SIFF draws to a close

6/13/08

There are three days to go at SIFF, and TVOR is happy and bleary-eyed after spending many hours staring at movie screens. Here are a few films she has seen and liked, all of which are showing in the next three days. Readers in the Seattle area can still check some of these out, and maybe even have a chance to talk to the directors.

American Son--a young marine returns home for a four day leave.
Cherry Blossoms - Hanami--love, loss, family, and Butoh dancing.
Trouble the Water--an amazing Katrina documentary, one of the best films in the festival.
Frozen River--an American independent film with two very strong central performances.
Leroy--a very entertaining German coming-of-age film about an African-German boy whose girlfriend comes from a family of neo-Nazis. Amazingly, it's sweet and funny, too.
Days and Clouds--upper middle-class Italian man loses his job, driving his wife just about nuts.
Head-On--an excellent earlier film by The Edge of Heaven director Fatih Akin.

For readers not in Seattle--go check out The Edge of Heaven. TVOR has already gone on at great lengths about the this film, so she won't do so again. Or take a look at Bigger, Stronger, Faster, the entertaining documentary about steroids, or Mongol, the Russian-made Genghis Khan biopic (he's apparently a great guy), or When Did You Last See Your Father?, a father-son drama with Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent. They're all well worth a trip to a theater. If you can't find these newer releases, you may still be able to find The Visitor, Young At Heart, or Smart People, films TVOR has already recommended.

Video Notes:

And now, for the video-dependent among you: get your hands on The Golden Door, Lady Chatterley (both blogged about on 7/31/07), The Bubble (2/29/08), or Moliere (8/1/07), film festival picks from the past now available on video.