SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘PYROMANIAC’

A brightly burning ode to a troubled firestarter who happens to be the son of the fire chief in a small Norwegian village of about 800, Pyromaniac is an unsettling if unfulfilling character study. This mysterious slow-burn is more interested in the human drama than the narrative twists it sets up but fails to satisfyingly reveals the arsonist’s true motives – and I’m not convinced the ending is nearly as impactful as it ought to be – but Pyromaniac is accented by fiery cinematography and catchy Scandinavian punk rock, which helps it burn just a bit brighter. (C+) Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL’

May 27, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged At the End of the Tunnel, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Reviews, Rodrigo Grande, Seattle International Film Festival 2017, SIFF '17 5 Comments

Rodrigo Grande’s devilish Argentine caper pits a paraplegic engineer against a malevolent troop of thieves burrowing beneath his house to rob a nearby vault. Nail-biting and pitch black in tenor, At the End of the Tunnel employs star Leonardo Sbaraglia’s dramatic chops to create a complicated protagonist, even if his villainous counterparts are at times cartoonishly evil. Drawing inspiration from the likes of David Fincher’s Panic Room, Grande’s is a worthwhile pursuit for those who want a little slice of dark Hollywood sheen to their foreign language dishes. (B-)

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘CITY OF GHOSTS’

May 26, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged City of Ghosts, Matthew Heineman, Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, Reviews, Seattle International Film Festival 2017, SIFF '17 Leave a comment

A stirring tribute to the journalistic heroes of ‘Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered’, City of Ghosts takes us into the epicenter of Syria’s ISIS occupation where a troop of citizen journalists seek to expose the true horror tearing their world to pieces. Matthew Heineman’s immersive filmmaking peels back the curtain, crafting a definitive take on one of the world’s most horrific war zones. The personal sacrifice each of the subjects must endure – some are killed, others see their families killed in their place – is unspeakably heartbreaking but Heineman’s powerful documentary never exploits their pain for political means. Must-see investigative journalism, City of Ghosts is a terrifying vision of hell on earth. (B+) Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘THE LITTLE HOURS’

May 26, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Leave a comment

A stacked comedic cast aligns for Jeff Baena’s The Little Hours, an unholy send-up of 14th century lust in a small-village monastery. The priest (John C. Reilly) drinks like a fish, while three rebellious nuns (Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Kate Miccucci) flex newfound bad habits when the arrival of a young stud (Dave Franco) spurs a sexual awakening amongst their ilk. Atoning for their sins, Baena creates an absolutely ridiculous world of opposition; repression and personal expression engulfed in a battle of the ages with flying-fast curses as hilariously out of place in this modest countryside as the eventual witch covens erupting in their woods. Unique, offensive and perfectly cast, The Little Hours is a little miracle of feminist subversion. (B) Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘TIME TRAP’

May 25, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Ben Foster, Mark Dennis, Seattle International Film Festival 2017, SIFF '17, Time Trap 2 Comments

Aliens. Conquistadors. Cavemen. All three filmic mainstays crop up in soft sci-fi thriller Time Trap from directors Ben Foster and Mark Dennis. A pulpy adventure reminiscent of 80s classics like The Goonies and Back to the Future, Time Trap tells the story of a company of graduate students and their pre-teen tagalongs who go looking for their professor in a cave that manipulates time. Clipping along using an intriguing premise to overcome middling characters, Time Trap is in a constant state of reinvention as it moves along, adding new layers of logistical gears to keep us on our toes and invested in its windy plot. Fun above all else, Time Trap is a great little schlocky detour into indie pop cinema sure to earn warm welcomes from excitable festival crowds. (B) Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘BAD BLACK’

May 24, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Bad Black, Seattle International Film Festival, SIFF '17 2 Comments

