There are only two weekends left of the excellent Seattle International Film Festival, so, if you haven’t yet had a chance to go, make sure to check out one of our critics’ picks this weekend. See them all below, and check out our complete SIFF Guide for details on the dozens of other films playing this weekend and through the end of the festival on June 12.
FRIDAY
1. The High Sun
Contemporary World Cinema (Croatia)
Two villages sit next to each other—one Serb, the other Croat. The people hold on to old prejudices and resentments even as they must coexist. The young people try to come together but are hindered by years of mistrust, violence, and cruelty. We see the area three times, in 10-year increments, always in sun-drenched summer. People want to connect with each other, make a life in this place, but old damage and long-simmering conflicts keep things tense. The countryside is beautifully filmed with intriguing visuals, and the stories are emotionally engaging and interesting. (GILLIAN ANDERSON)
2. Truman
Special Presentations
All I need to say about this softly sad comedy that is set in the capital of the Spanish-speaking world, Madrid, and concerns two middle-aged friends (one of whom, played by the great Argentinian actor, Ricardo Darin, is dying of cancer), and the dying man’s dog, named Truman, is that it has a really funny and even satisfying ending. It caught me by surprise. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
3. Burn Burn Burn
Contemporary World Cinema (UK) | Director Chanya Button and Actress Laura Carmichael Scheduled to Attend
Lady Edith is the homely, lost sister on Downton Abbey, played by Laura Carmichael. But in this female road-trip movie, Carmichael is Seph, the girl who gets all the action. Seph and Alex (the subtle Chloe Pirrie) are directed around England, Wales, and Scotland by their dead friend, Dan, who died young and suddenly and recorded his last wishes by instructional videos they play at each location. Burn Burn Burn starts out broad but gets better as the miles pass. It culminates, as things do, in the very good use of a trick crucifix. (JEN GRAVES)
SATURDAY
4. The Queen of Ireland
Documentary | Pre-Screening Panel Discussion
A single speech rocketed Barack Obama to national prominence—his keynote address before the 2004 Democratic National Convention—and that speech would ultimately lead to Obama becoming the first African American president of the United States. A single speech brought the drag queen Panti Bliss to national prominence—her speech at the Abbey Theater—and that speech would ultimately lead to Bliss, aka Rory O’Neill, becoming the first Irish queen of Ireland in who knows how many centuries. (Wiki knows, of course, but I’m not going to look it up.) The Queen of Ireland is a documentary film about an unlikely political force—an outrageous drag queen and outspoken queer-rights activist who Ireland’s professional homophobes made the mistake of trying to silence, a move that backfired spectacularly. This film tells the story of O’Neill’s life, from his childhood in rural Ireland to his years as a drag performer in Japan, to the bar he runs in Dublin and, ultimately, to his confrontation with Ireland’s bigots and his rise, by virtue of his eloquence, first to national prominence, then to political powerhouse, and ultimately to national treasure—all in the space of a few years. If RuPaul, Evan Wolfson, Ellen, and Neil Patrick Harris were the same person, they’d be Rory O’Neill. A fascinating film about a fascinating queen. (DAN SAVAGE)
5. Sonita
Documentary | Don’t Miss
In Sonita, a young Afghan female rapper dreams of becoming famous like Nicki Minaj, of having lots of screaming fans, and of not being forced to marry some old man for money. She lives in Tehran, Iran, and most of her family still lives in war-torn Afghanistan. During a session of drama therapy, we learn how her father and brother were killed right in front of her and her mother. Rapping is all she has got. And when she gets one chance to make a song and a video, she becomes an internet hit. This music video, which is at the center of the documentary, is one of the best I have ever seen in my life. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
6. Bugs
Culinary Cinema
Chefs Josh Evans and Ben Reade stand in middle of the Australian bush holding Witchetty grubs—large wood-eating larvae of moths—that Evans will later describe as tasting of “roasted red peppers, garlic, and nuts.” Older Aboriginal women led the chefs here, and dug up the delicacies for the young men. “Can someone show us how to cook these?” Reade asks them. This scene repeats itself throughout the film, throughout the world. Bugs chronicles Evans’s and Reade’s international travels as part of a privately funded project exploring insects as a more sustainable protein for the industrialized world. But the film’s heart is how it movingly captures each chef’s personal journey to understanding the depth and value of local cuisines—the very ones threatened by global food systems. (ANGELA GARBES)
