A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
Based on the true story of an eager South Korean diplomat, Min-joon (Ha Jung-woo) who risks his life to save a colleague. Set in the 1980’s at the height of Lebonese warring factions, Min-joon is leaving the Korean Diplomatic office in Seoul for the night and happens to pick up a call containing a coded message. A colleague who’d been given up for dead after being kidnapped in Beirut long ago managed to make contact in hopes of finally being rescued.
Audrey (Ashley Park), is headed to China to make the deal of her young career. With her best friend Lolo (Sherry Cola), unpredictable but loyal as can be, in tow acting as translator and Lolo’s odd cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) tagging along for the ride, Audrey is already on edge. For a little moral support they meet up with her college roommate and Chinese soap star Kat (Stephanie Hsu) when they arrive. Audrey is drowning in the unfamiliar culture and to save her job and this deal she has to dig into the past she’s avoided for so long.
Marco (Kang Tae-Ju), A young Filipino-Korean man, is fighting underground muay thai bouts and taking less than wise snatch and grab jobs just so he can scrounge up enough funds to pay for his ailing mother’s surgery. His father was in the wind the moment he was born and despite a tireless search to find him, all paths led to dead ends… until now.
As a young immigrant family the Lumens moved to the big city of Elemental. They were awed by this new place where fire, water, land and air all live together harmoniously… or so they thought. They quickly found it less than welcoming for fire elementals with the city seemingly built to accommodate water more than others, so they found a little neighborhood with other fires and settled there to open a local shop. Time flew by as their daughter Ember grew and it was a given, both in their actions and words, that she’d take over the family business when it came time. One day, an unexpected visitor brought along with him a crisis that threatened to shut down their mom and pop store, so Ember was hellbent on fixing it. In the process she found an unexpected friend in Wade, a water elemental, and discovered the big city was much more than it seemed.
Depression can be a black hole of emotions; a never-ending pit that is nearly impossible to claw your way out and Midday Black Midnight Blue is fully encompassed by that black hole from beginning to end. Ian, a man well into mid-life, is haunted by the joy and pain of an old flame.
Two of Morgen’s favorite films from SIFF 2023 happened to be the midnight features on the first and last Friday of the fest. Find out why a wacky time-traveling joint and Taiwanese puppetry made it to the top of her list.
Yet again local (and beloved) director Megan Griffiths has a SIFF favorite on her hands. Year of the Fox is set in Aspen, CO where Ivy (Sarah Jeffrey) is on the cusp of womanhood but hesitant to grow up too fast. Unfortunately with her parents imminent divorce, a father far too distracted by the opulent world of Aspen “royalty” and her mother dealing with the fallout of not only losing marriage but the life she’d always known. Confronted with the harsh realities of the very real caste system that still exists in our country, toxic masculinity, and the realization that her dad may not be the man he’d convinced her he was… she’s forced to figure it out on her own. I don’t know about you, but at her age, I wouldn’t have been able to feed myself much less upend my whole reality and come out the other side in one piece.
For the first time in a few years, the opening night gala for the Seattle International Film Festival felt almost too fancy for the likes of me to attend. It was the place to be, get dressed up, celebrate all that film in Seattle and beyond has to offer and a fantastic surprise to boot.
In an attempt at authenticity in his new film, the director, Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh), seeks out youth from a housing project in a rural suburb in France. One young boy, Ryan (Timéo Mahaut), is the focus of the film and while he creates the mystique and gritty character they’re looking for, he’s already neglected by an unstable mother, having trouble in school and barely hanging on by the merciful love of his older sister.
We find ourselves back on Guardians’ base of operations with Peter, Drax, Nebula, Rocket and Groot, among others, trying to pull themselves together and find meaning in the new version of their day to day lives. After so much adventuring, ludicrous life-threatening scenarios and overwhelming loss (despite Gemora finding her way back to this existential plane), adjustment is challenging. Peter is trying to drink himself to death while the rest are building a new community amongst friends. As they’re settling in Warlock attacks Rocket out of nowhere and pushes him to the brink of death. To save their friend, the Guardians band together once again to seek out the key to unlocking not only Rocket’s mechanical body but the story of how he came to be.
