Kung Fu Panda

Jack Black is hilarious. It's as simple as that. His shtick may get old in some settings, but when he's got a setting to twist it a little bit from his worn out Tenacious D persona I find him extremely entertaining, and Kung Fu Panda does a great job of channeling his energy into a clumsy, kung-fu-obsessed noodle soup chef-apprentice.

Dreamworks Animation has a somewhat checkered history. Where Pixar seems to create unique characters, Dreamworks trades almost exclusively on translating a recognizable actor into some type of animal -- Mike Meyers in Shrek, Will Smith in Shark Tale, Seinfeld in Bee Movie -- and quite frankly those were all pretty useless. But when they hit the mark, as with Jack Black, or Woody Allen in the hysterical Antz, it's a joy to watch.

The animation easily outdoes all their earlier attempts, with fantastic fog-shrouded and exagerated oriental landscapes and beautiful creature design. I would be happy to watch the movie with the sound off for the facial expressions alone, although the brilliant casting choices of Black, Dustin Hoffman, and James Hong would make that a shame. The choreography of the fight scenes is wild, and quite creative. The story is good, if not too surprising, and the ending has a very satisfying zen aspect to it. Great for kids, but also fine fare for those who are fans of the new breed of animated film like Emperor's New Groove that are designed to appeal to adults as well.

On SIFF '08

It's now a couple weeks after the close of the festival, so the immediate fatigue has passed. This was my third attendance at SIFF. I saw 60 movies, including the Secret Festival entries. There were some great pictures, and plenty of things I feel privileged to have a chance to see in this setting.

Was it better or worse than last year? Tough question. It feels like the edge has come off the festival a bit. There were less really awful movies, but there were less amazingly good ones as well (or I've just become more jaded). There were more decent and good movies than last year, so overall it may be an improvement. I hope this isn't a sign that the programmers are drifting away from taking chances, though, because getting to see stuff that's more out of the ordinary is one of the best things about the festival.

The mechanics of SIFF itself are worth mentioning, and there seems to be a decline there. Under-staffing problems seemed to crop up more often, and the volunteers that were there weren't trained quite well enough to really handle the crowd. Which probably just means that I should volunteer myself next year.

The really odd change, though, was the change in focus at the festival. The SIFF Cinema, the festival's year-round theater at the Seattle Center complex, was brand new last year. They mentioned it before each screening, certainly, but there was a definite focus on external support, and mentions of sponsors was much more prominent.

They've always had self-promotional advertisements before every screening, but they've been funny, and short, and focused on the festival. This year there were three (3) advertisements before the festival, and the two longer ones (45 seconds each) were for the exact same thing -- the year-round activities of the festival. This is irritating off the bat, since nobody likes to be told the same thing multiple times as if they're too dense to get it the first time, and makes not a whole lot of sense since the amount of out-of-town attendance is high. And the focus on their own income generation rather than sponsors seems like it could easily be a sign of financial trouble.

The theaters in rotation changed this year. The Neptune and Lincoln Square in Bellevue are out, and The Uptown Cinema and a week of the Cinerama added in their place. All in all this seems positive; the Neptune was close to exactly nothing, while The Uptown is in easy walking distance of SIFF Cinema. And the Cinerama is easily the best screen in town, so no complaints there.

Maybe it's just me, but the whole thing felt a bit subdued. Less energy, less extremes, less attendance (that one is probably not just me). Let's hope this is a temporary slump, or at least that the slump doesn't become a trend. Because SIFF is a hell of a lot of fun.

Donkey Punch

Some slasher movies feature a menacing evil presence hunting down defenseless vacationers. Much rarer, but usually more interesting, are movies like Donkey Punch, where everyone is an innocent victim and a psychotic killer at the same time.

The plot's nothing special, and there's plentiful nudity to appeal to that crowd. But the direction is solid, and the actors hold their own to a degree not usually found in B movies. With plenty of surprising and gory deaths, this is a damn good slasher for fans of the genre.

