{Savages opens in Seattle Friday, July 6, and is screening at Sundance Cinemas Seattle, Oak Tree Cinemas, and the Regal Meridian}

In Savages, Ben and Chon appear on screen initially as examples of the good life. Best friends since childhood they occupy a beautiful beachside estate filled with everything one can want. Ben (Aaron Johnson) heads up a foundation that aids the poor of the world and opines on the future of clean energy. Chon (Taylor Kitsch) is an ex-Navy Seal who's come home from Afghanistan and made good.

The fact that this wealth arose from high-end marijuana production isn't especially bothersome as presented, given their focus on honest dealings and non-violent transactions. Almost forgot -- both are in love with their beautiful housemate Ophelia aka O (Blake Lively) and are perfectly happy sharing her. All enjoy the quality of their product - with their drug use viewed as a rational response to the insanity of the world.

The opening scenes are sumptuously photographed - everything from the beach to the sexual congress between the three appears to be the American dream writ large.

more...

{I Wish opened at the Varsity Landmark Theatre on Friday 6/22, and sceens through this Thursday, 6/28}

While it may feel a smidge longish I Wish is a film that most people will agree on as a delightfully pleasant watch. Hirokazu Koreeda the director of the fabulous film Still Walking delivered his latest fine cinematic experience to SIFF this year. Now just a couple of weeks later you can skip the long lines and rigid show times to catch I Wish at the Varsity theater. But don't wait - Thursday is the last day you'll be able to catch this one. 

Koichi and Ryunosuke are brothers separated from each other by their parent's divorce. One lives with the father, an aspiring but not especially successful musician and the other with their mom. They have very different but connected lives that they've become adjusted too. Listening to their phone calls one gets the distinct sense that they'd purposefully chosen different parents to live with as part of a plan to get them back together. If there was such a plan it's clearly going nowhere. At least until one hits upon a belief that they'll be magically granted a wish if they witness two new bullet trains lines passing each other at top speed. It's the sort of idea only a group of kids could create and then take as fact, yet plan so meticulously towards achieving the goal. A scheme is hatched involving friends, grandparents and probably some other folks I'm forgetting. It's worth mentioning that this predicting train crossing point is quite a ways away from either of their hometowns.

more...

{Beyond the Black Rainbow premieres in Seattle at The Grand Illusion Cinema on Friday, 6/22, and screens through 6/28}

I’m still not really sure I understand what went down in Beyond the Black Rainbow, but I think I got the gist of it—even if I had to wade through a bunch of trippy LSD-laden-this-is-what-a-futuristic-1983-looks-like shots to get there.

Dr. Barry Nyle (Michael Rogers) is one messed-up dude. When he’s not lording his power over a compliant nurse, or psychologically torturing a beautiful girl named Elena (Eva Allan) in his weird orange and white Sci-Fi compound (named Arboria, apparently), he’s driving around in his car—btw, is that a DeLorean?—or moping around his house while shooting disapproving glances at his wife and popping pills like they’re Tic-Tacs.

more...

Ohmanohmanohman. SIFF has put together one of my favorite programs, EVER with Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata, and the Masters of Studio Ghibli.

They’ve lined up screenings of all these amazing animated films from Tokyo's Studio Ghibli IN NEW 35mm PRINTS! And screenings in both English dubbed and Japanese w/subtitles versions! You guys! That is awesome. I’ve been slacking in catching up on the newer Studio Ghibli films, so this is going to give me a chance to experience them on the big screen at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

All of these films are SO beautiful, funny, and just plain fantastic. I highly recommend scooping up some tickets to My Neighbor Totoro (The umbrella scene! The cat bus! So much insane grinning!), Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke AND MORE to delight your inner imaginary child. Or even, your actual, uh. children. If you have them.

{Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata, and the Masters of Studio Ghibli | SIFF Cinema Uptown | June 22-July 5 | $10 | $5 SIFF Members | $9 Youth (20 & under) and Seniors (65+) Matinees: $7 | $5 SIFF Members | Click here for full schedule and tickets}

more...

A true 'best-of' SIFF 2012 program, IMHO, would include gritty French drama Polisse, Russian chiller Elena, Argentine road movie Las Acacias, French-Canadian melodrama Wetlands, Dutch sensuality experiment 170 Hz, and a number of exceptional documentaries (How to Survive a Plague, The Imposter, Wonder Women, and especially Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present).

