watch out! francis ford coppola and vincent gallo are coming to town. (tetro still courtesy siff)

Today SIFF enters its third and final week and by now the dazed looks and impulsive habits are becoming more and more apparent among festivalgoers as they (we) balance movie fatigue and a desire to catch as many films as possible before or passes turn to pumpkins. Here, then, are a few to consider as you make your way through the weekday screening options.

On the way, do take notice of just how great the trailers and bumpers before the film are. They’re cute enough on first viewing, but when you’re still taking delight in them after a dozen or two screenings and trying to figure out where all of the sound clips are from, you know that the creative teams at Wong Doody, Digital Kitchen, and Oh Hello did something right in crafting these exquisite contraptions that set the mood for the festival.

Cold Souls [siff] : Paul Giamatti gets the Eternal Sunshine for the Being John Malkovitch treatment when he’s inspired by a New Yorker article to turn over ninety-five percent of his soul to a science fiction creation. The psychic weight loss relieves his angst but kills his acting. [josh] June 8, 7:00 pm (Harvard Exit); June 10, 4:30 pm (Harvard Exit).

The Square [siff] : the twitters are aflame with praise for this Australian thriller, likening the illustrated tale of the dark side of karma to a less kind and gentle intense Coen Brothers flick. [josh] June 8, 4:30. (Uptown)

Poppy Shakespeare [siff] : “N” is happy being a long-term day patient of a London psychiatric hospital. She’s befuddled when a new patient shows up on the ward insisting that she’s not insane and demanding to be released from care, but despite their differences, “N” and Poppy become close friends as “N” helps Poppy in her attempt to prove her sanity to an institution determined to keep her crazy for as long as it suits them. While anyone can appreciate the story of their growing friendship and the battle they wage, people familiar with mental illness will be especially grateful for the respectful, realistic depictions of people with mental illness. [zee] June 9, 4:30 pm (Harvard Exit); June 14, 9:30 pm (Harvard Exit)

(500) Days of Summer [siff] : Office drones meet cute over mutual soundtrack appreciation. One of them doesn’t believe in love (a common thread in this season’s SIFF romantic comedies), the other does. The title tells you that the clock is running on their relationship, which is told in shuffled vignettes. Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s love-interest mentioned in the title, is played by Zooey Deschanel, whose overwhelming appeal might make save this from the cloying cuteness of its premise. Particularly if she sings. [josh] June 8, 7:00 pm (Egyptian); June 9, 4:30 pm (Egyptian)

Don’t Let Me Drown [siff] : When asked at the press launch to recommend one film from the festival, the artistic director picked this love story of two latino families facing love and loss in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. Interesting, if only for the ability to glimpse into the programming instincts of Carl Spence! [josh] June 9, 7:00 pm (Admiral); June 11, 7:00 pm (Pacific Place).
Krabat [siff] : Orphaned teenager Krabat works in a mill in 17th century Germany for a master who practices the dark arts. For the first time in his life Krabat gets a taste of what it’s like to be powerful, but he’s forced to choose between loyalty to his best friend or continuing his pursuit of a more comfortable life. In this dark fairy tale, it’s not an easy decision. [zee] June 9, 9:30 pm (Admiral): June 11, 9:15 pm (Uptown); June 12, 4:00 pm (Uptown)

Tetro [siff] : Vincent Gallo has the title role in Francis Ford Coppola’s first script since 1974. Among the big names, early reviews single out Alden Ehrenreich, who plays the little brother who tries to understand older, bohemian Gallo in Argentina. For an extra $125, join the director for an intimate pre-screening reception. [josh] June 10, 7:00 pm (Egyptian)

The Spy and the Sparrow [siff] : A former secret agent retires to Seattle twenty-six years after an assignment in East Berlin goes terribly wrong. Thomas Sparrow insists he remembers nothing of those past events, but neither the Russian mobster nor the pair of CIA operatives following him believes this. In the meantime, he attempts to reconnect with his troubled daughter whose psychiatrist is another former spook. Locally filmed and produced. [zee] June 10, 9:00 pm (SIFF Cinema); June 13, 11:00 am (SIFF Cinema)

