Darkness and Light

To paraphrase a very old saying, death is easy, it’s comedy that’s hard. But finding funny in hardship, especially the emotional kind that can rip people to pieces and destroy families with the ease of an A-Bomb? That’s borderline impossible, and while certain filmmakers have been able to do it over the years finding a solidly entertaining Black Comedy rooted in real pathos and pain isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence.

Or is it? Over the last week I’ve seen three such motion pictures, one I can’t really say too much about until its general release later this Summer and then two others I could wax poetic until my little heart desires. On top of that, if you want to throw Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg into the mix – and by golly you should, it’s both terrific and terrifically unsettling – then that’s four of these well made and hugely enjoyable dark comedies I’ve had the pleasure to discover this year, each of them offering up their own idiosyncrasies making them utterly unique.

But focusing entirely upon SIFF, the three films I’m talking about are the Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus, the Siberian coal black satire Devil’s Town and Nick Whitfield’s somewhat macabre but ultimately heartwarming slice of British witticisms Skeletons. In regard to the first one, due to the review embargo all I can really say is that I really, really loved it. John C. Reilly hits it out of the ballpark, Jonah Hill has reminded me why I liked him so much in Superbad and Marisa Tomei is deserving of another Academy Award nomination. Directors Jay and Mark Duplass follow up The Puffy Chair and Baghead brilliantly, and to say this is arguably the best comedy of the year so far isn’t just a bunch of hyperbole.



As for Devil’s Town (Djavolja Varos), director and writer Vladimir Paskaljevic’s cutting satire goes into corners similar motion pictures don’t just fear to tread, they run away screaming from them. A day in the life in Belgrade, the film fools you for a brief moment thinking you’re about to see some sort of sweet coming of age drama about the friendship between two young girls, one wealthy the other the daughter of her parent’s maid. But before you know it Paskaljevic charts a labyrinthine course in and around the city offering up prostitutes, mafia dons, working class everymen, business entrepreneurs, a crazed taxi driver and a pair of young lovers who confuse dysfunction for romance. It’s a nasty stew full of images and sounds that are as off-putting as they are mesmerizing, and by and large I can’t really say I ever knew where this story was going.

Yet there is sweetness to be found amidst the disgusting, light hiding within the dark. All the characters are colored in varying shades of gray, many of them willing to do the remarkable if pushed into a corner and forced to stand up for what’s right. They might flee in anger afterwards but their heroism cannot be questioned, the director doing a great job showing how even the most monstrous have it within them to become saviors if the opportunity presents itself.

It’s all very shocking, but it’s also extremely funny and at times remarkably endearing. What does it say when one of the sweetest scenes I’ve seen this year involves a geriatric gynecologist and a gentile young prostitute, the latter allowing the former to examine her so he can relive his glory days for a brief moment? Or that a scene of a young wannabe tennis star and a kind-hearted workingman passing one another on the sidewalk amidst a sea of fluffy white bunnies brought joy to my soul and laughter to my eyes both at the very same time? This is the type of movie where a vicious mob hit can both be bloody shocking and bloody hilarious, and where other films would feel the need to play up such a scene’s sensationalism Paskaljevic uses it instead as a much needed precursor to a bit of subtle mother-daughter kindness that broke my heart.

At the other end of the spectrum lies Whitfield’s Skeletons, an ingenious bit a British comedy where two traveling salesmen literally pull skeletons out of their clients’ closets. They’re exorcists of the human soul, finding the truth at the heart of relationships whether those paying for their services really want to know what’s been haunting them or not.



The film plays a bit like Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice crossed with a hearty dollop of Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters yet with the same kind of slashing wit that made Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz such wondrous delights. But Whitfield’s film is far more subdued than any of those four, the director more concerned with the internal plights of his characters than he is with the wickedly surreal world he’s delicately constructed.

Of the three Skeletons is arguably the weakest. The midsection does tend to drag a little bit and the filmmaker doesn’t exactly go out of his way to try and explain how all the mystical hocus pocus allowing his two heroes (wonderfully portrayed by Andrew Buckley and Paul Dallison) works. But I found these to be relatively minor problems, the last third of the film building to a beautiful coda that’s both darkly sinister and yet winsomely uplifting. It was the kind of movie where I found myself wanting to hang with the characters long after the credits had ended, the smile the whole collection of them put on my face one I didn’t want to see ever erased.

