Loveridge off

This just in, a press release from SIFF's Gary Tucker, Director of Marketing and Development:

"July 19, 2005 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seattle, WA - Helen Loveridge, executive director of the Seattle International Film Festival Group (SIFF) since 2003, has resigned her position in order to return to her home in England. Under Loveridge's leadership, the 31st annual Festival concluded on June 12 to a rousing response from SIFF members, ticket-buyers, filmmakers and dignitaries alike.

"While we were surprised and saddened to hear of her decision, we couldn't be happier with the leadership, dedication and creativity Helen has shown with our beloved festival,"said SIFF board president Chris Gorley. "Helen and all of the SIFF staff have done a phenomenal job in generating excitement and ensuring the highest quality programming, resulting in unprecedented attendance at the Festival. We hope to find ways that Helen may continue to be connected to the SIFF organization."

Until an appropriate replacement is found, Deborah Person, past board president, Platinum Lifetime member, former SIFF staff member and now a member of the Board Emeritus for SIFF, has been named interim director of the organization, beginning immediately. Person will be responsible for carrying out the day-to-day management responsibilities of SIFF, including fundraising, community relations, staff and program oversight, and assistance to the board in a plan of action for finding Loveridge's replacement.

The Seattle International Film Festival Group (formerly Cinema Seattle) is a year-round non-profit organization that celebrates the culture and art of the moving image through filmmaking and film-going experiences of exceptional merit and diversity that inform, educate and entertain. In addition to the annual spring International Film Festival, the organization is active with educational film programming including Talking Pictures, The Screenwriters Salon and SIFF in the Schools. SIFF hosts special screenings throughout the year for its membership and the general public. The 32nd Seattle International Film Festival is scheduled for May 18 thru June 11, 2006."

The return of the son of comment spam

ATTN: please do not use another person's email address when posting comments. If I catch you, you will be banned. That is all.

SIFF 2005: Amie's Wrap-Up

I know it's been awhile, but a work has sucked me in and consumed me from the end of SIFF until now.

I just wanted to put in my opinions on SIFF 2005. As a whole, I didn't enjoy it as much this year as I have previous ones. To be fair, this could have been due to time and money constraints, resulting in me seeing less than 13 films this year, as opposed to my usual 20+.

But - I also felt like the selection of films this year was less appealing to me. I don't know why -- they had more films than usual, and there were quite a few interesting ones. I can't quite pin down why this seemed so, unless it was the lack of the horror-movie genre (my personal favorite), whose scant offerings were all at times I couldn't accommodate.

I was also disappointed in the venue changes; I'll admit, for purely selfish reasons. I live on Capitol Hill, so having all the venues located around the hill and downtown pretty much rules, as it's very easy to get to all them by either walking or taking 1 bus, so as not to have to bother with the parking problem. Plus, seeing films at the Cinerama is awesome because of the excellently huge screen. The Neptune was fine, but took a little more effort to get to, and I couldn't even bring myself to see anything at the Uptown. I stand by my statement of: "Lucas ruins everything" and I hope that the Cinerama and Pacific Place are back next year.

And, I wasn't thrilled with the "Evening with Peter Sarsgaard" -- as it turned out, it was about 45 minutes with Peter Sarsgaard after Sharon Waxman's introduction and some movie clips were shown. He was totally boy-next-door sweet, and absolutely adorable, so I was almost satisfied. I was just a little confused that they didn't present the Outstanding Achievement In Acting award at the Evening With portion of that night's activities, but I suppose seeing the briefest glimpse of Maggie Gyllenhaal while she embraced him behind the curtain of the Egyptian made up for that. It was still nowhere near as cool as the "Evening with Jeff Goldblum" last year.

The films I saw were mostly pretty good -- there were only a few that I didn't care for. The rest were enjoyable with just a few bordering on great, meaning I'll be looking to purchase them when they come out.

I'm really hoping to get a Full Series Pass next year, and possibly take some time off work so I can make my SIFF experience better in 2006.

Rom-com Her Minor Thing with Estella Warren

HER MINOR THING

(Charles Mathau, USA, 2005, 91 minutes)

I suppose you could categorize Her Minor Thing as a Chick Flick with a twist--the main character is a 25-year-old-virgin. Her reasons for remaining as such are not religious, she's not holding out for marriage, she's not afraid of having sex, it's just "never happened".

While Jeana (Estella Warren) is dating Tom (the local hunky television reporter who's not all that bright), he unfortunately reveals Jeana's virginity to the entire city while on the air, resulting in her questioning whether he's right for her - and in the mean time running into his cameraman, Paul (Christian Kane), several times accidentally and possibly falling for him.

