Film
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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Tuesday, February 17, 2015
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Frank Capra Restored We film critics have ambivalent feelings about Capra (1897-1991), one of the most successful writer/directors of the 1930s and ‘40s. He won all the awards, he sold millions of tickets, but then he suddenly became obsolete in the postwar period-totally square. Baby boomers in particular were dismissive of his conservative values and coerced sentimentalism (“Capracorn” is the enduring shorthand slight). He was an auteur before the Cahiers du Cinema crowd coined the term, but American critics shuddered to grant him such status. Apart from that holiday perennial It’s a Wonderful Life (which has played for 44 consecutive years at the Grand Illusion), his canon has fallen out of favor. So here’s a chance, with five 4K digital restorations running Tuesdays through February 24, to appreciate the craftsmanship in his very populist oeuvre.
Tonight, the road comedy It Happened One Night (1934) was just the tonic we wanted during the Great Depression. Clark Gable, as a wisecracking journalist, perfectly embodied the ideal American response to hard times: flippant, jaunty, indefatigable, never discouraged, always game for a new adventure or a new dame-the latter of course being escaped heiress Claudette Colbert, whom he rescues from snootiness and dull fortune. Capra loved to celebrate the common man, without airs or pretensions; yet that same noble everyman was also fundamentally a Hollywood construct. We bought the fantasy for a time, then grew tired of it as Capra kept pushing the same product. (Following are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can’t Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.) SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $7-$12. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Tuesday, February 17, 2015
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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Wednesday, February 18, 2015
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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Thursday, February 19, 2015
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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, February 19, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Thursday, February 19, 2015, 9:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Friday, February 20, 2015
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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Friday, February 20, 2015
Girlhood From French director Celine Sciamma (Tomboy), another gritty coming-of-age tale in the banlieues. SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 See website for details Friday, February 20, 2015
Hard to Be a God Set on a distant planet, this Russian film offers a sci-fi critique of Stalinism. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Friday, February 20, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Friday, February 20, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Friday, February 20, 2015
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, February 20, 2015, 9:30pm
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Friday, February 20, 2015, 9:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Saturday, February 21, 2015
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Eight Days of Oscar The Academy Awards, as you doubtlessly know, will be bestowed on Sunday, February 22. So far as Best Picture is concerned, some of the hallowed eight nominees have been out of theaters for a while. So Paul Allen is doing us a favor-beyond that recent Super Bowl fervor-by reprising all the contenders at the city’s finest single-screen cinema (to which he recently added even more upgrades, plus that nifty new mural by Don Clark). True, you could see Selma, The Imitation Game, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything someplace else. But the seats are nicer at the Cinerama, the screen and sound are better, and you can now enjoy the show with beer and wine. More critically, I would argue, this mini-fest offers you the opportunity to watch (or rewatch) the nominees in short succession, so as to better assess their odds and win your office Oscar pool. Whiplash, which I loved, has been out of theaters for a while; and its star turn for J.K. Simmons-as the bullying band leader of a jazz conservatory group-is sure to win him a statuette. But what of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, released in the spring and the top pick of our Robert Horton on his 10-best list for last year? It got nine nominations, so has to win for something, right? (I’m guessing script and production design.) Then there are Birdman (my top film of 2014) and Boyhood (#2), which are neck-and-neck for Best Picture among the prognosticators. All these films are worth a second-or first-viewing, and all deserve a setting like this. Don’t wait for Netflix, your threadbare couch, and microwave popcorn. (Through Feb. 21.) Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6880. $15. See cinerama.com for showtimes. BRIAN MILLER Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 $15 Saturday, February 21, 2015
Hard to Be a God Set on a distant planet, this Russian film offers a sci-fi critique of Stalinism. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Saturday, February 21, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Saturday, February 21, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Saturday, February 21, 2015
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Saturday, February 21, 2015, 9:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Sunday, February 22, 2015
Hard to Be a God Set on a distant planet, this Russian film offers a sci-fi critique of Stalinism. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Sunday, February 22, 2015
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Sunday, February 22, 2015, 9:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Monday, February 23, 2015
Hard to Be a God Set on a distant planet, this Russian film offers a sci-fi critique of Stalinism. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Monday, February 23, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Monday, February 23, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Monday, February 23, 2015
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GoodFellas Martin Scorsese’s violent, funny 1990 mob opus is oddly running as part of a noir series (The Maltese Falcon, playing concurrently, is a better fit), but let’s not quibble about the categories. As we learn from the perspective of apprentice mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), the source for Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction source book, the Irish hoodlum Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) can never be a made man, unlike the volatile Sicilian-blooded Tommy (Joe Pesci). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it-Is there no honor among thieves?-and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you. Yet Conway has his sentimental streak-GoodFellas is one of the rare films in which De Niro cries-though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. (Through Mon.) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 $7-$9 Monday, February 23, 2015, 9:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Tuesday, February 24, 2015
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Frank Capra Restored We film critics have ambivalent feelings about Capra (1897-1991), one of the most successful writer/directors of the 1930s and ‘40s. He won all the awards, he sold millions of tickets, but then he suddenly became obsolete in the postwar period-totally square. Baby boomers in particular were dismissive of his conservative values and coerced sentimentalism (“Capracorn” is the enduring shorthand slight). He was an auteur before the Cahiers du Cinema crowd coined the term, but American critics shuddered to grant him such status. Apart from that holiday perennial It’s a Wonderful Life (which has played for 44 consecutive years at the Grand Illusion), his canon has fallen out of favor. So here’s a chance, with five 4K digital restorations running Tuesdays through February 24, to appreciate the craftsmanship in his very populist oeuvre.