And while I've never really claimed to be tuned to the collective frequency of the SIFFgoing public, it's still tough to fathom the dreary Any Day Now winning 2012's top audience award. But win it did, and it's among 18 features and one shorts package playing at SIFF Cinema's 'Best' of SIFF 2012 series unspooling this weekend. None of my personal favorites will be there, but some are indeed coming (again) soon to a theater near you.

Of SIFF's 'best of' films I've seen (75% of them, in fact, if you include the three which begin regular week-long runs at SIFF's cinemas on Friday), I only posted a solid-ish recommendation to one: Welcome to Doe Bay. But had I seen a few others earlier -- Extraterrestrial, King Curling, The Invader -- I'd've given them my version of a thumbs-up too and notified you about them before they screened. I'm glad I can give them some love now.

But I'm realistic about how much my opinion really counts for here, so proceed with cautious optimism as you leverage the opportunity to see some audience- and jury-award honorees (alongside a few non-winners that SIFF programmers apparently just saw fit to screen again), explore a few flicks the intrepid TIG film staff didn't make it to, and catch up on some of the general SIFFiness you may've missed out on over the past month. All screenings are at the Uptown unless otherwise noted.

DAILY, June 15-21; see siff.net listings for showtimes:

Extraterrestrial
{Runner-up: Best Director Golden Space Needle Award}
Julio wakes up in Julia's bed, after a night neither of them remembers very well; their awkward, hungover morning-after grows even stranger when they discover that colossal alien spaceships have appeared over Madrid. This is a quick and pleasant little romp by Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo, who did a charming and funny Q&A at the SIFF screening I attended. I can't promise Extraterrestrial will be quite as magical in his absence.

more...

Time's a-wastin', procrastinators: time to turn off the Netflickery and get yourselves to an actual cinematic event. SIFF 2012 comes to a close on Sunday, and here I present to you a handy list of six sure-fire hits -- some archival favorites, most recently-screened standouts -- all unspooling this weekend as the festival prepares to bid adieu for the year.

You'll notice that the Closing Night selection Grassroots, which chronicles Grant Cogswell's 2001 Seattle City Council bid (on a tenacious pro-monorail platform), isn't on this list; I got an early look and I can tell you it jumps the rails pretty early on, veers into unpleasantly manic territory and finally wobbles its way to a very silly finale. Not terrible, but far from great, and definitely not worth the gala-ticket pricepoint. I actually doubt the film will have much interest outside the 206 and adjacent area codes, and -- fun though it can be to see our Space Needle and our evergreens and our neighborhood haunts on the big screen -- a gigantic world-cinema celebration like SIFF reaffirms for us all that Seattle actually isn't the center of the universe. Right?

DON'T MISS:

Best of SIFF 2012 shorts
{screens June 10 at 7pm at the Egyptian}
The full roster for this late-breaking collection of Audience and Jury favorites from the shorts programs won't be announced until day-of, but assuming the Shortsfest award-winners are prominent this should be an entertaining and enlightening package. I'm partial to Nudist Beach (from the Keep Calm and Carry On set of Brit shorts) and Paradise (from the Over The Edge program), the latter of which won the Documentary Short Grand Jury prize and will likely be screened here. Amie picked a nice roundup of standouts a couple weeks ago that just might get their second shots too.

Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present
{screens June 8 at 4pm at the Uptown}
This outstanding examination of the remarkable life and groundbreaking work of the 60something Belgrade-born performance-art sensation documents the conception of her ultimate self-portrait -- a three-month 2010 MoMA retrospective whose centerpiece was the artist herself looking intently at whatever museum visitor sat facing her, every damn hour of every damn day MoMA was open -- and its glorious culmination. This is a smart, perceptive, beautifully assembled film that manages to make challenging art accessible, and to give us the sensation of gazing into Marina's eyes ourselves. It's my documentary best-of-fest pick, and one of my favorite films of any genre so far this year.

more...

{Future Weather screens at SIFF June 9, 5:30pm and June 10, 10am at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Jenny Deller is scheduled to attend}

Both Future Weather and I Am Not a Hipster are also part of the inaugural Catalyst program at SIFF, and are eligible for the FIPESCI New American Cinema juried prize award! As part of the program, SIFF is offering a full day of public panels and discussion around co-cretion and community in the new digital space. Panels start at 10am and run through 2pm on Saturday, June 9, at the SIFF Film Center -- and are FREE to attend.  