Even though all the usual romantic comedy situations happen: girl may be with the wrong boy, can't see that the right one is in front of her; the sexy ex-girlfriend as her nemesis; the dorky over-protective friend (played excellently by Rachel Dratch)--the screenwriters (Debra and Jim Meyers) manage to throw in some pretty funny surprises. The best of which (IMO) is the media frenzy Jeana creates by inspiring women to create a group called V.A.G.U.E. (Virgins Against Guys Under Evolved). I know, I know, it's kind of lame, but it made me laugh. Particularly when random V.A.G.U.E. members would threaten or talk back to Tom and other guys they felt were "holding them back".

All in all, it was pretty formulaic, but I didn't hate it--there was too much to like. I appreciated that Jeana's confusion seemed very real and that nothing in the film was solved magically or written as such that you couldn't see it happening in real life. It was less "movie-moment" and more stuff you see happen around you in people's relationships.

The Q&A after the screening was with Christian Kane, Estella Warren, Debra and Jim Myers, and Director Charles Matthau. Charles' one-word answers were amusing, and the screenwriters had a lot of interesting things to say about the process of writing the film and being involved with the making of it. You could tell that everyone involved had fun during the shoot.

I'll admit, even though Christian Kane is a little too "southern boy" for me, I was drawn in by his strong arms and dreamy eyes enough to fantasize about asking him if I could buy him a whiskey and hang out. And my previously imagined image of Estella Warren as a typical model-type was destroyed--she was warm, funny, and charming. If I'd been a feeling a little bolder that night, I might have asked them both out...

Image from the IMDb (Michael Weatherly, Estella Warren, and Christian Kane).  

An Interview with Gregg Araki: Part Two

Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Licon, and Trachtenberg Now that SIFF is over, I've had time to transcribe more of my interview with Araki. Since my last post, he won the Golden Space Needle for best director and Joseph Gordon-Levitt won for best actor. I'm thrilled for both and only wish Brady Corbet had been rewarded for his equally excellent performance--the film wouldn't work as well if the two weren't evenly matched. Mysterious Skin opens today at the Harvard Exit. In this excerpt we talk about the author and cast. Click here for part one. ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** Fennessy: I know you know [author] Scott Heim well, but did you get to know him before you read the book or after? Araki: It wasn't until after I read the book that we got in contact and corresponded and we'd send [each other] little music tapes. [image] As themselves Fennessy: Does he live in Kansas? Araki: He was raised in Kansas. I think he did his undergraduate in Kansas and I think he did his graduate at Columbia or NYU. Fennessy: There's that whole New York section [in the film]. Araki: Yeah. So he lived in New York for awhile. Fennessy: I like it that Joseph Gordon-Levitt went to Columbia [for two semesters before deciding he missed acting too much]. Araki: [Laughs] It's all about Columbia. Fennessy: I just read a piece in the LA Weekly a friend sent to me, which was fortunate. A really good interview with him. He came across really well. Araki: Joe has been acting since he was a little kid [starting at six years old]. Fennessy: I remember him from The Juror, so I can say I've seen him in things he did before Third Rock from the Sun. He played Demi Moore's son. Araki: He was in Angels in the Outfield [and 10 Things I Hate About You]. Fennessy: That I haven't seen. Araki: He's been in all these movies, from when he was very small. He's such a special person. He's so bright and so talented and so serious about what he does. But he's really down to earth. He has a really good head on his shoulders. I really think that there's no limit to his possibilities. He can do anything he wants. Fennessy: One of the things I really wanted to talk to you about is casting and you've already kind of gone there, but how involved were you--I guess it's a two-part question: How involved are you usually and how involved were you in this film, because the casting is so good. I didn't feel there was a weak link. Araki: We were so lucky with this cast. It's the most amazing cast I've ever worked with, everybody down to--I mean, not just Brady and Joe and Michelle [Trachtenberg] and Jeff [Licon] and Bill Sage and Mary Rajskub and, of course, Elisabeth Shue [Neil's mother]--but down to Billy Drago [one of Neil's tricks in New York]-- Fennessy: That's one of the best things Drago has ever done. Araki: [Agrees] Billy Drago and Richard Riehle [a particularly vicious trick]. They literally only worked for two days, but everybody down to the smallest parts were all so amazing and they all brought so much to their scenes. It was a low-budget indie film, so we didn't have a huge rehearsal time and we didn't have a lot of luxuries. [image] Corbet with 24's Mary Lynn Rajskub And that's where we end (for the time being). If you're a Gordon-Levitt fan, you might be interested to know that the first season of Third Rock releases on July 26. Later this year, he'll be appearing in another independent drama called Brick. I don't know much about it, but I understand he gives another great performance (the little seen festival favorite Manic helped to convince Araki to cast him in Mysterious Skin). Meanwhile, Araki says he's already started working on his next project, his first full-on genre effort: a horror movie. Click here for part three.

