America's Funniest White House Videos
Warren Etheridge presents satirical shorts about the race for the White House. Seattle Art Museum, Sat Oct 23 at 7 pm.
Belle Epoque
Penelope Cruz stars in this 1992 comedy about a Spanish villa and its denizens. Seattle Art Museum, Fri Oct 22 at 7:30 pm.
The Blonds
Conceptually, Albertina Carri's The Blonds has many things in common with The Mirror, Andrei Tarkovsky's gift to the soul of mankind. What both films confront is, by means of personal experience, a bloody period in their respective nation's history. In the case of The Blonds, it is the late '70s, when Argentina was under a repressive military dictatorship. One terrible day, the director's parents, who were radical intellectuals at the time, became members of that race of ghosts called desarecidos (the "disappeared"). Carri mobilizes animation, fiction, non-fiction, various types of cameras, video footage, an unfinished script, American toys, and an actor to perform a raid on this dark area of her childhood and her nation's history. The Mirror also mobilized several forms (documentary, science footage, drama) for a foray into the director's childhood. But while Tarkovsky's film managed to get very close to something that felt like the truth, The Blonds doesn't come close to anything that feels substantial. It has all of the necessary equipment, maps, memories, and strategies to perform the task, but it never departs into the past and opens it up to the light of the present. (CHARLES MUDEDE) Consolidated Works, Fri-Sun 8 pm.
* Criss Cross
This 1949 film by Robert Siodmak stars Burt Lancaster and Yvonne DeCarlo in this tale of a man's fascination with his ex-wife and her links to a seedy underworld. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Oct 28 at 7:30 pm.
Deadline
A documentary about the aftermath of Illinois Governor George Ryan's January 2003 decision to commute the sentences of all death row prisoners to life without parole. Followed by a panel discussion. Keystone Church, Fri Oct 22 at 7 pm.
Exploding Essays: Things Fall Together
A program of international experimental video, curated by Steven Seid of UC-Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive. Meany Hall, UW campus, Tues Oct 26 at 8 pm.
Extreme Hilarity Contest
A "fake network film festival" at Rendezvous, Mon Oct 25 at 8 pm.
* He Walked by Night
A 1948 film by Alfred Werker and Anthony Mann about the hunt for a young man who kills a cop. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs Oct 21 at 7:30 pm.
* Karl Rove Paranoia Series
See Stranger Suggests. Dennis Nyback is back with a delectable array of archival paranoia. I Know Why You're Afraid, a program of educational films, Northwest Film Forum, Fri Oct 22 at 7:15 and 9:30 pm. The Parallax View, NWFF, Sat Oct 23 at 7:15 and 9:45 pm. Drug and Booze Educationals, NWFF, Sun Oct 24 at 7:15 and 9:45 pm. Terrorism Light and Dark, a program of pre-9/11 docs, NWFF, Mon Oct 25 at 7 and 9:15 pm. Fuck the Republican Party!, right-wing propaganda from the 1940s-'70s, Tues Oct 26 at 7 and 9:15 pm. The Day the Fish Came Out, a musical comedy about nuclear annhilation, NWFF, Wed Oct 27 at 7 and 9:30 pm.
* Lost & Found: Media Archeology
A series about archival and found-footage film. Opening Night Event with readings, short films, and more, Northwest Film Forum, Thurs Oct 21 at 7:30 pm. Archeology of the Unreal: Rare Films by Joseph Cornell (introduced by Susan Rosenberg of the Seattle Art Museum), NWFF, Fri Oct 22 at 8 pm, Sat Oct 23 at 7 pm. Terrain, an evening of collaborative works from writers, filmmakers, and sound artists, NWFF, Sat Oct 23 at 9 pm. 2nd Generation: Found Footage Films, including Seattle premieres of work by Matt (The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal) McCormick and Bill (Decasia) Morrison, NWFF, Sun Oct 24 at 7 and 9 pm. Series continues through Oct 31. For more information, see www.testpatternsite.org.
