Funny, because while I wanted to see this movie, I just didn’t feel like it when Sky wanted to go. I was in a weird mood where I knew I ought to go to the movie, even if I wasn’t stoked about the effort. I have now seen 3 amazing films when in this exact mood:
1) Silent Light
2) True Grit
3) Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Watch the preview:

Apart Together (directed by Wang Quan’an)

The early afternoon was great. We drove down to Renton for it — it was showing in a high school’s theater. This show got extra points for the adorable high school boys who were selling goods from their Home Ec class before the show. Excellent. The movie (Apart Together) was a very sweet, subtle film about the reunion between a couple who were separated almost a lifetime ago. I loved seeing all of the shots of life in Shanghai and the dynamics between all of the family members. Highly recommended.

Ling Feng (as Liu Yangsheng) and Yu Lan (as Qiao Yu-e)

After the movie we took advantage of being in Renton (it’s a rare thing) and went to Naan-n-Curry. The first time I saw that familiar sign up here in Washington I did a double take and make Sky stop the car. It turns out they opened up one restaurant here in the Seattle area. The Naan-n-Curry shops in San Francisco are usually pretty grimy and in shady areas (but still tasty). This one is on a decrepit Main Street and is a little nicer than its SF counterparts. The food is amazing and it’s the only really good Indian we’ve got up here, so we drive 30-40 minutes once in awhile just to eat there. We had a delicious lunch.

I sat out (or rather laid out) the movie at home and instead got a massage. I had a wicked neck crick and found a massage place that was open, had appointments available, and was just a few blocks from our house. I win! I got a blessedly mellow and pain relieving massage which did me a world of good.

Without (directed by Mark Jackson)

The late show was a movie filmed on Whidbey Island, which is similar in culture and population to Vashon Island, where some of Sky’s family lives. Without had a promising premise: girl with broken heart is taking care of a vegetative man and goes crazy with boredom and loneliness. The execution wasn’t too great, though. Lots of nice shots and some interesting moods, but overall the film (or the director) didn’t see to know where it was going. Sometimes that’s okay, and even makes for a more interesting narrative; however, it didn’t work in this film.

Joslyn Jensen (as Joslyn)

So one “yes” and one “no” which seems pretty par for the course when it comes to SIFF. Sometimes I get frustrated by the duds, but then again, I’ll never forget that I first caught Marwencol* @ SIFF, so sometimes it’s definitely worth it.

UP NEXT: I’ll be writing about a fantastic movie that I saw that wasn’t in the film festival. Hint: it made me cry like a baby.

*If you haven’t seen Marwencol yet, GO FIND IT. It’s out on DVD now, so you can get it at the library or from Netflix. Seriously, you will not regret it.

The piece itself, Kontakthof, looks amazing. I’ve never seen it in full but now I want to hunt down a copy of Pina’s group performing it. Seeing the kids try to work through the emotions and motivations for some of the more powerful scenes was pretty fantastic. They had no relation to the piece and didn’t know where to start in connecting withit. At first they were so set against it, saying things like “We don’t understand what’s behind this,” but with the help of the rehearsal directors (and former company dancers) they soon realized they could make the moves and the characters their own.

At first watching the kids learn the steps was a bit painful — you could tell the directors wanted badly to just position them this way or that way, but soon they learned, and it occured to me that coltish kids with lots of energy and no training are kind of ideal for modern dance training! They don’t mind being awkward – they don’t have ballet training to fight. They want to please. They are ready for the molding. Another fun thing to watch was how they progressed from not being able to really touch one another without being super embarassed and uncomfortable to being able to paw, fondle, grope, and lean on one another with no problem by the end. That kind of body intimacy takes on a new level when you think of the variety of ways in which teens touch but don’t touch.

The teens, who attend different schools and come from all sorts of different backgrounds, all live in Wuppertal, Germany. I loved watching the teens grow in confidence and make friends across different groups. Quite a few were refugees, which made for some gripping (but not sappy) interviews. The movie didn’t go into how the kids were selected or how the project was advertised – I’d be curious to know more about that aspect.

We were both taken by the super rad Wuppertal Schwebebahn or “Electric Highway Installation (Floating Tram), Eugen Langen System” – a crazy hanging tram that takes the kids to and from practice. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I love the Internet. Before I did some Googling, I thought of it only as “that weird tram thing” but now I have a NAME IN GERMAN and also photos. Snazz.

A trailer and more info is available here: http://www.performingartsconvention.org/artists/id=127

So I was pretty primed for this movie experience. I didn’t rush out and see it because in a way, I was saving it for when I really needed a little goodness. After a stressful couple of weeks, it was time. Sky met me after work and we ushered into the almost empty theater. We were totally enveloped in the story, the world, the everything.

