SIFF Get Your SIFF Notes Now!
posted by on May 23 at 10:13 AM
The Stranger’s comprehensive guide to the Seattle International Film Festival—fiercely opinionated, unafraid to geek out, and piles upon heaps of fun (you laugh now, but just wait until you set your eyes upon “Match the Boy Tit to the Gay-Themed Movie”)—won’t hit the streets till later today or tomorrow, but you can access all 174 original reviews and 139 terribly informative synopses at SIFF Notes Online now.
SIFF Notes Online lets you plan with ruthless efficiency: Search films by date and “Stranger recommends,” check out our pick of the day (which won’t go active until Thursday, duh), and read Slog posts like this one—plucked from the chaos and allowed to air out on SIFF-exclusive territory. And if you see a movie you like, you can move fast: We provide a link straight to that film’s entry on the SIFF website so you can purchase a ticket within minutes.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the print guide too—we’ve got at least 15 last-minute changes and corrected errors that the official guide can’t offer.
Also, you can subscribe to the weekly SIFF Notes podcast to hear my festival recommendations and the latest news and gossip.
And as an addendum: A colleague just asked me to recommend a date movie for opening weekend. I’ll get to the straight-up best selections in a day or two, but if you’re on the make, my schmoopy suggestions are after the jump.
Golden Door stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as a mysteriously unaccompanied English lady aboard a vessel packed with dirty, dirty Italian immigrants. Beautiful cinematography and a lightly romantic plot featuring plenty of supersized carrots will keep everyone feeling sweet and goofy.
Paris Je T'Aime is an omnibus feature exploring 18 (out of 20) Paris arrondissements, with entries by Gus van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron, the Coen Brothers, and (obviously) lots more. I haven't seen it yet, but apparently it is not as cheesy as it sounds.
Another French option is The Singer. It stars an ugly man, but it puts one in a wondrous mood.
I do not recommend Knocked Up.
Thanks for your hard work.
I recommend A Battle of Wits for best date movie.
I second your non-recommendation for Knocked Up. The reviews said it was "intelligent" for what it was, but they were wrong -- it sucked. Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly edited... it had nothing going for it except for a few groaners.
Oh, and a flash during the childbirth scene that got an awesomely disgusted collective gasp from the audience.
Annie, I'm with you on Golden Door. I've never seen a coming-to-America movie quite like this one before. For those considering it, be forewarned that the journey makes up the bulk of the film. Emanuele Crialese (Respiro) divides it into three parts: life in Italy, life on the steamer, and life at Ellis Island (where my grandfather arrived from Ireland in 1930). Takes a while to get cooking, but it really kicked in for me in the (scrupulously researched) third act. Salvatore's daydreams about America's super-sized vegetables and rivers of milk add a fanciful twist.
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