Future Weather, which I was mainly excited about because the writer and director is female and HELLO WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN FILM, was an interesting spin on the usual coming-of-age story.

Perla Haney-Jardine (who you may remember as the adorbs BB Kiddo in Kill Bill Vol. 2) plays Lauderee, a 13-year-old in a small town with a pretty terrible mom. Seems mom has a dream of becoming a Hollywood makeup artist, and so you know, she just leaves to do that, as moms do. And Lauderee’s hard-drinking, miserable grandma Greta (yay, Amy Madigan!) isn’t much more help. She tries, but uh. Let’s just say the apple clearly doesn’t fall far from the tree. The only person for this neglected teen to turn to is science teacher Ms. Markovi (Lily Taylor), who encourages Laurderee’s obsession with schoolin’.

And that’s where the spin comes in. Rather than focus on the whole "troubled teenage girl who runs around sleeping with everybody, drinking, doing drugs, and godknowswhatelse," Lauderee throws herself into environmental studies and obsesses over Global Warming—right down to how much oxygen trees can create, and how she can save a rare mollusk that’s barely surviving in the town’s rivers.

Sure, there’s a love interest—kind of—that results in one very chaste kiss. But in the long run, it’s not about that, and man was it was refreshing to see a teenage girl portrayed as something more than a wild, out-of-control monster blindly trying to imitate what she’s been taught. The only thing I wish the movie had more of was Lily Taylor’s character, but Haney-Jardine and Madigan were so good in their roles, I was okay with what ended up on film. Overall, it’s a nice, solid film, and I’m excited to see what Jenny Deller does next. 

more...

{I’m Now screens at the Triple Door June 8 at 8 pm and 10:30pm. Tickets are $15, and you can buy them online.}

Unlike so many of the great grunge granddaddies, Mudhoney have never had a reunion. That’s because they never broke up. Mudhoney just kept fighting the fuzzed-out good fight against all things slickly packaged and highly marketable. It’s kind of appropriate that Mudhoney, the O.G. Seattle band that has managed to survive mostly under the radar for the last twenty years, would have a documentary made about them by a local production company, and it would practically be a secret.

But a movie like this should be seen, so we’re going to spill the beans and let you all in on it.

more...

{Safety Not Guaranteed opened in Seattle on Friday, June 8, and is playing at Sundance Seattle Cinemas -- aka: the old Metro -- and the Regal Meridian 16}

While SIFF isn't completely over yet, one of my favorite films of both SIFF and SXSW is opening locally. Meaning you can see something great without standing in line. Though you seriously should still catch a few more SIFF films while you can.

The film's setup is as basic as it is brilliant - a cryptic classified ad attracts the attention of a reporter at Seattle Magazine:

"Wanted: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED."

Whether it's out of genuine interest or desire for a weekend out of town to try and hook up with an old flame, he pitches an investigation into the classified listing. Before you know it Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) along with interns Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni) are down by the Washington shore staking out a post office box to identify the time traveler in question. It doesn't take long for them to identify Kenneth (Mark Duplass) as he's picking up mail.

more...

{The Source screens at SIFF June 8, 8:30pm and June 10, 11:30am at the Harvard Exit. Director Jodi Wille and subject Charlene Peters are scheduled to attend}

“That’s not pot. It’s the sacred herb.” I like to imagine Father Yod said this right before posing in his big pimpin’ suit with all his ladies for this photo. 

Before I saw The Source, the only thing I knew about this trippy 70s cult was the name of its founder, Jim Baker (or Father of Light, or Father Yod, or YaHoWha), and that it derived from a popular organic, vegetarian restaurant on the Sunset Strip. Now I feel like I know WAY too much about The Source Family, but it’s all very interesting, so I don’t mind too much.

Baker made a boatload of money doing various and sundry things in the 50s and 60s, and then has this idea to create a hippy dippy restaurant in L.A. with his beautiful 19-year-old wife (he was something like 53 at the time) that made him boatloads MORE money. Then he took a bunch of drugs and did a bunch of kundalini yoga—and the restaurant evolved into a cult. At which point, Baker officially changed his name twice and went from “I’m here to deliver the word of God” to “I AM God” to “As God, I’m telling all y’all that I need 13+ wives. And we all need to have crazy sex orgies and blood rituals and smoke the sacred herb and have visions and deliver our message to the world."

more...