My Suicide [siff] : When seventeen-year-old Archie announces that his final school project will be his videotaped suicide pandemonium erupts at his school. Teachers freak out and try to stop him; students divide themselves into camps that both scorn and idolize him. [zee] June 10, 9:30 pm (Pacific Place); June 11, 4:30 pm (Pacific Place)

Give Me Your Hand [siff] : The interactive online SIFFter and truly wonderful iPhone application cooked up by POP invite the whiling away of small moments by flicking through genres. If the filters used ANDs instead of ORs, those looking for French, erotic, coming of age, gay, road movies, featuring twins and funerals would look no further than this entry which finds brothers walking from France to Spain to mourn their mother. This might be terrible, but give them points for covering so many bases. [josh] June 11, 9:30 (Egyptian); June 14, 4:45 pm (Egyptian)

Afghan Star [siff] : Even in Afghanistan, devasted by years of war and Taliban rule, people really, really want to be pop stars. More than 2.000 people audition for a shot at stardom in a country where viewers voting by mobile phone are having their very first encounter with democracy and where a woman dancing on stage threatens both the future of the show and her very own safety. [zee] June 11, 6:30 pm (SIFF Cinema); June 13, 11:00 am (SIFF Cinema)

Sorry for the lack of Free Tip blogs. Vacations and guests took over for awhile, but I’m back now with your Free Tip of the Day and man is it a doozy.

Go see Flesh and the Devil at the Paramount @ 7pm tonight FOR FREE! Ok, it’s a silent film and it’s almost two hours long but it’s FREE! And you know what that means? That’s right, you don’t have to pay anything!

Thanks Trader Joe’s Silent Movie Mondays for giving us free samples and this free movie.

There will be a free informational seminar on wills and trusts at the Ballard Public Library on Thursday, June 18, 2009 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. The Ballard Public Library is located at 5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle 98107.

The seminar will be given by Mindy Terence of Terence of Terence and Terence L.L.C., a general practice law office located in Ballard. For questions, please call 206-420-5514.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard of any severed feet washing ashore, and the reason for that appears to be that the feet are migrating.

On Saturday, a foot inside an athletic shoe was found at an inland construction site in Port Orchard [PI]. It doesn’t appear to have been severed at the site, but was possibly dragged there by an animal or some construction equipment. (Or it moved there under its own power, because the feet are finding the Canadian shores a little unwelcoming.)

Officials haven’t said if it was a right or a left foot belonging to a male or a female. The sheriff’s office and coroner are investigating.

7:30 PM – Jeff Rubin: Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization
Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall
As the finite supply of carbon-based energy resources grows ever smaller, economies that have relied upon them will either shrink, collapse, or adapt. Environmentalists have been saying this for lo, these many years – globalization is not sustainable in a carbon-dependent world. I’m sure Rubin has something new to say, or at least a new way to say the same thing. And really, isn’t the locavore movement making a virtue of necessity? Maybe that’s the way to approach every aspect of the issue.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Matthew B. Crawford: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
Elliott Bay Book Co.
What is it about philosophers and motorcycles? I don’t know. In any case, the author makes a case for the value of skilled labor, not only as part of our economy, but as a practical part of our lives.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Michael Connelly: The Scarecrow
Barnes & Noble University Village
The former LA Times crime reporter writes about an LA Times reporter covering a serial killer.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Richard Wrangham: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs
The author argues that cooking food, or eating cooked food, caused the human digestive tract to shrink, our brains to grow, and humans to divide labor along gender lines. Eh, mebbe. Coincidentally, I’ve recently been reading about the raw food movement; I’d be interested in seeing a moderated debate between the cookers and the raws. Or a cage match.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – Diane Wei Liang: Lake With No Name: A True Story of Love and Conflict in Modern China
SPL Central Library, Microsoft Auditorium
A memoir of the Chinese democracy movement, encompassing the entire period, before, during, and after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Wei Liang is well know for her wonderful mysteries; her memoir is sure to be equally engrossing.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Brenda Peterson, Judith Roche & Patricia Monaghan: Earth’s Oracles: The New Oracular Tradition
Richard Hugo House Cabaret
The writers, fellows of the Black Earth Institute, a progressive think-tank for artists articulating the connection between spirituality, ecology and social justice, read from their work and discuss the concept of writers as oracles.
[LINK]