SIFF 2005: Junebug Sightings

I had to stop by the press office on Friday afternoon and who should I see waiting for the W Hotel's "up" elevator, but Junebug's Ben McKenzie. He was wearing a blazer, so I almost didn't recognize him. Otherwise, he looks just as he does on screen; well, expect for the moustache he sports in the film. I was waiting for the "down" elevator and it arrived just as I figured out who he was or I would've said something.

[image]
Ben McKenzie sporting a small 'stache

So then I went to see Ellie Parker the next day. Yes, I too went on the recommendations of Gillian and Neil. While I didn't like it as much as they did, I liked it well enough. That said, I don't think I've seen Naomi Watts give a bad performance. Granted, I still haven't seen Tank Girl...apparently, it was on the set of said film that writer/director Scott Coffey first made her acquaintance, as he noted after the screening. She deserves a lot of credit for working on the low profile, micro-budget Parker for as long as she did--five years--purely for the love of it. Coffey said she wasn't paid and that the shoot cost around $500 (!). He also mentioned that it'll be getting released in December, around the same time as King Kong, so here's hoping the mega-publicity surrounding Peter Jackson's epic benefits his film, too.

[Phil Morrison]
Phil Morrison sporting a strange 'stache

In any case, while I was waiting for the film to begin, I heard two gentlemen behind me talking about what sounded like Junebug. One stepped away for a minute, which gave me a chance to turn around and ask the guy with the Southern accent if he was the director (Phil Morrison). Bingo! Well, I let him know I enjoyed his film and that I ran into Mr. McKenzie the day before. I told him that I had recently reviewed the first season of Pete & Pete for a certain on-line merchant and noticed in the Junebug press notes that he had directed an episode. "Which one was it?" I asked. "Well, I arrived somewhat late in the game," he replied. "Don't Tread on Pete." "I've seen that," I said. "It's on the DVD set." "Really?" he asked. "You didn't know?" I responded. "No," he said. "I'm glad they're making it available." And with that we had a few words about Junebug (I told him I liked Allesandro Nivola's singing in the film, he told me he hadn't seen "The O.C." before casting McKenzie, etc.) and then Ellie Parker began. Anyway, he seemed nice, and I'm glad I got to chat with him, however briefly.

Note: Poster and production photos from Sony Pictures Classics.

A Disappointment: Olivier Assayas's Clean

I'm sad to say that thus far, Clean has been the most disappointing SIFF film I've seen this year. I had no emotional connection to this film at all -- in fact, I was just plain bored.

Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is a struggling rock singer with a drug addiction whose husband dies of an overdose, sending her to prison for possession for 6 months. Their child Jay lives with his grandparents (Nick Nolte and Martha Henry) due to Emily's inability to take care of him. After she's released, her father"n-law strikes a deal with her: she must stay away from her son -- unless she's willing to turn her life around. You would think that a film about a woman trying to regain her hold on life by kicking a heroin habit so she can get custody of her child would be gripping, or at least interesting. Alas, neither of those statements can be applied.

There was virtually no character development for anyone, not even for the main character. Because of this, I didn't really care what happened to anyone in the film. Also, no "struggle" was ever really evident. I was expecting a lot of ups and downs to occur during Emily's journey to kick her habit and get her son back, but it was just completely flat and uninteresting. I was waiting for the entire length of the film for something (anything!) to happen, and it never did.

It seemed like several situations presented themselves that could have added dramatic tension to the story (i.e. finding her dealer's dead body, encounters with a younger female admirer, even conflict with her husband's other lover), but the director and screenwriter (Oliver Assayas) skipped over them entirely. Even at the moment when there should be a battle for Jay's custody, there just is none. The only reason it earned 2 stars from me was because I thought Maggie Cheung made the most of the dialogue and story that was given to her. Nolte appeared to be "phoning in" his performance, and the grandparent's story was so disconnected from Emily's that I wasn't even sure it was part of the same film.

I left this film feeling like I hadn't watched anything; normally I'm playing the movie back through my mind and thinking about how certain scenes made me feel, but I was just entirely empty. The quiet and scattered applause from the audience seemed to indicate that many others had the same experience.