Seattle Weekly's Picks

SIFF

Details

Seattle International Film Festival

• How to cope with 300+ films. MORE
• Inside-Hollywood documentaries. MORE
• Films focus on the family. MORE
• Nature as victim: Enough! MORE
• What our critics want to see. MORE
• All 57 Seattle Weekly picks. MORE
• Download and print our picks. PDF

Related Content

• Good Food Screens Saturday, With Filmmakers in Attendance
  March 19, 2010
• The Midlife Power of Canadian Jewish Metal!
  October 25, 2009
• More Than a Game: LeBron James Builds His Brand
  October 14, 2009
• Handsome Furs in Asia
  January 20, 2010
• Last Night: Ben Gibbard, Jay Farrar & Kerouac's Ghost @ Showbox
  January 25, 2010

More About

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

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Yes You won't see a more original movie at SIFF than Sally Potter's iambic- pentameter potboiler about a rich American (Joan Allen), her garbage-dick politico spouse (Sam Neill), her fiery Middle Eastern lover (Simon Abkarian), and her blithe, know-it-all housemaid (Shirley Henderson). I've never seen Roger Ebert happier than when he fluttered around Potter like a starstruck fan at the film's triumphant Telluride premiere. It sounds as if the movie's gimmick—practically all the dialogue is in rhymed couplets—would come off as gimmicky and burdensome, slowing down the melodrama. In fact, it nimbly propels it. It helps that the writing is sharp and witty, that Allen is a fucking genius, and that she strikes bright sparks with Abkarian. (Meanwhile, Henderson's maid comments wryly to the camera about the love triangle.) The strongest scene is the central confrontation, wherein Allen and Abkarian passionately debate sexual, geopolitical, and ethnic politics with volcanic passion. The film built around this scene isn't as focused, but it's all thought-provoking and aesthetically audacious. (R) TIM APPELO Egyptian: 6 p.m. Sun., May 22; 4:25 p.m. Mon., May 23.