SIFF 2015: The Golden Space Needle Awards

One of the traditional last words from any film festival involves awards. And the Seattle International Film Festival is no different. For the 2105 version of SIFF, the awards can be found by clicking here.

I saw only 10 of the 250-odd features, but I lucked into seeing the one film that won the Best Director honor for what SIFF calls the Golden Space Needle Awards, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon for "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl."

The irony, of course, is that I don't think Gomez-Rejon's film — despite being a Sundance darling — is all that well directed. Gomez-Rejon throws his camera around like a beginning film student, which reminds me of what Fred Ward's character complains about in the opening scene of "The Player," Robert Altman's 1992 smart satire on Hollywood.

As Ward's character, Walter Stuckle says, "The movies they make today are all MTV. Cut, cut, cut, cut. The opening scene of Welles' 'Touch of Evil' was six and a half minutes long." "Six and a half minutes long?" a studio messenger asks, amazed? "Well," Stuckel replies, "three or four minutes anyway."

(Digression: Note that Jeremy Piven, Ari Gold from "Entourage," has a bit part as a studio tour guide in the scene.)

Anyway, I think I'm definitely showing my age. Whatever. I think the trailer embedded below is better than the actual film itself (which will be in limited release beginning Friday and is tentatively scheduled for a July 1 release in Spokane).