Sleep Dealer

Sleep Dealer is an interesting but unfocused attempt at a pretty rare category (Mexican sci-fi). The science fiction elements could be compelling; bio-feedback interfaces allow day-laborers in Mexico to run construction robots and other unappealing jobs in the USA by remote, and poor quality electronics and working conditions leave many blind or worse.

On the other hand, the acting is not great, and the second half of the story turns pretty milquetoast. The ending packs no punch, and the science aspect could have been left out almost entirely without the plot changing, which makes its inclusion a bit confusing.

Towelhead

SIFF always seems to save a couple of the best movies of the festival for the closing weekend (mostly it's random junk), and this year it's Towelhead, a story of a young Lebanese girl growing up in Texas.

The story is slow, mostly about her difficulties finding acceptance with her friends, family, and herself, and that could be blandly generic if not for excellent writing and amazing cast and direction. Every performance is perfect, and there's an immense power behind the story, script, and direction.

When it gets a wide release, some people are certainly going to be offended by the fact that it contains frank examination of young teenage sexuality, and that it contains plot elements of abuse without making the abuser out as a total monster. But the honesty in every character is rare for a film about such touchy subjects, and it's absolutely worth watching.

Visioneers

Employees of the Jeffers Corporation, the biggest, friendliest company in the world, salute each other each morning with a friendly middle finger, happily complete their work handed down from Level 4, and dutifully ignore the fact that people around them are exploding from pent up frustration.

In a wonderfully twisted modern fairy tale with more than a touch of Brazil, the perils of boredom and facile distraction are presented as very real, and very fatal. The story follows the head of one division of the Jeffers Corp as he starts to realize that his life is not everything he thought.

There's a hint of Indie bareness under the surface, but it's totally excusable since the plot is just so damned original. Perfectly understated, perhaps even slow at times, but never boring. There are a few really great visual moments, and plenty of social commentary against everyone and everything. Don't expect jokes, or car chases, or anything resembling modern Hollywood's traditional output. But Visioneers is great anyway.

Summer Heat

It seems the director was trying to make an erotic thriller of sorts; all the elements are present: ruggedly attractive Nordic stars, guns, drugs, and a mysterious figure behind the scenes. But while the cinematography is beautiful, and the events seem like they could be suspenseful, a lot of it comes off as detached or just strange.

The island scenery itself is almost enough to make the film worth seeing, and the acting and writing isn't bad by any means. But it's hard to feel any real fear (or any emotion) from the characters, and without that it's impossible to really get into the film. It all feels a bit abstract; interesting, but not compelling.

It's Hard to Be Nice

A low-level crook in Eastern Europe tries to go straight, to the dismay of his wife, friends, and cohorts.

Surprisingly relaxed considering the number of times the main character is beaten up, the film is a sometimes-funny look at the difficulties in breaking peoples perceptions. While the plot doesn't have a particularly strong arc, the gradual progression of the main character is fun, as are the vain and comically pompous side characters. The movie finds a lot of dry humor in the culture of the city that would be hard to replicate if the story were set anywhere else.

The cinematography is gritty and realistic, and the direction lets the actors stay understated but still seem strong as the focus. And although the pacing feels very laid back, there are enough twists that it stays interesting throughout. In the end, definitely worth seeing.

Chrysalis

Surprisingly slick for an indie film, Chrysalis is a mix of martial arts, hard-boiled French cops, and mind-bending sci-fi.

The production values are great, with tons of detail devoted to the futuristic feel and fight scenes. The plot is good if slightly confusing due to a lot of back and forth in who's good and who's bad. The whole thing feels a bit like Equilibrium, except it's lacking the really standout performances.

Not great, but a lot of fun, and pretty impressive considering we don't see much French sci-fi at all.

Jolene

Jolene is a movie that is quite obviously carried by the lead actress. On its own, while well shot, it's a relatively meandering story of ten years in the life of a young girl filled with one horrible relationship after another. But newcomer Jessica Chastain does a fantastic job of breathing life into the character, and in the end makes this film absolutely engrossing.

When I say meandering, I mean really absolutely no point. Nothing is learned by any character, and it's a little hard not to be frustrated at them when looking back on it. But this thought doesn't have a chance to surface until hours after the strength of the performances has faded, which is quite a feat.

