Buried Light
A silent film with live accompaniment. On the House, Sun April 11 at 8 pm.
* Diabolique
The 1955 Henri-Georges Clouzot thriller about a murdered man whose body mysteriously disappears. Rendezvous, Wed April 14 at 7:30 pm.
DIY Or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist
Michael Dean's documentary examines the indie impulse in a series of interviews with the likes of Ian MacKaye, Lydia Lunch, Mike Watt, Jim Rose, Ron Asheton (Stooges), and Dave Brockie (GWAR), all of whom have made a point of doing their art their own way, and many of whom have prospered. This is a benefit screening to help kitty-cats (no, seriously--see www.rockforcats.com). Aftermath Gallery, Thurs April 15 at 8 pm.
* Emerald Reels Super-8 Lounge
Last month the Super-8 Lounge packed Re-bar, and the program did not disappoint. I knew the movies would be good, but I had no idea that the music--mixed live by DJ Kid Hops--could make some of them great. Standout films this month include Roger Beebe's tribute to roadside McDonald's restaurants, "Composition in Red & Yellow"; Martha Colburn's "Skelehellavision," which paints skeletons onto pornography for a disorientatingly good time; Stephanie Gray's "This is the Bike Ride to Work," which combines hand-processed images of a bicycle trip with a soundtrack that feels truthful and comes across as funny; and finally there's "Throwing Stones at the Sun," which is a smartly structured 20-minute piece that just flies by. Fluidly organized by Reed O'Beirne, it's a great show. Plan on getting there early because it fills up quick. (This month's program is a part of the Satellites festival--see below for details.) (ANDY SPLETZER) Re-bar, Wed April 14 at 9 pm.
Fly Filmmaking Challenge Films
This event features a selection of films from the 2003 Fly Filmmaking Challenge at the Seattle International Film Festival, plus the documentary The Making of Fly Films from 2001. Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse, Fri April 9 at 7 pm.
Forbidden Zone
See Stranger Suggests. Egyptian, Fri-Sat midnight.
Friday the 13th
The summer camp slasher flick that launched a thousand sequels. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sat 11 pm.
Love Me Tonight
A 1932 musical by Rouben Mamoulian about a beggar who passes himself off as a baron. Movie Legends, Sun April 11 at 1 pm.
Only One Night
It's the stuff fairy tales are made of: an illegitimate son employed as a stable hand, a beautiful girl played by Ingrid Bergman.... Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs April 8 at 7 pm.
Open Screening
Anything goes, so long as it's under 10 minutes and in VHS or DVD format. 911 Media Arts, Mon April 12 at 8 pm.
* Rear Window
See Stranger Suggests. Grand Illusion, Fri-Sun 4:15, 6:30, 8:45 pm, Mon-Thurs 6:30, 8:45 pm.
* Reel Grrls
A program of videos made by teenage girls, and made possible by an ongoing project at 911 Media Arts Center that encourages young women to look a bit more closely at the world around them. 911 Media Arts, Fri April 9 at 8 pm.
* Road to Love
The Road to Love opens with a prank: the sweet Karim--all big sleepy eyes and dreamy lashes-- dancing on a precarious ledge outside his Paris apartment, to the obvious consternation of his pretty girlfriend. This isn't the worst thing he'll do to her, however. When he chooses for a sociology/documentary project, at apparent random, the subject of homosexuality in the Maghreb (the North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco), it leads him somewhere, shall we say, unexpected. That it both is and isn't unexpected is this rough little movie's strength. If you were so inclined, you might say you knew from the first moments--from that slithery little dance on the ledge--that Karim was gay. Many of his documentary's subjects think so too, and take every opportunity of hitting on him (some directly, some in agonizing slow motion). And his historical inquiry into the Islamic assimilation of gay practice--the Egyptian servants who lived in temporary marriages with other men until they were released from service and could marry women, the religious recommendation that men get out their sexual frustrations before marriage by sleeping with other men--gives The Road to Love a more ambivalent edge. But it is, in the end, a love story, between Karim and the almost equally lovely Farid, who isn't going to wait forever for Karim to figure out what's what. With an uncommonly happy ending. (EMILY HALL) Little Theatre, Fri-Sun 7, 9 pm, Tues-Thurs 7, 9 pm.