Is "Grease" Still the Word?

Part of me can’t help but wonder what’s with the enduring popularity of Randal Kleiser’s (The Blue Lagoon) 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. While I’m just as big a fan of the songs as the next person (you just try getting ditties as catchy as “Summer Nights” or “You’re the One that I Want” out of your head as see how you do) the movie sort of leaves me oddly cold and for that reason I’ve never been seen doing cartwheels for it.

Not that I hate the film by any stretch of the imagination. The first time I saw it as a kid I was totally positive I would grow up to be just like Sandra Dee (both versions, she was great both prim and proper and as a leather jacket-clad bad girl), it not mattering a lick that I looked nothing like Olivia Newton-John in the slightest. I also thought that “Beauty School Dropout” production number was just to die for, and I still believe to this day one of the reasons I became a writer and not a hair dresser is because of the look of abstract failure on Didi Conn’s face as Frankie Avalon lovingly sang to her.

But I do think Kleiser’s staging of the dance numbers is clunky and not always as good as I wanted it to be, that central competition nowhere near as exciting as it should have been. I also think the performances are way too far all over the map, and while I wanted to be just like Sandra Dee doesn’t mean I also thought Newton-John was all that great portraying her.

The one big exception to all of the above? Stockard Channing. How this one-time Oscar nominee (1994’s Six Degrees of Separation) has not become a bigger and far more lauded star is still way beyond me. She’s stupendous here as Betty Rizzo, stealing every scene she’s in even from box office superstar John Travolta, himself fresh off of his success breaking hearts in 1977’s Saturday Night Fever. I can’t get enough of her in this, her rendition of “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” positively heartbreaking.



I bring all this up because Paramount Pictures is bringing Grease back for another go-around with a Sing-Along version to hit theatres in July. SIFF is getting to premier this version of this new print of the film, showing it to audiences for the very first time on Saturday, June 12 at 3:45 p.m. Even though I’m not a huge fan I’m pretty positive I’ll be attending all the same, if for no other reason to relieve my own Sandra Dee wannabe fantasies in a movie theatre for the very first time.

Traveling "Ackwards" and Choosing Ecstasy

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Great Directors, New Directions

It’s always nice when filmmakers stretch themselves in ways you don’t expect. Martin Scorsese made The Age of Innocence. Steven Spielberg took on The Color Purple. Marc Forster went all actiony with Quantum of Solace. In short, allowing yourself to pigeonholed is a bad thing, and when great directors take on new challenges (no matter what they might be, even Alfred Hitchcock deserves kudos for attempting slapstick comedy with Mr. & Mrs. Smith) I’m happy for them even if the ultimate outcome isn’t always desired.

I bring this up because two great filmmakers, Germany’s Fatih Akin and Italy’s Ferzan Ozpetek have their latest films playing at SIFF this year (Akin’s Soul Kitchen, Ozpetek’s Loose Cannons) and neither effort is what you’d expect from the acclaimed auteurs. Yet these character-driven comedies show two directors attempting to expand their range and test their creative metal, and for my part I can’t help but love them even more because of that fact.

It does sadden me a tiny bit to admit Akin’s Soul Kitchen is easily the less successful of the two efforts. Thankfully, that still makes it a solid 3-star effort and a movie I’d urge people to rush out to see immediately even with its somewhat annoying third act missteps. The story of German-Greek restaurateur Zinos Kazantsakis (Adam Bousdoukos), the movie ends up being a foodie delight of family, friendship and love. While the outcome isn’t ever in much doubt getting there is such an emotionally madcap amount of fun the story’s predictability isn’t a huge issue, the movie such a rapturously enjoyable exercise in mayhem I almost couldn’t help but enjoy myself.

