moriarty@tc.fluke.com (Jeff Meyer) (05/15/89)
Seattle International Film Festival Schedule
Comments by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1989 Jeff Meyer
Well, the schedule for the Seattle International Film Festival was
published last Friday (for those of you who live in towns that carry other
cities' newspapers, it was published in the May 5th issue of the Seattle
Times). I've pretty well laid out my schedule for the festival, and thought
I'd list the films I'm considering seeing (and thus, reviewing). A much more
detailed schedule/program guide will be available later This week at the
festival, but the Times gives some decent blurbs, plus John Hartl's dark
warnings about how the use of three theaters may destroy the festival, due to
possible schedule conflicts. (He's just pissed because everyone at the
festival thinks he's a dweeb. They're right, though.) Actually, quite a few
of the big entries are being introduced on the weekend, and then repeated later
in the middle of the week at another theater.
More than a few of the scheduled films, I've noticed, will be released to
the general public very soon, or have already been released (HEATHERS,
PUMPKINHEAD (hell, it's on video)). I've divided the synopses up by category
below, and I've ended this article with a list of a few films I wish I knew
more about, in the hopes that some of you may have seen them/heard something
about them, and could pass the info onto me.
Oh, and they will be missed: I saw no mention of the sequel to A TAXING
WOMAN anywhere in the schedule (*bwah*), and the Memorial Day sci-fi/70mm film
festival isn't on for this year. Rats.
Anyway, the whole things starts up this Thursday (Friday for me, as I'm
skipping the premiere of Ken Russell's THE RAINBOW). I'll start posting
reviews as soon as I get a breather...
-----
THE MAINSTREAM:
SIGNS OF LIFE (USA): Arthur Kennedy, Beau Bridges. Low-key slice-of-life film
about Yankee fishing town.
HEATHERS (USA): Yeah, I'll probably see this -- the word of mouth is pretty
good. Conflicts with FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY, though.
EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (USA): A favorite at the SF festival.
GETTING IT RIGHT (Great Britain): This has gotten some very good reviews
lately. A story of a relationship between two young, unusual (but not rare)
people. Apparently the script is top-notch, and it's got an impressive list of
guest-stars. On the other hand, the director's resume includes GREASE. :-)
Up against TWISTER, though.
VAMPIRE'S KISS (USA): Directed by Robert Bierman, the co-writer of AFTER
HOURS, I'm not sure if this actually has to do with vampires. It stars
Nicholas Cage, and is about "yuppie guilt and predation" in New York. If there
are Undead eating yuppies, more power to 'em.
REMEMBRANCE (Japan): Takehiro Nakajima's story of growing up in a fishing
village during the early 50s. It's up against SOME GIRLS, with the
writer/director appearing, though. (To Seattle locals, REMEMBRANCE is free!)
BINGO, BRIDESMAIDS AND BRACES(Australia): A documentary by the director of MY
BRILLIANT CAREER, it visits three girls, age 14, who have very clear ideas of
how they want to live their life. It then visits them 4 years later. (Sounds
like 28 UP.)
FOR ALL MANKIND (USA): A look back at the American moon missions, taken
entirely from footage brought back by the Apollo crews.
THIRD DEGREE BURN (USA): Treat Williams, Virginia Madson. Film Noir detective
thriller made in Seattle and Arizona. Free admission, which sounds like
someone desperately hoping for word-of-mouth. Across from DAUGHTER OF THE
NILE, though.
GEORGIA (Australia): Tax-fraud investigator accidentally finds document opening
long-buried mystery and conspiracy. I'm always up for one of those!
AMANDA (USA): The only reason I'm going to this is that the director is a
local named Jeff Meyer, whose phone calls I've been getting for the last 12
years in both Portland and in Seattle.
HANUSSEN (Hungary): *REALLY* want to see this one. The director and star of
MEPHISTO and COL. REDL, Istvan Szabo and Klaus Maria Brandauer, tells of a
mentalist whose rise to power coincides with Hitler's. Kauffmann gave this a
very good review, and I loved MEPHISTO and COL. REDL.
SCENES FROM A CLASS STRUGGLE (USA): A new Paul Bartel film about a former
sitcom queen (Jacqueline Bisset) who tries to make a comeback. Also stars
Bartel, Ed Begley Jr. (yah!) and Ray Sharkey (YAH!).
DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES (Great Britain): The story of a working-class
family living in Liverpool during and after WW II. Directed by Terrance
Davies.
FUNNY (USA): Documentary about jokes and joke telling in contemporary America.
BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (USA, World Premiere): Adapted from four Damon Runyan
short stories, it's set in Broadway's most popular watering hole on New Year's
Eve in 1928, and stars Matt Dillon, Randy Quaid, Madonna, Jennifer Grey, Julie
Haggerty, Esai Morales, Anita Morris, and Rutger Hauer.
A BETTER TOMORROW (Hong Kong): All-time box office champ in Hong Kong, this
tells the story of two brothers in New York's Chinatown on opposite sides of
the law. Violent and engrossing.
ON THE BLACK HILL (Great Britain): The story of twin brothers who live in the
Welsh countryside from 1900 to 1980.
FIRST DATE (Taiwan, World Premiere): After an absence of two years, Peter Wang
returns to the festival, and considering the quality of his previous works,
this should be good. Set in the late 50's in Tapei, this is one of Wang's
gentle, human comedies that gets its humor from smiling at human foibles.
FIRST DATE examines the transition between childhood & adulthood, and tradition
and modernization, through the same perspective.
LEGEND OF THE HOLY DRINKER (Italy): A down-and-out man (Rutger Hauer) in Paris
is helped by a mysterious stranger. Hauer will be in attendance.
WHO ARE THEY (USA): Two short films produced by Rutger Hauer. Hauer will be
in attendance.
THE TALL GUY (USA, US Premiere): Jeff Goldblum as an American actor in London,
in a romantic comedy. So-so reviews, but I do like Goldblum.
A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL (Great Britain): Comedy with Jeremy Irons as a shy
widower who is transformed by his experiences with an amateur theater company.
Also starring Anthony Hopkins, Jenny Seagrove, Prunrella Scales.
WEST IS WEST (USA): The misadventures of a young student from Bombay moving to
Berkeley to study engineering. Like, I can relate.
SOME GIRLS (USA): This was released last year, but is used as a case study of
what happens behind the scenes with films that don't have a studio's
confidences. I heard it wasn't that great in the first place, but it might
have some good stories...
THE BIG PICTURE (USA): Looks very good. Christopher Guest directs in this
satiric tale of a young director (Kevin Bacon) whose life-long film project is
mangled, shredded and transformed by studio politics.
I LOVE MARIA (Hong Kong): Take the producer of A CHINESE GHOST STORY, combine
with a comedic story of the future where robots are on a crime spree, and add
two goofballs who are unemployed due to automation. Add in a lot of C.G.S.
Kung Fu and acrobatics -- and you've got something I wouldn't miss for the
world.
DAUGHTER OF THE NILE (Taiwan): Part gangster epic, part family drama, this
film is set in Tapei and revolves around a young teenager whose favorite comic
character is "The Daughter of the Nile"
HAMLET GOES BUSINESS (Finland): Hamlet, but set in a modern corporation and
dealing with ethics and power struggles. I bet Rosencrantz and Guilderstern
turn out to be tech support guys.
THE VANISHING (Netherlands): A thriller about an unpredictable kidnapper who
plays a cat-and-mouse game of psychological terror with his victims.
THE OUTSIDE CHANCE OF MAXIMILLION GLICK (Canada): A 13-year-old Jewish boy
pairs up with a girl from outside his circle of family and friends for a piano
competition, which causes him to confront his parents over newly-discovered
questions of race and religious differences. This won the "favorite film" at
both the Toronto and Vancouver film festivals.
STRAWMAN (Taiwan): Compared to the Ealing comedies, this tells of a small
Pacific village at the end of World War II who wake to find an unexploded bomb
in their midst. The villagers assume this is a heaven-sent gift from the
gods...
AN AFRICAN DREAM (Great Britain): Traveling to South Africa, a woman
befriends a black man, causing a furor in the small-town setting of her
destination.
HELLO, GOD (South Korea): The travels of a small boy who goes to visit the
mystic city of Kyongju, where he hopes to draw pictures of the stars. On the
way, he is befriended by a somewhat looney poet and a streetwise girl.
