Local & Repertory
•
Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien This retrospective continues with the Taiwanese timepieces Good Men, Good Women and Dust in the Wind, the gorgeous colonial-era Flowers of Shanghai (no less infused with memory and regret), and the more playful, contemporary Millennium Mambo (2001), about which J. Hoberman wrote in these pages, “Hou plunges headlong into gaga youth culture with a movie that seems designed to complement a jumbo tapioca bubble tea. Mambo basically concerns the unsatisfying relationships Vicky (Shu Qi) maintains with two men: her youthful lover, a druggie layabout and sometime–DJ; and a somewhat older gangster. Her third-person voice-over narration from the perspective of 2011 sets up and sometimes contradicts each episode as we untangle her convoluted past.” (NR)
Grand Illusion (1403 N.E. 50th St.) & Northwest Film Forum (1515 12th Ave.). See nwfilmforum.org for full schedule. $5–$9. Ends Sat.
Roger Beebe The visiting avant-garde Ohio director presents several films, including pieces screened simultaneously on multiple projectors. Selections are made from his 20 years of experimental filmmaking. (Also note that the Grand Illusion will show more of his work at 7 p.m. Sun.) (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, $6-$11. 5 p.m. Sat.
•
Growing Up Baumbach On Wednesday the 25th we have Noah Baumbach’s 2013’s Frances Ha, starring his muse and co-writer, Greta Gerwig, as a young woman finding her way in New York. Following on April 1 is a sneak preview of While We’re Young (which opens April 10), with Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as 40-something filmmakers who become besotted with an energetic married couple (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried). The ending doesn’t quite achieve its desired effect, but it’s a brisk, smart comedy of marital dissatisfaction you’ll definitely want to see. And as in Greenberg, Stiller is excellent at channeling Baumbach’s brand of self-sabotaging male characters. (R)
SIFF Film Center (Seattle Center), 324-9996, siff.net. $5. 7 p.m. Wednesdays through April 1.
Handmade Puppet Dreams Vol. III Series curator Heather Henson presents various short films, totalling about 110 minutes. (NR)
Grand Illusion, 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org. $5-$9. 4 p.m. Sun.
•
Leviathan At the core of this Oscar-nominated drama is a simple land-grab, but the implications are far-reaching. Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov) is a rough handyman who’s managed to carve out a livelihood on the seafront near Murmansk. His house sits on a rocky piece of oceanfront property that is being claimed by the town’s crooked mayor. Kolya’s old Army friend Dmitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov), now a lawyer, has just arrived from Moscow to help in the case; his big-city sophistication is in stark contrast to Kolya’s country ways, a fact that Kolya’s wife (Elena Liadova) notices. As we sink into the situation, every strand of life is revealed to be rigged. The shady mayor is blatant in his greed, and the legal system is a comically wordy charade. The success of this study-in-corruption by director Andrey Zvyagintsev has brought Vladimir Putin’s minions, Russian nationalists, and religious authorities out in force to condemn it as “evil,” “a cynical and dirty parody,” and “a cinematic anti-Putin manifesto.” In other words, it needs to be seen. (R) ROBERT HORTON SIFF Film Center, $7-$12. 7 p.m. Mon.
•
Notorious Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are quite wonderful, and Claude Rains none too shabby, in Hitchcock’s taut 1946 espionage thriller. To bust a ring of Nazis down in Rio, undercover agent Bergman marries one of their leaders (Rains), which drives her handler (Grant) crazy with jealousy. It’s a classic Hitchcock mix of sexual guilt and feminine purity: Bergman is doing the wrong thing in order to do the right thing; while Grant can’t decide which woman he loves or hates—the “good” Bergman (before) or the “bad” Bergman (after). And he, of course, is the cause of her sinning. And she does it for him. The dialogue (by Ben Hecht with help from Clifford Odets) is loaded and subtle; and Hitchcock’s camera work is extraordinary—a master class in how to create wordless tension, where a mere look can incriminate, kill, or betray one’s beloved. (PG) BRIAN MILLER Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684, central-cinema.com. $7-$9. 9:30 p.m. Fri.-Wed.
Sabbatical Visiting Wisconsin director Brandon Colvin will conduct a Q&A following the presentation of his indie dramedy about a middle-aged academic who opens old wounds during a visit to his former hometown. (NR)
Northwest Film Forum, $6-$11. 6 p.m. Sun.
Saturday Secret Matinee Hosted by The Sprocket Society, this Saturday matinee series features the 1941 serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel, preceded by various vintage cartoons and shorts. Total program length is about two hours. (NR)
Grand Illusion, $5-$9. 1 p.m. Saturdays through March 28.