Is it as profound as Akin’s 2007 masterwork The Edge of Heaven or is beautifully nuanced 2004 modern classic Head-On? No, not at all, the director not showing near the same confidence dealing with slapstick comedy as he is when handling more dramatic and weighty issues. But just because that’s so still doesn’t mean he can’t find success, and like his previous winners by keeping things grounded in complex and interesting characters he manages to make even the silliest misstep palatable. More, watching him expand his range while also lightening his touch is a joy, and if Soul Kitchen doesn’t do a single thing else it makes me even more excited to see what enticing curiosity the director has up his sleeve next.

As for Ozpetek’s Loose Cannons, already a big winner coming out of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival this stirring familial comedy is another outright sensation for the Steam: The Turkish Bath and Facing Windows (2003 Golden Space Needle Award-winner) director. Concerning a Italian family whose successful pasta company has brought them wealthy and notoriety, the movie revolves around Gay son Tommaso (Riccardo Scamarcio) who has returned home from Rome to come out to his conservative and image conscious father Vincenzo (Ennio Fantastichini). But he is beaten to the punch when his older brother Antonio (Alessandro Preziosi), who also runs the family’s pasta making factory, does it first, giving their father such a start he ends up having a heart attack but not before he angrily disowns the elder son and sends him packing.

This sounds like the makings of a cold and emotionally devastating drama but that’s not what’s on Ozpetek’s mind at all. Instead the film morphs into a beautifully nuanced and highly unusual comedy of mores and mistaken identities where love doesn’t necessarily conquer all and the past can play as vital role in the future as the fractious present can. The narrative is so light on its feet watching the myriad of characters, so many of them I can’t go into them all here, play one of the other is utter perfection, and the more I laughed at was going on the more the emotional weight of everything that was in play began to move me to honestly earned cascades of tears.



But it is the fantastic final act where Ozpetek finds true success. The last twenty minutes held me positively captivated, the director showcasing a Fellini-like talent for surrealism that suits the material absolutely perfectly. I was blown away by where he was taking things, amazed at both the honesty and the creativity of these penultimate moments. This movie made me smile in euphoria while at the same time I was reaching for handfuls of Kleenex, and when all was said and done Loose Cannons ultimately ranked as one of the most rhapsodic I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy sitting in a theatre in all of 2010.

As for my first festival update, I’m running up to Chinese director Lu Chuan’s Najing melodrama The City of Life and Death right now while eagerly anticipating my screening of the Duplass Brothers’ latest effort Cyrus later tonight. In-between I’ll be spending some time with a couple of men behind the glorious B-movie horror effort Tucker & Dale vs. Evil so make sure to check back later to hear from them.

Interview with Artistic Director Carl Spence

The 36th annual Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) has officially begun, and instead of tapping out the usual humdrum preview piece I thought it might be fun to sit down with Artistic Director Carl Spence and let him do the majority of the heavy lifting for me. After all, when you’re talking about a 25-day festival spotlighting 405 features, documentaries and shorts from 67 countries why not turn to the man responsible for helping assemble this smorgasbord to help put it into some sort of cohesive perspective.

Sara Michelle Fetters: As the artistic director of SIFF, what sort of guidance or direction do you give the programmers as they assemble the lineup for the festival?

Carl Spence: My driving force has always been not so much trying to give the audience what they want but to my mind in knowing who your audience is the great thing about the Seattle Festival and what makes it so different from other festivals is that it has been widely embraced by the city and is so eclectic in its programming mix that it [hasn’t] programmed Films with a capital F but really celebrated films of all subjects and budgets and hasn’t distinguished between a Hollywood film versus an art house film or a film from Brazil or a film from the U.S.A. It doesn’t say one is more important than the other. It doesn’t discriminate.

And that’s sort of the driving force for me. [SIFF] can go from lowbrow to highbrow and everything in-between while also encompassing pieces of all the other arts like music and dance. There are a lot of different pieces that go together to make a strong festival.

