Film •  Nordic Lights Film Festival This weekend festival begins with the

January 15, 2015 12:35 am

Film

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Nordic Lights Film Festival This weekend festival begins with the Norwegian sports doc The Optimists (repeating 10 a.m. Sat.), which may remind some of that singing chorus documentary Young@Heart from 2007, in which seniors belted out heavy-metal anthems. Here, in the small town of Hamar, women aged 66 to 98 vigorously set, block, and spike on the volleyball team, which ought to put our American penchant for power-walking and water aerobics in proper perspective. And if you need to feel any more slothful, director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor is bringing spry Anne-Grethe Westhagen to appear tonight. Other highlights in the fest, running through Sunday, include the family-friendly Norwegian creature-com Ragnarok (4 p.m. Sat), about an archeologist searching for an ancient Viking treature trove. Then there’s a late chance to see the excellent Oscar-nominated Force Majeure (8 p.m. Sat.), from Sweden. Ruben Ostlund’s sly, unsettling study of marital dissolution takes place in the French Alps (hence the name, changed from Turist), where a sleek, modern family is interrupted at lunch by what seems a catastrophic avalanche. The husband flees his wife and two children, then Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) can’t let go of that fact. Copping to his cowardice only makes Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) seem more pathetic to Ebba, who begins re-evaluating the whole basis of their marriage. If not for the sake of their kids (played by actual siblings), what’s the point in staying together? This isn’t a fraught drama of the old Bergmanesque variety; it’s more a dark comedy of shame. Men reveal themselves as posturing fools here, while women sensibly wonder if they’re the only ones keeping our species alive. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $8-$12 individual, $55-$65 passes Thursday, January 15, 2015, 7 – 8pm

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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, January 15, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm

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Nordic Lights Film Festival This weekend festival begins with the Norwegian sports doc The Optimists (repeating 10 a.m. Sat.), which may remind some of that singing chorus documentary Young@Heart from 2007, in which seniors belted out heavy-metal anthems. Here, in the small town of Hamar, women aged 66 to 98 vigorously set, block, and spike on the volleyball team, which ought to put our American penchant for power-walking and water aerobics in proper perspective. And if you need to feel any more slothful, director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor is bringing spry Anne-Grethe Westhagen to appear tonight. Other highlights in the fest, running through Sunday, include the family-friendly Norwegian creature-com Ragnarok (4 p.m. Sat), about an archeologist searching for an ancient Viking treature trove. Then there’s a late chance to see the excellent Oscar-nominated Force Majeure (8 p.m. Sat.), from Sweden. Ruben Ostlund’s sly, unsettling study of marital dissolution takes place in the French Alps (hence the name, changed from Turist), where a sleek, modern family is interrupted at lunch by what seems a catastrophic avalanche. The husband flees his wife and two children, then Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) can’t let go of that fact. Copping to his cowardice only makes Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) seem more pathetic to Ebba, who begins re-evaluating the whole basis of their marriage. If not for the sake of their kids (played by actual siblings), what’s the point in staying together? This isn’t a fraught drama of the old Bergmanesque variety; it’s more a dark comedy of shame. Men reveal themselves as posturing fools here, while women sensibly wonder if they’re the only ones keeping our species alive. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $8-$12 individual, $55-$65 passes Friday, January 16, 2015, 7 – 8pm

