More must-see global cinema from week four of the Seattle International Film Festival.
The world’s largest film festival is in it’s final week, but there are still a lot of great films left on the schedule. Here are my day by day picks for what to see this week:
Tuesday
The Hunt
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has already made his mark in the US starring in a few Hollywood blockbusters and NBC’s Hannibal. But he’s back in Denmark for this psycho-social thriller about a day care worker accused of pedophilia. Be the first on your block to see a performance that might be Oscar bait next winter.
(Also screens Thursday at 4 pm at Uptown)
Wednesday
Aayna Ka Bayna
No one does a coordinated group dance routine like Bollywood. So when film claims to be an Indian version of the Step Up movies, how can you resist? I’d watch this one even without subtitles.
(Also screens Friday at 6 pm in Kirkland)
Thursday
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
He’s probably the world’s most famous living philosopher. He’s also a Slovenian oddball who loves to deconstruct popular culture and pick apart what films tell us about our collective psychology. This “movie about movies” promises to be both funny and thought-provoking for die hard Zizek fans and for the uninitiated alike.
(Also screens Saturday at 10pm at Pacific Place)
Friday
Die Welt
This fiction/documentary hybrid set in post-Arab Spring Tunisia is a meditation on democracy, immigration and globalization. The trailer opens with Adballah, a clerk in a DVD store, refusing to sell a customer Transformers 2. “If you buy it, you disrespect yourself.” So true.
(Also screens Wednesday at 8:30 pm at Uptown)
Saturday
Horses of God
Terrorism plays a starring role in a lot of films these days, but it’s rarely a well developed character. This film, from one of North Africa’s most celebrated directors, follows the path of two Moroccan friends frustrated by poverty and authoritarianism, as they grow from innocent children into violent zealots.
(Also screens Friday at 6 pm at Uptown)
Sunday
Wish You Were Here
It wouldn’t be a summer movie season without a little travel-phobia. Close out the festival and ease yourself back into the multiplex with this Australian thriller about a holiday in Cambodia gone terribly wrong.
(Also screens Friday at 9:30 pm at Egyptian. The director will be in attendance at both screenings.)
