A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
Even though we’re at the halfway point of the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival, there’s still plenty of time to soak up an array of movies leading into the final weekend. Films continue to play all around town as well as online through the SIFF channel. Below, we scrutinized the remaining program and came up with a few movies each that we either recommend or can’t wait to see for ourselves.
“Y.”, the Israeli filmmaker at the center of Nadav Lapid’s semi-autobiographical tale of overboiling frustrations has a lot on his mind. He’s in the the early stages of conceiving a new film about a Palestinian activist that takes inspiration in reaction to an incendiary tweet. His mother, who’s also happens to be his frequent collaborator and screenwriter who also happens to be his mother is gravely ill; and paid appearance in a tiny remote village to show his previous work for the Ministry of Culture has taken him away from both of these more pressing concerns.
Sweetheart Deal is 98 minutes of tragedy and heartbreak but it also felt so vital and important to tell the stories of these women who suffer from so much abuse and marginalization. “Sex work is work” and “my body, my choice” are good, rhetorical, platitudes (that I believe) but they are also too vague to meaningfully represent anyone whose choice and autonomy are often taken out of the equation, often by situations far beyond their control.
One of the most buzzed-about movies at the Seattle International Film Festival this year is unquestionably the world premiere of I’ll Show You Mine, the newest film from one of Seattle’s very best filmmakers, Megan Griffiths.
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.
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.
When I went into the theater to see the Sonic the Hedgehog sequel, I’m sure my expectations weren’t charitable or generous but the movie did something that won me over in the first few minutes.
There’s no rest until the credits appear on screen. Michael Bay’s greatest skill as a filmmaker is the ability to make it look really cool when shit blows up and he very much delivers here. The movie is full of non-stop action and propelled by adrenaline (there’s your pull-quote).
In her clear-eyed documentary, Andrea Arnold and her camera follow a “nice-faced dairy cow with a strong attitude” named Luma to depict several years of the animal’s life on a mid-sized British farm. It’s not all bad — polite caretakers, grazing outside, warm summer nights sleeping under the stars — but no narration is needed to accentuate the complete weirdness of modern animal husbandry.
Did anyone really ask for this?
It’s not often in this age of the hype cycle that a highly anticipated movie exceeds already incredibly high expectations, but I suppose that a film ambitiously (and accurately) titled Everything Everywhere All At Once should damned well be the film to do it. What a tremendous rush to see Daniels doing seemingly whatever they want with an apparently unlimited toolkit.
