My picks for the 2003 Seattle International Film Festival

[Chris Slack]

Even more movies than I hit at last years fest!!! Online ticket sales begin May 11th. I won't be getting any tickets until next week when I get a schedule for my new part time night job. Optimally I will be going to all of these movies:

Full schedule is at http://www.seattlefilm.com/siff/

Saturday May 24th Midnight Egyptian
Bubba Ho-tep
Bubba Ho-Tep tells the "true" story of what really became of Elvis Presley. Now an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, Elvis teams up with Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow rest home resident who thinks he is President John F. Kennedy. The two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term care facility as his happy hunting grounds.
Director:
Don Coscarelli
Cast:
Bruce Campbell
Ossie Davis


Tuesday May 27th 930 PM Egyptian
Bad Guy (2001)
South Korea
102 minutes

When clean-cut teenager Sun-hwa is forcibly kissed in the street one day by gang leader and pimp Han-Ki, the resulting obsessive fascination leads them both into a downward spiral of degradation. South Korea’s own bad guy Kim (“The Isle”, “Address Unknown”), however, bestows “Bad Guy” with a grace, beauty and even humor that transforms the unsavory plot into an astonishing tale of amour fou. South Korea Grand Bell ‘02 (Best New Actress: Seo Won)
Director:
Kim Ki-duk
Cast:
Cho Jae-hyeon
Seo Won
Choi Duk-moon

Thursday May 29th 7 PM Pacific Place
H (2002)
South Korea
107 minutes
US Premiere

In this top-notch thriller, one year after the deranged but ingenious Shin-yun is jailed for the gruesome murders of six women, bodies start to turn up with the hallmarks of his evil work. Two detectives, one an expert criminal profiler, the other a young rising star of the Vice Squad, suspect the two sets of murders are linked, but the case grows more mysterious as the suspects are killed off one by one.
Director:
Lee Jong-hyuk
Cast:
Yeom Jung-ah
Ji Jin-hee
Cho Seung-woo

Friday May 30th 6 PM Egyptian Theater
An Evening with Ray Harryhausen
United States
140 minutes

The acclaimed Ray Harryhausen, known most widely for his extraordinary cinematic special effects, will showcase his latest work in this special one-on-one evening as he talks about his remarkable career. A legendary stop motion animator, Harrhausen recently completed a new work, “The Tortoise and The Hare”, a 12-minute short that is sure to delight the audience with the first new Harryhausen in years. As a special bonus, SIFF will screen Harryhausen’s masterpiece, “Jason and the Argonauts”. A truly unique adventure fantasy, this is a rare chance to see it on the big screen!
Director:
Don Chaffey
Cast:
Nancy Kovack
Todd Armstrong

Monday June 2, 930 PM Pacific Place Cinemas
Jail Breakers (2002)
South Korea
119 minutes
North American Premiere

Two convicts escape from prison, not realizing that they had been names in an annual holiday amnesty. On discovering their predicament, their objective becomes to break back in before their absence is discovered. Pop humor, a cracking script and perfect rapport between the two very appealing lead actors add up to a good time for all.
Director:
Kim Sang-jim
Cast:
Cha Seung-won
Seol Kyung-gu
Song Yoon-ah

Tuesday June 3rd 7 PM Egyptian Theater
YMCA Baseball Team (2002)
South Korea
104 minutes

At the turn of the century, lay-about scholar Hochang defies his strict father and joins the fledgling YMCA baseball team. Somehow, the team shapes up and gets involved in a grudge match with a rival Japanese outfit, and the match becomes a symbol of national resistance. Superior set design and art direction grace this unexpected treat. Infectious comedic first feature from the writer of 2001 SIFF hit “Joint Security Area.”
Director:
Hyeun-seok Kim
Cast:
Song Kang-ho
Kim Hye-su
Kim Ju-hyuk
Hwang Jeong-min

Friday June 1st 6:30 PM Egyptian
Public Enemy (2002)
South Korea
138 minutes

An ice-cool yuppie killer and a foul-mouthed, loose-cannon cop go the full 15 rounds of psychological mano-a-mano in this slow-burning thriller. Actually a character study of a gifted but terminally anti-establishment ex-boxer cop looking for personal redemption, “Public Enemy” is a corrupt cop drama featuring Korea’s own Robert De Niro, Seol Kyung-gu.
Director:
Kang Woo-suk
Cast:
Sol Kyung-gu
Lee Seong-jae
Kang Shin-il
Kim Jeong-hak