Shrek The plot to this 2001 animated hit, based on William Steig’s children’s tale, relies upon familiar bedtime reading conventions: There’s a beautiful princess (Cameron Diaz) locked in a castle, guarded by a dragon; there’s a villain (John Lithgow) who seeks to marry her; then there’s a brave, chivalrous hero (Mike Myers) who must free the damsel in question. Only here our paladin is a crass green ogre fond of slime baths and flatulence. (He’s tailed by Eddie Murphy’s Sancho Panza-like talking donkey.) Seemingly a grouch, Shrek is naturally masking hurt feelings, lamenting, “They judge me before they even know me!” (The princess had got body-image issues of her own.) Amusing enough family entertainment for the rest of us, Shrek aims its accept-yourself sermonizing squarely at pre-teen girls. But which action figure will they prefer? (PG) B.R.M. Central Cinema, $7-$9. 7 p.m. Fri.-Wed. plus 3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. matinees
Zombeavers College kids are attacked by zombie beavers. What more do you need to know? (NR)
SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 801 E. Pine St., 324-9996, siff.net. $7-$12. 11:55 p.m. Sat.
Ongoing
Cinderella When the mood strikes, I can be swept up in watching two beautiful people fall in love. And beautiful they are: Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden as Prince Charming (in some very flattering tight pants) and Downton Abbey’s Lily James as the demure and free-spirited Ella, who wears butterflies in her hair because that’s just her brand of Manic Pixie Dream Girl. (Let’s also here bestow the praising-hands emoji upon James’ eyebrows, the boldness of which is unprecedented by any other Disney princess.) The familiar plot has been gently tweaked. Prior to the fateful ball, Ella now meets Prince Charming in the forest, where he claims to be a humble apprentice. Ella’s also been given more agency. Unlike most adaptations of the Perrault folk tale, this Ella is hardly embarrassed by her low station. She soon adopts a strong take-me-as-I-am attitude, surely designed to appeal to girls raised on Frozen. After being christened “Cinderella” by her evil stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and stepsisters, she chooses to reclaim the demeaning nickname and make it her own. Is that the best message for how to respond to bullying? Perhaps not the worst. (PG) DIANA M. LE Ark Lodge, Majestic Bay, Kirkland, others
Insurgent
Insurgent picks up three days after the end Divergent, with teenage Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) on the run from Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and her goons. So far, so good: We came to see some action. However, Insurgent soon falls into the typical second-movie slump so common to trilogies. (Though four movies are actually being made from Veronica Roth’s three novels.) The fun to 2014’s Divergent came from the introduction of a whole new futuristic world, and in seeing misfit Tris blossom and get to know her new faction. Now, after the death of her parents and a friend, Tris is understandably troubled—but her nightmares weigh heavily on us, too. Insurgent feels exhausted by its latter half; even the ever-energetic Woodley seems a little depleted. Early in Insurgent, Tris cuts her hair short, without any thought to whether or not her boyfriend will like it. Because she doesn’t draw her strength or beauty from his approval, I dug Shailene’s no-makeup, androgynous look—believable for fugitive life. Tris also loses her virginity in a no-nonsense manner, another small touch of realism in this dystopia. (PG-13) D.M.L. Kirkland, Ark Lodge, Majestic Bay, Sundance, others
Into the Woods Cue the irony that this sly modern classic musical (songs by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine) has been taken up by Disney, history’s busiest purveyors of the happy ending. Its fairy-tale happy ending comes halfway through the action, then Cinderella and company must decide what to do next. It’s a crowded roster, with Meryl Streep top-billed as the Witch, the blue-haired crank who sets things in motion with a curse. (James Corden and Emily Blunt play the baker and wife who want a child; also on hand are Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, and Johnny Depp as various familiar fairy-tale characters.) The blend of rustic locations and studio-built woods is eye-filling, especially when the characters cross from the realistic realm to the enchanted forest. In general, though, director Rob Marshall (who guided Chicago to its dubious best-picture Oscar) brings his usual clunky touch, hammering home the big moments and underlining subtlety with a broad brush. The singing tends toward the Broadway-brassy, although Blunt and Corden—working in a more casual style—are completely charming. A bit of the 1987 show’s subversive message still peeks through, making this an unusual blockbuster to unleash at Christmastime. (PG) R.H. Crest
•
