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Seattle International Film Festival

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More About

• Simon Abkarian
• Persuasion Neptune
• Joan Allen
• ELLA TAYLOR Neptune
• Documentary Films

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Fifty-seven essential titles for the festival. In each case, either we've seen it, a colleague has vouched for it, or it has very good buzz. But no, we won't refund your money if you don't like it.

After Innocence Broadway Performance Hall: 6:45 p.m. Wed., June 1. DNA tests free prison inmates, but that's only half their battle.

Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley EMP/JBL Theater: 7 p.m. Thurs., June 2. Broadway Performance Hall: 9:15 p.m. Sat., June 4. A must for fans of the late singer.

The Aristocrats Neptune: midnight Fri., May 20. One filthy joke, told by over 100 filthy comedians. Don't bring the kids.

The Art & Crimes of Ron English Broadway Performance Hall: 6:45 p.m. Thurs., May 26; 1:45 p.m. Sat., May 28.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped Neptune: 6:30 p.m. Sun., May 29; 2 p.m. Mon., May 30. A remake of James Toback's 1978 Fingers from the French director of Read My Lips.

Being Caribou Broadway Performance Hall: 6:45 p.m. Fri., June 3; 2 p.m. Tues., June 7. See related story.

The Circus Neptune: 6:30 p.m. Sun., June 5. Egyptian: 11 a.m. Sat., June 11. Chaplin's 1928 silent with his own late-life score added.

Clean Harvard Exit: 9:30 p.m. Tues., June 7. Uptown: 2 p.m. Thurs., June 9. Maggie Cheung (2046) is an addict trying to go straight for her son's sake.

Crane World Harvard Exit: 11:30 a.m. Sat., June 11. A construction worker recalls his life as a music star; this Argentine favorite returns from SIFF '00.

Days and Hours Broadway Performance Hall: 6:15 p.m. Sun., June 5; 9 p.m. Mon., June 6. Survivors from the remnants of Yugoslavia come to terms with the Bosnian wars.

Deep Blue Egyptian: 11 a.m. Sat., June 4. Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Mon., June 6. See related story.

Drive Well, Sleep Carefully: On the Road with Death Cab For Cutie Neptune: 9:30 p.m. Fri., June 10. Egyptian: 3:45 p.m. Sat., June 11. Local band in the spotlight.

The Dying Gaul Before any grumblers try to spoil it for you, just accept up front that, yes, director Craig Lucas' adaptation of his own 1998 play about a Hollywood producer (Campbell Scott), his bored trophy wife (Patricia Clarkson), and the grieving gay screenwriter (Peter Sarsgaard) whom they fatefully ensnare is as flawed on-screen as it was onstage. In order for the film to grab you, you'll have to deal with any number of unlikely coincidences and swimming pool–size plot holes, chief among them the curious means and motivations of Clarkson's placidly viscous character. But Lucas' pungent dissection of Tinseltown soullessness has taken on even greater resonance with time; it's an alarm sounding the price we pay for the increasingly casual indifference with which we regard one other. The three principals give subtle, sterling performances, though it's Sarsgaard's turn as a lost soul just barely controlling his bottomless rage, loneliness, and sorrow that will hit raw nerves. A scene in which his writer explodes into hot, hopeless tears during sex is one of the most astonishing bits of screen acting you'll see all year. (NR) STEVE WIECKING Egyptian: 7 p.m. Sat., May 21; 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 22.

Earthling Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Thurs., May 26. Egyptian: 11 a.m. Sat., May 28. See related story.

Ellie Parker This fun, scattershot Hollywood spoof by Scott Coffey evolved from a 20-minute Sundance short back in 2001, before its star and co-producer, Naomi Watts, had made her name in Mulholland Dr. Playing slyly off the intensity that has made her the go-to girl for falling-apart roles, Watts shows off an engagingly self-mocking side as a young actress with more determination than talent, striving to make the leap from soaps and commercials into serious film. Though it relies perilously on movie-within-a-movie bits of business we've all seen many times before, Ellie Parker bounces along on Coffey's deadpan capture of the no-exit, Hollywood Hills periphery of the movie industry. (NR) ELLA TAYLOR Neptune: 7:15 p.m. Thurs., June 9; 2 p.m. Sun., June 11.

Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate Egyptian: 4:45 p.m. Fri., June 3. The story of the Western that destroyed a studio, and the egomaniac (Michael Cimino) who made it.

Fishermen's Terminal Egyptian: 6:30 p.m. Mon., May 30. Gentrification threatens our Ballard waterfront and heritage in this world-premiere documentary.

5 X 2 (Five Times Two) Egyptian: 9 p.m. Sat., June 4. Neptune: 5 p.m. Tues., June 7. François Ozon (Swimming Pool) charts five stages of a couple's disintegration in reverse to their happy beginning.

The Gits Egyptian: 9 p.m. Sat., May 28; 3:45 p.m. Mon., May 30. The late Mia Zapata and her band get their due.

Godzilla: Final Wars Neptune: midnight Fri., May 27; 3:30 p.m. Sat., May 28. At 50, cinema's favorite rampaging lizard is still going strong.

Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern Egyptian: 6 p.m. Sun., May 29. See related story.

The Gorky Trilogy Harvard Exit: 2 p.m. Sun., May 22. Russia's tripartite celebration of the great writer, made between 1938 and 1940, despite the hardships of WWII.

Grizzly Man Egyptian: 7 p.m. Mon., June 6; 4:45 p.m. Wed., June 8. Werner Herzog's new documentary about a bear-crazed documentarian.

The Heart of the Game Neptune: 11 a.m. Sat., June 11. Local girls basketball team puts the Storm to shame with hustle and drive.

Heaven's Gate Egyptian: 1:30 p.m. Sat., June 4. Michael Cimino's three-hour-plus cut of his career-killing Western epic, with Christopher Walken in his golden-haired prime.