SanFranciscoInternationalFilmFestival Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Live from SFIFF: Wrapping Up with the Indies
Filed under: Foreign Language », Independent », San Francisco International Film Festival », Cinematical Indie »
My other two San Francisco International Film Festival dispatches focused mostly on mainstream business: popular documentaries, future commercial releases, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But it's a sin to spend a festival only watching – and talking about – commercial fare. So for my farewell SFIFF post, here's a look at two off-the-beaten-track entries I was able to catch.
Sadly, neither indie quite worked for me, which makes me feel like a philistine, I assure you. Ursula Meier's Home, for example, exposed one of my most enduring weaknesses as a cinephile, namely my intolerance for movies that operate entirely on an abstract level – as pure metaphor. Home, a French-Swiss co-production with good arthouse buzz and a wagonload of foreign Oscar equivalents under its belt, tells the "story" of a family that lives peacefully by the side of an abandoned highway, until the highway reopens and all hell breaks loose. The family's response bears no resemblance to the way real human beings would act, and Meier does not make any attempt to render any of it plausible – within the universe of the film or otherwise. And so you're left trying to decipher Meier's big metaphor, which I ultimately decided was either Israel-Palestine or more generally human stubbornness in the face of transformative change (e.g. global warming). It's all very intriguing, even interesting – but deeply unsatisfying as a cinematic experience, at least for me.
Tales of the City: San Francisco Film Roundup
Filed under: Tales of the City », San Francisco International Film Festival »
Yes, the 49th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival begins today -- Whoo-hoo! We at Cine will have our
capsule reviews starting tomorrow, but if you're looking for overviews and reviews right now, both the SF Weekly and the SFBG have great stuff. Michael Fox talks to -- and about -- new
Executive Director Graham Leggat in the Weekly, and Johnny Ray
Huston has more at SFBG.com. Plus, the SFBG has plenty of
capsule reviews and more, including ever-ready Cheryl Eddy's interview with the directors of Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
as well as the irreplaceable B. Ruby Rich's talk with Sarah
Watt, the animator-turned-live-action-director behind Look Both Ways. The fest goes on until the fourth --
at which point it closes with A Prairie Home Companion, which, to be blunt, I walked out of -- and there's
plenty to see and do at between now and then. Of course, if you're looking for less 'high art' and more just plain 'high,' there's a 4:20 PM screening of The Big Lebowski at the Red Vic today. Aah, multi-layered stoner humor. It's like a breath of dank, weed-filled air.
I saw Gavin Newsom drinking a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's; his hair was perfect,
J.
San Francisco International Film Festival Preview!
Filed under: Festival Reports », San Francisco International Film Festival »
Starting April 20th, the 49th annual San Francisco International Film Festival is shaping up to be a terrific fest -- and
a lot livelier than in the past under the hand of new Executive Director Graham Leggat. How lively? Well, there's not
just the usual screenings at city theaters this time around; there's also going to be a series of 'satellite screenings' at various venues around town -- plus live 'film remixing,' silent films with live
orchestral accompaniment and a few other surprises. Sure, some of the extraneous events may seem a little gimmicky --
Do we need Tilda Swinton's face projected three stories high on various municipal buildings? -- but there's a
great catalog of films screening, as well as an awards night honoring Werner Herzog, Ed Harris and Jean-Claude
Carrière. Not only is the Festival's site jam-packed with info and how to get tickets, but Festival parent The San Francisco Film Society has also launched, in conjunction with the good
folks at Indiewire, SF360.org -- a brand-new, year-round guide to film happenings
and news in the Bay Area, including the festival
picks of the inestimable B. Ruby Rich. Add in announced guests like Guy Madden and Tilda Swinton, and you've got a
very new, very different SFIFF ... Cinematical's on-the-ground coverage starts next week with previews of films and
more -- and you might want to get your tickets now.
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
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