It’s here! SIFF returns to in-person (and online) format this year beginning on Thursday night with a screening of Navalny at the Paramount followed by a gala in the street (like audiences and juries, the vital and thrilling documentary wowed us at Sundance; it’s a home run for a SIFF opener). By now, we’re all used to outdoor dining; so the springlike weather with its cool temperatures and ever-present threat of showers shouldn’t pose too much of an imposition. This is a city that knows well the virtues of layering so a little weather shouldn’t dampen the mood of a crowd eager to celebrate the return of its signature film festival.
In addition, this weekend also hosts SIFF’s annual ShortsFest at the Uptown. In previous years, this showcase often fell over Memorial Day Weekend and faced competition from nearby Folklife. SIFF’s new schedule, and the availability of all short films online (with tickets or passes) through the SIFF Channel should increase the visibility of this program, which also counts as a qualifying event for Academy Award consideration.
Since the festival released its schedule to the world, we’ve all been scrutinizing the lineup and strategizing our agendas. Below, we each highlight a few films to look forward to in the opening days of the festival as it kicks into full gear on Friday. We note both times for theatrical screenings as well as whether the film is available for festing from home. As always, consult the SIFF website for the most accurate information on availability of individual tickets.
Chris:
The Good Boss (Spain | 2021 | 120 minutes | Fernando León de Aranoa)
This corporate satire, nominated for twenty Goya Awards and winner of six (including Best Picture – beating out the excellent Parallel Mothers, Director, and Actor), is one of the most decorated international films out now. Javier Bardem stars as a manipulative – but quite charming – boss, ruthless but losing control of his factory.
- Available online: Yes
- SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 1:30 PM
- WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 6:00 PM
Hockeyland (2021 | USA | 109 minutes | Tommy Haines)
Even though the Kraken haven’t finished their first season of NHL play yet, Seattle is very, very much a “hockey town.” Tickets are scarce and costly and more than a few diehard fans wake up and pledge allegiance to Dave Hakstol first thing in the morning. But we’ve got nothing on Eleveth, MN. This documentary purports to profile a couple of high school hockey programs. One on the ascent, another known for producing lots of professional talent. No one is a moderate fan.
- Available online: Yes
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – AMC Pacific Place – 5:15 PM
- TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 – AMC PACIFIC Place – 3:30 PM
Jenn:
Dual (2022 | USA| 95 min | Riley Stearns)
The latest by Riley Stearns (The Art of Self-Defense) made some waves with its premiere at Sundance this year, pairing up Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) with Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) in what looks to be a humanistic drama involving battling your own clone who was meant to replace you.
- Available online: No
- SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 9:30 PM
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – Ark Lodge Cinemas – 1:00 PM
Resurrection (2022 | USA| 103 min | Andrew Semans)
Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth face off in a thriller about a stalker ex with a “jaw-dropping backstory revelation”. Sold.
- Available online: No
- MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2022 – Shoreline Community College – 8:45 PM
- SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic (2021 | Finland | 82 min | Teemu Nikki)
A Finnish “atypical thriller” that I’m gathering looks to have elements of both offbeat love story and black comedy. I trust the Finns on those fronts.
- Available online: Yes
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 8:30 PM
- WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 1:30 PM
Josh:
Kaepernick in America (2022 | USA | 82 min | Tommy Walker, Ross Hockrow) [World Premiere]
With the NFL’s offseason quarterback carousel – including Russell Wilson leaving the Seahawks to get closer to heaven with the Denver Broncos – leaving a lot of teams needing to fill the game’s premiere position, speculation has run rampant about the prospects of Colin Kaepernick returning to professional football. He’s attempted to showcase his readiness, but he’s been without a job ever since he took a knee to oppose police brutality during what turned out to be his final season with the San Francisco 49ers. This documentary traces “his upbringing, his ascent through the NFL, and his game-changing protest.”
- Available Online: No
- SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 6:30 PM
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 3:00 PM
(Directors Tommy Walker and Ross Hockrow, and producers Bill Stephney, Gary Cohen and Shawn Wooten scheduled to attend.)