9:30 AM – Mariel Hemingway: Mariel’s Kitchen: Simple Ingredients for a Delicious and Satisfying Life
U-District Farmers Market
Brilliant idea! Stock up on fresh, local groceries and take home a signed copy of Ms. Hemingway’s book.[LINK]

1:00 PM – Matt Amster Burton, Molly Wizenberg, Shauna Ahern and Lara Ferroni: Reading
Barnes & Noble
University Village
Orangette blogger and author of (the very entertaining) A Homemade Life, Molly Wizenberg, joins some other people at B&N U-Village.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – Nikki McClure: All in a Day
SPL Ballard Branch
“This lovely book illuminates all the possibilities a day offers–the opportunities and chances that won’t ever come again–and also delivers a gentle message of good stewardship of our planet. Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Rylant’s poetic text, alongside Nikki McClure’s stunning, meticulously crafted cut-paper art, makes this picture book not only timeless but appealing to all ages, from one to one hundred.” –Secret Garden Books
[LINK]

3:00 PM – Kaya McLaren: On the Divinity of Second Chances
Elliott Bay Book Co.
The author reads from her second novel. Also, on this day in history: David Bowie married Iman (1992); 3 giant turtles were found in a Bronx sewage plant (1988); the body of Nazi war criminal, Dr. Josef Megele, was found and exhumed (1985); Israel invaded Lebanon (1982); Maya Yang Lin won the Vietnam War Memorial design competition (1981); the Washington Post reported that the US had developed the neutron bomb (1977); I was born (1973); the last “Ed Sullivan Show” aired and John Lennon & Yoko Ono appeared at the Fillmore East (1971); Israel occupied Gaza (1967); “Eric the Viking” comic strip premiered (1946); D-Day: the AEF landed in Normandy (1944); Japanese forces retreated, ending the Battle of Midway (1942); SEC established (1934); the first drive-in movie theatre opened in Camden, NJ (1933); voters in E. Cleveland approved women’s suffrage (1916); Seattle’s “Great Fire” destroyed 25 blocks of downtown (1889).
[LINK]

4:00 PM – Poets West: Open Mic
SPL Greenlake Branch
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Voices Rising: Pride Celebration
Richard Hugo House Theater
“Celebrate Pride at this evening of spoken word, hip hop, dance and drag performances featuring Mami Watu, Emiko Sugiyama, THEE Satisfaction and Storme Webber, among others.” –RHH
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Barbara Olins Alpert: The Creative Ice Age Brain: Cave Art in the Light of Neuroscience
Elliott Bay Book Co.
The author attempts to interpret Ice Age cave art using recent discoveries and information from psychology and neuroscience. I am very sceptical of this sort of thing, in general, but I plan to read the book.
[LINK]

watch these dudes contemplate doing it on film. and then party with them tonight. (humpday still, courtesy siff)

Why hello there SIFFers, we’ve all survived and are ready to enter our third weekend of the fantastic-so-far Seattle International Film Festival, where weekends offer all the more hours to overdose on moviegoing with plenty of film partying thrown in for good measure. This weekend also marks the spread of the festival into West Seattle, where the neighborhood will be welcoming the festival to the Admiral Theater and their side of the bridge with a party at Skylark. [wsb].