Message from Space
This 1978 Japanese film is part of Grand Illusion's series of Star Wars rip-offs. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
* Modern Times
Many, such as myself, rate Modern Times as Charlie Chaplin's most important contribution to popular culture. It is, however, a late film for the early master of mass entertainment, and it's concerned with several things--the main two of which being, aesthetically, the end of the silent era and, substantially, the dehumanizing conditions of an increasingly mechanized and urbanized environment. Chaplin plays a factory worker whose body is shocked by machines, by poverty, by political turmoil and police brutality. The only place he feels at home is in jail, where happy accidents with "nose candy" can happen. Outside, everything is harsh. Unemployment is high, crime is high, and lots of hungry little children run about streets fruitlessly. And if there is work, it is hard and utterly mindless. Modern Times is mostly silent, except when machines (record players, surveillance equipment) make announcements or commands. The human order of compassion, laughter, and love (all of which are represented by The Tramp and a street kid, Paulette Goddard, who has big eyes and the survival instincts of a rat) is driven out of the city. As the German critic Walter Benjamin once wrote, "Chaplin never allows the audience to smile while watching him. They must either double up laughing or be very sad." (CHARLES MUDEDE) Grand Illusion, Weekdays 7, 9 pm, Sat-Sun 3, 5, 7, 9 pm.
The Perfect Candidate
The Media, Politics, and Democracy series continues with this 1997 film about th 1994 Senate race between Charles Robb and Oliver North in the commonwealth of Virgina. Capitol Hill Library, Wed Oct 27 at 6:30 pm.
Picnic
William Holden cruises into a small Midwest town on Labor Day and makes off with his best friend's girl (Kim Novak). The cad! Movie Legends, Sun Oct 24 at 1 pm.
Señorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman
A documentary about the more than 200 women from Juarez, Mexico who have been kidnapped and murdered since 1993. New Freeway Hall, Thurs Oct 21 at 7:30 pm.
* The Shining
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
Star Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back
The only good one in the series. EMP's JBL Theater, Fri Oct 22 at 7 pm.
Tarnation
See review this issue. Varsity, Fri-Sun 12:10, 2:20, 4:30, 7:15, 9:30 pm, Mon-Thurs 7:15, 9:30 pm.
* Tying the Knot
As much as the idea of entwined phallic ice sculptures at some Versace-esque commitment ceremony on Fire Island sets my teeth on edge, I still think gay marriage is a good idea. Like abortion, I support it but I'm never going to have one. But the excellent documentary Tying the Knot posits very real arguments for gay marriage or civil unions (the sleight-of-hand political footballing behind that semantic distinction is never parsed, but really how can it be?)--the kind of commitments entered into by people without visible abdominal muscles. Tying the Knot asks a simple question with very tangled answers: What happens to the surviving half of a same-sex couple after a partner dies?
The director, Jim de Seve, introduces us to Mickie Mashburn, a cop in Tampa whose fellow cop and partner was killed in the line of duty, and we watch as she battles for the pension that is part of the benefits package for surviving spouses. There's also Sam, a rancher in Oklahoma, whose partner of 25 years Earl has died. Sam has lost their home to Earl's cousins, who contested the will, sued for the land, and won.
Interspersed with these profiles are footage from C-Span and rallies and interviews with very tiresome pundits such as gay conservative Andrew Sullivan that give context but add nothing when compared to the quiet heartbreak of the real people whose lives have so obviously been touched by grave injustice. (NATE LIPPENS) Varsity, Fri-Sun 12:30, 2:40, 4:45, 7, 9:20 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:20 pm. Panel discussion follows 7 pm screenings Fri-Sun.
Vice 11 w/ Where There's Smoke...
A party and fundraiser, featuring screenings of two locally produced shorts. Nectar, Sat Oct 23. Films screen at 1 and 3 pm.
Waheeda Rehman Retrospective.
A film retrospective exploring the works of the legendary Bollywood actress. Pyaasa, her breakout film (directed by Guru Dutt) screens at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park, Sat Oct 23 at 10 am. Teesro Lasa, a 1966 film by Basu Battacharya, SAAM, Sat Oct 23 at 2 pm. Guide, a 1965 film by Vijay Anand, Kane Hall, UW campus, Sun Oct 24 at 10 am. All films are followed by a Q&A with Waheeda Rehman. Panel discussion, Kane Hall, Sun Oct 24 at 2 pm.
NOW PLAYING
Being Julia
See review this issue.
CELSIUS 41.11: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LIES OF FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Congratulations, Republican fuckwits. You've discovered the exact temperature at which the brain starts to decay. Goebbels would be proud of your intrepid scientific experimentation.
The Final Cut
Unfortunately, because this film owes a duty to its genre, the "sci" dominates "fi," and the second half becomes a thudding, crypto-ethical quandary that adds up to little more than an inner-child healing session for star Robin Williams. On the plus side, Williams is excellent in this movie, mainly because he finally seems to have mastered the art of blandness. He channels Gene Hackman's Harry Caul from The Conversation (his character's last name is even Hakman) and lets the conceit do all the work. Too bad the screenwriter couldn't come up with a framework that does the same thing. (SEAN NELSON)
The Forgotten
The Forgotten is a surprisingly strong mainstream thriller, with twists that are both implausible and utterly credible, thanks especially to the open-wound vulnerability of the great Julianne Moore. (SEAN NELSON)
Friday Night Lights
A working-class football movie starring Billy Bob Thornton.