I’d heard or read a few different reviews, most of them positive. Some of them said the movie was flat or too “genre”y. Which — I mean, what does that mean exactly? What’s wrong with a genre? Others complained that the language was too whimsical or overwrought. I loved it. I’d read somewhere that the book is exactly like that, and I think I’ll put a hold on the book for that reason.

The movie kept me on the edge of my seat, completely. I was so taken up in the story, in the language, in the beeeauuutiful cinematography (those swirling snowflakes!) that I felt completely taken away. Like a Calgon bath, but I was dry. Sky and I kept looking over at each other with wide eyes. What’s going to happen next? This is so exciting!

“I do not care a thing about guns — if I did, I would have one that worked.”

Everyone was great. Even the horses were great. The scenery? Great. The humor? Great! Great, great, great. This movie was pretty much what I fantasized about when I was a little girl and wanted to go on adventures and be brave. I didn’t think it was flat, and I think it was a Coen Brothers movie, through and through. They haven’t dissapointed me yet, those guys.

Also? How could I not love a movie that features a crazy old dude in a bear skin?

Desk Set : watched last Friday w/ Katie & Sky
This movie wasn’t half as fun as I thought it would be. I love me some Katherine Hepburn, or at least I thought I did, but I spent much of this movie confused because she was laughing her crazy head-thrown-back New England laugh and I didn’t understand what what so godamned funny about the plot. Maybe you had to be there. The clothes were great and I took some small pride in the fact that the librarians were better than a machine (even if they were rattling off complex, memorized answers just like robots most of the time). Anyway, this is one of those LIBRARIAN movies that you’re supposed to watch and so I watched it and I think Party Girl should be our group movie if we get to vote on it.

Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all’italiana if you’re being fancy): watched last night w/ Sky
This movie was hilarious and I really enjoyed that they made a totally hot lady (Fefe’s wife) look “ugly” by giving her a unibrow and a mustache. Those hips were out of this world. Also the weird dubbing was pretty great and I loved all of the clothes and I’d like to live in a castle now.

Visual Acoustics: watched tonight w/ Sky
This film has been selling out @ Northwest Film Forum – so much so that they were showing it in both theaters tonight. It’s a documentary about Julius Shulman, a world famous photographer who is best known for capturing modern architecture in Southern California: Case Study Houses, Palm Springs, etc. He was a swell guy and the documentary had a lot of great footage of him visiting with all sorts of people: previous owners of houses, new owners, and architects. Shulman was a pleasure to watch, and his photographs were amazing. That’s about all that was good about this documentary, though. There were all sorts of woozy special effects, random Jib Jab style animations, a not very cohesive story line and weird edits throughout. It seemed more like a really long Power Point presentation (with some video thrown in) than a film. A few times they didn’t give names of people who were talking until they’d been on screen for a minute or so – super frustrating.

It wasn’t an awful documentary, but it wasn’t a good one, either. I’m a connoisseur of the documentary film, and it makes me cranky when I see half of Seattle lining up to see a mediocre one when there are so many AMAZING ones slipping under the radar every day. I also take issue with people who assume documentary making is easy, or easier than making a fiction film.

* Brain is stuffed due to entirely new job in entirely new place which I don’t really want to talk about because I’m still trying to reconcile myself with the fact that I have an entirely new job in an entirely new place

I didn’t get the sunshiney Valhalla I’d expected since it rained 90% of the time I was there, but that was fine. I caught some sunshine my first morning there as we drank boozy coffee on the huge porch. When it did rain, it was often in big, gusty sheets; watching the rain pound the water outside the window was fun, but seeing the poor birdies trying to fly against the wind wasn’t so great. Poor seagulls.

We had some excellent meals, including a lunch at the new branch of Burma Superstar which was just blocks from Jaime’s place! We also had some heavenly burritos and some ridiculously delicious french macaroons.

We watched two scary movies: Orphan and Paranormal Activity. We watched Orphan because it featured our mutual movie boyfriend Peter Sarsgaard. The plot to this one was fun and creative and I enjoyed that they took the time to build up a good story with interesting characters. Paranormal Activity wasn’t half as scary as I’d set it up to be, but it did give me the willies in a few spots. We also watched Up in the Air. I found it kinda depressing, but there were some interesting moments.

The last night I was there we stopped by the house of a friend of Jaime’s: we had some lovely wine (okay a lot of lovely wine) and hung out with the couple and their 9-year-old son who RULED. So often kids are left at home when parents go to visit or put down to sleep in a bedroom when company is over, but this family had their son hanging out with us for most of the evening. It was so fun – we played Spongebob SORRY! and drew pictures and giggled and played hide and seek. Seeing a well adjusted kid enjoying time with his parents yet letting them be adults and have conversations was pretty awesome.