Tuesday June 10th 9:30 PM Egyptian
Ping Pong (2002)
Japan
114 minutes

Long-time pals Peco and Smile have come to a crossroads. Smile is the better player, but he consistently loses to Peco out of a misguided sense of friendship. When the joyless technician, Dragon, crushes Peco, it’s time to put up or shut up. For Smile putting up is hard, for Peco shutting up is next to impossible. “Ping Pong” may be the greatest extreme sports movie ever made - and the sport is table tennis?!?
Director:
Fumihiko (Sori) Masuri
Cast:
Yosuke Kubozuka
Arata
Koji Akura
Naoto Takenaka

Thurday June 11th 7 PM Harvard Exit
Nate Dogg (2003)
United States
76 minutes
World Premiere

Nate Dogg is a 16 year-old high school dropout suffering from severe ADHD, living in a trailer park and trying to support himself and his girlfriend. His poverty stricken world is filled with drug dealing, manual labor and a slew of people ready to take advantage of Nate, who nonetheless does what he can to be hard working and honest. Based on the true-life story of Nathan Hale who plays himself.
Director:
Thomas Farone
Cast:
Nathan Hale
David Bunce
Erin Johncox
Michalena Almindo

Thursday June 11th 10 PM Egyptian
Serious Killer (2003)
Mexico
84 minutes
US Premiere

A deliriously absurd murder mystery with a plot that reads like pulp fiction run amok: a battered and lonely cop is assigned to find the perpetrator of a series of hooker killings in which each of the prostitutes dies with a smile on her face, the victims of lethally blissful orgasms. The murder trail leads inexorably toward a corrupt priest, who promises the cop the solution to the murders in return for his complicity in maintaining the secrecy of the techniques that caused the girl’s deaths.
Director:
Antonio Urrutia
Cast:
Jesus Ochoa
Santiago Segura
Gabriela Roel
Ivonne Montero

Friday June 12th 1:45 PM Cinerama
800 Bullets (2002)
SPAIN
124 minutes

This anarchic comedy from Spain’s reigning master of cinematic mayhem centers on a nasty, 12-year old boy who sneaks off to find the Spanish setting of a number of Hollywood westerns in hopes of finding his grandfather—a former stuntman—who he’s just learned is still alive and performing at the run-down theme park.

Director:
Alex De La Iglesia
Cast:
Sancho Gracia
Carmen Maura
Eusebio Poncela
Terele Pavez

Edited to remove movies I opted not to buy tickets for.

[Latte Thunder]

Friday June 12th 1:45 PM Cinerama
800 Bullets (2002)
SPAIN
124 minutes

This anarchic comedy from Spain’s reigning master of cinematic mayhem centers on a nasty, 12-year old boy who sneaks off to find the Spanish setting of a number of Hollywood westerns in hopes of finding his grandfather—a former stuntman—who he’s just learned is still alive and performing at the run-down theme park.

I so badly want to see this movie! Iglesia is insane!

[Griff [Mola]]

I hear Stuart Gordon's new flick, KING OF THE ANTS, is playing there too...

[I am 138]

The best thing about this festival is Chris does all the research for me .

Due to an stupid, and completely avoidable, situation where my credit cards were being transfered right as tickets went on sale, Bubba Ho Tep has sold out on me. I knew this would happen. Dammit.

Anyway, I've procured...well, tickets to 3 films at Cinerama on June 14th. That'll be a day. Going to Jail Breakers, H, and 800 Bullets. Shoulda opened this thread sooner, mighta tried to squeeze in King of the Ants. Oh, well.

[ROBERT]

I think you'll like H,(slow going, though,but solid) and really like Bubba Ho-tep. Campbell's best performance, period. Too bad about the lame Mummy.800 bullets will also be at the Fantasia film festival, with nutcase Iglesia in attendance. Look forward to hearing all the dirt from the Seattle fest. Another recommendation from me is the Korean Public Enemy(due out on HK DVD, soon, I hope,too expensive on Korean DVD to take a chance)and Kim Ki-duk's BadGuy(with some reservations)Kim's Real fiction is a sobering depressing, but excellent film. In regards to Serious Killer, anything with madman Santiago Segura is worth seeing at least once.