Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SIFF 2015: Plenty of time left to see good film

Dan Webster

I just returned home after spending much of the weekend in Seattle, attending the 41st Seattle International Film Festival. Unlike the old days, when I had the energy — not to mention desire — to see 20-odd movies in a weekend, I managed only five. But I saw at least a couple of winners. My moviegoing choices were, in order:

"Gemma Bovery" (Saturday at The Egyptian): The conceit here is interesting: When an English couple moves to rural Normandy, seeking a life in the French countryside, their neighbor (Fabrice Luchini) falls in lust with the wife (Gemma Arterton). Because her name is so close to Flaubert's titular character in "Madam Bovary," he fantasizes that she is living the same kind of life that Flaubert imagined — and will suffer the same kind of fate. Based on a graphic novel, and billed as as "a sexy, lighthearted take" on Flaubert's story, the film to me was anything but. Sexy, for sure, but lighthearted? Not to me. 

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" (Saturday at the Pacific Place): Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's second feature, which writer Jesse Andrews adapted from his own novel, won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Drama at January's Sundance International Film Festival. And Gomez-Rejon's film should do well when it gets a wide release on June 12. Much of the film, though, feels cutely made — as if Gomez-Rejon couldn't decide what to do with his camera and decided to throw it around like an obstreperous 2-year-old. When the movie does settle down, it evokes a fair amount of real emotion.

 "The New Girlfriend" (Sunday at the Uptown): Francoise Ozon ("Swimming Pool") constructs a meditation on human relations that bends genders as much as anything I've ever seen. Two young French girls swear lifelong fealty, and when one dies the other, Claire, switches her feelings to her friend's widower and his baby girl. So far, so good. But then Claire discovers the widower's secret that, ultimately, gives her the opportunity to continue enjoying her friend's presence — even if only virtually — while exploring new heights of intimacy and sexual exploration. Not just gender- but mind-bending.

 "Those People" (Sunday at the Uptown): A group of young, privileged New Yorkers see their lives take a turn for the worse when the central figure of their quintet finds himself involved in an investment scandal. Meanwhile, his best friend must figure out what loves means when he is seduced by an older classical pianist. A well-made study of people whose juvenile narcissism I grew tired of very quickly.

"I'll See You in My Dreams" (Sunday at the Uptown): Seventy-two-year-old Blythe Danner stars as a women, widowed for 20 years, who questions what to do with herself, especially after meeting a smart-if-underachieving pool cleaner (Martin Starr of "Silicon Valley") and a dreamy retired guy (Sam Elliott). If you can get past the "Golden Girls" sequences, which become quickly tiresome, you'll discover a sense of authenticity that makes this one special movie. You'll likely get to see soon, as the film earned a general release on May 15.

I may not make it over to enjoy this version of SIFF again until the final weekend. But as the festival lasts through June 7, you'll have lots of opportunities to see movies between now and then. So get in your car. And go.

All the information you'll need can be found at SIFF.net.