Tonight, the road comedy It Happened One Night (1934) was just the tonic we wanted during the Great Depression. Clark Gable, as a wisecracking journalist, perfectly embodied the ideal American response to hard times: flippant, jaunty, indefatigable, never discouraged, always game for a new adventure or a new dame-the latter of course being escaped heiress Claudette Colbert, whom he rescues from snootiness and dull fortune. Capra loved to celebrate the common man, without airs or pretensions; yet that same noble everyman was also fundamentally a Hollywood construct. We bought the fantasy for a time, then grew tired of it as Capra kept pushing the same product. (Following are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can’t Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.) SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $7-$12. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109 $7-$12 Tuesday, February 24, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Tuesday, February 24, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Tuesday, February 24, 2015
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Blowing Up Cinema: The Art of Michelangelo Antonioni Northwest Film Forum is co-presenting this five-film retrospective, running Tuesday nights through March 24. Beginning the series is Blow-Up (1966), Antonioni’s first film in English. Apart from the accessibility of the language, what made it a huge international hit was its crystalization of diffuse mid-’60s moods: free love and sexual liberation (e.g., the famous photo session with David Hemmings and Veruschka), rock and roll (cue the Yardbirds), Carnaby Street fashions (enter Vanessa Redgrave), and the youthful suspicion that a crime was being committed by an older generation, yet no one was being held to account. That latter point is essentially the Vietnam War, which supplies the implicit political context as Thomas (Hemmings) tries to investigate a crime he thinks he inadvertently captured in a park photo. Did the murder even happen? Does it even exist if there’s no witness, no documentation? Blow-Up has its epistemological component, with echoes of L’Avventura, though this quest for truth is more a trip to the funhouse. Thomas steps into a hall of mirrors where nothing is what it seems. If earlier works by Antonioni (1912-2007) were more starkly existential, Blow-Up has an almost playful, riddling quality. Like that famous tennis ball, Thomas bounces along, propelled by forces beyond his ken, until he finally enters the mystery of modern life. Following titles in the series are La Notte, L’eclisse, Red Desert, and The Passenger. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $8-$12 individual, $35-$54 series Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 7:30pm
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Wednesday, February 25, 2015
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Big in Japan Members of Tennis Pro, a popular Seattle band, play versions of themselves and try to make it big in Japan after almost calling it quits in their hometown. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details Thursday, February 26, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Thursday, February 26, 2015
The Last: Naruto the Movie Don’t miss the final chapter of the popular epic Japanese anime! Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Thursday, February 26, 2015
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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, February 26, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Friday, February 27, 2015
The Devils From 1971, Ken Russell’s satire of 17th-century France features shocks and sex aplenty. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star. Did you know Derek Jarman did the sets? Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St, Seattle, WA 98105 See website for details Saturday, February 28, 2015
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Metropolis Fritz Lang’s 1927 expressionistic sci-fi classic, with an original score performed live by the Degenerate Art Ensemble. The Paramount
The Paramount, 911 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101 See website for details. Monday, March 2, 2015
Festival of (In)Appropriation Films that can be classified as collage, compilation, found footage, or recycled cinema. Northwest Film
Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 See website for details. Thursday, March 5, 2015
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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, March 5, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm
