SIFF 2004 Wrap-Up

A SIFF wrap-up so late you say? Why not? I've never actually had the chance to do one before; the closest has been filling out the evaluation forms the press office used to send out. But since this blog format is here, I can not only do it at my leisure, I can do it at length!

So, SIFF 2004. As per usual, I did not see as many films as I'd hoped, due to numerous factors. One, having a day job really got in the way; even working part-time still meant missing the final press screening of the day at 2 pm. Two, there was the sudden appearance of three unexpected freelance jobs ALL due on the same day (May 31), smack dab in the middle of SIFF. Three, Tablet didn�t do any kind of film preview guide, so we didn�t watch any screener tapes in advance. Finally, being a monthly kinda curtailed what we�d be able to do, as far as timing, especially given our surprisingly extensive lead time.

Fortunately, following the press launch, Karla was so jazzed she arranged to have the lovely Mike Whybark set up this blog. This meant stories could at least be filed during the festival, though hmmm, most of mine seem to be party entries (at least those entries are the longest), so not as much film stuff got discussed on my part. I'll make up for some of that here.

Overall, I'd rate SIFF 2004 as one of the smoother SIFFs. Practically everything I saw started on time � shocking! The �queue card� system was a little confusing though, as there was no consistency. The idea was, if you were staying for two films at the same theater, you�d get a little card from an usher ensuring your entry to the next film. Some theaters used them every time. Others were more haphazard; one night at the Egypto, I asked for a card and was told �You�ll get it after the film.� After the film I was told, �Ah, we�re not doing that tonight.� Whatever! Anyway, most of the other theater operations ran smoothly as well, sometimes it takes a few days for the staffs (especially in venues like Pacific Place) to get in the groove and figure out what�s going on, where passholders go, etc.

Now, I've got the program in front of me, let's go through it together, shall we? First up, all those Galas. I�m sure the opening night film �The Notebook� kicked things off on a heartwarming note, though I must admit after the few conversations I had immediately after the press launch screening I didn�t end up talking to anyone about it again. It was sweet, though admittedly not the sort of thing I�d normally see. Great to talk to the screenwriter Jeremy Levin though (see 5/20 entry). As for the rest of the Galas, the only one I was able to see was the director�s cut of �Donnie Darko.� I hadn�t seen the original, so couldn�t compare it to the new one, but I enjoyed the film a lot, and it was tons o� fun to speak to the Darko crew (see 5/29 entry). In a way, I thought the �what�s real and what�s not� aspect of the film had a lot in common with �Mulholland Drive� and �Vanilla Sky,� and, interestingly, all those films came out at the same time (fall 2001).

I'm not sure I get the whole "Exploding Cinema" thing; the program says this year�s roster celebrated �Music that is in some way influenced by or incorporates a cinematic perspective.� Uh-huh. But hey, if that�s what it takes to get people to see Sick Bees, more power to ya! Other good acts were offered, such as IQU (pronounced �ee-koo�) and Sean Nelson & His Mortal Enemies (surely not all of them, Sean!) whom I just saw rock out opening for Hammerbox at EMP. Recommended. I�m not that big on panels, so I missed all that kinda stuff. Was sorry I missed the Fly Filmmakers, I liked that program last year. Don�t do the Secret Fest anymore, don�t do the Midnighters anymore, don�t do the Shorts. And I have yet to go to the poster auction! Well, I have no wall space for posters anyway.

An Evening With Stephen Fry was fab of course; he's like Gore Vidal, I can listen to him talk for hours. And while I�ve only exchanged a few words with Gore, I�ve had two actual conversations (well, interviews) with Stephen. A thrill! I suppose here would be the place to stick in some comments from that interview, but I want to get this up sooner rather than later, so a further entry will follow on that score. But here�s a few bits for ya. When I was taken up for the interview, I reminded him we�d last spoken when he was here at SIFF as the star of �Wilde.� �I asked you who your favourite Teletubby was,� I said. �Did I say Laa-Laa?� he asked. Yes, he had! He then got me a glass of water and asked if I minded if he smoked. I said no. �Are you sure?� he asked again, I presumed (correctly) because of American puritanism regarding smoking. I again said it was okay, and he then offered me a cigarette too. I usually only smoke when I�m drinking alcohol, but decided to jump in. �Excellent!� he said, ever so pleased that I agreed to join him in filling our lungs with vile toxins. I have never known anyone to be quite as excited about my agreeing to have a smoke. So, already off to a good start, we had a great interview that also had the happy result of leading me to like his film (�Bright Young Things�) a lot more. My question about period films (I had a friend who dismissed BYT as "just another period film") got him thinking about the subject so much he brought it up at the public Q&A, which impressed me; I actually said something that made Stephen Fry think! And having Gary Tucker do the Q&A was an inspired choice; one might even say he was born for the role!

Other films� Well, I won't list everything I saw, I'll stick primarily to the ones I liked the most. Interestingly, most of those were documentaries, and I don�t know why that is, it just seems to work out that way for me at SIFF. Anyone who talked to me during SIFF knows how much I enjoyed �Big City Dick,� about trumpet-and-piano street musician Richard Peterson. I have some personal connection with the man; my very first publicity job was writing a press release for his �Second Album,� and I once had the �honor� of throwing him out of The Rocket magazine office when he came by looking for the editor (who wasn�t in). He used to recognize me, but no longer does, seemingly. Just as well, I suppose. Yet, though I�ve known him for over 20 years, I knew next to nothing about him, so the film was quite interesting in that regard; I knew parts would be funny, but I didn�t know other parts would be as sad as they were. Nor did I know he had a song on the Stone Temple Pilots� second album, and got quite a nice check for it (actually, two!). It�s easy to laugh at someone like Richard, but thankfully the filmmakers (Scott Milam, Ken Harder, and the ever-delightful Todd Pottinger) steer well clear of that approach, resulting in a portrait of the man that�s alternately touching and humorous. The film only got one SIFF screening, drew a packed house, and featured probably the looniest Q&A I�ve seen at SIFF, hosted by a rather inebriated Andy Spletzer, during which the various �personalities� (i.e. TV hosts) in the audience were made to come up on stage so Richard could hug them. Last I heard, this film didn�t have a distributor yet, but still pops up at film fests and may yet secure some more Seattle screenings.

