs them the first to find a hidden key will be granted one wish. As they become acquainted, they become less competitive and more empathetic toward each other. Overlong for a simple narrative, but a lovely message for kids.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 13, 2023)
Echoes of Graham Greene’s The Honorary Consul permeate this examination of the moral, ethical, and political dilemmas presented by life in a totalitarian society. Set in 1976 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, actress Manuela Martelli’s debut feature (co-written with Alejandra Garcia) centers on a bourgeois Chilean woman (Aline Küppenheim).
Although she trained as a nurse at med school, she has opted to let her physician husband bring home the bacon. Busying herself by taking care of their luxurious beachfront home and doing volunteer work for her church, she is largely sheltered from the harsh realities of the regime. However, when her priest talks her into helping a wounded rebel, she gets a crash-course in what life is really like for the less fortunate and begins to question her personal priorities. Deliberate pacing and an abrupt, ambiguous dénouement may be trying for some, but the film is well-directed and acted.
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 6, 2023)
The 49th Seattle International Film Festival (May 11-21) opens next week, featuring 264 shorts, docs, and narrative films from 74 countries. As always, the looming question is – where to begin? I’ve found the trick to navigating festivals is developing a 6th sense for films in your wheelhouse (so I embrace my OCD and channel it like a cinematic dowser).
(deep breath) Let’s dive in.
This year’s Opening Night Gala selection is Past Lives (USA/Korea), the latest offering from A24 (Ex Machina, Ladybird, Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All at Once, et.al.). Billed as “a heartrending modern romance”, the drama was written and directed by Celine Song, who will be attending and participating in a Q&A following the screening.
Always with the personal drama: Dean Kavanagh’s Hole in the Head (Ireland) is a character study about a mute projectionist who uses the tools of his trade as a conduit for coming to terms with long-repressed memories. Adolfo (Mexico, U.S. premiere) is first-time writer-director Sofia Auza’s tale of two twentysomething strangers who form a close bond over the course of one fateful evening (possible shades of Before Sunrise).
Utilizing the backdrop of late-80s Thatcherism, Georgia Oakley’s debut feature Blue Jean (U.K.) concerns a P.E. teacher entering her first queer relationship just as the British government passes The Local Government Act-which (among other things) prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality (timely, considering recent legislation here in the colonies).
Another period drama with political undercurrents is Chile ’76 (Chile/Argentine/Qatar). During Chile’s oppressive Pinochet era, an upper-class doctor’s wife is unexpectedly recruited by her local priest to nurse a wounded anti-government fugitive back to health. The film marks the directing debut for actress Manuella Martelli.
That’s showbiz: several backstage docs intrigue me, including Becoming Mary Tyler Moore (USA) James Adolphus’ portrait of the pioneering actress, producer, and activist. A Disturbance in the Force (USA) really sounds fun-it tells the origin story of the “unhinged” 1978 CBS TV special “The Star Wars Holiday Special”-which redefined the meaning of “WTF?!” for franchise fans (directed by Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak).
Some wordy film titles double as a synopsis…e.g., Chicory Wees’ Circus of the Scars – The Insider Odyssey of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (USA), an overdue history of the unique Seattle-based troupe. It’s sure to be a piercing study (sorry). Speaking of bad puns (and as a shameless practitioner of same), I’m really looking forward to groaning through another Seattle-based doc, Punderneath it All (USA). Director Abby Hagan explores “…the wonderfully whimsical world of 15 regional pun competitions across the U.S.”.
Movie movie: Roman Hüben’s Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair (Switzerland) is a documentary portrait of the prolific German director known for technicolor 50s melodramas like Written on the Wind and Imitation of Life. Pigeonholed at the time as “women’s weepies”, Sirk’s oeuvre has since gained more critical appreciation, as well as influencing filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar, John Waters, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. And Nancy Buirski’s Desperate Souls, Dark City, and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (USA) zeroes in on John Schlesinger’s groundbreaking 1969 drama.
Speaking of which, Midnight Cowboy (which I wrote about here) is one of several special archival presentations at this year’s SIFF. Also showing: Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, and Jack Arnold’s 1957 cult favorite The Incredible Shrinking Man (which I wrote about here). This is a rare opportunity to see these gems on the big screen.
Behind the music: All hail the Queen of Disco! Love to Love You, Donna Summer (USA) promises to be an intimate portrait of the late pop diva, co-directed by Brooklyn Sudano and Roger Ross Williams. Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro’s Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (USA) examines the life of the great jazz player and cultural activist.
Pacific Northwest music connections are well-represented this year; I’m particularly intrigued by Even Hell Has its Heroes (USA), a documentary by Seattle multimedia transgender artist Clyde Petersen about Earth (“the slowest metal band on the planet”). And Casey Affleck stars as a washed-up folk singer looking for a comeback in Dreamin’ Wild (USA). The drama was shot in Spokane and is written and directed by Bill Pohlad.
Family friendly: I’m a big anime fan, so I’m looking forward to catching Keiichi Hara’s fantasy adventure Lonely Castle in the Mirror (Japan), described as “a magical realism story about struggling with mental health and how friendships can help you overcome your despair.” Another promising animated feature is Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia (France). Co-directed by Jean-Christophe Roger and Julien Chheng, it’s the belated sequel to the charming 2014 film Ernest & Célestine (my original SIFF review).
Odds ‘n’ sods: Next Sohee (Korea) is a crime thriller with a compelling setup- “A vivacious high schooler is placed in a job training program at a call center and is slowly cut down to nothing until she commits suicide, galvanizing a police detective to peel back layer upon layer of exploitation to get to the bottom of her death.”
Directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, Mami Wata- A West Afrikan Folklore (Nigeria) “follows the citizens of a fictional West African village as their faith in a water deity is challenged by forces from without and within.” And Marie Alice Wolfszahn’s Mother Superior (Austria) is “a gothic occult thriller set in 1970s Austria, in which a “woman born under sinister circumstances takes a job as an eccentric Baroness’ nurse to solve the mystery of her own parentage.” OK then.
Obviously, I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’ll be plowing through the catalog and sharing reviews with you beginning next Saturday. In the meantime, visit the SIFF site for full details on the films, event screenings, special guests, panel discussions and more.