Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Seattle International Film Festival




I only got to see one SIFF show, but despite the review below, I had a great time. Wish I'd had more time to explore the festival. Nothing beats getting to hear film directors talk live about the movie you just watched.






The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
My Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Despite a strong cast (Peter Sarsgaard, Peter Sarsgaard, Peter Sarsgaard) and good cinematography I'm left ultimately saying "Why this story now?" Based on Michael Chabon's mid-80's novel, the film fails to move beyond the coming-of-age summer-of-love-triangle- themed plot that pervaded that whole decade. The characters don't seem sympathetic (or believable for that matter) for a 2008 sensibility. Culturally, I feel we've moved beyond the questions these characters are struggling with, or at least we express them differently enough now that this movie ends up feeling like an odd cultural artifact from 1986 featuring a 2008 cast. It just didn't work. However, I'm always willing to pay the price of admission to watch Peter Sarsgaard at his ambiguous, omni-sexual best.

2 comments:

Ian said...

I am so excited that I have entered the blog arena once more. I am pleased to be a part of such a great platform for sharing info, ideas, etc and in general being able to read each other's blogs!

Kj said...

likewise, Eine Kleine! see you in an hour or so