Female Agents

Despite the extremely unfortunate translation of the title, Female Agents is actually quite good. A cheesier-than-Charlie's-Angels premise (a nun, a prostitute, a stripper, and a jilted lover go behind the lines in Nazi occupied France) is instantly forgivable when it becomes clear that the characters are written with great care, and the outcome will not be cheerfully banal.

The overall look of the film is bright and colorful, and a good contrast to the events unfolding within it. The direction is good, if not very imaginative, and the plot is excellent. The acting is quite good as well, although hidden behind intentionally fakey personalities for the first part of the movie. Not for the squeamish, but a great story based on true events for any spy or war buff.

Triangle

The second Johnnie To film of the festival (this time with two other directors as well) is arguably better than the first. Three low-level crooks are handed a business card by a mysterious figure in a bar, just before dying under strange circumstances. A heist ensues, with plenty of ill-fated romance and double crossing.

Dark and gritty like the rest of his work, Triangle certainly stands up next to the rest of the pantheon. Unfortunately this means that a number of plot points are reworked here, as several original scenes devolve into a madcap road trip and zany shootout in the third act. The beginning is good enough that this is definitely worth watching, and the ending is satisfying if somewhat formulaic.

Possibly not as good as Exiled, but definitely worth a look.

Apollo 54

If you've ever wondered what four sci-fi fans can do with a couple years, a camera, and a basement, wonder no more. Apollo 54 is delightfully cheesy, and a perfect retro sci-fi experience.

Shortly after strange symbols begin taking over television screens across the globe, a lone hero stumbles upon a cable, anchored to the ground and stretching off into the clouds. Naturally he builds a rocket-ship, attaches to the cable, and heads off into space to see where it leads.

Alien planets, fierce space monsters, and intergalactic toll-booths make for an epic journey, all done in fantastic blue-screen, homemade CGI, and cardboard. Thankfully the film takes itself even less seriously than the viewers will, so the effect is just fun, rather than bad. And it's helped along by a plot that's legitimately creative, which gives an extra push.

Not for people looking for serious science fiction, but lots of fun.

Fields of Fuel

It's hard to come in to a documentary about such an important and interesting subject and be so badly disappointed. Bio-fuels have a nearly endless amount of material to talk about, but from the first minute Fields of Fuel launched head-on into a glowing biopic of "a lone bio-fuels champion fighting against corporate America." Which might not be too bad, except the lone hero is also the director of the film. Ridiculously indulgent scenes such as staring straight into the camera and exclaiming in a shocked voice, "I'd been back and forth across the country educating people, and nothing had changed!" made me want to throw things at the screen.

The focus broadened out a bit in the second half, but never seemed to get beyond "Documentary Light." Easy on the facts, heavy on the "think of the children" rhetoric, and not particularly good at either. Since the director was present people had a chance to ask about the recent media backlash against bio-fuels, and his responses to those questions were far more interesting than anything in the film itself, which is really a shame.

Seachd: The Crimson Snowdrop

Another film that seemingly cribs blatantly from Hollywood, Seachd is essentially a Gaelic version of Big Fish. The first feature film shot in the language, big budget special effects and a just-vague-enough story keep it moving along well.

As in Big Fish, a man visits his dying father and reminisces about the stories he was told as a boy, and his eventual rejection of the fantasies. But in this case the fantasies are drawn heavily from Scottish tradition rather than Tim Burton's messed up brain, and they're told with enough feeling that the film stays honest.

The writing and acting are good, but the vignettes and landscapes seem to steal the show from the actors. And that's definitely not a bad thing, as they're very well done. The stories felt almost a bit like the fantasy sections of The Fall in their level of uniqueness, which is saying a lot.

The Island of Lost Souls

Evil wizards, dead spirits inhabiting the living, and fearsome creatures. Island is probably a kids movie, but it's plenty of fun for adults too.

The comparison to Harry Potter is inevitable, since some themes are pretty similar, but Island more than stands on its own (especially since it's the better of the two). Hollywood-level special effects mix well with the murky Danish landscape, while competent acting and direction fill things out nicely.

