Well, SIFF is over. It’s sad. My movie-watching will now return back to Netflix. I realized that I really do like watching in the privacy of my own home (without tall people’s heads infront of me, the stink of popcorn, uncomfortable temperatures, etc.). Nonetheless, I’m totally glad I did SIFF and I intend to continue seeing SIFF movies as long as I live in Seattle.

As for the Secret Festival, I’m not sure whether I’ll do it again next year. I only liked one of the four movies. I think the philosophy behind choosing the movies wasn’t quite what I expected. Maybe that varies year-to-year — I can’t say. We’ll see what I impulsively decide next year.

Throughout the festival I kept some “statistics” on random things. To conclude my SIFF coverage for the year, I share:

• Total money spent on tickets:
  $137
  
• Total time spent standing in line:
  155 minutes = 2 hours 35 minutes
  
• Total movies seen:
  15
  
• Languages:
  Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, English, Swedish, French
  
• Movies with subtitles:
  7
  
• Movies canceled:
  1
  
• Movies about movies:
  3
  
• Times the director was in the audience:
  4
  
• Total voting points given:
  43
  
• Average points given:
  3.9
  
• Times the woman with orange/red hair stood behind me:
  2
  
• Times people left the audience in disgust:
  2
  
• Movies with Maggie Cheung in the cast:
  2
  
• Movies with Don McKellar in the cast:
  2
  
• My favorite movie:
  2046
  
• My favorite movie that wasn’t a Wong Kar-Wai movie:
  Mysterious Skin
  
• My favorite movie that stood a chance against a WKW movie (i.e. 2046) and a movie by one of my favorite directors with one of my favorite actors (i.e. Mysterious Skin):
  Clean
  
• My favorite movie that didn’t stand a chance against the aforementioned movies because it was a comedy (and I’m not a big fan of comedy, but this movie was awesome anyway):
  Ellie Parker
  
• Fat people who blocked my view:
  2
  
• Movies seen at the Egyptian Theatre:
  7
  
• Movies seen at the Neptune Theatre:
  5
  
• Movies seen at the Harvard Exit Theatre:
  3
  
• My favorite theatre:
  The Egyptian
  
• Movies I went to see alone:
  8
  

Frozen was a bit of a disappointment, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

I think this movie may be better the second or third time around because it’s one of those movies where, at the end, everything comes together and you have somewhat of an “ah-ha” moment. In those types of movies, however, there has to be more than the “ah-ha” moment to keep things interesting. In Frozen there was nothing. I actually considered leaving the movie a few times it was so boring. There was little or no music to keep me engaged nor where the characters all that interesting nor were there any interesting camera tricks or beautiful shots to keep me wanting to find out what happened.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a woman, Kath, whose sister disappeared two years ago. She’s been trying to deal with the loss of her sister ever since. She has a boring job as a fish filleter (or something) with not-so-interesting coworkers — though she did sleep with one of the men at some point and when he wants to get wtih her again she bites him. Her “therapist” is a pastor or something at a church with an invalid wife. Her and the pastor sort of fall in love.

She talks to the police and ends up getting her hands on some of the evidence tied to the case — most notably, a security tape from an alleyway where her sister was last seen. At one point she finds a “magnetic disturbance” (I forget the exact explanation) in the tape that gets her all excited. She also experiences daydreams that, along with the strange tape, lead us to believe (or lead me, at least, to believe) that there is something supernatural going on maybe?

There is a bit of a payoff at the end, but, like I said, the rest of the movie doesn’t make it worthwhile. I think the voting was over, or I didn’t get a ballot, but I would give this movie 2/5 if I could.

“It’s no secret” that Naomi Watts is my favorite actress — and that is what made Ellie Parker such a great film for me. This movie had her doing a range of acting and also gave her a chance to, I would image, have a lot of fun.

The director, Scott Coffey, was in the audience and spoke after, so I learned that the movie was filmed over the course of five years. Watts and Coffey apparently became friends when they were both acting in Tank Girl. Around the time Mulholland Drive was finishing (another movie they were both in — Coffey playing a very minor part, Watts, of course, being one of the main characters) they started working on Ellie Parker. The film started out as a short film that they were going to use as an “audition piece” (not sure about the correct terminology here?) in order to get money for a totally different film. It turns out, however, that they were so pleased with how the short turned out, that they decided to expand it into a full-length feature.

Given Watts’ raising popularity and commitments to other films, they had to work on the film in short pieces (something the director said he would never suggest doing to aspiring film makers). She didn’t get paid to be in the film (the whole thing cost only $500 to make, Coffey said) and as the years went by the “Naomi Watts circus” (i.e. her “people”) were rather perplexed in regard to her dedication to Ellie Parker and not quite sure why she’d spend time on a film that she didn’t get paid for when she had other projects to focus on.

So based on the way Coffey explained it, this sounded like one of those films that Hollywood-types get together and make for fun (not for profit) and have a great time making. Based on my viewing of the film, this seems pretty accurate.

The first half-hour or so features Watts going to two auditions. In the first one she is trying for the part of a southern belle. After her first attempt — subtle and heartfelt — the director informs her “this is going to be filmed on digital, so it has to be raw.” Her next attempt is over the top emotional — and hilarious. In between the first and second auditions we see Watts driving along some Los Angeles highway. The second audition is for some junkie prostitute-type role, so she has to totally change her image — put on different clothes, apply tacky lipstick, mess up her hair, etc. She does all of this while driving — and while listening to great songs such as “Safari” by the Breeders (which I’ve always thought is one of the best Breeders’ songs), “Heart of Glass” by Blondie, and some techno song I cannot remember the name of (to which Watts sorta dances in her car). The whole thing is great, and she actually did do all of that stuff while driving (while Coffey kneeled down in the passenger seat to tape it). The second audition is, awkwardly, done in front of a video camera since the director is in Vancouver. Watts uses a Brooklyn accent and, again, the whole thing is totally funny.

The rest of the movie is basic Hollywood insider stuff. Her boyfriend is a stoner musician who cheats on her. Her friend makes abstract art that she couldn’t understand. She falls for the guy who rear-ends her. She eats blue ice cream and vomits it up later. She attends a very bizarre “acting class” where she learns to channel her life experiences into roles. She goes to a Dogstar concert (Keanu Reeves‘ band). She informs us that therapist = the rapist (if you just add a space). She “retires” from acting. She destroys her tapes. She retires from retirement. She goes to the most insane audition ever.

The movie is great. It is totally hilarious and demonstrates the range of roles Watts can play — though in a very self-conscious and self-aware, in a funny way, way. I found myself laughing at this movie so much, and I can only imagine that if I lived in Los Angeles or worked “in the industry” the movie would be even funnier.

I gave this movie 5/5 because it was so damn funny and so damn postmodern and so damn Naomi Watts-centric. The movie is going to be released to theatres around the same time that King Kong comes out. Coffey noted that Watts would simultaneously be in the most expensive movie ever made and the cheapest movie ever made.