Weekend Film Agenda: January 2
By Zee Grega
- Kick off the new year with an old film: Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries at the Grand Illusion. This is the movie that shot Bergman to international reknown and for good reason – Wild Strawberries is a thoughtful, deeply felt story of coming to terms both with one’s past and with one’s encroaching mortality.
- Late nights this weekend at the Grand Illusion check out Cinekink, a selection of hot shorts from the “really” alternative film festival CineKink, dedicated to the exploration of positive depiction of sexuality in all its forms in film and television.
- SIFF Cinema also offers up a classic film from a noted director. Amacord is Federico Fellini’s lush remembrance of his childhood home by the seaside, a town whose colorful inhabitants permanently shaped the boy who would one day grow into one of the world’s best known and most celebrated cinematographers.
- 20 Seconds of Joy is a documentary that takes a look at the thrills and challenges of BASE jumping, one of the most dangerous sports on the planet. Using only a parachute, participants leap from great heights into the air, risking their lives with every new attempt. The Feature examines thrills of a different sort, being a biography of artist Michael Auder, a member of Andy Warhol’s factory and a key figure in the Soho movement, strung together from the man’s own videotapes connected with new footage shot by Andrew Neel. Both play at NWFF; while you’re there, be sure to take a look at their 21 Landings installation, a looping video of multiple attempted landings by a bird-like creature onto an icy, futuristic surface.
- Midnight at the Egyptian: Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Seven, a suspenseful mystery-horror about a killer who models his crimes on the seven deadly sins.
- Rocky Horror fans won’t want to miss The Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight at West Seattle’s historic Admiral Theater, a charming and wholly appropriate setting for the king of all audience participation films.
for yet another Brad Pitt/David Fincher feature to go along with (or better, in place of) Benjamin Buttons: Central Cinema is showing Fight Club over the weekend.