Staff Picks
A big film festival, a tribute to a horror master, local authors and a singing mermaid: Here’s a roundup of what’s on some of Seattle’s indie screens this month.
Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle’s biggest annual film festival unspools May 9-19 (select films screening online May 20-27), with 261 films from 84 countries/regions around the world. Opening night at the Paramount will feature “Thelma,” a comedy about a 93-year-old woman (Oscar nominee June Squibb, a special guest of the festival) seeking revenge after being scammed. Closing night on May 18, at SIFF Cinema Downtown, is the drama “Sing Sing,” featuring Oscar nominee Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) as an incarcerated man finding healing through theater. In between are films of every imaginable description, along with numerous special events, including one featuring former Seattleite Jean Smart, of “Hacks.”
Outside of the festival, a handful of options from the “50 Years of SIFF” anniversary series screen pre-fest at the Egyptian, including Hayao Miyazaki’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (through May 5), Gus Van Sant’s “To Die For” (May 3), Lucrecia Martel’s “The Headless Woman” (May 6) and Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” (May 5). And note a post-festival treat for those who love art and fashion: The documentary “John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger,” which has at its center an exhibition of Sargent’s works shown next to items of clothing worn by his subjects, begins screening at the SIFF Film Center on June 1.
SIFF Cinema Egyptian (805 E. Pine, Seattle), SIFF Cinema Uptown (511 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle), SIFF Cinema Downtown (2100 Fourth Ave., Seattle), SIFF Film Center (Seattle Center campus); 206-464-5830, siff.net
Central Cinema
At the Central District’s friendly food-and-drinks theater, you can sing along with “The Little Mermaid” (and seriously, you have not lived unless you have warbled “Under the Sea” with strangers) May 3-8, and hold on to your hats for “Twister” (the 1996 disaster movie, not the party game) May 3-7. The rather unusual double feature (no, you don’t have to go to both) of the Pixar charmer “Toy Story” and the horror movie “Child’s Play” — hey, both involve a kid named Andy — screens May 10-15, and the month finishes off with an “Ani-May” series featuring “Paprika” (May 17-22) and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (May 24-29), showing in both subtitled Japanese and English-dubbed versions.
Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., Seattle; 206-328-3230, central-cinema.com
Grand Illusion
It’s the 45th anniversary of George A. Romero’s zombie classic “Dawn of the Dead,” screening at the Grand Illusion in a newly restored edition May 10-12. Also from Romero: his 1973 horror film “The Crazies,” screening May 5 with an intro and Q&A provided by local writer/horror historian Adam Hart, author of the new book “Raising the Dead: The Work of George A. Romero.” The month also brings two films from French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello: “The Beast,” a sci-fi horror epic inspired by a Henry James novella, screening May 4-16, and “Coma,” a 2022 film about an isolated teen falling under the spell of a vlogger, May 17-19. And my former Seattle Times colleague (and former editor of The Stranger) Tricia Romano, author of “The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture,” will be on hand May 6 for a screening of the documentary “Uncropped,” about longtime Village Voice photographer James Hamilton.
Grand Illusion Cinema, 1403 N.E. 50th St., Seattle; 206-523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org
Northwest Film Forum
More Romero, at the Film Forum: “Creepshow,” the 1982 short horror film package written by Stephen King (his first screenplay) and directed by Romero, screens May 1-5, with Hart on hand May 4 for a Q&A. And NWFF offers a strong lineup of films for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, among them Alice Wu’s 2004 debut “Saving Face” (she’s also known for the charming 2020 rom-com “The Half of It”) on May 8-12; Hou Hsiao-hsien’s gorgeous 1998 drama “Flowers of Shanghai,” featuring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, May 15-19; “Dreams,” the 1990 classic from Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, May 26-June 2; and Tom Huang’s award-winning 2022 debut drama “Dealing With Dad,” with the filmmaker present May 26.
Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle; 206-329-2629, nwfilmforum.org
The Beacon
It’s unusual for the cozy Beacon to offer a first-run film, but this month it’ll be showing what British filmmaker Ken Loach — now 87, and a chronicler of the working class and oppressed on film since the 1960s — has said will be his final film. “The Old Oak,” about Syrian refugees settling in a quiet British town, was a Palme d’Or nominee at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and will run at the Beacon from May 10-23. Also on the Beacon’s calendar are numerous archival films, among them Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 “Lolita” (May 24, 27, 29), Jean Renoir’s 1939 “The Rules of the Game” (an inspiration for Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park,” May 19), Luis Buñuel’s 1967 “Belle de Jour” with Catherine Deneuve (May 19, 20, 23), and Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 “L’Avventura” (May 31, June 1, 3, 6).
The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle; 206-420-7328, thebeacon.film
To read more of our arts and entertainment writers’ recommendations, go to: st.news/staff-picks.
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