film review by Jon Reinsch

An Orgy of Movie-watching

A red-eyed look back at this year’s SIFF

Each year, the Seattle International Film Festival brings usplenty of good films. But after a while, I tire of “good,” and startmuttering “show me something I haven’t seen before!” (Maybe this wasabout the same time I confused my Metro pass with my SIFF pass, nearlyshowing the latter to the bus driver.) Fortunately, there are always afew truly astounding films. With the caveat that I saw a mere seventhof the films screened, here are some standouts.

Ghost World is the best American movie in over a year. The workof Terry Zwigoff (Crumb), and based on the comic by DanielClowes, it revels in a biting, satirical portrait of the phoniness ofAmerican life, largely as seen through the eyes of 18-year old Enid.And yet, it also heartbreakingly conveys what it’s like for someonelearning the limits of ironical distance, the impossibility ofreconciling all of one’s values, and the loneliness of thinking foroneself. Being expected to coax customers into buying the jumbopopcorn in her job at the megaplex is the least of Enid’s troubles. Tobe this funny and this true at the same time is a rare thing. ThoraBirch (the daughter in American Beauty) was a deserving winnerof the Golden Space Needle for Best Actress in the role of Enid.

Those of you who run in terror from subtitles should face your fearsand see The Road Home, the latest from Zhang Yimou (Raisethe Red Lantern). Few films depend less on words, or more on theexpressiveness of one actress’ face. In this case, it’s the face ofZhang Ziyi, who you’ll remember as the precocious martial artist inCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Here she plays Zhao Di, avillage girl who, when a handsome teacher arrives, decides to make himher husband.

The first indication of something special here comes in a scene whereZhao Di scrambles around on a hill, positioning herself to see (andhopefully meet) the teacher as he comes up the road with his charges.Everything’s slightly slowed down and hushed. Shots of her dashing tothe left intercut with his movement to the right. The children’schanting is mixed with a little music on the soundtrack, but it’s notthe overbearing stuff you might expect. Instead, it quietly suggeststhat we’re witnessing something almost holy.

The Road Home exhorts us to “know the future, know the past.”Especially the latter. Another film that looks back on young love fromthe perspective of old age is Innocence. Director Paul Cox(Vincent) specializes in visually absorbing humanism, and viewsthe past through an impressionistic lens. But the emphasis here is onthe present, when the long-aborted romance is taken up anew. Thelovers, though aged, nevertheless worry about doing things “likeadults.” Everything’s complicated by conflicting emotions, yetintensified by the awareness of mortality.

If you’ve seen Tran Anh Hung’s lushly evocative The Scent of GreenPapaya, you’ll know what to expect from his new film. VerticalRay of the Sun is set in Hanoi, so it’s momentarily disorientingwhen the film opens to music by the Velvet Underground. The core ofthis film consists of the exquisite scenes of a grown-up brother andsister slowly rising in the morning to songs like “Pale Blue Eyes.” Heexercises, she stretches languidly, sunlight streams in. And from timeto time, a nearby temple bell tolls, adding a new layer to the music,and making for something like epiphany.

Vertical Ray focuses on three sisters and the men in theirlives. Not to deny that much simmers beneath the tranquil surface, butthere’s a tenderness between these people to make one envious. Thescene in which one sister informs her husband that she’s pregnant isbeyond sweetness.

Music figures most prominently in Tony Gatlif’s Vengo. As inhis Latcho Drom, the music is flamenco. The story involves ablood feud between two gypsy families, but for me it takes a back seatto the ecstatic music. This was the fourth film of the day for me,after some three hours of sleep the night before. Vengo broughtme back to life.

In the orgy of movie-watching that is SIFF, it’s difficult to form ameaningful relationship with each and every film. If there’s a commonthread in the exceptions above, perhaps it’s a soulfulness, a depth offeeling. Watch for them in the coming months. The Road Home hasalready opened, and Vengo plays the Varsity September14-20.

I would be remiss if I neglected to mention a couple of politicallysignificant documentaries that played SIFF. Many Americans buy intothe notion that real poverty is a thing of the past in this country,and that the few remaining poor deserve it. Such attitudes arechallenged in LaLee’s Kin: the Legacy of Cotton. This film isdevoted to one Mississippi woman’s struggle to do right by hernumerous children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. It alsoexamines the efforts of the local school district to get off“probation.” It’s an enormous challenge, in part because of poorfunding, but also because so much has been left to tragicallyoverburdened people like LaLee.

The Punishment shows us Belgrade in the aftermath of the 1999NATO bombing. The film features on-the-street interviews with somevery articulate people. Some engage in soul-searching over theircountrymen’s apathy and susceptibility to demagogues. Others reflecton the damage inflicted by the outside world. One man, referring todepleted uranium, says “We’ve lived through a quiet, sophisticatedHiroshima.” A woman observes that reporters keep saying that theAmerican “people” rescued the Albanian “people” by bombing the Serbian“people”—but never speak of some “John Smith” dropping the bomb thatkilled some “Anica.” Lalee’s Kin and The Punishment bothoppose that tendency to think in terms of groups instead ofindividuals.u