7. The Night Stalker
Special Presentations
While notorious serial killer Richard Ramirez (Lou Diamond Phillips) languishes on death row, an ambitious lawyer (Bellamy Young) attempts to unravel just exactly what makes him tick. Writer/director Megan Griffiths successfully captures the burbling hysteria of mid-’80s California, when every open window and slow-moving car carried a horrific potential energy. A smartly structured, admirably non-exploitive drama, anchored by a fine, scary performance from Phillips, who always remains just on the verge of chewing the scenery. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
8. Rainbow
Films4Families
Chotu and Pari are an orphaned brother and sister living with their stingy aunt and lazy uncle in the rural desert of Rajasthan, India. Chotu is blind, and his sister helps him move through the world. The duo embarks on a journey to find a Bollywood actor who they think can help Chotu regain his eyesight. On the way, they meet the breadth of humanity: truck drivers, mystics, hippie adventurers, villains, feminist bandits, and peculiar folks. The film is delightful, with lots of bright colors, good music, and neat camels. The kids aren’t too precious, and the story is sweetly entertaining but not overly cheesy. (GILLIAN ANDERSON)
SUNDAY
9. Aisha
African Pictures
“Cities are becoming more female,” writes Leo Hollis in his book Cities Are Good for You. “…The rise of women in the city is perhaps one of the least-discussed aspects of the urban future.” Cities liberate women from the stupidity of men and motherhood. This film is about just that—a city woman who has been liberated by the city (she lives in Dar es Salaam with a progressive husband). But her world changes when she has to return to her village to save her young sister from a marriage to the village’s richest idiot. She wants her sister to move to the city, get an education, and become independent. But her plans are destroyed by a horrible crime. Rural people sometimes. The film has very good performances and a plot that’s handled with a great amount of care. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
10. Dawn
Contemporary World Cinema (Latvia)
Life on a Latvian commune undergoes a major upheaval after a young boy questions his father’s dedication to Soviet ideals. Inspired by an unfinished work of Sergei Eisenstein, this wicked allegory features stunning B&W photography and an amazing lineup of characters, many of whom appear to have lurched directly out of the nearest Dick Tracy comic strip. (Seriously, this thing is a phrenologist’s dream.) Extremely odd, and very good. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
11. The Girl Who Saved My Life
Documentary | Don’t Miss
The thirtysomething director, Hogir Hirori, leaves peaceful Sweden and his pregnant wife and returns to his homeland, Kurdistan, to make a documentary about the refugee catastrophe caused by the gang called ISIS. At the beginning of the doc, Hirori interviews both refugees, who are Yazidis (non-Muslims), and ISIS criminals, who are killing Yazidi men who do not convert to Islam. In one scene, a Yazidi young man is killed by an ISIS criminal and his money and Samsung smartphone are taken from his body. The smartphone rings. The ISIS criminal answers the call. It is the mother of the man he has just killed… Though the documentary is not easy to watch, you have to do so. You need to see this chaos and misery that is very much a part of the world you live in. (CHARLES MUDEDE)
ALL WEEKEND
12. A Copy of My Mind
Contemporary World Cinema (Indonesia)
A movie-crazy Jakartan salon worker strikes up a romance with a handsome subtitler of cruddy bootleg DVDs. Things take a grim turn, however, when they accidentally watch the wrong clip. The plot proper may take way too long (over an hour!) to get started, but the two leads are pretty terrific throughout, particularly Tara Basro, as a woman who refuses to take even the smallest iota of shit. She makes the final minutes both linger and sting. (ANDREW WRIGHT)
13. Battle of Sevastopol
Contemporary World Cinema (Ukraine)
Glossy and gorgeous glorification of the Soviet war machine wrapped up in a feminist package, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Russian Military-Historical Society, and with support of the Ukrainian State film society. But the Soviets might deserve a little glory—they did win the war, and the women-driven war narrative is fresh. Good blood and guts battle scenes, but no piss and shit. A+ sniper duels and surprisingly moving tragic romantic subplots. The jokes are bad, but the cinematography makes up for it—washed-out colors with occasional intensities of red. (RICH SMITH)
