A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
A middle-aged man loses his wife unexpectedly and so quickly that it leaves a gaping hole in his chest that can’t be quelled. He’s nearly paralyzed by grief, but he has two young boys to care for. Instead of dealing with the emotional fallout, he bottles it up inside until it swallows him whole. The manifestation of his pain comes in the form of a crow, starting as a normal bird, but with time becomes twisted, grotesque and incessant.
If you haven’t seen the first two installments of the Now You See Me franchise, it’s better if you catch up on those before seeing number three. We find ourselves a few years in the future with a new team of three young bucks up to the same antics in the name of the original quintet. Not quite as fast-paced as the first film, but with just as many misdirected tricks up their sleeves in the name of the brotherhood of magic and the greater good.
The story is a metaphor for many things and if you read it in high school English I’m sure you discussed more than your fair share of conclusions, so I’ll digress from that. However, what I’ve read of and from her, Mary Shelley loved the macabre. Dark stories that hit at the heart of our deepest desires and most crippling weaknesses. Intensity is the key. I had an inkling, but even while watching del Toro’s take on this story, I was confident Shelley would be enthralled by his re-imagining.
In Roofman we see the world through the everyman Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum). It starts off with his most notorious act, robbing a McDonalds, but in the sweetest way you can while holding hostages at gunpoint. The story backs up a little to explain what brought him to that point: after leaving the military he had no real sense of who he was or how he fit in the world. The only thing he really did well was observation, seeing the details that others missed (or maybe just didn’t use for their own gain).
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.