THE LASERMAN (USA): Yet ANOTHER Peter Wang movie! Wang plays a detective of
the future in this high-tech mystery/comedy, who investigates a bizarre
accident in a laser research facility. As Wang played the only realistic
software engineer I've ever seen in a film, I'm looking forward to this...
--
MIDNIGHT MOVIES
SUNDOWN (USA): Hey, a David Carradine flick! It must be good... The story of
a small western ghost town where a group of retired vampires live. Starring
David (DEATH RACE 2000, LONE WOLF MCQUADE) Carradine, Deborah (REAL GENIUS)
Foreman, M. Emmet (RED SCORPION) Walsh, Morgan Brittany, John Ireland, Dabs
Greer, and Bert Remsen. Described as the "first vampire western comedy." I'm
game.
LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS (USA): And another great cast, in this spoof of 50s
sci-fi movies. Tony ("I must go ta da castle of my faddah ovah yondah")
Curtis, Deborah (SUNDOWN) Foreman, Patrick (Avengers, THE HOWLING) Macnee,
Billy "short but he's seen it all" Barty. They're out to steal Earth's
atmosphere, and generally wipe out seafood restaurants in Maine.
PUMPKINHEAD (USA): I've seen ads for this out in video on the tube, but it's
supposed to be good (Prof. Fred Hopkins says it's surprisingly intelligent,
though the main monster (designed by the guys who did ALIENS) looks like a
California Raisin on steroids). When bikers accidently kill a mountain boy,
his father calls up The Pumpkinhead for revenge.
BAD TASTE (New Zealand): Turns out there's group of intergalactic nasties who
are depopulating a small town by turning the inhabitants into fodder for an
alien fast food chain. But they've got to deal with a dedicated group of
alien-busters first! From Kiwi!
PARENTS (USA): I've heard that this is VERY disturbing, as it tells the story
of a young boy in the 50s whose parents are acting *very* strange... Jim
Emerson made this sound like a real mind-fucker...
HELLBENT (USA): A cast of unknowns ask the question, "Why does evil exist in
the world, and how do I get in on it?" A heavy metal rock 'n roller makes a
deal with the devil. Metalheads aren't that smart in the first place...
Also CARNIVAL OF SOULS and BLACKOUT.
[I'm tempted to see FLESH EATING MOTHERS, the story of a rare disease that
makes Mom real hungry and little Billy look more delicious than ice cream,
but it's probably an extended take-off of the turkey scene in Chaplin's THE
GOLD RUSH... :-)]
--
RETROSPECTIVES:
The Michael Powell series: I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, A CANTERBURY TALE, 49th
PARALLEL, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, GONE TO EARTH, BLACK NARCISSUS, THE LIFE
AND TIMES OF COL. BLIMP, and THE RED SHOES, with Powell attending A MATTER OF
LIFE AND DEATH. Not to be missed.
THE BIG TRAIL (USA): The first feature film ever made in the 70mm wide-screen
process. Stars John Wayne, Tyrone Powell Sr., Ward Bond.
THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (USA) In a tribute to the late John Houseman, this
Vincent Minelli film (Houseman produced) is a knives-and-poison Hollywood tale
about a skunk of a producer (Kirk Douglas) who attempts to get several old
enemies to help him in his comeback. Also stars Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon,
Gloria Grahame, and Dick Powell. Apparently a lot of the characters are based
on real-life counterparts.
THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (USA): And while were doing tributes, how
about John Cassavetes? This is certainly one of his best works, with Ben
Gazzara as a nightclub owner trying to stay alive without getting involved in
gangland murder.
--
RECOMMENDATIONS SOUGHT:
THE YEN FAMILY (Japan) I thought COMIC MAGAZINE mixed it's comedy very poorly;
anyone know if Takita does a better job with this?
APARTMENT ZERO (USA) Colin Firth, Hart Bochner
THE BENGALI NIGHT (France): In the 1930s, a European engineer falls in love
with an enchanting Indian girl.
A FORGOTTEN TUNE FOR THE FLUTE (USSR): A "Soviet sex comedy". I'll be glad
when I get the expanded program for the festival....
THE SQUAMISH FIVE (Canada): Story of the transformation of disparate group of
social outcasts to a tightly-knit group of terrorists.
LA MASCHERA (Italy): A fable comparing the act of love and the acting of love,
as an actress attracts the unwanted attentions of a nobleman.
THE LAST BOOTY (Czechoslovakia): Combination of live-action and animation.
