Curse of The Talkies

Part 5

The following SIFF 2009 previews are offered in order of their press screening dates. Must-sees from this group are Breathless and Against the Current.

Krabat (2008)
Tuesday June 9, 9:30pm, Admiral Theater
Thursday June 11, 9:15pm, Uptown Cinemas
Friday June 2, 4pm, Uptown Cinema

Following the Thirty Years War, an orphan finds a new home at an old mill in the German countryside. Along with eleven other boys, Krabat becomes a disciple, and ultimately a prisoner of the black arts, controlled by a mysterious master.
Production design and the deft use of special effects give this film a sinister look that will certainly appeal to its intended audience, but the big scene everything builds to, never happens. (120 minutes)

Wonderful World (2009)
Friday June 5, 7pm, Kirkland Performance Center
Thursday June 11, 7pm, Egyptian Theatre
Friday June 12, 4:15pm, Egyptian Theatre

A bitter, divorced has-been blames his unhappiness on everyone but himself and drives away his adorable daughter, but finally becomes a mensch. Matthew Broderick stars as a pot smoking, failed musician, whose negative life experience becomes self-perpetuating until real tragedy offers another perspective. This amusing little film with a well-rounded cast supports Broderick’s loveable whining nicely. (89 minutes)

Rain (2008)
Sunday June 7, 9pm, Kirkland Performance Center
Friday June 12, 4:30pm, SIFF Cinema

When her grandmother dies, a Bahamian girl leaves her small island home to live with her mother, a crack-smoking prostitute in Nassau. She struggles to survive her life in the slums by joining the high-school track team. An unexceptional story and poorly presented digital video make this film nearly unwatchable. (93 minutes)

Breathless (2009)
Thursday June 11, 9:15pm, SIFF Cinema
Saturday June 13, 9:30pm, SIFF Cinema

A smalltime gangster thrives amid unrelenting verbal, emotional and physical violence. in this brilliantly acted and edited onslaught of socialized brutality. Writer-director Yang lk-june also stars as the foul-mouthed thug who finds his match in a schoolgirl with an equally disturbing past. Tight, hand held photography exaggerates an already claustrophobic tension and inescapable sense of pure rage, reminiscent of the lyrical simplicity found in early Hollywood gangster films. (130 minutes)

Against the Current (2009)
Friday June 5, 7pm, Uptown Cinemas
Sunday June 7, 11am, Uptown Cinemas

Five years after losing his wife and unborn child in an accident, a New Yorker decides to swim the length of the lower Hudson River before he commits suicide, and enlists two friends to follow in a small boat.
An attractive combination of dark humor, a warm color palate and beautiful scenery (featuring Bannerman Castle) are combined in this thoughtful story of three friends who meander down the river on a break from reality.
Good use of screenwriter-director Peter Callahan’s clever dialog is highlighted by Justin Kirk as the best friend and Mary Tyler Moore’s cameo as the self-absorbed, insensitive mother who hosts an overnight stay. (94 minutes)

Afghan Star (2008)
Thursday June 11, 6:30pm, SIFF Cinema
Saturday June 13, 11am, SIFF Cinema

Kabul’s Tolo TV version of "American Idol " is broadcast to a clamoring Afghan audience as the producers and contestants fear reprisals from an intolerant religious right. A central focus of cultural and political controversy in this well-intended documentary fails to offset the excess of dull, untalented contestants. A ten-minute news segment covering this material would be far more engaging. (87 minutes)