The plot is a bit simple, but this isn't meant to be a thinking movie. And even when you can see what's coming, it's done well enough that you can appreciate it anyway.

Tulia, Texas

Fortunately the documentary genre quickly redeemed itself with Tulia. A fascinating and personal account of a DEA "special task force" in a small Texas town which demonstrably falsified evidence against black suspects.

The directors were undoubtedly lucky that events played out so well, as they arrived very early in what could have been another bland fuckup of the American justice system. Fortunately they arrived before the undercover agent was revealed to have outstanding warrants for theft, and a number of convictions were overturned.

The direction itself is quite good, leaving out narration and outside opinion, and letting the people involved speak for themselves. Each participant is featured in a series of interviews as the events progress, and it's pretty shocking to see the disconnect between the people being charged and the undercover agent, and an interview with one of the members of the jury is even better.

There's not much balance in the story they tell, but then it's hard to see how there could be much balance in the actual events. And it's extremely entertaining to see some smug racist southerners get their plans turned upside down, even if it's obvious that the directors had picked a side from the start.

Stalags - Holocaust and Pornography in Israel

You'd think there would be some easy subject material in the fact that for 30 years the only pornographic literature you could buy in Israel was Nazi dominatrix themed. And while there are a couple interesting interviews, this documentary mostly falls flat.

The main problem seems to be a lack of focus. The film jumps around to different events and time periods in direct contradiction of basic causation, leaving the viewer disoriented. Even worse, the subject of the film seems to switch halfway through from the Stalag publications of the title to a since dis-proven account of sexual slavery of Jewish women in concentration camps.

Both potentially interesting subjects, but the change in subject is jarring and disorienting, and the film seems to make no point upon reaching its conclusion, nor even really provide the raw material with which the viewer can draw their own moral.

Baghead

There have been way too many attempts in the "realistic horror" genre since Blair Witch convinced people that any random person with a camera equals art (or at least profit). But with similar production values and a bit more scripting, Baghead does a decent job of creating something new.

One couple and one pseudo-couple, starving actors all, go off to a cabin in the woods to write a movie in which they can star to break in to the industry. After one of them has a dream about a mysterious figure in the woods with a brown paper bag over his head, they decide that they've found their plot. But was it really a dream? (cue dramatic music)

The shooting, dialog, and direction all have an extremely realistic style, which accentuates the fact that the characters are all average to the point of being mildly comical. Some might find the pacing a bit slow, but I think it heightens the few startling moments, and in the end it's worth it.

Phoebe in Wonderland

It's easy to go handle a movie about children badly. Either making them more childlike than they really are, or more cute, or even more adult. And I think there's a tendency to tone down the drama of the adults in the picture because children might see it and not understand.

Fortunately Phoebe has none of these problems, but delivers a touching and very believable story of a young girl coping with a difficult home life and finding out that she is different from other kids (I'll leave the details a surprise).

The cast is top notch. Felicity Huffman is fantastic as always, and Elle Fanning is, if possible, even more adorable than her sister. The writing and direction are great, miking fantasy and reality, adult drama and childlike confusion so that the entire thing has a wonderful flow. The story has some good twists, but this is very much a character driven movie, and the execution there is perfect.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Absolutely incredible, and yet amazingly hard to describe. What Kill Bill tries to be to the samurai movie, Sukiyaki does with the spaghetti western. Except it's set in California, which is in Japan, and stars an entirely asian cast with the notable addition of Quentin Tarentino.

It's extremely stylized, to the point of absurdity. The actors all speak in hilariously cliched English phrases, and sound like they're reading their lines phonetically. I choose to think that both the quality of the dialog and the delivery are conscious decisions by the director, because even though the plot, dialog, and acting are badly stilted, they fit together into something amazing.

The costumes and sets are intricate, brightly colored, and very beautiful. The music is great. The plot is typical, a lone gunman roles into town and immediately gets between two feuding clans. The joy is in watching the story unfold in its inevitable fashion, and watching all the little awful pieces fall into place in the master plan of insane fantastic glory.

Timecrimes

Now I get to say something that I'd really like to say more often: this was the best time travel movie I've ever seen.

