Last Weekend of SIFF

Today was the last day of the Seattle International Film festival. Earlier this morning winners were announced for the festival's jury prizes and audience awards (dubbed the Golden Space Needle). The only film we saw which won an award this year was Mad Hot Ballroom which received 3rd runner-up in the Best Documentary category.

Over the weekend we saw three more of the 348 films being presented as part of this year's festival:

• Drive Well, Sleep Carefully - On the Road with Death Cab For Cutie - SIFF was the world premiere for this concert film about the workaholic band Death Cab For Cutie, the group who 'puts the punk in punctual'. The film follows the band as they tour in support of their album Transatlanticism.
  
  I'd estimate that the film is about 80% concert footage and 20% interviews with the band. The live footage is well shot with excellent sound, but I found the interviews to be the most compelling part of the film. Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla and company have a lot of interesting things to say about the trials of touring and the state of the music industry, although director Justin Mitchell provides them with precious little time to dig deeper into these thoughts. Mitchell's real goal here seems to be to spend as much time as possible showing the band on stage playing their songs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you're a DCFC fan then this should make an excellent DVD record of what it's like to see the band live, but I would've like to have seen Mitchell use this documentary as a chance to dig deeper into some of the issues surrounding the band such as their sudden change in fan base due to the O.C. and their recent decision to move to a major record label. The film touches on these topics briefly, but quickly glosses over them to get back to more live footage.
  
  I do have to give special props to Mitchell for working in a live version of the song 'Why You'd Want To Live Here' shot in L.A's Wiltern Theatre. The song is an anti-L.A. rant featuring lyrics such as 'You can't swim in a town this shallow' and and 'I can't see why you'd want to live here'. It was quite amusing to see the L.A. crowd rocking out to the song and to see Gibbard end the song by saying that he hoped no one took it personally.
  
• Dreamship Surprise - Period One - A campy German spoof on Star Wars, Star Trek, The Fifth Element, The Matrix and many other sci-fi films, this film features three gay male stars, Captain Kork, engineer Shrotty and first officer Mr. Spuck, who man the Dreamship Surprise. In order to save the world they have to travel back in time to stop a UFO from landing in Roswell, New Mexico. I was expecting this one to be a little gimmicky, but it was surprisingly well done. The script manages to remain funny throughout the film, and even the special effects are impressive. Definitely worth seeing if you get a chance.
  
• Lonesome Jim- Directed by Steve Buscemi, and starring Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler, Lonesome Jim plays like a more depressing, less stylistic version of Garden State. Affleck plays Jim, a chronically depressed 28-year old who returns to live with his parents in Indiana after failing to find his way in New York City. The highlights of the film are the scenes featuring a girls basketball team, coached by Jim's brother Tim, which has yet to score a point all season and Jim's uncle, a drug-dealer who prefers to go by the name of Evil. If you like Buscemi's first film, Trees Lounge, then you may want to give this one a try.

Of the 11 films we saw at the festival this year, here's how I would stack them in order of my favorite to least favorite.

1. Rock School
2. Be Here To Love Me
3. Mad Hot Ballroom
4. Dreamship Surprise
5. Pucker Up
6. Lonesome Jim
7. Punk: Attitude
8. Drive Well, Sleep Carefully
9. Amazing Grace
10. The Debt
11. Kings of the Sky