SIFF 2014 - SIFF musings: Opening weekend

SIFF 2014 Musings and Reviews –

May 16, 2014 was the start to this year’s Seattle International Film Festival. As usual I forwent the

Opening Night Gala and began my festival on the first Friday by seeing two films. I only made it to one

documentary on Saturday (I do have a life beyond SIFF!), and rounded out my weekend with two very

different comic dramas on Sunday.


Everything We Loved – New Zealand

Proof that sometimes a trailer and a description of a film can be VERY misleading. This was one moody

little nub of a movie. I was not engaged with any of the characters at all. I just waited for the two leads

to get caught for their crime for the entire 100 minutes, and even when that happened, it wasn’t a

satisfying feeling. Wasted potential here.


Attila Marcel – France

The first live-action film from director Sylvain Chomet who has thrilled us previously with animated

gems, The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist. This movie was a visually stunning, quirky, whimsical

musical treat! Like a darker, slightly edgier “Amelie”. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory – USA

My first documentary of the festival was this enjoyable look at how music can be used as a treatment

for the care of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Really remarkably touching.


In Order of Disappearance – Norway

Norwegian “Fargo” y’all! A dark comic thriller that was so damn enjoyable, it may end up being my

favorite film of the festival and it’s only opening weekend! Starring the always great, Stellan Skarsgard

as a Swedish émigré snow-plow driver living in a small northern Norwegian town. His quaint, idyllic life

is turned upside down when his son his murdered and he sets out to avenge his son’s death. Please look

for this film at your local arthouse theaters – it is a gem!


The Double – U.K.

Do you like the movie Brazil, but wish it were more boring and starred Jesse Eisenberg instead of
Jonathan Pryce? Then “The Double” is for you. Adapted from a Dostoyevsky novella by actor-turned-
director Richard Ayoade. I really liked Ayoade’s first film “Submarine” from 2010. I wish this one had
been better.

Presented without comment...

Today's Mood...

Will you look at Nick Rhodes' AMAZING black ruffled, puffy shirt. He was my first crush that made me feel all weird inside because his sexuality was so ambiguous.
BTdubs - Rhodes still looks amazing today in his 50s!

Today's soundtrack...

The Bee Gees -
 Album: "Main Course"
Song: "Nights on Broadway"
Video: From an episode of "The Midnight Special" featuring a COKED OUT Natalie Cole

"Memories, light the corners of my mind..." OR NOT

2014 has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows for me. I got hit by a car just days into the New Year; my father was hospitalized with two compression fractures in his spine after taking a bad fall; work continues to be a crap-shoot of inconsistency and uncertainty; my finances are shite - All things on the low end of the scale.
On the other hand, I have had the privilege to take two amazing vacations to warm, sunny, tropical locales, and share awesome experiences with friends and create memories that we can share for years to come.

Well at least I hope I can remember these good times. Lately I'm starting to worry.

The one thing that I could always count on was my memory. I have the kind of steel trap brain that holds the most minor of details for all sorts of pop-culture trivia, song lyric, scientific equation etc. My friend Matt Slocum used to call me "Tree" because he said that my brain retained things like the rings of a tree.

Well the past two months or so, I've been uncharacteristically scatter-brained and forgetful. I've taken to writing EVERYTHING down, and setting up silly alerts on my phone's calendar for items as mundane as "bring extra toilet paper down from guest bath".
My doctors say that my recent bad memory is the result of stress, and the fact that I'm spreading myself too thin - what with the myriad of doctor's appointments, massage therapy visits, physical therapy sessions; not to mention the fact that I am two weeks away from a concert performance with the NW Firelight Chorale, and I've had to memorize what seems like hundreds of pieces of music and dance movements.

I'm hoping my docs are right and that next month, when I get to catch my breath and slow down a little (just a little, as I'll be getting ready for Good Friday and Easter singing services), that I will also find that I'm not nearly as forgetful as I've been so far this year.

FINGERS CROSSED.