"DIG!" is an amazing documentary contrasting the story of two bands; one who makes it (Portland's Dandy Warhols) and one who doesn't (the Brian Jonestown Massacre). And what's amazing about the film is vast amount of footage director Ondi Timoner had to draw on — literally years of it! Ondi started filming the bands way back in '96, so she�s right there as everything unfolds. And as the band�s paths diverge, it's rather like watching a train wreck, as BJM's lead singer-guitarist-resident madman Anton Newcombe goes increasingly off the rails — and, like a train wreck, you can't take your eyes off it (or him). Accordingly, his makes the far more interesting story, though the Dandys run into some turbulence as well, as dealing with major labels isn't quite the easy breeze some of you may imagine. A woman I knew who was briefly engaged to a crazy guitarist said it brought those years screamingly back to life for her, and you can�t get much more authentic than that. This film will be released this fall, and I'll have an interview with Ondi for you; the first interview I've ever done with someone who was breast-feeding — during the interview! What the heck, it kept the kid quiet.

A train wreck of a different kind can be witnessed in "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," about all the traumas that occurred during the recording of the band�s album "St. Anger." Metal's not my genre, but trust me, you don't have to be any kind of metal fan to like this film (though if you're not a rock/popular culture fan at all, you might find it tough going). It never ceases to amaze me that people willingly let cameras observe very private scenes; the Beatles might not have known they were going to start bickering during the filming of "Let It Be," but Metallica was already seeing a "band therapist" for goodness sake! Of course it's fascinating to watch, but that such voyeurism is taken for granted in our Reality TV-saturated world is surely not entirely a good thing — but that's a topic for a different column. An interesting subtext not brought out in reviews I've read is how the band has managed to last so long, keeping the spark alive, instead of imploding somewhere along the way as they clearly could've done for all the usual reasons (drinking, drugs, "musical/personality differences," etc.). And the scenes with Lars Ulrich and his father (who looks like a character straight out of "Lord of the Rings") are priceless; even being a multi-platinum act isn't going to keep you from receiving parental advice. This film is already out there on official release.

What can I say about "Control Room" that you probably haven't already read? It was such fun to see at the press screening, I really wanted to come back for the evening screening, where I knew the audience reaction would be even more pronounced. Recent events added an edge to the comments of our Fearless Leaders seen in the film, such as Bush�s concerns about US soldiers being held prisoner by the Iraqis, that they'd better be treated in accord with the Geneva Convention, "Just like we'll treat our Iraqi prisoners!" (that one brought down the house). It was also interesting to get an inside look at the "notorious" Al-Jazeera, Satan Incarnate to someone like Rumsfeld, who spluttered, "They lie and they lie and they lie! They lie to promote their political agenda!" in the film. Um, and just who was he speaking about here?

I covered "Heir to An Execution," "Imelda," and "Los Angeles Plays Itself" elsewhere on this blog, so I won't go into 'em much here, except to say they're worth checking out. "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst" was good, if somewhat flawed, "Straight-Jacket" was silly but fun. Heard good things about "The Corporation," "The Twilight Samurai" (which I also liked) and "Hero," which have since played here or are about to. I heard mixed things about "Anatomy of Hell," "Twist," and "Cavedweller," while "The Mother" and "Love Me If You Dare" seemed to polarize folks, some loving 'em, some hating 'em.

As far as what I didn't like; at the Awards Brunch, Karyn Lamborn (International Examiner) asked our table which films we'd liked the least, which got me thinking about it. Well, everyone wants to know that kind of thing, don't they? My first choice was "Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children" (see 6/11 entry), because it was too long and too boring; god, I thought that four-night stand would never end. Now there's a controversy about it, MTV Online reported that the band told director George Roca he couldn�t screen it at any festivals, and they're irritated it snuck out at SIFF. Roca says they�re being mean to the little guy. Uh, maybe it's more they didn't like the film because it's bad? I didn't find out any of this until after the screening, but maybe that's why my interview request was turned down and just as well; it's hard talking to someone when you don't like their work! But I have to admit it was fun watching people leaving the advance screening. Also disliked "Tamala 2010: Punk Cat in Space," which was sorta funny but not nearly enough (see 5/26 entry).

Other details; well, there were parties, weren't there. I think I had the best time ever standing in line this year, as I made much more of an effort to talk to people instead of reading whatever book/magazine I'd brought along. I will finally confess that the reason "Jagged Harmonies" director Dominique de Rivaz was late to the Q&A after the second screening of her film was my fault. I'd told her during our interview that after seeing her film at its first screening at Pacific Place I'd popped into another auditorium to see "Shrek 2." She was very interested in hearing about the film, and then followed my lead and popped into an adjacent auditorium to see it while her film screened the second time. And the first movie I saw after SIFF — the day after it ended, in fact! — was Margaret Cho's "I'm the One That I Want," which I wanted to compare to the Cho feature that showed in SIFF, "Revolution." Have to say, the earlier one is better, though I still did enjoy "Revolution" more than "Notorious C.H.O."

Thank you, and goodnight.