SIFF

Well I've been so wrapped up in other activities that SIFF has kind of fallen by the wayside this year. I've managed to see three movies so far:

1) Milky Way
2) American Teen
3) Mysteries of Pittsburgh

I had a ticket to see Choke but I missed it.

Milky Way was an experimental film from Hungary that played at the Northwest Film Forum. Many people were falling asleep and, at times, I was on the verge. However, as I understand it, this is part of the experience of some art forms like Opera and certain south pacific island folk performances -- I'm not joking. Whether or not Milky Way was meant to be enjoyed in a dreamy haze isn't for me to say. Did I enjoy it? Sort of.

American Teen was great. High school senior year documentary with the typical cast: jock, go-getter, nerd, artsy girl, etc. It sounds trite but was really well done, I thought.

Mysteries of Pittsburgh -- I just saw this about an hour ago. I had high hopes: I like what I've read by Michael Chabon and I liked Wonder Boys on screen. Unfortunately, this didn't really captivate me. I felt like it was trying to mimick True Romance and Fight Club, with the southern belle eating pie in the diner and Cleveland, the Tyler Durden-esque wildman. Oh and Goodfellas too: at one point Nick Nolte, playing the father of the main character said something like, "are you trying to embarass me?" and I immediately thought of Joe Pesci and his, "I'm funny, how am I funny?" spiel. It just plodded along and didn't really take me, or the people sitting near me, with it. Failure to launch would appropiately describe this movie.

There was a JFK documentary that I wanted to see but will have to wait. We're going to see Jolene tomorrow and I have one ticket left in my sixer; hopefully I can find something for Sunday, which is the last day of the festival.

On the reading scene, I started Plato's Five Dialogues last night and Paul Auster's Brooklyn Follies today (I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on Plato while waiting in line for a movie...).