{Michael is screening at SIFF Cinema Uptown through Thursday, 5/17}

I’m not really sure I can recommend this one to anybody, as I feel like it’s either going to leave you severely depressed, or trigger memories from a traumatic event. I’m still kind of struggling with it—even though I know it’s “just” a film.

Michael chronicles the life of a pedophile who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement. And while it isn’t graphic, Director Markus Schleinzer shows you just enough detail to make you severely uncomfortable. I guess the point is to make you see that even the most normal human beings can be complete monsters, but I’m not sure this is something everyone doesn’t already know.

Schleinzer does an excellent job of drawing you into the day-to-day with little sensationalism, without any kind of dramatic story arc. It’s just about a very sick man and his captive—struggling with accepting life as is, or trying to get away.

Do I think you should see it? Eeesh. I … just. I can’t really. I mean, from a filmmaking perspective, it’s pretty interesting if you can focus solely on story and acting. But uh, I don’t really know anyone who’d be able to watch this without feeling pretty icky by the end.

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The 38^th Seattle International Film Festival kicks off in a week at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall on Thursday, 5/17 and I’m more excited for the Opening Night Gala than EVER—because they are showing the amazing new film by Lynn Shelton!! !!! ! !

I said that Your Sister’s Sister is probably the best Opening Night film SIFF has programmed since I’ve been going to Opening Night (which is at 7 years, if my math is right—questionable to be sure, but it’s been a few at least) on the Scarecrow Video Podcast a few weeks ago, and I meant it. Shelton has crafted a film that takes a crazily hilarious situation and makes it seem totally and completely honest and real. I laughed, I cried, yada yada yada—but seriously: it’s a REALLY REALLY REALLY good film. Trust me on this one.

And of course, after the film there will be tasty snacks, free-flowing alcoholic drinks, and a whole lot of people analyzing the film, dancing badly, looking for more important people to talk to, and trying to hook up. In other words: PRIME PEOPLE WATCHING (which is what I’ll be doing … along with dancing badly, I imagine).

Get your tickets now! I can’t imagine a world in which SIFF 2012 Opening Night doesn’t sell out, and probably early too.

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{Death of a Superhero opens in Seattle on Friday, 5/4 and is screening at SIFF Cinema Uptown through 5/10}

This is going to be a hard one to recommend, even though I think it’s a really, really good film. Because there is no way you’re going to leave the theater without disintegrating into a sobbing mess.

Based on a book by Anthony McCarten, Death of a Superhero stars that little ginger kid from Love, Actually (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), in a role that proves that he can, you know, actually act. He sure acts the hell out of this role.  

Sangster is Donald Clarke, a 15-year-old boy with brain cancer. He’s also an incredible artist, and channels his feelings of helplessness into some pretty awesome comic book heroes and villains, which Director Ian Fitzgibbon wisely chooses to show on screen in animated form.

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{#ReGeneration opens in Seattle on Friday, 5/4, and is screening at the SIFF Film Center through 5/10}

I gotta give the filmmakers credit for snagging everybody’s favorite 6-pack internet meme good-looking do-gooder, Ryan Gosling, to narrate #ReGeneration. That said, he doesn’t narrate a WHOLE lot of it. And his pretty face is not seen on screen.

What we do see on screen is a whole bunch of teenagers talking about how growing up in an age with constant media bombardment makes it so hard for them to pay attention to any real issues that they end up feeling helpless and like they can’t change the world (so why should they care?)—and a whole bunch of adults agreeing that today’s youth sucks at getting involved, and that their generations were so much better at organizing protests, etc. etc.

It’s basically a lot of interviews with people saying the same thing, “Today’s youth are distracted and seemingly disaffected—they are overwhelmed by all the problems in the world and don’t know how to help.” 

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Hey Imaginaries! I'm trying something new with the website Tugg.com and wanted to be sure folks knew about it. For some reason that's a little hard to comprehend, Seattle didn't have a full theatrical run of the new Morgan Spurlock documentary about the San Diego Comic-con. The film follows a set of distinct fans through a pilgrimage to the annual Mecca of comic geek culture. I was actually in San Diego for the convention the year this was filmed, and I seriously want to watch it on the big screen. Thankfully Tugg.com making such a chance available. 

Tugg.com's business model allows folks to demonstrate demand up front for a film and in doing so guarantee a screening. If we can get enough people interested, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope will play in Seattle on May 14th at Pacific Place. Tickets are $9 and can be reserved via the film's event page on Tugg.com. There's a certain minimum number needed to guarantee the screening happens, so if you'd like to attend please sign up as soon as possible. If that minimum is hit, then the show goes on (and your credit card is charged). If it's not, then you pay nothing and we all find something else to do that night. With SIFF just a few days past that, think of this as your last chance to see a movie without waiting in line. 

For full disclosure the film is available today on VOD channels - but don't you think a film about community should be seen in a public space? Hope to see everyone there!