* Garden State
Zack Braff's debut film, Garden State, which he wrote, directed, and stars in, may very well be a similar act of egogasm (when you put Simon and Garfunkel on the soundtrack of your examination of disaffected twenty-somethings, you're just asking for it), but it features enough odd grace notes among the rampant navel-gazing to warrant a watch. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Descartes has no business being in the land of anime. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
The Grudge
See review this issue.
* Hero
Initially, Yimou Zhang, the director of such intimate character pieces as Raise the Red Lantern and To Live, may seem an odd choice to successfully rekindle the flaming swords and arrows of the martial arts genre, but from the opening frames he sells you. Hero melds modern wirework effects with the director's own mastery of character to create an awesome chop-socky epic with an honestly moving emotional backbeat. This time, at least, the hype can be believed. I could watch it every night. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
This documentary offers a very basic portrait of a man, Howard Zinn, whose life has been extraordinary. Composed of interviews with the popular author of A People's History of The United States, his colleagues, and former students like Alice Walker, the story of Howard Zinn is not that different from the story of Forrest Gump. Both seem to have been close to the center of all the major American social events in the second half of the 20th century. After obtaining his doctorate, Zinn, we learn, got a post at a prominent black university, Spellman, just at the very moment that the civil rights movement was gaining momentum. He wrote an early book about the radical black student organization SNCC, and was fired by the black university for his aggressive role in anti-segregation protests. (Very few white liberals have that kind of cred.) In the '60s and '70s, he taught at Boston University, which was a hotbed of anti-war activity. And he also visited North Vietnam during the war. Howard Zinn wrote about history at the very moment he was an active part of it, but this documentary fails to capture the energy of this historian and his times; and maybe the documentary form is wholly inadequate for such an enormous undertaking. It's possible that big events and passions can only be successfully represented by films that have the budget and star power of Forrest Gump. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
I * Huckabees
While there are many characters, themes, plots, and subplots in Huckabees, the real conflicts are all dialectical--existential detectives vs. nihilist temptress, surrealistic idealist vs. empirical purist, etc. And even though these precepts are embodied by famous actors, the entire film winds up feeling like an abstraction, rather than a dramatization, of a philosophical quandary. (SEAN NELSON)
Ladder 49
I can't say Ladder 49 is a powerful movie that does real justice to the life of a firefighter, because I'm not a firefighter. I don't even personally know any firefighters. But if it is, if this movie is even 75-percent legit... well then, shit--firefighters are amazing, courageous, and insane human beings. (MEGAN SELING )
* The Motorcycle Diaries
This is a film that should be taken for what it is: a beautifully constructed road movie with a dash of conscience on the side. There is much to despise about Che Guevara later in his life; these early adventures help us understand where the eventual fanatic was born. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Napoleon Dynamite
In this charming new film, 24-year-old writer/ director Jared Hess mines the nebulous area between popular chic and weirdo freak, where outcast attributes are both quality, subtle comedy, and a charmingly dark part of our collective high-school unconscious. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
* Open Water
This year's Sundance bidding champ, Open Water, made with a skeleton crew and produced on a budget unfair to most shoestrings, has a central gimmick that's hard to trump: actors in the water messing around with real live sharks. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
* Primer
Primer, the $7,000 debut from director/writer/editor/composer/actor/egghead Shane Carruth may very well be one of the best American movies of the year, and I'll be damned if I understood more than 40% of it. Set within a buzzing, florescent-lit labyrinth of garage labs and self-storage complexes, the film follows two aspiring hackers as they accidentally invent an ominously humming box that seems to combine the most worrisome aspects of both time and Xerox machines. Things progress from there, and back again. Vague, I know, but to reveal more would sour the script's surprises (of which there are more than a few), and because Carruth's flummoxing combination of dense torrents of geek-speak and leap-frogging plot threads actively defies standard narrative coherence, while encouraging and supporting multiple explanations. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
Raise Your Voice
Hilary Duff has about as much screen presence as a Peep marshmallow treat. (MEGAN SELING)
Shall We Dance?
