Though the concluding Cannes in France got all the press, the self-proclaimed “largest film festival” is still going strong all the way in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle International Film Festival — which started May 17 and runs until June 10 — hosts more than 400 films in a nearly month-long celebration of cinema.
By the time I arrive, I’ve already missed some of the biggest films — including Your Sister’s Sister, directed by Seattle girl-gone-good Lynn Shelton and starring Mark Duplass, and Safety Not Guaranteed, which stars Aubrey Plaza and Duplass in a tale about a classified ad promising time travel. Yet there are some still big draws left, such as Sarah Polley’s new film Take This Waltz, with Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Take This Waltz was the first film I saw, the sold-out screening taking place at the gorgeous Egyptian Theatre nearby Neumo’s and hordes of University of Washington hipsters. The movie deals with Margot (Williams), who finds herself drawn to her neighbor Daniel (Luke Kirby) but is in a happy marriage with her husband Lou (Rogen). It’s never explained how aspiring chicken cookbook writer Lou and not-writing writer Margot can afford their abundant Toronto home, and in a history of ridiculously quirky jobs in indie cinema, Daniel’s painter moonlighting as rickshaw driver ranks pretty high up there.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2012.