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Nordic Lights Film Festival This weekend festival begins with the Norwegian sports doc The Optimists (repeating 10 a.m. Sat.), which may remind some of that singing chorus documentary Young@Heart from 2007, in which seniors belted out heavy-metal anthems. Here, in the small town of Hamar, women aged 66 to 98 vigorously set, block, and spike on the volleyball team, which ought to put our American penchant for power-walking and water aerobics in proper perspective. And if you need to feel any more slothful, director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor is bringing spry Anne-Grethe Westhagen to appear tonight. Other highlights in the fest, running through Sunday, include the family-friendly Norwegian creature-com Ragnarok (4 p.m. Sat), about an archeologist searching for an ancient Viking treature trove. Then there’s a late chance to see the excellent Oscar-nominated Force Majeure (8 p.m. Sat.), from Sweden. Ruben Ostlund’s sly, unsettling study of marital dissolution takes place in the French Alps (hence the name, changed from Turist), where a sleek, modern family is interrupted at lunch by what seems a catastrophic avalanche. The husband flees his wife and two children, then Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) can’t let go of that fact. Copping to his cowardice only makes Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) seem more pathetic to Ebba, who begins re-evaluating the whole basis of their marriage. If not for the sake of their kids (played by actual siblings), what’s the point in staying together? This isn’t a fraught drama of the old Bergmanesque variety; it’s more a dark comedy of shame. Men reveal themselves as posturing fools here, while women sensibly wonder if they’re the only ones keeping our species alive. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $8-$12 individual, $55-$65 passes Saturday, January 17, 2015, 7 – 8pm

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Nordic Lights Film Festival This weekend festival begins with the Norwegian sports doc The Optimists (repeating 10 a.m. Sat.), which may remind some of that singing chorus documentary Young@Heart from 2007, in which seniors belted out heavy-metal anthems. Here, in the small town of Hamar, women aged 66 to 98 vigorously set, block, and spike on the volleyball team, which ought to put our American penchant for power-walking and water aerobics in proper perspective. And if you need to feel any more slothful, director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor is bringing spry Anne-Grethe Westhagen to appear tonight. Other highlights in the fest, running through Sunday, include the family-friendly Norwegian creature-com Ragnarok (4 p.m. Sat), about an archeologist searching for an ancient Viking treature trove. Then there’s a late chance to see the excellent Oscar-nominated Force Majeure (8 p.m. Sat.), from Sweden. Ruben Ostlund’s sly, unsettling study of marital dissolution takes place in the French Alps (hence the name, changed from Turist), where a sleek, modern family is interrupted at lunch by what seems a catastrophic avalanche. The husband flees his wife and two children, then Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) can’t let go of that fact. Copping to his cowardice only makes Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) seem more pathetic to Ebba, who begins re-evaluating the whole basis of their marriage. If not for the sake of their kids (played by actual siblings), what’s the point in staying together? This isn’t a fraught drama of the old Bergmanesque variety; it’s more a dark comedy of shame. Men reveal themselves as posturing fools here, while women sensibly wonder if they’re the only ones keeping our species alive. BRIAN MILLER SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA 98109 $8-$12 individual, $55-$65 passes Sunday, January 18, 2015, 7 – 8pm

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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, January 22, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm

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Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, January 29, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm

• 

Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, February 5, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm

• 

Cinema Italian Style 2014 was a quiet past year for new Italian movies; the well-reviewed Human Capital, which arrives here in February, didn’t even make the Oscar short list. So maybe it’s time for a repertory glance back at past peninsular glories with this nine-film series, running most Thursdays through March 19. In addition to proven classics like Luchino Visconti’s 1963 The Leopard, it includes new additions to the canon-notably last year’s Oscar winner, The Great Beauty. Beginning the retrospective tonight is Ossessione, Visconti’s 1943 adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, with its timeless themes of adultery and murder. That noir tale was filmed here in 1946 and ‘81, and there’s even a French take from 1939, but Visconti’s version-his first feature-wasn’t seen for decades in the U.S. because he didn’t clear the copyright. (Whether he had Cain’s verbal permission is another matter.) Only in 1977 did it get a stateside release, when critics noted a far more class-conscious treatment than the 1946 Lana Turner-John Garfield version: neorealism layered atop the noir. And another fun fact: This 35 mm print belongs to Martin Scorsese, that champion of film preservation and Italian cinema. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 $63-$68 series, $8 individual Thursday, February 12, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30pm