Weekend Film Agenda August 1
By Zee Grega
August 1st, 2008 @ 10:18 AM
film
- When I was a little kid, I thought of Orson Welles as “that guy from the wine commercials”. Discovering that he was also a brilliant writer, actor and director was one of the first steps on my path to becoming a film devotee. Northwest Film Forum is screening an Orson Welles series from August 1 to August 15 entitled The Transitional Orson Welles: Late Work and Adaptations that illustrates aptly just how brilliant he was. The first film in the series is The Trial, a 1962 noir-ish adaptation of Franz Kafka’s notable novel of the same name. Welles himself called The Trial “the finest work I have ever done”. Anthony Perkins stars as the besieged Josef K trapped in a nightmarish pursuit of justice. The Trial plays August 1 – 3.
- Also at NWFF: The Silence Before Bach, co-presented by the Henry Art Gallery, a film about importance of composer J.S. Bach whose eternal legacy is the enduring influence his work has on music and history.
- Over at SIFF Cinema, they’re showing the charming documentary A Man Called Pearl. The Pearl of the title is a black man named Pearl Fryar whose bigoted white neighbors worried that he might not keep his yard up after moving into their neighborhood. Fryar didn’t worry himself much over his neighbor’s opinions, but he did keep up his yard and then some, devoting his free time to creating beautiful, elaborate topiary so delightful that his yard has become a major tourist destination.
- The Grand Illusion screens Kenny, a film about a man whose job stinks, literally. Kenny Smyth delivers porta-loos all over Australia, facing many a septic challenge with good humor and high spirits.
- Zombie fans: It’s “Zombie Night” at Fremont Outdoor Cinema Saturday as they screen the relentlessly creepy Omega Man. Sidewalk Cinema screens Raiders of the Lost Ark in Edmonds Friday and the charming human/toon hybrid mystery Who Framed Roger Rabbit? on Saturday. Seattle Center’s Movies at the Mural has The Princess Bride Friday and Juno Saturday. Three Dollar Bill Cinema gives you creepy, campy cautionary tale Frogs Friday night at Cal Anderson Park.
- Midnight at the Egyptian: Cry Baby John Waters’ seriously fun spoof of 50′s juvenile delinquent films starring Johnny Depp, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake, Patti Heart and Iggy Pop.
