April 9, 2006

sf international film festival

how could i almost forget to mention the SAN FRANCISCO FILM INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL is arriving soon (opening April 20). this is a superbly curated festival not to be missed! a film listing is here, and their website is amazing this year.

some selections:


The Wayward Cloud

The most audacious film to date from visionary director Tsai Ming-liang, The Wayward Cloud is about a porn actor and the museum tour guide who enters into a strange relationship with him, unaware of his profession.


Princess Raccoon

It's hard to believe we've had the pleasure of watching Seijun Suzuki movies for almost 50 years. What's even more remarkable is that his films have remained as youthfully nutty as they were in the '60s. His new musical Princess Raccoon is a love story of sorts, between a man and an animal. (*note: the uber hot Japanese star Joe Odagiri plays the male lead.)


House of Himiko
(trailer)
How a culture deals with its aging population and how it relates to its gay community are two measures of its humanity. The latest film from Isshin Inudo, who specializes in offbeat comedy, asks how Japan's aging homosexuals will fare, and the answer is, with the same outsider resilience that got them through life thus far. (*note: Joe Odagiri is also in this film!)


Three Times

(trailer)
Three different time periods, two lead roles, one eternal love. A Proust novel set to the intricate rhythms and becalmed beauty of director Hou Hsiao-hsien's inimitable aesthetic, his newest film moves across the history of Taiwan—and the arc of the director's career—to explore the memory of love in the best and worst of times.


Iberia
(trailer)
With Iberia, Carlos Saura once again signals his position as the master of cinema as performance. The beauty of his method, as displayed in Flamenco (SFIFF 1996) and then Tango (1998), is in the fact that the dance sequences are not merely produced for film; instead, they only exist as film.

thanks jeff, for the heads up!

4 comments:

bruce said...

seijun suzuki has been making films for 50 years? wow, i almost can't believe that. his movies are such kaleidoscopes... especially the high contrast black and white ones.

Anonymous said...

yay!

i found a res-fest brochure in my room yesterday. despite all the awesome features at res-fest, i think i'm a bit disappointed with it. maybe the s.f. fest is my cup of tea..

Miss J said...

i am so stoked. i bought my film fest membership and a 10-pass voucher already. i had a list of like 22 films i wanted to see, but i think i will only make about 11-12, because i have to travel back down to sf to see them. sigh! i forgot how expensive film festivals can be :)

Anonymous said...

i hope that i'll be able to go to a film in the sf fest for the first time, ever. haven't even bothered to look at the schedule, yet, maybe out of dread. :p

also- on 4/21 and 4/22 there are performances by Matmos, Kronos Quartet, and Kitundu at the Yerba Buena. let me know if you're interested!

p.s. you can always crash here in the east bay after a seeing a movie in the city!