• 71 - Into the Fire

We declare 71 - Into the Fire to be a DON'T MISS!

This toweringly accomplished new entry into the war film canon chronicles a crucial early battle of the Korean War—1950’s Pohang Middle School Battle—when a makeshift brigade of South Korean student soldiers were left as a first line of defense against North Korean forces. The youthful inexperience of the soldiers is made heartrendingly real, and battles are captured with a visceral precision made hyper-real in the editing room. But all visual trickery is in service of the message: War is hell—sometimes melodramatically so, sometimes in ways you never knew to fear—and those who partake of it will never be the same. DAVID SCHMADER

Another good idea is Sushi: The Global Catch:

A feature-length documentary about sushi! “Will the worldwide hunger for sushi continue to grow until wild fish vanish, or will new technology like aquaculture keep plates full? Can sustainable sushi restaurants satisfy consumers or will competition for declining resources drive prices so high that only a few can afford raw fish?” ONLY THIS MOVIE KNOWS!!!!

A third good idea is Third Star:

Three guys take their terminal-cancer-having friend (Benedict Cumberbatch from Sherlock) on a male-bonding hiking and camping trek to a favorite beach in Wales. The good-looking late-twentysomething men tromp through the countryside, goof around, talk, play practical jokes on each other, philosophize, and look for thrills. Facing the approaching death of one of their group, the old friends all do some soul-searching to evaluate their happiness and success in life. Third Star is a thoughtful and well-acted film with emotional resonance. GILLIAN ANDERSON

PLUS ALL OF THESE OTHER THINGS. Browse for yourself! Happy weekend!

SIFF 2011 ends this weekend. I've seen some exceptional movies this year. Seriously. It's one of my favorite times of the year. And it's even more amazing when you realize that the 35 SIFF movies I've seen to date don't even add up to 10% of all the movies that SIFF has played this year. Some have complained about the size of the festival, but I disagree with that argument; I think a buckshot approach is a valid way to get a sampling of the immensity of a year's worth of world cinema.

I make this case every year, but I think it's time to revisit: I really do wish SIFF was a month or two earlier. Every year, the most beautiful Seattle day in six months happens during SIFF, and people have to decide between staying out and enjoying the sun they haven't seen in ages or going inside a dark theater for a couple hours. What's more: The highest-grossing films of the year are traditionally being released at the same time. You could make the case that, say, X-Men: First Class audiences aren't going to go see SIFF movies, but I think you're oversimplifying Seattle theatergoers (I'd prefer to see both a SIFF movie and X-Men: First Class rather than choosing between the two, and I don't think I'm alone). You're pitting movie audiences against other movie audiences.

Add in Sasquatch and all the other outdoorsy festivals that happen during the three weeks of SIFF and the potential audience just gets smaller and smaller. If SIFF took place during three weeks in March or February, I would spend every night of the week theater-hopping because Seattle's late-winter options are so dire. I realize this presents all kinds of behind-the-scenes nightmares for programmers—right now, some of the best SIFF movies we see are a result of the fact that the festival shares at least part of the same schedule as Cannes, so lots of the prints are bouncing between Seattle and France in a tightly coordinated routine. But can't we piggyback on, say, Sundance? Living in Seattle means you have to struggle with an embarrassment of riches in the summer and sometimes starve for distractions in the late fall and winter. SIFF could be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.

Is there anything you think SIFF could do differently? Do you think my ideas are stupid? Do you think SIFF is perfect just the way it is? Now is the time to have this conversation; with an organization this size, they probably start planning next year's festival the day after this year's festival ends.

SIFF has announced its last schedule additions, and Small Town Murder Songs has gotten another showing.

It's the story of a policeman (Peter Stormare from Fargo) working on a murder investigation in a small Ontario town with a large Mennonite population. The policeman is an ex-Mennonite who is born again but saddled with his own violent past. The whole thing is sparse and suspenseful and mesmerizing. The great cast includes Martha Plimpton and Jill Hennessy. Highly recommended!

Small Town Murder Songs plays Sun June 12, SIFF Cinema, 9:15 pm.

• The Catechism Cataclysm

But second and certainly not foreleast, there's all this other stuff!

At the Triple Door there are two screenings of Damien Jurado and the Russian Avant-Garde, which sounds neat:

Short films by French impressionist director Dimitri Kirsanoff (1899—1957) paired with a live score played by Damien Jurado. There will be an axe murder.

At the Egyptian it's The Redemption of General Butt Naked:

A rather astounding documentary about Liberia’s Joshua Milton Blahyl, a warlord whose terrifying guerilla tactics during his country’s Civil War led to the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people. Following the installation of a new regime, Blahyl reinvented himself as an evangelist, who now travels the country looking for (and in some queasy cases, demanding) forgiveness from the families of his former victims. But is his conversion legit, or just a way to escape answering for his crimes? Answer hazy, check back later. Shot over a period of five years, this fantastic film should inspire scads of post-screening discussions. ANDREW WRIGHT

We also loved Buck and Catechism Cataclysm and Princess and Heading West, but you should really just look at the whole list HERE because there's a bunch more. See you at happy hour!

Tonight at the Harvard Exit at 7 pm there's Bobby Fischer Against the World:

Chess master Bobby Fischer was a total fucking freak, and this documentary tells you all about it. He started out just a weird prodigy, but eventually became a crazed anti-Semite who was super into 9/11. Starred for total fucking freak factor!

Also, High Road, which I quite loved! (My interview with director Matt Walsh is here.) It's at the Egyptian at 9:30:

This largely improvised feature from the founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade “plays out like a stoner version of a French farce,” according to the SIFF people, “complete with misunderstandings, sexual innuendo, and even a little cross-dressing.”

If you find your body in Kirkland for some reason, the Kirkland Performance Center has Gandu for your eyeballs at 6:30 pm:

Gandu, which means “asshole” in Hindi, is about Gandu, a poor street beatboxer/asshole who makes friends with Ricksha, a Bruce Lee devotee/rickshaw driver. The story’s not really the point, though. Bandu is an anti-Bollywood manifesto. No colors, no heroes, no adventure, just rap soliloquies and a story that intentionally goes nowhere. “My life is a fucking fart,” Gandu comments. They smoke something—crack I think—out of a tinfoil dish, and get so high that the narrative begins to unravel. Poetic, brilliant, and sort of boring, Gandu feels short enough that the endless parade of confusing shit remains novel rather than exhausting. ERNIE PIPER IV

Plus all this other stuff! And more tomorrow!

This funny, nasty comedy is set in the Edinburgh of 1828, has a terrific cast (Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, and Tim Curry!), and is directed by John Landis (Thriller, An American Werewolf in London, Animal House). Based on a true happening, the story follows two entrepreneurs trying to supply corpses to a city medical school. Definitely worth watching!

Burke & Hare shows again Mon June 6, 9:30 pm, Neptune Theatre; and Sat June 11, 8:30 pm, Admiral Theatre.

Unfortunately, as Sfar tries to touch all the biographical points of Gainsbourg's life, the movie gets more generic and Behind the Music-like as it goes. We see the affair with Bardot and the drinking problem and the controversy, and Gainsbourg's mug transforms from a daring artistic flourish into another boring character, giving voice to his inward struggles. It's a wasted bit of creativity that simply becomes annoying by the end of the movie.

But! As far as generic musical biopics go, you've seen way worse. Eric Elmosnino is brilliant as Gainsbourg, capturing his charm, his smarm, and his petulant boyishness in equal helpings. The sex scenes are sexy. The film doesn't feature the tiresome American preoccupation with cycling through the whole drug addiction narrative in explicit, preachy detail. And the music is great. If you're a Gainsbourg fan, it'll probably be worth your time, though by the end you'll be thinking more about your aching butt than Elmosnino's magical performance.

(Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life plays at the Admiral in about an hour. It also plays in Kirkland on June 7.)

The Bad: A few weeks ago, I called the trailer for Shut Up, Little Man! "maybe the worst trailer I have ever seen." The movie—a documentary about two young men who recorded their neighbors' over-the-top arguments and then released the tapes to pre-internet viral fame—is not much better when you watch it in full. It screened on Monday at the Egyptian, with one of the previously young men (an adult who calls himself Eddie Sausage) in attendance. The movie documented the way Sausage and his friend Mitchell D at first released the tapes as a copyright-free source of amusement, encouraging people to make art from them. When they realized that a movie version could make some money, though, they set to work trying to edge other people out of the profits.

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• Karate Robo-Zaborgar

Also, Gromozeka!

In this Russian film, three old friends who were in a rock band together are now dealing with middle age in very different ways. Gromozeka is a novelistic endeavor of a movie, with well-rounded characters, exceptional acting, and an involved plot. It’s rich and occasionally surprisingly joyful. Despite a few clichés (yet another middle aged man having an affair with a younger woman who’s tired of messing around?), it’s a neat trick of a movie. PAUL CONSTANT

Also, Karate Robo-Zaborgar!

You know that moment when all of a sudden a toddler becomes aware of his own cuteness and promptly becomes a cloying little asshole? Karate-Robo Zaborgar is on the verge of tipping over into that realm of annoying self-awareness. All the elements for Japanese cinematic greatness are here—a motorcycle that transforms into a robot, a giant woman destroying a city with the help of a unique weapon—but the movie feels like it’s trying too hard to baste in its own awesomeness while still raising an ironic eyebrow at hip viewers. But hell, maybe I’m just jaded; those who are fond of “shut-your-brain-off-and-like-what-they-give-you” movies will probably die of a thousand little orgasms. PAUL CONSTANT

Also, Dance Town!

North Korea is bleak for our protagonist. To splash a little color about, her husband obtains some festive contraband. But, alas, the North Korean government is on to his shenanigans and captures him. The offense? Possession of pornography! Our protagonist must now escape to the veritable piñata of color that is South Korea—a land of opportunity, choices, and porn. But it contains exactly zero affectionate husbands. So which is worse: to sit and watch the most beautiful sunset, alone eternally, or to sit in an oppressive concrete cell with, at least, the company of people who bring you cheer? I keep thinking about this movie, this question. DOMINIC HOLDEN

A list of everything else that's playing today (with all of our reviews!) is HERE.

Good morning, dumplings!

Christopher Frizzelle DEMANDS THAT YOU SEE LESSON PLAN:

One day in an American high school in 1967, in the middle of learning about Hitler, students walked into a rearranged classroom. After explaining they were doing a role-playing experiment and that they would be graded as a group, their teacher Mr. Jones started writing cryptic messages on the chalkboard, had them do physical tasks in unison, told them not to share what happened in the classroom with anyone outside, encouraged students to rat out their friends for invented infractions, and over the course of a week built a cult of personality that scared the shit out of people. The experiment has fascinated and perplexed the teaching community ever since. Many of the students, now grown, are interviewed in this documentary, as is Mr. Jones, who never taught again.

And Charles Mudede enjoyed Empire of Mid-South:

The editing is the best thing about this documentary, which is primarily concerned with the 20th-century history of Vietnam. Footage from the moment of French colonial life, occupation, and the industrial transformation of the country’s natural resources, the moment of the Japanese war machine, and the moment of the American war machine are smoothly (even beautifully) blended, distorted, faded in, and faded out. Empire of Mid-South is the documentary in the condition of a remix.

Everything else playing today is listed HERE.

Happy SIFFing!

• La Dolce Vita

Looks like anything at the Harvard Exit is a good bet—here's Paul Constant on These Amazing Shadows:

Every year, the Library of Congress declares 25 films to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by listing them on The National Film Registry. The only rule is that the movies have to be at least a decade old; music videos and interstitial commercials for concessions have been admitted to the archive. As a documentary, Shadows is way too polite (surely, there had to have been some controversial choices?) and watching a movie fawning over the importance of movies is always a little precious. But there are tons of great clips from brilliant movies, and the little glimpses into the LoC’s efforts to preserve old decaying film provide for plenty of interesting moments.

And Charles Mudede on La Dolce Vita:

If you have not watched this film, you should go and look in the mirror and hate what you see. Those who have not seen the film in a long time must do their best to see it again. If you do not know who Fellini is, please move to Spokane.

And tons and tons more (browse HERE).

Plus, it's your last chance to see Page One: Inside the New York Times, which Eli Sanders commands you to "DON'T MISS" (he is bossy).

• Courtesy Brian Stelter
• Brian Stelter, left, claims he's not a robot. David Carr, right, is not so sure.

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Another chance to see the excellent Page One: Inside the New York Times!

Also, Littlerock again!

Also, Saigon Electric!

In this hiphop film, which in my estimation is one of the best hiphop films ever made, we see the new spirit of Saigon. We see how this new spirit has adopted and modified a culture that developed in the streets of New York. The cultural technologies of breakdancing and rap music are employed by these energetic youth to assemble new identities and opportunities in an economically oppressive environment. As always, neoliberalism is the main villain. The youth practice and create in a public space. Financial capital wants to transform this public space into a moneymaking space. The youth do not give in just like that. They put up a fight. The movie’s rap music is fresh and the breakdancing is fresher. CHARLES MUDEDE

Also, ALL THIS OTHER FUCKING STUFF!!!

• Littlerock

The Japanese brother and sister who’ve broken down on their way to Manzana, California—landing temporarily in unattractive little Littlerock—can barely speak the English of the desultory native teenagers and the slightly menacing older guys they hang around. Almost all the dialogue is blocked: one person speaks and the other has no idea what’s being said. The gaps that open up are where the subtle thrum of this drama sneaks up on you. On the surface, it’s a road movie about Japanese teenagers witnessing the United States for the first time. But it’s also a love triangle, a portrait of the forms bigotry takes in the past and the present in California, and an extended portrait of a beautiful teenage girl. JEN GRAVES

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• Shadoe is as Shadoe does.

First of all, there's The Thief of Bagdad: Re-imagined by Shadoe Stevens with the Music of E.L.O., which is crazy and weird and ought not to be missed:

If you know Shadoe Stevens at all, it’s because he’s a schlocky DJ who found minor fame in the ‘90s on a rebooted Hollywood Squares. But for the last decade or so, he’s been hard at work scoring Douglas Fairbanks’ silent 1924 One Thousand and One Nights adaptation, The Thief of Bagdad, to the music of the Electric Light Orchestra. Why? Because shut up, that’s why. SIFF programmers who’ve seen Bagdad are ecstatic about this one, and you should be, too.

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Carl Spence, the artistic director of SIFF, says that the festival has been listening to audience complaints about the poor quality of the filmgoing experience in the renovated Neptune space and they've been working to fix them. (I wrote about my Neptune SIFF experience here.)

The first thing SIFF did was address the complaints about the sound system. "We did a full acoustic analysis," Spence says, and they determined that the new space "wasn’t producing an ideal filmgoing experience." When the Neptune was a movie theater, there was a sound wall behind the screen to improve the acoustics. As Seattle Theater Group prepared to transform the building into a live music venue, the wall came down, leaving a "cavernous" space that diffused the sound. A sound wall has been reinstalled, along with other nerdy A/V tweaks—apparently, the white noise levels have been checked and re-checked on every speaker—to tune the system up to Dolby specifications.