Directed by Jiri Barta.
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (France)
EVENING BELLS (China): After Japan's surrender in 1945, a squad of five
Chinese soldiers finds 33 Japanese soldiers holed up in a cave. This got good
marks from Stanley Kauffmann.
AYIYA'S SUMMER (Israel): Set in 1951, this tells the story of a young girl
whose mentally unbalanced mother takes her out of boarding school.
ASHIK KERIB (USSR): By Sergei Paradjanov, this tells the story of a wandering
minstrel, searching for his lost love.
IN THE NAME OF THE LAW (Sweden): Drama about police corruption.
THE WAY OF THE LOTUS (Sri Lanka): A fable of a man who follows the Buddhist
"way of the lotus" and finds contentment.
STRANGE PEOPLE (USSR): This is being played up as a forgotten work of the
Soviets.
THE MUSIC TEACHER (Belgium): A Foreign Film Academy Award nominee, it tells the
story of a legendary baritone who gives up his career to teach a student with a
wonderful voice.
HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING (Great Britain): "Unquestionably the only film
ever made whose protagonist (a despairing English ad man) watches helplessly as
an enormous right-wing boil grows on his collarbone and takes over his life."
Sounds like a cross between Kafka and that old TV-movie THE BEAST WITH TWO
{Brains? Heads?}, with Ray Milland and Rosie Greer.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE RAVEN (Iceland/Sweden): Revenge and romance, set in
Iceland.
KATINKA (Denmark/Sweden): Max Von Sydow's directorial debut (is that his voice
in those Kellog's Muselix ads?) Romantic triangle in the Danish countryside.
A FEW DAYS WITH ME (France): Uh-oh, a French comedy. A bored young man of
wealth takes a tour of the countryside to examine his mother's supermarket
chain.
ECHOES OF PARADISE (Australia): An early work by Phillip Noyce (DEAD CALM),
this tells the story of a romance between a Balinese dancer and an Australian
wife vacationing in Thailand.
EGG (Netherlands): A 35-year-old eccentric baker who lives with his mother
answers an ad in the personal columns... Compared to the works of Jaques Tati;
I'll still probably see it, though.
FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY (Great Britain): A British Paratrooper (Denzel
Washington) comes home to inner-city London, where he copes with thugs, slums
and and corruption, and then flips out when his citizenship is revoked. I'd
like to see this, as it has St. Elsewhere alumnus in it, but it's up against
HEATHERS. Ah, Heck, HEATHERS'll play all over...
TWISTER (USA): I'll almost certainly skip this, as it's up against GETTING IT
RIGHT, but it certainly sounds good. Harry Dean Stanton and Crispin Glover are
two members of a very weird family in the Midwest who get locked together in a
mansion during a tornado.
VROOM (Great Britain): Two working class youths rebuild a flashy American car
and use it as an escape into the British countryside.
MAURI (New Zealand): The story of Rewi, a man living in a Mauri village in 1958
who is on the run from his past. The film is told with a Mauri cultural bent.
CHECKING OUT (USA): Directed by David Leland, this film follows Jeff Daniels on
a quest for the perfect punch-line when his best friend dies in mid-joke.
WHOOPING COUGH (Hungary): The 1956 Soviet Invasion of Hungary, as viewed
through the eyes of two children on an isolated farm.
FAR FROM WAR (China): An elderly soldier, rebuffed by his family, goes in
search of the nurse he loved during the war.
TASTE OF HEMLOCK (USA): A darkly funny story about a timid young man who is
lured into a diabolical scheme involving a wealthy eccentric and his two
friends.
LETTERS FROM THE PARK (Spain/Cuba): Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote the script in
this story about two star-crossed lovers and the middle-aged scribe who pens
their respective love missives.
SUMMER VACATION 1999 (Japan): [Sounds like a National Lampoon comedy with
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, doesn't it?] "A metaphysical tale of of
adolescent love and sexual awakening at an abandoned boy's school."
MILK AND HONEY (Canada): A Jamaican woman leaves behind her eight-year-old son
when she moves to Toronto to make a better life for herself and her son. When
the boy comes to visit her in Toronto, she decides to keep him there illegally.
======
I've only mentioned about 35% of the films playing; I'll be happy if I manage
to attend most of the films listed above.
Later...
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
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