Sara Michelle: Talk a little about this year’s LGBT lineup. On paper this appears to be one of the most diverse group of films I’ve seen from SIFF in quite some time.
Carl Spence: It is. We’re always looking for interesting films across all boundaries and while we’re not specifically looking for gay or lesbian films we are looking for good films and whether specifically or tangentially we always seem to end up with a [good] selection that will be of interest to the [LGBT] community. We’re also happy to present our annual Gay-la film, Violet Tendencies with Mindy Cohn from “The Facts of Life,” which is sort of a fun, light comedy about the ultimate faghag who still hasn’t found a boyfriend and decides to leave the nest of her gay friends to see if she can find a relationship on her own.

Sara Michelle: Are there others films in this year’s LGBT series you’d consider standouts?

Carl Spence: Howl is an amazing film. [It’s] about the life of Allen Ginsberg and it’s structured like one of his poems. It really stands on its own. But then I think all of the films in the [LGBT series] stand on their own. Each in their own way is a standout.

As part of “Ambiente: A Celebration of Spanish Film” series there are some titles I gay and lesbian audiences will respond to. There is Room in Rome which is a remake of the Chilean film In Bed. We’re showing Alicia Scherson’s new film Turistas which revolves around two women. Then we have Mediterranean Diet, which really isn’t a gay film but is still about a ménage a trios between a woman, her husband and her lover.

Sara Michelle: And then there is Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives, maybe the most controversial film SIFF has screened in years.

Carl Spence: It had some controversy coming out of Tribeca but I think that was all [overblown], like someone was trying to use it as a way to get some attention. But, in the end, I don’t really think there was much to the controversy. Even with the important issues that were brought up it’s still an exploitation film and made in that style, and I think people need to keep that in perspective.

Sara Michelle: So you don’t foresee any trouble with showing that film?

Carl Spence: I don’t think so. No. It’s an exploitation film. It’s like any of those films, like watching a Russ Meyer film. It’s no different than any other exploitation film. It’s not doing anything in a derogatory way. I think it’s great and a lot of fun. It is definitely a midnight film and it isn’t for everyone [but] I don’t see anything negative about it.

Sara Michelle: Talk to me a little about the opening night film, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s The Extra Man.

Carl Spence: That movie I just felt it was about these awkward people who don’t really fit in anywhere who all found each other and one [while] one is so different from the other they all just sort of make sense as a group. And Kevin Kline just sort of kills me whenever he’s one the screen. In this role he is totally back in form and he’s either funnier or as funny as he was back in A Fish Called Wanda.

Sara Michelle: That’s one of my favorite movies of all time so I can’t quite say he’s that good, but I do agree he is just fantastic in the movie. He steals the whole thing.

Carl Spence: He does. And I think it is just a perfect match between him and Paul Dano who underplays his role wonderfully. [The movie] is very inventive, not just in the writing but technically in regards to the art and set direction and to everything else. I just really enjoyed it. I think it is something that is enjoyable that’s also by a pair of filmmakers whom I really respect and whom I’m always excited to see what they are going to do next. It’s just a perfect way to open the festival.

Sara Michelle: Well, and the last time Berman and Pulcini were at SIFF it was for American Splendor, a modern American classic in my personal opinion. It must be nice to have them back both because they’ve had so much success here in Seattle and because their last film, The Nanny Diaries, wasn’t all that great?

Carl Spence: Well, [The Nanny Diaries] I think was more a commercial for hire job while The Extra Man is definitely the film you would think they would follow up something like American Splendor with. It’s an enjoyable film and I think opening night audiences will be very happy with it.

Sara Michelle: Going back to your Spanish film series, why Spain? What led you to go in that direction for your spotlight series this year?

Carl Spence: I’ve always loved Spain and I went on a trip to Madrid and it sort of got me even more excited about Spain, and then we just got all these great films. We sort of have the cream of the crop of some of the best films made [in Spain] over the last year and ones that had just been completed and are coming out so just made sense to choose Spain as our spotlight country. Everything from Cell 211 which was the Goya Award-winner for last year to Agora, Alejandro Amenábar’s new movie, will be showing.

