americanese Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Tre, the third feature by filmmaker Eric Byler (Charlotte Sometimes, Americanese) continues his theme of exploring relationships, marriage, fidelity and friendship. The film centers on four friends: Kakela (Kimberly-Rose Wolter, who also starred in Charlotte Sometimes and co-wrote this film), an aspiring writer, her boyfriend Gabe (Erik McDowell), Gabe's best friend Tre (newcomer Daniel Cariaga) and Nina (Alix Koromzay), an aspiring actress/waitress who's separated from her husband.

As the film opens Tre, the slacker son of a wealthy family, shows up at Gabe and Kakela's house, where he occasionally lives, only to find Nina has taken over his room after leaving her husband. Angry sparks fly between Nina and Tre from their first encounter, but annoyance soon gives way to more amicable pursuits between them. Nina is on the outs from her husband because he kissed another woman for ten seconds at a party; when her friends question whether that's really a reason to leave a marriage, she notes that "ten seconds is a long time to kiss someone you're not supposed to be kissing" and then methodically counts ten seconds aloud to drive home her point.

When Shawn Wong first penned his novel American Knees way back in 1995, he may or may not have realized that he was writing what would become a classic of Asian American literature. As an undergrad, Wong looked for works by other Asian American authors, and was astounded to realize how few there were. Ultimately Wong, along with some fellow Asian American scholars, edited a compilation called The Big Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers, which became as noted for an essay by editor Frank Chin about what was and was not true Asian American literature as for the astonishing collection of writings compiled therein.

This background is important to know because American Knees was far more than a steamy tale of relationships between people who happened to be Asian American; beneath that sexy surface, the book is about conflicts and misunderstandings between Asian Americans of different backgrounds, the subjugation of Asian Americans, and the subtleties of racism. Writer-director Eric Byler's film adaptation of the book, titled Americanese, because Byler felt that more people would "get" the intended meaning of the film with the title spelled that way, loses much of the steaminess of the novel, while focusing more strongly on the underlying themes.

When a film festival has 418 films, you're bound to miss a few you wanted to see. It was a cinematic hydra -- for every film I saw at the Seattle International Film Festival, there were always two more I didn't catch. Here are the seven films I most regret not being able to work into my SIFF-tastic viewing schedule:

• Frostbite - Man, I really wanted to see this film. It had vampires! Really mean ones! In Sweden! Where there's no daylight for part of the year, setting the perfect conditions for a giant vampire party: B.Y.O.B. -- bring your own ... you know.
• Host and Guest - This Korean film, about a cynical intellectual and an evangelist, won the jury prize for Best Director for helmer Dong-Il Sun.  I'll have to keep an eye out at future fests for this one.
• Starfish Hotel -  A Japanese gothic supernatural mystery? Holy geez, how did I miss that one? I overheard someone in the press office talking about how great this film was, but never managed to work it in.
• Beowulf and Grendel - Here I was all set to interview director Sturla Gunnarsson about Beowulf and Grendel, starring Stellan Skarsgärd and Sarah Polley and then I ended up not making the screening due to illess. I'm going to try to track this one down -- maybe it'll be at Toronto in September, and we can review it and do an interview then.
• House of Sand - How did I manage to miss this Brazilian saga about a family of women surviving amid the desolation of the desert -- again? I swear, one day I will see House of Sand, and then I will review it for you. It's on my "things to do before I die list" now, so it's official.
• Who Is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talking About Him?) - Who is Harry Nilsson? The Beatles knew who the singer-songwriter was -- he was one of their faves.This film wasn't on my list, until I kept hearing people talking about being excited to see it, and, later, raving about what a fantastic film it was. Now I wish I'd had it on my list.
• We Go Way Back - I really wanted to catch this feature by former Fly Filmmaking Challenge director Lynn Shelton, about a woman confronted by a 13-year-old version of herself. Am going to try to track down a screener of this one. It had great buzz.

Below the fold, the seven films I enjoyed most at SIFF.

Whew. After 25 days of non-stop movie love and insanity, the Seattle International Film Festival has come to a close. I'm feeling a little post-fest letdown today, but it's been a great festival. Here's a roundup of some of the highlights of the fest:

• Cinematical hosted a (very impromptu) meetup at Cafe Vita in Capitol Hill prior to the screening of Sundance fave Quinceañera on Friday night. Enjoying a Seattle coffee and stimulating conversation pre-show were: Stewart Stern (screenwriter of Rebel Without A Cause, one of the founders of The Film School, and all-around lovely person); Jeffrey Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere; several fantastic folks from Americanese, including director Eric Byler, lead actress Allison Sie, script supervisor Cecilia Tsai, and music supervisor Brooke; Quinceañera director Wash Westmoreland, and Joel from Fat Free Film.  Next year, we'll be more organized, plan further in advance, and invite lots more film bloggers and journalists, filmmakers, Cinematical readers and SIFF folk to join us.

I caught a screening of Eric Byler's Americanese last night at the Opening Night of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Byler had previously directed the underrated Charlotte Sometimes (2003), which was savaged by users on IMDb, partly due to its matter-of-fact attitude toward a mixed-race love story. I approached Byler's previous film with a certain amount of trepidation; here was yet another young filmmaker attempting to break into the movie business (using digital video no less) and probably tripping over a dozen others doing the same thing. But Byler had a unique touch, a palpable texture of the ebb and flow of life. Characters could pause and do nothing and they would still hold our interest.

From the first textured shot of Americanese, Byler establishes himself as the real thing. Based on the novel American Knees by Shawn Wong, the film is essentially a soap opera, a melodrama about break-ups, tentative new loves and family troubles, complete with a bit of a message about shaded levels of racism - not my usual cup of tea. But Byler handles it all with such grace and delicate humanity that it flows like air through wind chimes.

I'm sitting in the back row blogging the SXSW Film awards, live from the Austin Convention Center. Here we go!

Narrative Feature Audience Award
AMERICANese (above)

Documentary Feature Audience Award
Darkon

Lone Star States
Runner Up – Slam Planet
Winner – State vs. Reed

Emerging Visions
Runner Up – Manhattan, Kansas
Winner – High Score

Narrative Feature
Outstanding Ensemble Cast – AMERICANese
Outstanding Visual Acheivement – Inner Circle Line
Grand Jury Prize – Live Free or Die

Documentary Feature
Special Jury Citation – Maxed Out
Grand Jury Prize – Jam

Texas High School Competition
Runner Up – Weathered
Winner – Maikafer

Music Video
Runner Up – The Sad Little Stars, "Don't Fuck With Love"
Winner – The Ralfe Band, "Women of Japan"

SXSWClick (online film festival)
Audience Award –  Robot-ussin
Jury Prize – Man Up

Live Action Short
Runner Up - Shortstop
Winner - Hiro, by Matthew Swanson

Animated Shorts
Runner Up – Tall Tales and Other Big Lies
Winner – The Wraith of Cobble Hill

Experimental Short
Winners – Sea Change and Marion