* Satellites 2004: Screens from Outer Spaces
See Blow Up. The week-long festival of independent film and video is in its seventh year, and this edition is packed with an eclectic mix of DIY shorts, rarely-seen international offerings, and found-footage works. Opening party with films by Wes Kim and music from SOFT at Rendezvous, Fri April 9, 8 pm-1 am. The Doug Lane Probe Experiment (films and videos by Seattle filmmaker Doug Lane), 911 Media Arts, Sat April 10 at 5 pm. When the Spirits Dance Mambo (a documentary about the African roots of contemporary Cuban music and dance), 911 Media Arts, Sat April 10 at 8 pm. Arab Experiments (a program of North African and Middle Eastern shorts from Seattle-based distributor Arab Film Distribution), Little Theatre, Sun April 11 at 4:30 pm. 2nd Generation: Found Footage Works III, Little Theatre, Mon April 12 at 8 pm. The Cinema Underground with John Behrens, Aftermath Gallery, Tues April 13 at 8 pm. Emerald Reels Super-8 Lounge, Re-bar, Wed April 14 at 9 pm. Seattle Student Film Festival, Consolidated Works, Thurs April 15 at 8 pm.
* Secret Things
The movie begins with a naked woman. She is slender, beautiful, and, with legs parted, is lying on a bed, giving herself pleasure. The shadows of a witch and a bird of prey stand at the foot of the bed watching the masturbator. The naked woman leaves the bed and crawls onto the center of a stage, where she continues to pleasure herself. When reaching an orgasm, the audience, who has been watching this performance in a Parisian men's club, applauds. The club's bartender, another beautiful woman, expresses great admiration for the masturbator; she too wants to use sex as a means of power and control. The bartender befriends the exotic dancer; the exotic dancer teaches the bartender how to masturbate, to achieve real and fake orgasms, and to control her emerging sexuality. Once the apprenticeship is completed, the two plot to take over a corporation. The movie gets better. And better. And ends with a young billionaire dying on the steps of his mansion. It is the end of a long night--a big party is just over--and the billionaire has been shot in the chest. Blood soaks his silk shirt. His eyes are staring up at eternity. The witch and the bird of prey suddenly return and stand near the killer. The bird flies onto the billionaire's chest and begins to devour his blood and flesh. The dying billionaire's sister (who is also his lover) and guests of the party (men and women who, through the entire night, participated in an orgy that occupied every room in the mansion) watch in horror. This excellent film does not know the meaning of restraint or shame. (CHARLES MUDEDE) Varsity, Fri-Sun 1:40, 4:15, 7, 9:35 pm, Mon-Thurs 7, 9:35 pm.
South Riding
SAM's Best of Britian film series continues with this 1938 film about intrigue and romance at a Yorkshire county council. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs April 8 at 7:30 pm.
St. Martin's Lane
This 1938 film (also known as Sidewalks of London) stars a just-prior-to-Gone-With-the-Wind Vivien Leigh as a street busker (!) who's being courted by Rex Harrison and Charles Laughton. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs April 15 at 7:30 pm.
A Woman's Face
Later remade as a Hollywood film with Joan Crawford, this Ingrid Bergman vehicle from 1938 is about a woman with horrible facial burns and a bitter heart to match. Nordic Heritage Museum, Thurs April 15 at 7 pm.
NOW PLAYING
* 21 Grams
Though fragmented and seemingly random, 21 Grams is musical; it feels, moves, and concludes like a massive musical composition. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Agent Cody Banks: Destination London
Junior spies and big red telephone booths go together like ice cream and pie.
The Alamo
See review this issue.
Big Fish
Sappy and cluttered, the entirety of Big Fish doesn't quite hold together. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Bon Voyage
See review this issue.