{We Have a Pope opened in Seattle this past Friday and is screening at the Landmark Guild 45th now}

When the Pope passes, all of the catholic churches Cardinals gather within the Vatican to choose their next spiritual leader. Vote after vote is taken until a consensus emerges. The honored recipient being a far from obvious choice - emerging as an out of nowhere compromise candidate. Which might have something to do with all the other Cardinal's fervent prayers not to be elevated to the papacy. The vote's conclusion signaled via coded smoke to the faithful massed outside awaiting this reassuring message of continuity. 

With throngs of reporters trying to get a scoop on what's going on - in a manner reminiscent of a sporting event or Kardashian sighting. Around this process lies fertile ground for comedy, both slapstick and ironic. There's a touch of that (for example the lights going out and church members insisting nothing is wrong, as well as a confused Vatican reporter). Though it's low-grade compared with the mostly sweetly handled existential crisis that the accidental Pope has to deal with. I smiled throughout the film, but never really was engaged enough to recommend the final result as must-see cinema. Though it certainly has its charms and likely will be a winner with segments of the viewing audience, who are not me.

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{Indie Game: The Movie opens in Seattle on Friday, 4/27 and is screening at SIFF Cinema at the Film Center through 5/3}

Confession: I don’t play that many video games. But I want to. The problem is, most of them make me motion sick, so playing them involves more misery than fun. BUT! But but but. Indie games are rad because a lot of them are kind of retro-styled platform games that don’t involve the nauseating 360-POV, so uh. I could get into that.

And thus, Indie Game: The Movie—a really interesting, in-depth look at the folks who design independent video games—was super fun for me to watch.

Focusing on four indie game designers and developers (Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes, who created Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish, who created Fez, and Jonathan Blow, who created Braid), this documentary shows you the frustrations and celebrations of small crews operating on even smaller budgets, a glimpse into the world of game players who both idolize them and take glee in hurling insults at them, and their fight to produce a successful product that reflects their vision and their joy.

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Nothing like a mini-film festival in April to get us prepped for both STIFF and SIFF, which arrive in May.

NFFTY (pronounced “Nifty”) is the “National Film Festival for Talented Youth”, and showcases the best young directors 22 and younger from around the world. This 4-day festival takes place April 26-29, with films and events at the Cinerama, SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, and the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. I'm probably also supposed to say it's "presented by bing(tm)" (HI MICROSOFT). 

I'm always excited to see fresh talent, but this year I'm most stoked about the music video mixtape on Saturday 4/28: 90 minutes of original music videos with music from the White Stripes, Cults -- and a bunch of other bands I'm not cool enough to know of, but I'm sure are great. Seems like an awesome way to spend $11 to me! 

And in case you feel like getting extra nerdy, there's also a FREE music for film panel at 12:45 on Saturday, where you can learn about options for scoring the best music for your...um. score. Or something. Listen and learn! For free! YAY! 

There are a lot of other great films and events happening too. Check the full schedule online so you can plan your own awesome NFFTY weekend. 

{Music Video Mixtape | Saturday April 28, 3:00 pm | 90 min | SIFF Uptown 2 }

A fan of No Doubt? Early Red Hot Chili Peppers? Jane's Addiction? You need to check out a band from that SoCal milieu you maybe haven't really explored yet. They're called Fishbone, and they took the region's early new wave big band gonzoness of say Oingo Boingo into funkier, artier, more urban territory, before blessing the world with new genres through the next three decades.

My first viewing of Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, a documentary made by Lev Anderson and Chris Metlzer, satisfied me as an expertly made and extremely dynamic experience. But it was also a bit of a bum trip. So much drama between deep band brothers lead vocalist Angelo Moore and bassist Norwood Fisher seemed to be the most memorable thing about the movie, and I hungered for more live footage and details about the records. Then on a second viewing I realized that there's plenty of great concert performances and commentary on the original releases; it's just that that punk-archetypal tale of dynamic tension between a bulldozer musician who won't let his band fall, and the chaos-inducing jester who gives it meaning, is so absorbing.

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{Natural Selection opened in Seattle Friday, 4/13, and is screening at SIFF Cinema at the Uptown through 4/19} 

Natural Selection is one of those indie-darling films I'd been mildly curious about, but avoided during SIFF because I figured it couldn't be as good as everyone said it was. People, screencap this or something right now, because I WAS WRONG. It's easy to see how this scooped up a bunch of film fest awards now that I've seen it, and am not just quietly judging it based on the reviews.  

The gist of the story is that Linda White (Rachel Harris, aka: my new favorite actress) and her husband of 25 years, Abe, have never had sex because she can't conceive -- some past trauma which apparently caused Linda to be barren is alluded to, but never explored fully -- and all truly faithful people know you can only have sex to procreate. Linda tries her best to be a good Christian wife, but sometimes a girl just wants some lovin', and so Abe's spurning of her advances becomes increasingly frustrating. 

Anyway, turns out that Abe's been satisfying the urge to spread his seed by visiting a sperm donation clinic weekly, which Linda accidentally discovers when he has an aneurysm during climax and slips into a coma. Though stunned by the revelation, she continues to stand by her man by convincing a clinic staffer to let her peek at the offspring list, and sets off to find Abe's one and only son, Raymond. 

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