And as of tomorrow morning, the folding chairs will be no more: SIFF sent a driver to Park City, Utah to pick up temporary theater seats on loan from the Sundance Film Festival. Spence calls this "a really good solution." The seats are used at film festivals like Sundance and Telluride to modify a non-traditional venue "into a bona fide movie theater." Though the seats will be flat on the ground, Spence says "the [seats] in the front row are angled more and as you get further back, they’re angled less," providing improved sight lines. They'll also help with sound absorption as well. "By Friday showtimes, everything is going to be exactly the way we want it to be," Spence says

Another disappointment? The Neptune is nowhere near an optimal movie-watching experience right now. The balcony, I hear, is basically the same as it always has been, but the main area consists of folding chairs, laid out in rows flat on the floor. This means that if you're at all short and you can't get a balcony seat, you're probably fucked. I imagine that films with subtitles will be especially challenging. Further, the temporary screen is very small, and the sound is atrocious.

I think The Neptune will be a great place to see rock shows and readings when it gets up and running. The stained glass and other restorations look great. But if you're choosing between two SIFF screenings and one is at The Neptune, you should probably go with the other option.

Seriously. Do not miss this documentary about an old, old, so very old media property that, no matter how new media you think you are, still is more essential to American life than your Twitter feed or Facebook page or super important blog. And no, I am not being condescending toward your Twitter feed or Facebook page or super important blog. I am just saying that after you watch all the labor and money and guts and dedication and sick levels of professionalism that go into producing a year’s worth of the New York Times, you will understand why it cannot be replaced by even 10,000,000 of your most informative status updates. You will also fall in love (perhaps all over again) with David Carr, the show-stealing Times media reporter who has beaten crack addiction and more in order to lurch into battle against those who see no consequence to the very possible, internet-instigated demise of the Paper of Record. (Not too long ago, one share of New York Times stock cost less than one copy of the Sunday edition.) At one point in the film, Carr declares he is going to “vaporize” these Times-demise-cheering idiots, and he does, delightfully. Also delightful: The lack of imperiousness inside what is supposedly the most imperious of all media lairs. What you see is a bunch of super smart people just fucking grateful to still have a job, and doing it balls out until someone tells them to go home. ELI SANDERS

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• Timothy Rysdyke

While her shoulders were being rubbed, we discussed talking cats, falling down the stairs, freezing time, darkness, and The Future (her second feature film, which screened at SIFF on Saturday). And then she got on the floor and another photo was taken.

Have a look.

• Horny in the forest.

Our big DON'T MISS of the day is Without:

Set on Whidbey Island, the film is about a young woman (Joslyn Jensen) who is hired to care for a catatonic old man (Ron Carrier) while a family is away on vacation. The young woman is from the city, has recently lost a lover, and is deeply lonely. The old man says nothing; he just sits there (in a wheelchair) and stares into the space. Nature—trees, deer, bees, birds—surrounds the house; the young woman can’t get a connection on her cellphone. She becomes more and more bored and horny. This film is a Northwest gem. CHARLES MUDEDE

But there are plenty of other worthwhile options too. Like Finding Kind, a documentary about lady-bullies:

This documentary begins with the slightly distasteful and eye-rolly premise that nobody does more damage to women than other women (because, um, perhaps you have forgotten about MEN [and also lions!]). Domestic violence and rape and sex trafficking (and maulings!) aside, though, girl-on-girl bullying can be a vicious, nail-breaking shit-show. In this endearing documentary, a pair of best friends (who happen to be queen-bee pretty girls, but no matter) travel the country speaking with middle and high school girls about their pain and the pain they’ve caused others. It’s a sweet, earnest addition to the current anti-bullying movement. A few confessional scenes—little girls in braces pouring their broken hearts into the camera—will stick with you. LINDY WEST

And The Trip, which Charles Mudede enjoyed (no thanks to Michael Winterbottom):

Surprisingly, The Trip is not a bad film. This, however, has nothing to do with the director, Michael Winterbottom, and everything to do with the two stars, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. The substance of The Trip is their improvised interactions, some of which reach the region of genius. Indeed, all Winterbottom had to do was present a context (a dinner table in some country restaurant—the film is a kind of British Sideways), a position for the camera, and the command to begin acting. Coogan and Brydon did the rest. CHARLES MUDEDE

Plus a gigantic bunch of other good things. Click here for a schedule of all of today's films. Click here to browse our full SIFF guide.