The plot starts out simply; a couple is house-sitting out in the country, and the husband stumbles into a weird science experiment when he goes exploring in the woods. And of course, as with any time travel movie, things rapidly get more complicated.

And while the direction is good, and the acting is better than good, the key ingredient is that the plot fits perfectly and still leaves the viewer surprised at the end. It's hard to say any more without giving things away, but all the right pieces are here, and it's a really fun ride.

Choke

It's hard to imagine how Choke could be any better. Based faithfully on a story by one of my favorite authors (Chuck Pahlaniuk), staring an actor and actress I love (Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston), with good direction and a good soundtrack.

Vincent is a sex addict, who makes some extra money on the side by choking himself in restaurants and taking gifts from the people who save him. His mother is an aging freedom fighter hippie, who has a secret about Vincent's father. And the details as the plot unfolds are uniquely Pahlaniuk.

Unfortunately it's no Fight Club. The slick production and relentless energy are absent, which is a shame since they were so much fun there, even though they wouldn't really fit here. Instead, the film takes a leisurely stroll through dirty, gritty, faded reality and the people who inhabit it. Of course there's the humor that always ends up in his work, and it translates quite well to the screen. So while there's a vague sense that maybe the movie could have been just a bit more, it's still one of the better ones for this year.

The Wave

Most people should have already heard of the high school class in California in the '60s which created and nearly lost control of a fascist movement as part of a class project. And while several dramatizations have been made of those events, its hard to imagine any of them topping this German interpretation.

There are some obvious creative licenses taken with the story; the writers give in easily to the instinct to bring the Nazi government into the mix, and in this case it's warranted. And the story tends to diverge from the actual events the farther the film progresses. But a top notch cast and good direction retain the message even if the actual events stray towards fantasy.

Especially fine is the work of the lead actor, and his slow and unintentional descent into acceptance of his new role as leader. Which is not to say the younger actors don't hold their own, as there isn't a bad performance in the bunch.

Crisp cinematography finds many beautiful shots in the surroundings of a modern German city, and the direction and pacing are snappy enough that there's not a dull moment.

Otto; or, Up With Dead People

I came expected zombies. Instead I got an emo gay kid who was convinced he was a zombie, being exploited by a walking art school cliche. The dialog is stilted and delivered with way too much melodrama, and the plot really goes basically nowhere. Maybe there's some hilarious reference that I'm not getting.

Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains

You'd think a plane crash in the Andes, cannibalism, and a daring escape against all odds would be a slam dunk as the subject for a documentary. And while this one is reasonably well done, it manages to fall flat in several ways.

There are some amazing present-day interviews with the survivors of the event, conducted during a pilgrimage to the actual spot of the wreck. But these are interspersed with faux-grainy footage of re-enactments that are muddled and confusing. Combined with a sparse and airy soundtrack that ends up trying too hard to be other-worldly, much of the documentary feels too dreamlike to give the full impact of the events. The artistic choices work to remove the viewer from the events on the screen, rather than make them more immediate.

The story is fascinating, but the full effect is missing, and there's probably a book out there that does a better job of telling it.

The Great Buck Howard

Few things make for a good plot like abject failure, and The Great Buck Howard delivers spectacularly. John Malkovich, perfect as always, brings warmth and compassion to the character of an aging and nearly forgotten mentalist playing to half-full houses in Akron Ohio and similar out of the way venues around the country.

That's just a supporting character, albeit a large one. The lead is a law school drop-out who hires on as Buck's assistant in search of adventure and a way to break in to show business. The character is well played, and provides a good anchor for the story to balance Buck's posturing ("My good friend George Takei, who played Sulu on The Star Trek").

The premise at least is autobiographical for the writer/director, and the care taken in the script shows it. It's not a fast movie, but the pleasure is in watching the characters grow, rather than a driving plot. And with these actors, it works quite well.

Mad Detective

Perhaps mistakenly billed as a "buddy comedy" on the SIFF website, Mad Detective oscillates between nervous laughter, gruesome insanity, and tense mystery.