It Follows David Robert Mitchell’s suburban thriller creates constant anxiety. The premise itself is simple, if faintly absurd. A teenager, Jay (Maika Monroe, excellent in The Guest), sleeps with her handsome new crush; he then informs her that she is now the target of a relentless, shape-shifting ghoul, which will pursue her to death. Her only escape is to have sex with someone else, who will then become the target. Mitchell canny about using the camera to evoke mystery. Every time someone drifts into the background of a shot, we have to wonder: Is that just a random passerby, or is that, you know, “It”? There’s also a wild musical score by Disasterpeace that provides an aggressive—at times maybe too aggressive—accompaniment to the film’s eerie mood. If the use of teen sex as a horror convention seems tired, rest assured that Mitchell seems less interested in a morality play than in sketching the in-between world of suburban adolescence. (R) R.H. Sundance, Ark Lodge, SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter The setup here might promise routine road comedy: A sad and lonely Japanese woman, who somehow believes the 1996 Coen brothers movie Fargo is a documentary, ventures from Japan to the frozen Midwest to find the cash Steve Buscemi buried in the featureless snow. Yet filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner have no interest in obvious gags. Half their movie is scene-setting in Tokyo, where dejected office drone Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi, from Babel) is a Eleanor Rigby-like loner. More than shyness or defeat, an ever-widening distance separates her from the world beyond her imagination. Kindly strangers, including a widowed Minnesota farm wife and a sympathetic cop (David Zellner), barely register. Unseen in Seattle, the Zellners’ prior two features, Kid-Thing and Goliath, also dealt with alienated loners. The well-crafted Kumiko can likewise be seen as a character study; though, like her supposed treasure, it’s not certain if that character actually exists. A stubborn obstinacy lies at Kumiko’s core, but also delusion—and possibly mental illness. (NR) B.R.M. SIFF Cinema Uptown
•
A Most Violent Year Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) sports a handsome camel-hair topcoat. He’d like to achieve success the honest way, and that immaculate coat is like his shining armor. Problem is, this is 1981-era New York, the business is heating oil, and nothing stays clean for very long here. Writer/director J.C. Chandor is skillful with these details—this is a very intricate story—and quiet in his approach. Abel’s jacket is the flashiest thing about the movie, where the essential plot is him trying to put together a deal to buy a choice piece of East River waterfront, where he can land oil barges. Assisting him is his fierce wife Anna (Jessica Chastain), the daughter of a local mobster, whose take on life is a little worldlier than his. The actors are a splendid pair: Isaac, of Inside Llewyn Davis, captures the immigrant’s go-go drive for success; and the only problem with Chastain in this film is that she isn’t in it enough. Chandor’s first two films, Margin Call and All Is Lost, were more startling and original. But he does manage the game with dexterity, and the re-creation of a grungy, now-distant era is completely convincing. (R) R.H. Crest
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel The plot devices in this sequel are so stale that the movie itself loses interest in them halfway through its dawdling 122 minutes—and this is a good thing. By that time the contrivances of Ol Parker’s script have done their duty, and we can get to the element that turned the film’s 2011 predecessor into a surprise hit: hanging around with a group of witty old pros in a pleasant location. There are many worse reasons for enjoying movies. Director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) mostly allows Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, and Penelope Wilton to float around on many years’ worth of accrued goodwill. (New to the expat ensemble is Richard Gere.) Especially fine is the spindly Bill Nighy, whose shy Douglas is a hesitant suitor to Dench’s Evelyn, a still-active buyer of fabrics. Even while fulfilling sitcom ideas, Nighy maintains his tottering dignity and sense of fun. Second Best will be a hit with its original audience, and maybe then some. The languid mood is laced with an appreciation for getting to the End of Things, especially as Smith’s formerly snappish Muriel mellows into a melancholy leave-taking. (PG) R.H. Sundance, Majestic Bay, Kirkland, others
•
Seymour: An Introduction From the first scene, in which pianist Seymour Bernstein talks his way through his thought process for fingering a passage in a Scarlatti sonata, it’s gratifyingly clear that Ethan Hawke’s documentary portrait isn’t going to be afraid to dig seriously into music. Hawke’s own search for artistic purpose (why acting?) led him to examine the life of the pianist, a casual acquaintance who became a role model for a life devoted to art, not to the trappings of art. “I’m not so sure that a major career is a healthy thing to embark on,” says the 88-year-old Bernstein, who, despite acclaim, retired from public performance at age 50 thanks to stage fright and a disdain for the showbiz side of the classical-music world. The concertgoer’s loss was the aspiring pianist’s gain; scenes with private pupils and master classes show he’s a fantastic teacher. He’s also a captivating raconteur (wait until he starts talking about his time in the army in Korea, playing recitals for soldiers on the front) and a fount of aphorisms (“Every piano is like a person. They build them the same way; they never come out the same way”). You have to admire Hawke’s patience (courage, even) just to stand back, point his camera, and let the man play. (PG) GAVIN BORCHERT Guild 45th