We had plans to visit San Francisco and maybe drop in on some friends, but Monday morning we both woke with awful hangovers. I guess we aren’t 23 anymore. The storm was raging outside so we ordered pizza delivery and sat around chatting. We never left the 94501 zip code and I’m not one bit sorry. It felt like old times when we both lived in the city – back then we didn’t spend our time jetting from place to place trying to mark things off of a list. We just talked. Slept in. Read books together.

I came home, feeling a bit lonely but happy to see Sky. Then I was in Jury Duty for 2 days and got the worst haircut of my life. Both those things will have to wait for another post…

My first embroidery, Sublime Stitching design

I love fine days with my gentleman. I’m still caught of guard sometimes with how much fun we have together. I keep thinking that one day we’ll wake up and be sick of each other, but it hasn’t happened yet, and I kind of think it might not ever happen that way. Which is awesome. And also a little heavy, in a good way.

My parents are visiting this weekend, and in true parent style they told me on Sunday. And they need a hotel. My friend Shu who I have not seen in 2393892 years is also visiting this weekend. And I need to buy cat food. And I need to weed the Manga at this branch. And there’s a pumpkin sitting on my counter that needs to be made into pie within a day or two or it’s a goner. Loose ends writhing around in the wind like this make me antsy, but I’m making lists and figuring it out and everything is going to be just fine.*

* This reminds me of a movie in which things are not fine, A Serious Man. I was going to write a review for this fine, not fine film, but haven’t had a chance to do so just yet. Believe me, it’s good. Go see it. Bring a hanky because you might just laugh so hard you cry.

Indian Pizza is life changing

Eating: Italian Food. I’m on an Italian kick, or something in the Universe is consistantly directing me towards tomatoes. I made a huge lasagna last week, Jaime and I hit up both an Indian Pizza joint (Zante’s, amazing) and a Greek Italian restaurant while I visited, and last night Sky made us a delicious batch of fettucine alfredo with crisped kale and onions on top – mmmm. Sweets. I finally visited the fabled Miette in the Ferry building. I brought back some cookies for Sky, but ate some delicious macaroons and an Old Fashioned cupcake while there. Man oh man.

Playing: I’m not a big game player, but Jaime and Mike introduced me to Plants vs. Zombies and I played all 60 minutes of the free trial version with Sky watching and giving me tips on where to plant stuff. He’s even less of a gamer than I am, so that was pretty fun.

Listening:

• The Replacements’ Don’t Tell a Soul
• Magnetic Fields: i – this album was in the car when I drove to Half Moon Bay, so I’ve got the songs running through my head

This actress' facial expressions and body language were just amazing

• The Hangover (2009) – this was funny, watched it with Jaime in SF (I also thought it was clever that the Hooker With a Heart of Gold character literally wore a gold, heart shaped pendant)
• Spring Breakdown (2009) – Jaime and I rented this straight-to-video based on a recommendation from Bitch magazine; I think we needed to be drinking wine coolers, as the reviewer recommended
• Extract (2009) – watched alone in SF, cute, but I was sleepy and maybe would like it better awake
• World’s Greatest Dad (2009) – it was nice to see Robin Williams not playing a nanny or some other family-friendly character, wish he’d let go a bit more (I love CRAZY Robin Williams)
• Nights of Cabiria (1957) – we watched this last night; it made being an Italian hooker seem romantic and sweet

Wow – two hookers in one post, sweet.

I almost bought Lou Whittaker: Memoirs of a Mountain Guide in a gift shop, except it was $19, and I was feeling cheap. Just look at that cover! He's flying between big chunks of ice and he looks like he's just sitting in a chair about to enjoy a gin and tonic or something. Amazing.

Everything was awesome, except for the 3rd degree burn I got from some flying hot marshmallow. I don’t know what possessed me to make s’mores considering I don’t like them all that much, but something took hold of me when I saw the S’mores Fixins display in the grocery store and we found ourselves with a package of six Hershey bars, generic graham crackers, and some squished looking marshmallows stuffed in a bag. One of my marshmallows caught on fire and as I was blowing on it it (I didn’t think Stop, Drop, and Roll was a good rule for a consumable) a big chunk flew onto my wrist and stuck there. It hurt, but not too terribly much, so I stuck a band aid on the burn and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning feeling like my hand was going to fall off. Turns out I burned through a few layers of skin. Or that marshmallow did.

Marshmallow Menace