Catch That Kid
This review would be a whole lot easier to write if I were writing about a movie that had any sort of substance. But I'm not writing about a movie that has substance, so I'll keep things simple: This movie is about go-carts. (MEGAN SELING)
* Dawn of the Dead
In a surprising twist, here is a remake that, while not on par with the original, at least puts up a good fight. Directed with impressive flair by Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead retains nearly everything from George Romero's classic. The capitalism satire has been somewhat watered down, but in its place we are given sprinting zombies, à la Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later--an actual improvement on the 1978 version. The final result: If you must remake something, this is the way to do it. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Ella Enchanted
See review this issue.
* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Perhaps needless to say, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was written by Charlie Kaufman, he of the gifted and self-loathing pen. But whereas the last Michel Gondry/Charlie Kaufman collaboration, Human Nature, eventually crumbled under its own quirkiness (considerably helped along by the staggering blandness of Tim Robbins), Eternal Sunshine finds director and scribe fitting perfectly together. This is a film that travels far beyond most of our imaginations. It is also one of the most beautifully assembled romances you will ever see. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* The Fog of War
War is never a clean affair, and looking back on Vietnam--even with a firsthand guide such as the film's subject, Robert McNamara--it appears no cleaner. Some have complained about McNamara's refusal to fully admit his guilt--they seem to want him to apologize for the whole affair. No such words appear to be coming from the former secretary of defense, but what he offers instead is in some ways more interesting. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Girl Next Door
See review this issue.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is stuffy to a fault, no matter how many shots of Scarlett Johansson's pout director Peter Webber can fit in. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Good Bye Lenin!
Because of Christiane's exceptionally delicate condition, her son Alexander cannot inform her that East Germany is no more, that the party and the socialist ideals that consumed much of her adult life are now a thing of the past. To protect her nerves as the outside world becomes more and more like West Germany, the inside of Christiane's room is maintained in the state of East Germany. The trick, and it is a trick devised by the clever director (Wolfgang Becker), works. In other hands it would have been silly and exhausted in a matter of minutes, but Becker manages to get over an hour's worth of comedy and drama out of it. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
The Gospel of John
A very dry re-telling of the story of Jesus that attempts to stick closely to the Gospel of Saint John (hence the title). The end result, not surprisingly, is as anti-Semitic as Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ--due in no small part, of course, to the anti-Semitic nature of the holy text itself. Directed by Philip Saville, the Jesus in The Gospel of John comes across as utterly paranoid, constantly badgering his disciples for proof of their love; even after his death, even after the resurrection, His ghost demands constant confirmation. He is, all told, the neediest prophet in all of cinema. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
Hellboy
There are two kinds of superhero movies: the kind that successfully integrates the adolescent wonder of physical-law defiance with the (slightly) more grown-up wonder of human emotions, and those that don't. A better way of saying this might be that there are two kinds of superhero movies: Richard Donner's Superman and everything else. Hellboy features the single best lead-character makeup job I've ever seen in a comics-based movie. It boasts one startlingly good special effect involving fire, and a production design that faithfully captures the look of the comic itself. Also, the performances of Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, and Jeffrey Tambor are skillful. These are the only recommendations I can make for this movie, which in all other ways--incoherent story, uncertain tone, unconvincing action, insincere sentimentality--is just bullshit. (SEAN NELSON)
Hidalgo
Hidalgo screams Disney with its Wild West (and East, although it was actually shot in Morocco and Africa) adventure, and especially the hammy relationship between Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his horse, who could easily play Mr. Ed if called upon for the upcoming remake of the '60s television series. Whenever Hopkins makes a fool of himself, Hidalgo the Wise raises his eyebrows, or snorts, and even bleeds if the mood calls for it, making Hidalgo quite possibly Mortensen's most romantic film to date. (KATHLEEN WILSON)
Home on the Range
Concerning three cows that live on a farm, Home on the Range is no A Bug's Life. However, it would have been in the same class (though at the very bottom of that class) as A Bug's Life if it had not been so self-referential. Instead of making smarty references to contemporary consumer predilections for healthier foods (fat-free milk, free-range chickens, and so on), it should have turned its back on our world and only referenced its historical period, the 19th century. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Intermission
Starring Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney, Kelly Macdonald, and Cillian Murphy, Intermission may at first glance appear to be a lob back to those bleak days of the '90s when indie films appeared to exhaust all angles of the crime genre (the film's plot: bank job, dirty cop, eager but simple-headed crooks). But the writing and the performances (what you can make out of them, at least--Dublin accents are not always easy to decipher) make up for the staleness of the premise, and the result is a film worthy of a look, even if it's not an entirely memorable one. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Jersey Girl
Kevin Smith may have set out to make a film that celebrates family (spurred, no doubt, by the birth of his own child), but what he's made instead is little more than a Lifetime movie. It may be a Lifetime movie costarring the brilliant George Carlin, but it's still crap. It's also Smith's worst film to date--and, yes, I've seen Mall Rats. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Johnson Family Vacation
In Johnson Family Vacation (starring Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, and sister-to-Beyonce Solange Knowles), the jokes are so tired and tame--dad not understanding his son's slang, fat chicks in a hot tub, a skinny dipping date where dad loses his pants, etc. --that they're made for banal TV humor, each delivered with the all the subtlety of the cement truck that drills the family's car on their way out of town. Stick to the Griswolds. (JENNIFER MAERZ)
The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers may prove to be the Coen Brothers' first blockbuster (what they surely hoped Intolerable Cruelty would have been), but this kind of fortune has deep consequences. Like many people, I have often dreamed that the brothers would one day be embraced by a massive audience, but that dream was pegged upon their not deviating from their talent. The Ladykillers, sadly, is a weak effort on their part (when the pair resort to using cheesy wipes, à la Star Wars, to transition between scenes, warning flares surely begin to fire), and despite what few strokes of brilliance it may contain, the final product is far too cumbersome and far too lazy. It is, in the end, decent slop, but it's slop nonetheless. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Lost In Translation
Lost in Translation is a tiny movie, as light as helium and draped upon the thinnest of plots. It is as close to a miracle as you're likely to get this year. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* Master and Commander
If Master and Commander sounds soundly square, that's because square is exactly what the film is; massive and solidly made, Peter Weir's picture is a throwback, of sorts, to the works of David Lean, delivering the sort of rousing, smart, and earnest adventure rarely seen nowadays. Big and loud, thrilling and expensive, it is the type of film that only major Hollywood studios can produce. It is also, perhaps, the best work a major Hollywood studio will produce all year. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Monsieur Ibrahim
Had the movie remained within the limits of its basic plot, and stayed enclosed within this vibrant section of Paris, it would have been perfectly charming. But instead, the director, Franÿois Dupeyron, wanted something more than all he had--a warm relationship that develops between two people who come from opposing religions, ages, and races. This something more that the director wanted to squeeze out of the modest scenario is a major statement, a declaration about the fate of all mankind. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* Monster
There are many things that work in Monster, beginning with the much-praised performance by its lead, Charlize Theron. Saddled with 20 extra pounds, buried beneath grime and makeup, Theron is outright amazing. However, on the whole, the picture is so bleak and depressing that it is nearly intolerable. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
* My Architect
My Architect isn't really about architecture, nor even about Louis I. Kahn himself, except insofar as the late master builder and his immortal buildings remain an enigma to his son Nathaniel, the filmmaker behind this extraordinary documentary. Nathaniel Kahn's film is about the void created by a father's absence from his children's lives, and the way that void is continually filled and depleted by the father's reputation. More specifically, My Architect questions the conceit that artistic genius needn't be beholden to petty human strictures like family. Complicating matters is the (well-documented, apparently unarguable) fact that, unlike most fathers who abandon their wives, lovers, and kids for the sake of their art, Louis I. Kahn actually was a genius. (SEAN NELSON)
* NASCAR 3D
Finally, a reason to go to the IMAX theater! I mean the Lewis and Clark film is all right, but this is freakin' car racing, in magical 3-D, on an eight-foot screen with ear-shattering digital surround sound. Seeing parents and their kids watch this movie together--cars burning rubber and screaming around the track at speeds upward of 200 mph, while Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod" blared from the sound system... well, it warmed my heart. (KELLY O)
Never Die Alone
Director Ernest Dickerson never settles for a middle point, never strikes an average. He is either soaring or in the gutter, which may very well be the definition of good (ghetto) pulp. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
The Passion of the Christ
Under Mel Gibson's direction, there is not a whiff of threat in Jim Caviezel's Jesus, and once all the blood has dried, the major villains are little more than mindless monsters, with the Jews, in the end, receiving the brunt of the blame. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
The Prince & Me
Julia Stiles falls in love with a Danish prince disguised as a college boy.
