Reviews

Mome Vol. 11, Summer 2008

Chris Estey — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:30:16 -0700

MOME is graphic fiction and illustration for those who are already into McSweeney's and such.

SIFF 2008 recap

imaginary embracey — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:50:41 -0700

Team TIG covered 17% of the feature-length films screened at SIFF '08.

SIFF 2008: Bottle Shock

ChrisB — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:44:30 -0700

Bottle Shock isn’t as ambitious and, unlike Altman, Miller is too afraid to fail that he relies on the aforementioned cliché and doesn’t take any risks.

SIFF 2008: Tulia, Texas

ChrisB — Sun, 8 Jun 2008 15:24:51 -0700

If the county bans alcohol, just how do you think they feel about cocaine?

Cafe de los Maestros

Roxie Rider — Tue, 3 Jun 2008 10:12:00 -0700

Charmingly, almost all of them talk more about their mentors or other musicians they admire than they do about themselves.

SIFF 2008: Opium: Diary of a Madwoman

ChrisB — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:17:41 -0700

Body

Opium: Diary of a Madwoman is a uniquely unpleasant and difficult film to watch. It is slow-paced and more than a few scenes are difficult to view without looking away.

The film is also a brilliant character study of two individuals in a mutually exploitative relationship. It explores big ideas and is morally ambiguous.

Gizella is a beautiful, young woman with pale skin who was committed to a mental institution while her mother dies of TB. She thinks the devil is trying to slowly possess her body and her defense mechanism is to write obsessively. This irks the staff of the asylum, mostly Catholic nuns, who try taking away her pencils and notebooks (she has already filled dozens and dozens of large notebooks with her scribbling). She’s allegedly a brilliant writer, although every time we see her writing, she looks incoherent and seems to be writing gibberish.

Dr. Brenner takes a job in the asylum as a means of acquiring morphine to satisfy his growing addiction. He takes a liking to Gizella (and vice versa), attracted by her virginal innocence, beauty and writing. The relationship soon, like his morphine addiction becomes too much for him to bear. That is where the movie really gets explosive.

The film is set in World War I era Hungary and the cinematography is shot with a yellow tint to the scenes. It gives it a stale, bleak view that sets the mood of the film. As you can surely imagine, medical care in 1910s Eastern Europe left more than a little do be desired – especially in an insane asylum, where the medical treatment is so experimental it makes A Clockwork Orange look like a routine physical.

Dr. Brenner, played masterfully by Ulrich Thomsen, is a very complex character. Disapproving of the manner in which the asylum’s director treats the inmates, he could be the moral center of the film (and at times is), but he still grapples with his addictions and other assorted demons.

Kirsti Stubo plays Gizella, whose vulnerability forces her to fall for the troubled Brenner. Her future is so helpless that being drawn to Brenner is her only mechanism for coping with the conditions inside the institution. Stubo’s performance is brilliant. She perfectly captures the despair and minimal optimism her character demands in each scene.

One the surface, Opium would seem like a sadistic and pornographic film but it never approves of the pain – the camera only documents it and the nudity and sex scenes are hardly arousing but necessary to building the depth for the characters (particularly Brenner).

The graphic depiction of lobotomies will ensure that this is a movie you won’t soon be forgetting but the depth of the characters and the great acting performances from Thomson and Stubo will keep you thinking about the film and grappling with the issues of lust/love and good/evil that it raises.

SIFF 2008 preview

imaginary embracey — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:11:40 -0700

Can you believe it's that time of year again? I can't. But it is: the Seattle International Film Festival is about to unspool for the 34th time.

SIFF 2008: The Wrecking Crew

ChrisB — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:10:17 -0700

“The Wrecking Crew” was a group of studio musicians in Los Angeles during the 1960s that played on many of the most well-known recordings to come out of that era.

Best Films of 2007

imaginary embracey — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 19:35:43 -0800

The ten films that made my yearly best-of list, plus the 76 honorable mentions that follow below, represent about a third of what I saw last year. And I still missed most of what was out there.

Back Home Again: A John Denver Holiday Concert

imaginary embracey — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 12:14:38 -0800

I'm not sure what went wrong, but the spirit of everyone's favorite '70s Colorado troubadour is nowhere to be found here.

Burn to Shine: Bright Seattle stars

elle — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:50:50 -0700

Burn to Shine's forthcoming Emerald City edition is quintessentially us. Like the other houses featured in the previous three Burn to Shine installments, this house was destined to be destroyed... but not before some stunning musical performances by great local performers like Tiny Vipers, Eddie Vedder, and Burn to Shine curator Benjamin Gibbard.

Theater Review: Murderers

imaginary embracey — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:31:18 -0700

Sarah Rudinoff is outstanding as ever, and her bit is, not surprisingly, one of the highlights of the theater year.

Theater Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

imaginary embracey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:55:52 -0700

I can't recommend it wholeheartedly, and even if I could you might not be able to get tix.

Film Review: Czech Dream

imaginary embracey — Tue, 4 Sep 2007 21:48:10 -0700

This Yes Men-style documentary should be required viewing for Marketing students, media enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the perils of consumerism.

Theater Review: Prayer For My Enemy

imaginary embracey — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:24:37 -0700

This Intiman World Premiere is a solid effort, but not quite on par with the playwright's best.

Mid-summer movie roundup

imaginary embracey — Sun, 5 Aug 2007 21:26:04 -0700

Beat the summer heat with any (or all!) of these ten quality offerings at theaters near you.

SIFF Cinema presents: New Crowned Hope

imaginary embracey — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:47:36 -0700

Don't expect a music-history lesson when some of the world's boldest filmmakers present all-new takes on Mozart's age-old themes.

Film Review: Sicko

imaginary embracey — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:19:00 -0700

Sicko is the most effective, and the most important, of Michael Moore's films.

Theater Review: Uncle Vanya

imaginary embracey — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:33:19 -0700

The gifted team behind Intiman's lovely new Uncle Vanya manages to get laughs out of despair-heavy source material.

SIFF 2007 film scorecard

imaginary embracey — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:00:03 -0700

405 films. Record ticket sales with a 5% year-over-year revenue increase. And one very tired imaginary boy. SIFF '07: it's a wrap.