The main character is a brilliant but disturbed detective, who sees inner personalities as physically distinct people and solves crimes by re-enacting the actions of the victims in obsessive detail. Fired from the police force and re-enlisted by his one-time partner to help with a stale case involving a murdered officer, he is in danger of losing control again.

The film is beautifully shot but intentionally dark and gritty to the point of being depressing. The characters are all extremely flawed, and quite well played. I found the plot a bit convoluted, but the journey is a hell of a lot of fun, especially when the hero is simultaneously confronting seven physical personalities of a suspect.

While the comedy is quite good, the dramatic aspects are better than I expected. The main character has plenty of sadness in his past, and it's played quite well. And maybe it's just me, but the overarching theme of failure brought everything together brilliantly.

Call Me Troy

Billed as a biography of Reverend Troy Perry, Call Me Troy encompasses a huge amount of civil rights history, due in large part to the amazing life of its subject.

Troy Perry was the founder of the first openly gay Christian church, as well as a leader of the Gay Rights movement. Due to his role in the public spotlight the filmmakers have plenty of archival footage, which is mixed with some great present-day interviews with Troy, and his friends and family.

The pacing is good, and the subject is fascinating. There's much more political and historical content than I expected going into the film, and it's put together very well. It manages to give a great sense of the time without losing touch with the central characters. It's hard to say whether the end effect is due to expert direction or the charismatic and entertaining character of the subjects, but it works fantastically well.

Shadow of The Holy Book

There are some crazy things in government, but I don't know that I'd heard of anything as crazy as the subject of this documentary. The Turkmen dictator wrote a rambling book called The Ruhmana, full of bad poetry, inaccurate history, and philosophical musings, and then made it required reading in all grades of school, a requirement for public office, and part of the drivers license exam. He erected statues of the book, ran television programs featuring readings, and outlawed criticisms of the work.

The documentary follows the two film-makers as they investigate the effects of The Ruhmana, and as they try to get corporations to comment on the habit of sponsoring translations into their native languages in exchange for business favors in Turkmenistan.

Not surprisingly the companies give them the runaround, and the Turkmen citizenry come off as ignorant and misled. And while their point is a good one (that corporations will happily lend support to fascist dictators in exchange for profit), it's a point that doesn't necessarily need to be made again. The sheer number of companies who have paid lip service to the dictator is certainly disturbing, but their failed attempts to confront CEOs and marketing departments come off as a low rent attempt at the Michael Moore school of documentary. It's entertaining, and there's plenty of stuff worth seeing, but I found myself wishing they'd replaced the dozens of clips of them failing to get comments with something a bit more forceful.

Ben X

There have been some relatively awful video game-themed movies (I'm looking at you, Fred Savage), but thankfully Ben X handles it quite well.

Ben suffers from the mild form of autism known as Aspergers, and as bullying and social ostracism grows worse at his high school, he begins to confuse his favorite swords and sorcerers video game with real life. The blending of the two works quite well, and adds a bit of surrealism to the story, but in the end this is more of a conventional drama than the description would suggest.

This is by no means a bad thing; the characters are strong, and easy to identify with. The actors do a great job, and especially in portraying the pain of Ben's parents as they find themselves unable to do anything to help their child. The bullies may be a bit overdone, but as a whole it gives a good sense of what the world looks like from his eyes.

A couple things could use improvement: like so many indie films, digital cameras hurt the overall feel of the movie. And a few scenes are drawn out maybe longer than necessary. But the good strongly outweighs the bad, and the message and acting make it well worth seeing.

Idiots And Angels

Anyone familiar with Bill Plympton's work might expect a full-length work to contain goofy antics and comical drawings, and while those are certainly present, there's much more as well.

Speaking before the screening, Plympton compared this piece to Lynch, and it's certainly apt. While the animation style is still roughly the same, there's a dark edge to the scenes, and certainly to the plot. A lonely, lecherous man harasses a barmaid, and then wakes the next morning to find wings growing from his back. A greedy barman, fame-seeking doctor, and a couple of miscreant bar patrons comprise the rest of the cast.

Told entirely without dialog, the narrative is still compelling. A couple of beautiful dream sequences really open up the range of the film, and the motivation of the characters comes through perfectly in their expressions and actions.

Definitely not for children, but a must-see for adults.

Katyn

I have a feeling that panning this movie would get the same reaction as saying you don't like Schindler's List from some people, but aside from the subject matter it's hard to find many comparisons. Lacking strong characters and a coherent narrative, Katyn is just too sprawling and unfocused to draw the viewer in.

The subject matter had a lot of potential to be intriguing, focusing on the internment and brutal execution of a group of Polish military officers and intellectuals by Stalin's army. Unfortunately, the script focuses instead on some vague and much less forceful acts of oppression and censorship in Poland surrounding news of the event, rather than the event itself.

Family drama can be done well, but in this case none of the worst events happen to the characters we see, and the absence definitely hurts the film.

Butterfly Dreaming

It's hard to talk objectively about local film. There's a certain excitement at seeing a street corner I walk past multiple times a week as the setting for any movie, especially one as interesting as Butterfly Dreaming. Even with that aside, I think the work stands on its own.

The story starts abruptly, in an interrogation room of a police station, where a man is being questioned about his wife who recently died in a car crash. Missing chunks of memory leave him unable to answer, and his own doubts are raised when he begins to have visions of his dead wife, and a mysterious man claiming to be a police officer.

The production values aren't great; the entire thing definitely has an indie feel, and could have benefitted from being shot on film instead of digital, or at least having some post-processing applied. The acting is good but not great. At several points, I wished the actors would make larger movements instead of small twitchy ones. Still, they hold it together throughout, and it's more abou the plot anyway.

Surreal and intentionally confusing, and likely drawing more than a little from David Lynch, the progression of the surreal aspects is well paced, and the overall result is a fun ride, but not a great or particularly meaningful one.

Mirageman

The midnight movies at SIFF are usually cheesy B-reel stuff. And that can be great, as long as it's done with heart and a sense of humor. Mirageman delivers spectacularly.

Mirageman is a "super hero" who roams the streets of an unnamed city in Chile, battling evil and returning purses to little old ladies. Really he's a martial arts master with a younger brother whose fear of leaving his room seems to be helped by seeing Mirageman's antics portrayed on the local news. And of course there are plenty of people willing to bend his philanthropy to their own purpose.

Nearly every super hero series takes a stab at the "before they were famous" phase. Fashioning early versions of costumes is a favorite, and the inevitable mishap in the early tussle with a gang who has the upper hand on the hero. But few do it with such dead-pan humor and style.

Make no mistake, this is still a very low budget film. Costumes look like Goodwill handouts, and the acting isn't great. Don't look for complex character development or flashy special effects. But a couple scenes remeniscent of the Bruce Lee "climb the pagoda" movies and some awesomely cheesy dialog make this way more fun than most of the mainstream superhero movies.

Time to Die

I got the impression from somewhere that this would be a dark comedy. The story is of an elderly woman trying to stave off a greedy neighbor and son from taking her house for a land development project. Unfortunately, what I got was an extremely slow drama, which I couldn't force interest in. Because I went into it with completely wrong expectations, I won't rate this one. What I remember of it seemed well done, just not interesting to me personally.

American Teen

I'd heard beforehand that American Teen would be interesting, but I wasn't prepared for how completely fascinating this documentary turned out to be. A lot of it has to do with how close they got to the subjects, and I suspect they got lucky with the amount of drama in the school they chose, but whatever the reason this is a great film.

Focusing on four students with no real connection aside from the town they live in, the movie chronicles a year in a senior class in a small Tennessee town. There's the usual high school drama of dating, sports, outcasts, and college applications, and none of it is particularly unique. The special thing about it is how close they got to the students: cameras follow them on their most awkward social encounters, and during vandalism. Candid statements are plentiful, and give the director plenty of raw material with which to build a compelling narrative.

That's not to say that this is necessarily a likable movie. Aside from one or two participants, everyone depicted is irritatingly self-centered and oblivious to how ridiculous their actions appear. And in case that sounds like an average high school, remember that it applies more to the parents than to the students.

Still, it's a fascinating look at small-town America from an unusual perspective, and well done in every way.