* The Return
Andrey and Ivan only know their father through a photograph. When the father returns, he immediately takes them on a boys-only camping trip. Along the way, he sets up test after test for them, which they are bound to fail because he wasn't there to teach them how to succeed--tests like beating up the young muggers who stole the money he entrusted to them, and setting up a tent. The older brother takes to the father and starts to embrace his tough-love demeanor, while the younger brother believes the dad is some sort of war criminal who will only leave them again. Part of the beauty of The Return is that you don't know which son is correct, and this beauty leads to tragedy. (ANDY SPLETZER)
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Scooby-Doo 2 isn't great, but it is strangely charming--charming enough that I would actually feel kind of bad for unnecessarily attacking it. It's just a kids' movie, after all, and to pick on it would feel like picking on an 8-year-old; Ruben Studdard, of American Idol fame, makes a cameo, and that kind of made me want to barf, but other than that, it's a sappy, lesson-to-be-learned kid flick. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I didn't dislike this movie nearly as much as I probably should have, which kind of makes me hate myself. (MEGAN SELING)
Secret Window
Somehow Johnny Depp has the ability to play even the most eye-rolling moments with a brand of believable grace. Even John Turturro infuses his killer hillbilly with a real sense of menace that's reminiscent of Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear. Credit also goes to director/screenwriter David Koepp (Panic Room), who steadily guides the film. Add this to some unusual comic flourishes from Depp and Secret Window becomes a night of good popcorny entertainment. (WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY)
Starsky & Hutch
Despite my high praise for Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, Starsky & Hutch is not a great success. It's barely a marginal success--funny Ha, not funny Ha Ha. Far too obvious on many occasions, often derailed by Ben Stiller's overreaching, the film as a whole is little more than predictable fluff. (BRADLEY STEINBACHER)
Taking Lives
I expected Taking Lives, the Angelina Jolie-Ethan Hawke serial killer mystery, to be mediocre. After all, the otherwise-talented Jolie, who plays an FBI agent solving a Montreal murder, is not well known for choosing dynamic projects. But the plot, as it turns out, is decent. The problem is in their characters. There's little indication what makes Jolie's cop tick, let alone why she's such a super-agent that she's imported to help Canada. And Hawke's artist falls flat, though perhaps intentionally. Regardless, neither of their lives are fleshed out, which sinks what could otherwise be one of Jolie's better films. (AMY JENNIGES)
Touching the Void
I'm not sure if Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are still active mountaineers, but it is clear that just speaking about their famous climb in this drama-documentary, detailing it in that near-formal language which distinguishes professional mountaineers from amateurs, gives them a pleasure that is satanic in its size and intensity. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
* The Triplets of Belleville
Writer-director-animator Sylvain Chomet invokes the same absurdly entertaining nostalgia that Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro tapped into for Delicatessen and City of Lost Children. The world Chomet has created contains the same deadpan sadness that lies at the base of those films--the world may be a cold and lonely place, but with a little inventiveness you can prosper. (ANDY SPLETZER)
The United States of Leland
See review this issue.
Walking Tall
The Rock plays an Army boy returning to his home in the faux Northwest hamlet of Ferguson, Washington.
Welcome to Mooseport
Coming down off a presidency can be hard, especially if your hometown is Mooseport, Maine (or--cross your fingers--Crawford, Texas).
The Whole Ten Yards
See review this issue.