Let SIFF be your air conditioner and sunscreen; in addition to repeat screenings for previously-mentioned films [mb] here are some of the things we are most excited about seeing over the next few days:

Humpday [siff (gala)]: Lynn Shelton, no stranger to the mumblecore sex comedy [nerve] and recipient of cake and cash for her genius filmmaking, brings two straight guys together in a scheme to film a gay entry for the Stranger’s annual porn film festival. All sorts of male bonding and awkwardness ensue. A gala event follows the Friday night screening, allowing you a chance to rub elbows with the stars and production team over drinks and noodles from Boom while pretending that you didn’t just see them contemplating getting naked. [josh] June 5, 7:00 pm (Egyptian/gala); June 7, 1:30 pm (Egyptian [siff])

Four Boxes [siff] : Two men and a woman move into a dead guy’s house to photograph his possessions to sell on E-bay. They discover that the dead guy was a fan of a voyeur-website, a site they keep watching themselves. After they discover what looks like a murderous plot by the creepy guy the site’s cameras focus on, their already-tense situation starts getting intense, especially as the action appears to be closer than they’d like. Shades of Blair Witch but without the annoying camera shake. I found the ending a little annoying but the story kept me wanting to know what happens next all the way up to then. [zee] June 5, 9:30 pm (SIFF Cinema); June 7, 1:30 pm (SIFF Cinema)

OSS 177: Cairo, Nest of Spies [siff] : Prepare yourself for the sequel, which screens at the SIFF closing night gala, by watching the Golden Space Needle-winning original comedy spy thriller. Note, second screening is outdoors and by donation (a.k.a., approximately free). [josh] June 5, 9:30 pm (Uptown); June 6, 9:00 pm (Juanita Beach Park).

Il Divo [siff] : Director Paolo Sorrentino dramatic telling of seven term Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti’s life of political entanglements and comebacks. When it screened at Cannes last year Variety said: “An intensely political film so wildly inventive and witty that it will become a touchstone for years to come … This is a brave, bold film whose chances of international success are relatively small, but whose ramifications are huge.” [#] Thanks to SIFF, you have a chance to soak up the splendor. [josh] June 6, 11 am (Egyptian); June 13, 9:15 (Cinerama)

A Woman Under the Influence [siff] : As part of its archival presentations, SIFF is showing a recently restored print of John Cassavetes’s 1974 film starring Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk that marked the dawn of the independent film movement and chronicled a wife’s growing mental instability. [josh] June 6, 4 pm (SIFF Cinema)

True Adolescents [siff] : If you missed the Thursday night screening of this made-in-Seattle comedy-drama, here’s your second chance to see this great film and make it a Mark Duplass double-feature (he’s one of the dudes in Humpday, too). A Saturday night party at the Comet features the Blakes performing as the fictional band The Effort. [zee] June 6, 1:30 pm (The Egyptian)

World’s Greatest Dad [siff] : imagine the trainwreck that is Robin Williams and Bobcat Goldwait shooting a film in Seattle. You don’t have to speculate because that exact film is screening this weekend. Maybe it’s amazing? The blurb promises that it “couldn’t diverge any further from audience expectations”. June 6, 6:30 pm (Egyptian); June 7, 4:00 pm (Egyptian).

Little Joe [siff] : “Little Joe never once gave it away/everybody had to pay and pay” sang Lou Reed in his classic “Walk on the Wild Side” but Joe Dallesandro wasn’t actually a hustler. A personable and attractive young man, he’s best-known for his iconic appearances, usually naked, in several Warhol films directed by Paul Morrissey. Years down the line, he’s gregarious and well-spoken, telling his own history and talking about the ins and outs of the New York art scene in a thoroughly engaging style aided and abetted by a ton of archival footage that would make the movie worth watching all on its own. Joe will appear at both screenings of the documentary. [zee] June 6, 7:15 pm (SIFF Cinema), June 7, 4:00 pm (SIFF Cinema)

the Karamazovs [siff] : A last chance to see this story of an acting troupe from Prague staging a Dostoyevsky production in a Polish steel mill. It’s been earning plenty of praise during the festival, with mild warnings about its highbrow tone, but what else are film festivals for if not a bit of snootery? [josh] June 7, 11 am (Harvard Exit)