This ultra-ultra-low-budget Wakaliwood effort (reportedly made for 200 bucks), which won the audience award at Fantastic Fest (constant nods to Austin probably didn’t hurt), has the same look and feel as the flicks you and your friends made on camcorders back in high school. This nonsensical, irreverent and totally batshit “action” “movie” borders on being unwatchable, ushering in an in-film hype-man narrating/overdubbing/ad-libbing throughout the entirety of the film. Men, women, children, cars, guns, cows; he dubs all. His omnipresent droning will either drive you mad or make you crack a smile at just how fucking ridiculous this whole endeavor is but probably a bit of both if you actually make it through the whole thang. There’s no acting, narrative or directorial choices to speak of as Bad Black is just a DIY home project making an impressive run at festivals for crowds too drunk to realize how what they’ve gotten themselves into. You probably shouldn’t waste your time and money. You’ll probably walk out. (C-)

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘LANDLINE’

May 24, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Abby Quinn, Gillian Robespierre, Jay Duplass, Jenny Slate, John Turturro 7 Comments

Landline reunites Obvious Child star Jenny Slate and director Gillian Robespierre for a mid-90s NYC dramedy about a deteriorating family. Slate’s Dana and sister Ali (Abby Quinn) discover their otherwise tame Dad (John Turturro) is having a heated affair. The rub is that Dana has also just turned up the heat on her own extramarital interactions, unbeknownst to fiancé Ben (Jay Duplass). Landline manages cackle-worthy ribbings inside some really introspective examinations of monogamy and family, revealing a picture that is soul-bearingly honest when it’s not brutally funny. As the ratio of laughs to drama shift in the later half, matters grow admittedly grave and the film less fun but the final product – like any family that sticks together – is well worth the emotional tumult along the way. (B-)

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘ENDLESS POETRY’

May 22, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Alejandro Jorodowsky, Endless Poetry, Seattle International Film Festival 2017, SIFF '17 Leave a comment

The sheer artistry in just one frame of Endless Poetry is enough to send you into sensory overload. Raw, sexual and bold, blindingly funny until its tragically melancholic, Alejandro Jodorowsky crafts a divine artistic manifesto – a living-play-cum-autobiography about an poetic soul sending off his childhood and paving his way down a road less traveled. Larger than life in every sense, Endless Poetry is an exaggerated and absurd transformation tale characterized by stunning cinematography and over-the-top characters – everything Alejandro’s mother says is sang, everything his father says is screamed – and yet, it might just be the Santa Sangre director’s most accessible film yet. The film may protest, “Poets don’t explain themselves” but Jodorowsky does a damn fine job of it anyways. (A)
Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘COME, TOGETHER’

May 22, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Come, Reviews, Seattle International Film Festival, Shin Dong-il, SIFF '17, Together 9 Comments

A potent familial eye-opener probing the fierce competitiveness in various corners of Korean life, Come, Together from Shin Dong-il circles a nuclear family on the brink of collapse; company man Beom-gu has just been fired from his job of 18 years; credit card saleswoman Mi-young battles an esteemed and spoiled co-worker for a prized family vacation to Thailand; and daughter Han-na hovers on the waitlist for a prestigious college, her entire self-worth caught up in her admittance. All second-guess themselves and their place in their family and the world at large in this humanist drama that’s sympathetic, revealing and rather depressing; one that delicately paints an emotionally distressing portrait of the trials and tribulations of one shell-shocked middle class Korean family contending with rather mundane hardship. (B) Read More

SIFF ’17 Capsule Review: ‘THE OATH’

May 21, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Baltasar Kormákur, Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Hera Hilmar, The Oath Leave a comment

A father and doctor recounts the story of his daughter’s premature birth in Baltasar Kormákur’s latest thriller, detailing how he would have done anything, anything, to save her. Finnur (Kormákur) is given the chance to do so when her fiendish, drug dealing new beau (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) sucks Anna (Hera Hilmar) into a world of crime. The respected heart surgeon, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, his bicycle and a rock solid alibi, launches into action. A jet black and brutal subversion of the Taken formula, Kormákur’s bleak vision of a father going the distance is an emotionally complex and viscerally engrossing portrait of sacrifice and vengeance, loaded with harrowing, hold-your-breathe thrills and nuanced character work. (B)