A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
Tron: Ares takes place exactly 15 years after its predecessor Tron: Legacy also coinciding with the years in which each film was actually released inviting a sense of connection to world they create and the one we live in. We find (Kevin) Flynn’s son Sam stepping back from the business as expected from his intentions set at the end of Legacy and in his place twin sisters Eve (Greta Lee) and Tess Kim had a continued the pioneering spirit at the helm of Encom.
We follow Ray (Cooper Hoffman) as he prepares himself to take “The Long Walk”, a yearly pilgrimage not to the holy land but something much more deathy. We find he’s living in a post apocalyptic type of world where many are going hungry, under or unemployed, and desperate for even a moment of joy, wishing for the impossible dream of winning the lottery or something like it. Only one man leaves The Long Walk alive, it has no end until the moment that singular survivor remains. Moving forward, always moving forward Ray and newly found friends Peter (David Jonsson), Baker (Tut Nyout) and Olsen (Ben Wang) while away the hours shooting the shit just so they don’t notice their hunger, weariness and fear.
Ryôsuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) seems harmless enough; a factory worker that dreams of bigger and better things if he could only get his hands on more cash. His way out is making backdoor deals under the moniker Ratel (some may call it swindling) with desperate, or just naive, people needing to offload bulk products.
We see a group of kids hanging out on what turns out to be their Christmas break. One refuses to wear a shirt, another always dons a purple burglar beanie, a third is the pipsqueak of the crew and last is Billy 5000. Billy, a recent school drop out, is chasing his dream of making five thousands bucks delivering food for Grubster before New Years with only his hoverboard and intense focus to get him there. Finding a financial glitch in his employer’s system, he’s making hand over fist when his focus cracks after delivering to an ex-schoolmate and crush Rozebud.
Friday Kahlo is known for her self-possessed, unfazed take on the world and her art. She found beauty in the every day, pride in her culture and refused to adhere to societal norms. What could have made her an outcast instead made her unique empathetic and adored and most importantly exceptionally creative. Hola Frida is an attempt to explore her early life, both the tragedies and spiritual journey she experienced that shaped who she would become as an adult and artist. Animation and a light-hearted tone, no matter where the story takes us, allows for an all-ages audience.
In 2023 Megan Griffiths debuted Year of the Fox at SIFF and Morgen had the delightful opportunity to interview our local director darling about this new venture collaborating with writer Eliza Flug (whose life the story is based on). You can now see this dark and thought-provoking drama at SIFF Film Center through 7/13.
Taking place in the “Jurassic” universe, a secret scientific lab set up on a remote island not only cloned, but spawned super-beasts both grotesque and lethal. Jump ahead thirteen years to Mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansen) being offered unimaginable wealth by an overly eager big pharma rep, to lead a team that will extract dino DNA from live specimen near the now defunct lab. Bennett, her ragtag crew, the pharma rep and reluctant, recently unemployed, paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) seek out three specific species to snatch some blood then gtfo before you can say “Hold onto your butts”.
Five strangers find them selves tangled up in each others lives after each receives organ donations from a mysterious donor. The young Wan Seo (Lee Je In) a Taekwondo champion with a failing heart and over-protective father, Gi Dong (Yoo Ah In) lost his site as a child, Ji Song (Ahn Jae Hong) got a new set of lungs, Seon Nyeo (Ra Mi Ran) was fitted for kidneys after attempting to take her life, and the overly kind and intensely devout Yak Seon (Kim Hee Won) gained a new liver. Very quickly after their operations, they were up and about, but even more surprising was their newly manifested super powers and a strange tattoo that appeared along with them.
This year at SIFF I was struck by two films seemingly about the same thing (dictatorships disguised as Communism), but from completely different perspectives (and in different countries). While the story, the people and the outcomes varied, the toll on the peoples of both countries were felt just as palpably. I didn’t expect to be so intrigued and taken in by these stories but here we are. Below I give you the low down on each and why I think, if you can manage it, you should seek them out at a SIFF venue if they run them again outside of the festival.
If you’ve seen the animated feature by Disney released in 2002, then you already know the plot for this version of Lilo & Stitch, no surprises in store. It’s another in a slate of films where they’ve attempted to rely mostly on nostalgia an curiosity to get folks into theaters or on VOD a little later. While I’m not exactly on board with the live action train, admittedly I enjoyed myself throughout the nearly two hour run time.
