The Changeling **
Clint Eastwood, 2008
US
@ Majestic Bay

I'd never been to the Majestic Bay before, and the screen was impressively large and close to the stadium seating.

I was reminded of how sad it is that Amy Ryan's stint on The Office looks to not be very long. I'm all for comedy writers doing comedy acting, but she was just so obviously better than everyone else that it was kind of ridiculous. I'd say Ed Helms is back to being my favorite, though I suppose that's just because Steve Carell is too obvious to really think about much.

How awesome is Geoffrey Pierson in this movie. So awesome, in fact, that during the trial(s) section, I started imagining this scenario as an allegory of some future reckoning for the current members of the executive branch of federal gov't rather than the LAPD in the 20's. You know, Christine Collins as the US population, her son Walter as "the American dream," "freedom," whatever you might want to call what is generally believed to be good and/or exemplary about the nation, and the protesters milling about the concerned citizens of the world. I don't even know how I really feel about the movie or these scenes in particular because what it spawned in my head was so powerful that I couldn't really pay attention to the action onscreen.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | A.O. Scott review

Rachel Getting Married **
Jonathan Demme, 2008
US
@ Egyptian Theater

Margot at the Wedding felt to me like great black comedy, whereas this was just black for long stretches, although perfectly leavened by key scenes. The dishwasher bit was my favorite, better even than anything at the wedding. I've read complaints about the handheld camera work, and I don't always appreciate that style, but here it works very well to bring us closer to the characters and, I think, maintain an element of surprise. The characters are so bitter and the tone so wrenching that the reconciliation didn't feel rote here like it usually does.

See also: IMDb

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist *
Peter Sollett, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

Much gayer and more Jewish than I expected. Michael Cera's blank acting works really well particularly during the scene in which he finally dumps his ex. The sound was not loud enough, so the music lost some impact. Interesting to see Bujalski's friends Bishop Allen in a bigger production. More interesting to see a guy I worked with for a while in Manhattan playing the Asian guy at the deli. I knew he did that type of work, but he hadn't been in a movie this big for about twelve years now, according to iMDB. The physical, gross-out humor contrasts nicely with the mild-mannered leads. Maybe not great, but certainly interesting here and there.

See also: IMDb

The Exiles *
Kent Mackenzie, 1961
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

The film itself I enjoyed less than, say, Lionel Rogosin's On the Bowery, but Sherman Alexie really helped put it in subcultural context in his Q&A afterward.

See also: IMDb

The Godfather ***
Francis Ford Coppola, 1972
US
@ Cinerama

The pacing and lighting are masterful. An absolute success at what it sets out to do, but just what is that exactly? It seems to me the violence has a fatalistic edge to it, as if there is no other way possible. There are a lot of different ways to portray violence on-screen, and I'm okay with many of them. Pulp Fiction uses it as one of the profound elements of cinematic art. Shotgun Stories suggested that violence was closer, more likely than we might think. A History of Violence suggests that violence lives under the skin, never quite going away no matter how hard we try. Clint Eastwood seems to suggest that violence will bring us down in the end, "live by the sword, die by the sword" kind of thing. No Country for Old Men: violence is performed by the deranged, but it may not in the end be a deranged act. A Thin Red Line takes a calm, dualistic view. The Godfather is sort of like a tragedy, but there are so many things I can't figure out exactly about free will, is this positive/negative/inevitable. It's tough to process because almost no one alien to this world of violence ever appears in the film. It's hard to get enough distance from the characters to discover any perspective in the writing or directing. In that way it's an incredibly dark and kind of dispiriting movie.

See also: IMDb

Othello *
Orson Welles, 1952
US/Italy
@ SIFF Cinema

Lots of quick cuts; couldn't tell what might have been due to the age of the film. Very cinematic retelling of a play. Some parts were almost too fast for someone unfamiliar with the material.

See also: IMDb

Pulp Fiction ***
Quentin Tarantinto, 1994
US
@ Egyptian Theater

Thrilling. I never got the physical impact of this movie on video, but it's frequently up there with Kill Bill, something I would not have expected. I also don't believe I've ever started watching it before midnight, of the four(?) times I've seen all or part of it.

See also: IMDb

My Own Private Idaho **
Gus Van Sant, 1991
US
@ SIFF Cinema

Very good. Gus Van Sant is probably right up there with Richard Linklater for me in terms of working American directors. Doesn't hurt that he works so frequently in the Northwest. Milk will be a bit of a departure in that it's not about a young man who is either a danger to himself or those around him, as has been the case with ten of Van Sant's twelve features. The two exceptions are Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and To Die For, neither of which I have yet seen.
See also: IMDb

A Girl Cut in Two *
Claude Chabrol, 2008
France
@ Varsity Theater

Cold and remote. Almost too much so to have much affect.

See also: IMDb

VIFF 2008
Hansel & Gretel (Yim Phil-sung) *
Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas) ***
The Chicken, The Fish & The Crab (José Luis López-Linares) *
The Juche Idea (Jim Finn) ***
Wendy & Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) ***
Under the Tree: A Bali Story (Garin Nugroho) *
Teak Leaves at the Temples (Garin Nugroho) *
Days in Between (Lola Randl) **
Chelsea on the Rocks (Abel Ferrara) **

October 2008
A Girl Cut in Two (Claude Chabrol) Varsity *
My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991) SIFF Cinema **
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) Egyptian ***
Othello (Welles, 1952) SIFF Cinema *
The Godfather (Coppola, 1972) Cinerama ***
The Exiles (Mackenzie, 1961) NW FIlm Forum *
Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946) Metro ***
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollett) Regal Meridian *
Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme) Egyptian **
They Live (Carpenter, 1988) Grand Illusion *
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956) Grand Illusion **
Appaloosa (Ed Harris) Pacific Place *
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1985) Metro ***
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong, 1994/2008) Varsity ***
Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford, 1939) NW Film Forum ***
The Body Snatcher (Wise, 1945) SIFF Cinema **
I Walked with a Zombie (Tourneur, 1943) SIFF Cinema *
The Changeling (Clint Eastwood) Majestic Bay **