Ahed’s Knee (Israel | 2021 | 109 min | Nadav Lapid)
With Synonyms, Israeli writer/director Nadav Lapid confronted the simmering ambition, anger, displacement, and yearning intertwined with emigration through the story of a soldier fumbling into a new identity in Paris. Here, in a feature that originally premiered in competition at Cannes 2021, he turns his incendiary lens inward with an semi-autobiographical film about a director who bristles against state pressure for artistic freedom in the context of making a film about a Palestinian activist.
- Available online: Yes
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – AMC Pacific Place – 8:30 PM
- TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 – Ark Lodge Cinemas – 3:00 PM
Zero Fucks Given (2021 | Belgium | 112 min | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre)
Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) tries to avoid her earthbound problems by disappearing into her always-on-the-go performative role as a flight attendant for a budget airline. Unlike the HBOmax series that recently put air crew in the spotlight, this one’s unlikely to involve ghosts, international conspiracies, or murders. Still, early reviews have been good and one suspects that this verité feature about escaping into the clouds will also include some important voyages of self-discovery.
- Available online: Yes
- FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 8:30 PM
- MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 3:30 PM
Morgen:
Miss Viborg (2022 | Denmark | 100 minutes | Marianne Blicher)
A tale of opposites attract, Solvej is a former beauty queen who plods around town on a mobility scooter with little direction in her life but to make enough to move her and her dog to a warmer locale… by selling drugs. The neighbor’s teenage daughter Kate catches on to her scheme, but they both realize working together is better than ratting one another out. A coming of age and new beginnings movie all wrapped up in one, the two find more than a business partnership in their new collaboration.
- Available Online: Yes
- FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022 – Majestic Bay – 12:30 PM
- MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 7:00 PM
Everybody Hates Johan (2022 | Norway | 93 minutes | Hallvar Witzø) [North American Premiere]
Johan grew up in a family of explosive experts, his parents blew up bridges during the war. But just because the conflict is over doesn’t mean the eruptions have to. As a teenager he accidentally blew up his girlfriend Solvor (just a little) then fled the small town they grew up in leaving Solvor behind. After more than a decade, he returns home hoping to win her back… but everyone, including Solvor, hates him.
- Available Online: Yes
- FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
- SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2022 – Majestic Bay – 3:30 PM
Cop Secret (2021 | Iceland | 98 minutes | Hannes Thór Halldórsson)
A cop that plays by his own rules, “Bússi” Bödvarsson knows how to keep the streets of Rekyavik (Iceland) clean. Playing on all the 80’s stereotypes of buddy movies and even a smidge of James Bond (but without all that serious emotional crap to get in the way) Cop Secret will win you over in mere minutes. It has all the typical wry, silly whit you’d expect from an Icelandic production with a touch of the ridiculous. I can’t wait for the midnight showing at the Egyptian.
- Available Online: Yes
- SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 11:59 PM
- THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022 – Majestic Bay – 8:30 PM
Tony:
Piggy (Spain | 2022 | 90 min | Carlota Pereda)
The trailer for director Carlota Pereda’s feature debut promises horror, filtered through the very unsparing lens of adolescence. When films get this combination right, the results are often as resonant as they are creepy.
- Available online: No
- FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 11:59 PM
- TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 9:00 PM
Flux Gourmet (United Kingdom | 2022 | 111 min | Peter Strickland)
Peter Strickland’s a master at inverting and mutating genre, and a wonderfully singular visual stylist, so I’ll pretty much follow him wherever his muse takes him. This exploration of a culinary arts collective is reportedly his most WTF effort yet, and that’s saying a mouthful.
- Available online: No
- MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 9:00 PM
- THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Egyptian – 3:45 PM
The Olive Trees of Justice (France | 1962 | 81 min | James Blue)
SIFF’s archival presentations seldom disappoint, so I’m very excited to get a look at this Cannes-awarded, underseen French neorealist drama directed by a Portland, OR expat, and shot in clandestine fashion amidst the tumult of the Algerian War.
- Available online: Yes
- SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 2:30 PM
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