EVENT COVERAGE

Seattle Int'l Film Festival 2003

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No where near as awful, but disappointing all the same, was the highly touted Thailand/Hong Kong production The Eye. This psychological thriller has been getting a lot of buzz since Tom Cruise’s production company picked up the remake rights. Director’s Danny and Oxide Pang (billed as The Pang Brothers) have a highly attuned visual sensibility that is genuinely unsettling. In fact, there are moments in this film that rank amongst the most startling and scary sequences put on film this year; too bad the movie itself doesn’t warrant all the bravado. A thinly hidden variation on The Sixth Sense, The Eye manages to bravely go where many other – and better – films have gone before, and all the visual razzle-dazzle in the world can’t cloud the fact. And, even at 100 minutes, it’s a good half hour too long. Still, the visual sensibility of the brothers is impressive, and they get a masterful performance out of the beautiful Angelica Lee as the put upon protagonist. Worth a nice try at the very least, or maybe even a curiosity-valued rental at the local video store, but decidedly not the ten dollars it would cost to see it at the local theater.

In the “I can’t believe I missed that” camp, two SIFF forums come immediately to the forefront. Both “An Evening with Ray Harryhausen” and “An Evening with Jeff Goldblum” packed in the audiences and, unfortunately, I wasn’t around for either. While I cherish Goldblum and his immense talents considerably, the one I’m truly crushed about missing is that night with Harryhausen. The pioneering special effects and stop motion technician is a true living legend, and it isn’t a stretch to say that his vision and ideas changed the face of film. It would have been an honor and a treat to hear him speak and enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime screening of Jason and the Argonauts with the visual wizard; instead I got to spend the night home alone nursing a sprained ankle. Many unprintable words were spoken that night – trust me.

Luckily, the things I’m happy about in regards to this year’s festival far outnumber the disappointments. One of the chief things was the fact actor Troy Garity was singled out as one of the runners-up for best actor for his portrayals in Allan Mindel’s Milwaukee, Minnesota and Frank Pierson’s excellent A Soldier’s Girl. Amazing in both, my pick for his best performance goes to A Soldier’s Girl where Garity plays the quiet young soldier whom falls in love with a transsexual nightclub performer. One of the most profound, disturbing and moving motion pictures of the year, this tragic love story stuck with me for days, Garity’s moving portrayal big reason for that.

It should be noted that Milwaukee, Minnesota won the New American Cinema jury award. In a statement, jurors Eugene Hernandez, Co-Founder of IndieWire, Glenn Kenny of Premiere Magazine and Will Machin of Buena Onda Films said that the film, “presented a quintessentially American vision while portraying a particular American landscape that is not often seen in Hollywood films. A movie that combines an absorbing crime thriller plot with devastating emotional content.” While I can’t really disagree, I’m hard pressed to be as enthused about the movie as these three obviously are. It’s expertly performed, to be sure, but nothing films like the Coen Brothers’ Fargo or Carl Franklin’s One False Move haven’t done before and better. Still, Garity, Randy Quaid and Bruce Dern are excellent, and I can think of far worse ways to spend an afternoon.

With so many movies to talk about, I can’t even remotely try to fit in everything I’m thinking and feeling about this year’s festival. Still, I can’t stop without mentioning a few more of my standout favorites. Most notably, Steven Frears' return to noirish cinema Dirty Pretty Things, Greg Pritikin’s moving drama Dummy with newly anointed Academy Award winner Adrien Brody, Alan Rudolph’s best film in years The Secret Lives of Dentists and Daniéle Thompson’s wonderful romantic comedy Jet Lag with Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno all spoke to me. Each completely different, each wonderful in their own way, it is films like these that revitalize my desire to keep going to the movies.

In fact, that’s what festivals like the Seattle International are ultimately for. It’s a chance for the average filmgoer to experience films and cultures from all over the world, to see people and places not normally featured at their local Cineplex. Here in Seattle, it is a chance to be a world traveler in just over three weeks. As strong as this year was, I’m already eager for 2004, and I’ve got my passport ready to prove it. ▪

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