In Shall We Dance?, which is directed by Peter Chelsom, an estate planner (Richard Gere) wants to fuck a mysterious dance instructor (Jennifer Lopez). His marriage is safe, dull, and very white; in a flash he sees the exact opposite of all that he is--a brown voluptuous woman. She thrives in the heart of the city (Chicago); he is imprisoned in the suburbs. She has passion; he has a pension. As always, the north wants to hump the south. He makes a cautious move toward his desire, but what he ends up with are a bunch of dance lessons instead of sex. His wife (Susan Sarandon) suspects he is having an affair; but she soon learns that he is spending his nights practicing the tango. The movie ends with the marriage reaffirmed and a return of peace to the kingdom of the petty bourgeoisie. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Shark Tale
Dreamworks' newest faux-Disney offering is a drably animated parable about the perils of watching too much Cribs. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Shaun of the Dead
In the recent glut of financially successful zombie flicks--from 28 Days Later to the remake of Dawn of the Dead--the UK-made Shaun is the clear spiritual and intellectual winner, a film that simultaneously respects and satirizes the zombie genre. (ERIK HENRIKSEN)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
This is perhaps the most expensive experimental film ever (think of a cheerful Lars von Trier's Zentropa, or a Guy Maddin film with a ridiculous budget), and as such it's fairly shocking that it exists at all. Studios are not ones to gamble, after all, especially on first-time filmmakers with cockamamie schemes about robots and fighter planes, but Conran has managed to make something in Sky Captain that both harks back and leaps forward at the same time, and it is without a doubt, on a purely technical level, one of the bravest major studio pictures ever released. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Spider-Man 2
Going into a Spider-Man film we surely expect the spectacular, but even the spectacular has limits. All films, even fantasy ones, need to at least touch upon reality. It can be the lightest of touches, but there must be substance there for us to grab onto--otherwise, why should we bother watching? In Sam Raimi's vision of Spider-Man, however, his normally manic camera joins with CGI to create a work that is often completely fraudulent. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Stage Beauty
See review this issue.
Surviving Christmas
See review this issue.
Taxi
Taxi met every single one of my expectations. Of course, knowing the film's storyline included a likeable but clumsy cop, an opinionated bike messenger turned cab driver, and a gang of supermodels who rob banks... Well, my standards weren't set very high. (MEGAN SELING)
Team America: World Police
Heavily inspired by Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds series (which was recently bastardized by Paramount into a puppet-free "adventure"), the marionette work in Trey Parker and Matt Stone's film is truly amazing. The action sequences, and even the quiet moments, are triumphs of design, beautifully photographed by Bill Pope and far more complicated than any sane person(s) would even attempt, let alone succeed at creating. It's not just an homage to Anderson, it's a completion of the creepy world Anderson was so obsessed with. Team America's comedy may run from inspired to painfully flat, and the politics may be far too simplistic, but Parker and Stone have done one thing better than anyone has before: They've made the greatest marionette movie of all time. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Vanity Fair
The problem with Reese Witherspoon as Becky is linked to the way this film tries to reinvent her character. Thackeray's secret sympathy for his conniving protagonist--who is so bad she even hates children--always seeps through the cynical narration. Becky Sharp is great because, no matter how much we admire her pluck from the safe distance of the 21st century, she was a terrible bitch. Mira Nair does not agree. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Vera Drake
See review this issue.
Woman, Thou Art Loosed
This film features a tedious screenplay and pedestrian direction, from Real World-style confessionals with all the major players (a child-molester boyfriend, a complicit mother, etc) to a narrative that can't seem to settle on whether its temporal irregularities are supposed to be foreshadowing or a flashback. But Kimberly Elise turns in such a fantastic, rage-twisted performance as the lead character that it's tempting to forgive the film's flaws. According to the religious moral at the heart of the movie, it's important to forgive, but it's a sin to look the other way; I quite agree. Woman, Thou Art Loosed is a crappy movie with one of the best film performances of the year. (ANNIE WAGNER)
Zelary
In World War II Prague, a sexy, cosmopolitan resistance group is compromised, forcing one of its main resisters, a fetching nurse named Eliska, to flee the city, change her name, and take up residence in the remote country hamlet of Zelary. This wouldn't be so bad except that in order to be accepted there, she has to get married to a villager. The way Eliska--now called Hana--slowly withers in the face of her fate is a beautifully modern dilemma; a professional woman from the city must retreat to the countryside and adopt the traditional (read: powerless) life of a peasant girl, and all because of her political convictions. This conflict, along with the delicate courtship of Hana's sweet, clumsy husband of convenience, humanizes Zelary's social backdrop, and elevates what could have been a morose memory play into a highly engaging emotional history. (SEAN NELSON)