Alisa’s Birthday [siff] : Alisa is a ten-year old girl who lives in a future Moscow where her father is a space zoologist and family friend Uncle Gromozeka is a blue-skinned alien from another planet. She’s invited along on an expedition to a dead planet and then sent back in time with the haughty Professor R-r-r (who just so happens to look like a one-eyed kitten) with a potential cure for the virus that wiped out all living beings. Will Alisa and R-r-r complete their mission in time to save the planet from certain destruction and still make it back to the new and improved future? Bright, lively, and fun with appealing characters, charming art, and an interesting, suspenseful story, Alisa’s Birthday is equally appealing to kids and adults–anyone who enjoys a good story with bright, stylish art will enjoy it. In Russian with English subtitles. Subtitles will be read loud at the June 7 and June 14 screenings. [zee] June 7, 11:00 am (Kirkland); June 9, 7:00 pm (Pacific Place); June 14, 11:00 am (Pacific Place)

Sounds Like Teen Spirit : a popumentary [siff ] : It’s quite possibly worth a bus ride to the eastside to catch this documentary that follows four contestants in the Eurovision Junior songwriting competition. The film is a heartbursting mix of all the joy and sorrow of ambitious artistic child performers. So far, it ranks among my favorites from this year’s festival. If you liked Spellbound and thought that all that it needed was a more international angle and better choreography, than you’re bound to fall in love with this one, too. I felt a little crushed we find out who wins the top prize, but the results are presented as almost an afterthought to the journey; so I suppose is part of the point. [josh] June 7, 4:00 pm (Kirkland).

The Necessities of Life [siff] : Tivii is an Inuit man from Baffin Island sent to recover from tuberculosis in a Quebec City sanitarium. Alienated by culture shock and isolated by language barriers, Tivii languishes in despair until a kind-hearted nurse orchestrates the arrival of a young Inuit patient who can translate for the older man. As Tivii and Kaki recover from their illness, the older man refreshes the younger’s knowledge of their shared cultural history. [zee] June 7, 4:00 pm (Harvard Exit); June 8, 4:15 pm

Rain [siff] : Life in the Bahamas isn’t just about lounging on the beach drinking fruity tropical concoctions – real life for many of its residents is troubled and bleak. A teenager raised on a small rural island by her grandmother is forced into Nassau to meet the desperately poor, trick-turning drug addict mother she’s never known. Determined to find a way out of the mean streets, Rain takes up running. Her gift at the sport could be her salvation, but only if she can survive her very rough life. [zee] June 7, 9:00 pm (Kirkland Performance Center); June 12, 4:30 pm and June 13, 7:00 pm (SIFF Cinema)

7:30 PM – Janet Brown: Tone Deaf in Bangkok, and Other Places
Elliott Bay Book Co.

A former Elliott Bay Books employee returns, all the way from Thailand, to read.

[LINK]

Even though Dan Boeckner is a critical player of the Voltron-like organism that is Wolf Parade, its hardly worth considering Handsome Furs a mere side-project. With this year’s Face Control, he and his wife Alexei Perry have recorded one of the better albums to show up on iTunes libraries this year. It bursts and snarls with electronics and deep beats around unresigned vocals, and suggests something compelling about early twenty-first century humanity, or at least gives you the feeling of being rejected from a buffet for not meeting the attractiveness standards of capitalist Russians [times].

In person, people are sure to dance and raise beer bottles and sing along loudly at their favorite parts. They play tonight at Neumo’s with Feral Children and the Cinnamon Band ($15, 8 pm [neumos]) and we have a pair of tickets for one of you. Send an e-mail to seattle.mebtlogs@gmail.com and I’ll pick a winner by this afternoon.

jens lekman at the crocodile last night.

At last night’s show Jens Lekman admitted to not having slept in days, but that didn’t get in the way of putting on an exceptionally charming beyond description show that spanned new material as well as beloved classics like “Black Cab” and “Maple Leaves”. Even as his voice withered away through the now-iconic tale of a summer visit to Berlin for vegetarian dinner and posing as his lesbian pal’s fiancee, he managed to return for a haunting rendition of “Shirin” to close out the evening. For your sake, here’s hoping that he spends today resting and sipping tea dosed with lemons and honey so that tonight’s can will live up to last night. [crocodile]