We got some great support from the Spanish government. They’re underwriting some of these filmmakers and this is great exposure for them. But I just think these are a great group of films. Garbo: The Spy is this really amazing Spanish double agent who helped change the course of the history of WWII. Me Too is another great movie co-directed by a couple of first-time filmmakers. Gordos is the new film from Daniel Sánchez Arévalo whose films are almost always shown in the festival. The Dancer and the Thief by Fernando Trueba was Spain’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film and it’s very inventive and quite nice.

And there’s so much more. [The lineup] sort of spans the entire spectrum. There are comedies, there are serious films, there are documentaries, but [overall] I think the program really gives a nice overview of the best in cinemas coming out of Spain.

Sara Michelle: So this is the 36th Annual Seattle International Film Festival. Where do you see it going from here? Where do you think SIFF will be when it say turns 45 or 50?

Carl Spence: We’re planting the seeds right now to move into our permanent home in Seattle Center so that’s on the immediate horizon. That will give us a much stronger foundation to continue onward and will give us a much higher visibility in the community. So we’ll still have our SIFF Cinema location but we’ll also have a physical space that people can visit and will allow them to explore film 365 days a year.

We’ll also be doing quite a bit more educational programming. Right now we reach about 9,000 students throughout the year and we’re looking to expand that. Also, because we’ll be at Seattle Center which is a big destination for tourists that’s another audience we’ll be able to reach expanding our outreach globally.

So that’s what is on the horizon, and I think by doing that it will also strengthen what we do in regards to the festival as well. [SIFF] will continue in roughly the same shape and size as people have grown to love. We’ve set a strong foundation and it works well so I don’t foresee a lot of changes. People do wonder if we should shorten it [the festival] because it is so long but I’m not so sure about that.

Sara Michelle: Well I personally love the festival as it is. It’s absolutely unique. You never know what you’re going to get. Each trip to the theatre is a curious adventure or an exploration and that is something I truly appreciate. I wouldn’t change the shape and size of SIFF for anything.

Carl Spence: We work really hard to find films someone is passionate about. We don’t always agree within our own team but we try not to just be a survey of cinema. Some years there is only one film from Iran while in other years there might be three or four. One year we might have the first screenings of some big Summer films out of Hollywood. Others we might not have any. There are no magic quotas. We don’t have to show X amount of films from here [in Seattle]. It’s just more organic than that. We actively search out films during the year and we do a ton of research and outreach. We never know what the films we are going to show from year-to-year are and I think that’s a good thing. Seattle has its own beat and I really like it the way it is.

Sara Michelle: So, putting you on the spot, a person only has time to go to five films during the festival. What five do you send them to go see?

Carl Spence: Oh. That’s not fair. Five films? What do I have them go see? Anything? How about Howl, The Hedgehog from France, Loose Cannons directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, Farewell – Farewell is simply a film everyone must see – and any film out of our New Director’s Showcase, but if I had to choose one I’d say Angel at Sea. But that’s just a few. I could go on and on and on, but that’s probably enough for now.

- Portions of this posting reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle

It's Time to SIFF!

Are you ready? It’s that time of year again, time to go film festival crazy with the return of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). While SIFF celebrates it’s 36th birthday we here at Moviefreak are celebrating our fourth in regards to our presentation of this annual blog. Like in years past I’ll be here (almost) every day talking about the highs, lows and numerous in-betweens as I do my best to make my way through 25 days of cinematic goodness.

Speaking of said goodness, I’ve already seen plenty to crow about, much of it I’m going to be going into in much greater detail later in the festival. Let me just say upfront I’ve already seen a movie I believe might end up being my favorite of the entire year, Sundance sensation Winter’s Bone. It’s a powerhouse of a thriller featuring a spectacular performance from young actress Jennifer Lawrence. I’ll be interviewing both her and director Debra Granik in the coming days so look for more on both them and their film soon.

There’s more, lots more, but I’m going to cut things short for the time being as I need to get finish writing my theatrical reviews for this weekend’s releases (including a surprisingly good Shrek Forever After) before I head out to the opening night party celebrating the start of SIFF as well as directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s quite entertaining junior effort The Extra Man. I’ll be leaving you with an interview I conducted with SIFF artistic director Carl Spence whose insights into this year’s lineup of goodies are far superior to mine. Enjoy!