SLGFF ends with best ever lineup
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Seattle Gay News
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posted Friday, October 23, 2009 - Volume 37 Issue 43 SLGFF ends with best ever lineupby Sara Michelle Fetters - SGN Contributing Writer As the final three days of the 14th annual Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival begin, I am quickly coming to the conclusion this might just be the best lineup of movies the programmers have ever assembled. While there are always going to be a few stinkers (I'm still having trouble getting rid of the odious stench of Eating Out 3), by and large I've been hugely impressed. The diversity of the films has covered just about every genre, while the storytelling and talent levels have been consistently high. Over these last couple of weeks I've seen more quality filmmaking in this collection of LGBT-themed narratives than I've seen the entire month of October out of Hollywood, and these last few days of the festival are positively outstanding. Bottom line, festival programmers should be proud as they've definitely outdone themselves. Granted, they've also set themselves a pretty high bar that I just hope SLGFF 2010 can somehow surpass. Drool October 23, 7:45 PM Cinerama After Anora (Laura Harring) accidentally kills her abusive husband, she flees cross-country with her kids, new girlfriend Imogene (Jill Marie Jones) and the corpse all in tow. Perfectly awesome love story-comedy-thriller-satire with an outstanding performance from former Mulholland Drive it-girl Harring, this movie never does anything you expect it to. It constantly keeps the viewer engaged and wondering what is going to happen next. An absolute slam-dunk for writer and director Nancy Kissam and probably my favorite film of this year's festival. Rating: 3.5 (out of 4) Fagbug October 24, 2 PM Central Cinema Slight if exceedingly cute documentary chronicling filmmaker Erin Davies' 58-day road trip through some of the United States' most conservative regions driving a vandalized VW Beetle with the word "fag" spraypainted across the door. Many of the reactions are both disgusting and disheartening, but a great many can't help but surprise, as the reception she receives is not always - or even usually - the one I expected. Rating: 2.5 (out of 4) Handsome Harry October 25, 2:30 PM Admiral Theater Former Naval seaman "Handsome" Harry Sweeney (Jamey Sheridan) embarks on a journey of redemption after the deathbed pleading of a former shipmate (Steve Buscemi) convinces him it is the right thing to do. What should be a heavy-handed melodrama of ignorance, regret and forgiveness somehow transcends writer Nicholas T. Proferes' somewhat cliché screenplay to become a somewhat fascinating character study of a flawed man trying to repair his own broken soul. Aidan Quinn and Campbell Scott deliver a pair of knockout supporting performances, while one-time Law & Order: Criminal Intent star Sheridan is just about perfect as the emotionally conflicted title character. Rating: 3 (out of 4) Hannah Free October 25, 6:30 PM Cinerama Based on the award-winning play, Hannah Free is a devastatingly emotional multigenerational love story featuring superb performances by former Cagney & Lacey star Sharon Gless and newcomer Kelli Strickland. Powerful and full of poignant meaning (especially in lieu of Referendum 71), director Wendy Jo Carlton does a remarkable job of balancing the more treacley aspects of the melodrama, giving the movie a weight and a heft it might not otherwise have achieved. Rating: 3.5 (out of 4) Prayers for Bobby October 24, 7 PM Central Cinema Nominated for two 2009 primetime Emmy Awards including for Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie, this based-on-fact biopic is a shattering experience that goes from devastating to hopeful with surprising subtlety. The story of one-time intolerant religious conservative Mary Griffith (Emmy-nominee Sigourney Weaver) and her extraordinary transformation after her Gay son Bobby (Ryan Kelley) meets with tragedy, this movie is as important as it is fascinating. Beautiful and moving, it's nice to see this soaring achievement get the cinematic screening it so richly deserves. Rating: 3.5 (out of 4) West Side Story October 25, 2:30 PM Cinerama The 1961 Oscar-winning Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and Stephen Sondheim musical classic, directed by the great Robert Wise (The Haunting, The Sound of Music), gets the sing-along treatment with screening at Seattle's landmark Cinerama Theatre. Personally, while I enjoy this buoyant and lively song-and-dance spectacular (inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) as much as the next person, I've always had a little trouble wondering what all the fuss is about. It's entertaining, yes, but one of the greatest movie musicals of all time? Sorry, as good as it is, give me The Band Wagon or Gigi over this one any day. Rating: 3 (out of 4) ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction October 24, 9:30 PM Admiral Theater The community of Port Gamble, Washington is shaken to its core after zombies rise from the grave and start eating everyone in sight. Locally produced zombie-comedy is a total graphically grotesque hoot, filled with gore, laughs and even a little political commentary. It makes Zombieland look like Plan 9 from Outer Space. A popular hit at this year's Seattle International Film Festival, the chance to see this delightful and bloody splatter-fest is an opportunity horror fanatics simply shouldn't miss. Rating: 3 (out of 4) |
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