Song of the Sea Dazzling in its visual presentation, though not so thrilling in its conventional storytelling, the Irish-animated Song features a plot is drawn from Celtic folklore, specifically the tradition of the selkie, those mythological shapeshifters who can live on land or sea, as humans or seals. Our hero is Ben (voiced by David Rawle), a young lad whose mother vanishes under dramatic circumstances the night his mute younger sister Saoirse is born. They live on a wee shard of an island with their mournful father (Brendan Gleeson), a red-bearded lighthouse-keeper, but a series of marvelous events lead Ben into a secret world of magical creatures and spell-spinning songs. Director Tomm Moore lets the movie’s forward momentum run aground at various moments, but he and the Cartoon Saloon crew seem more interested in creating the gorgeous vistas that occupy virtually every frame. The character designs follow circular, looping patterns, and the visual influences seem inspired by anime and the line drawings of 1950s-era UPA cartoons (Mr. Magoo is not forgotten, people). (PG) R.H. Guild 45th
The Theory of Everything The Stephen Hawking biopic opens with our hero (Les Miz star Eddie Redmayne) as a young nerd at university, where his geeky manner doesn’t entirely derail his ability to woo future wife Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). Hawking is diagnosed with motor neuron disease at age 21 and given a two-year prognosis for survival—one of the film’s sharpest ideas is to allow time to pass, and pass, without pointing out that Hawking is demolishing the expectations for someone with his condition. James Marsh’s movie is officially adapted from (now ex-wife) Jane Hawking’s memoir, so the love story has its share of ups and downs. This is where Theory manages to distinguish itself from the usual Oscar bait. Whether dealing with Jane’s closeness to a widowed choirmaster (who becomes part of the Hawking family), or Stephen’s chemistry with his speech therapist, the film catches a frank, worldly view of the way things happen sometimes. No special villains here—you might say it’s just the way the universe unfolds. Redmayne’s performance is a fine piece of physical acting, and does suggest some of the playfulness in Hawking’s personality. From now until Oscar night, you will not be able to get away from it. (PG-13) R.H. Crest
•
What We Do in the Shadows The premise is ’90s-stale: basically MTV’s The Real World cast with vampires, presented as direct-address documentary. This droll comedy comes from the brain trust behind 2007’s Eagle Vs. Shark: Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi, who play neck-biters Vladislav and Viago, respectively. Our three main vamps are a hapless lot. They can’t get invited into any of the good clubs or discos—ending up forlorn in an all-night Chinese diner instead. After all the aestheticized languor of Only Lovers Left Alive (and the earnest teen soap opera of Twilight), the silly deadpan tone is quite welcome. Clement and Waititi know this is a sketch writ large (forget about plot), so they never pause long between sneaky gags. The amsuing and essential conflict here is between age-old vampire traditions and today’s hook-up customs. These neck-biters have been at it so long that they’re only imitating old vampire stereotypes. Things have gotten to the point, Vladislav admits, where they’re even cribbing from The Lost Boys. (NR) B.R.M. Sundance, Kirkland, Ark Lodge, SIFF Cinema Uptown
Wild Tales The opening sequence to Damian Szifron’s Argentine anthology movie sets up a Twilight Zone-style series of revelations, compressed into just a few minutes. Passengers riding on a suspiciously underfilled plane begin to realize that there might be a reason for their presence there, beyond the obvious business of getting to a destination. Szifron wants to get his movie started with a bang, and he does—though the rest of Wild Tales doesn’t live up to the wicked curtain-raiser. But there are enough moments of irony and ingenuity to make it worthwhile. In one episode, a lone driver has a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, which allows the slowpoke he antagonized earlier to stop by and exact revenge. In another, an explosives expert becomes enraged by a parking ticket—rage that leads him to lose everything. But there’s a twist. A lot of these segments rely on a twist, a technique that doesn’t quite disguise how in-your-face the lessons are. The twists also can’t disguise the way some of the tales rely on illogical behavior to allow their plots to develop. Wild Tales is a showy exercise (you can see why Pedro Almodovar signed on as a producer), and Szifron has undoubtedly punched his ticket for bigger and better things. (R) R.H. Seven Gables
