Dreileben Trilogy, three German films from different directors connected by interlocking stories, plays this weekend only at Northwest Film Forum. The three films play out one per night: Beats Being Dead (Christian Petzold) on Friday, March 9, Don’t Follow Me Around (Dominik Graf) on Saturday, March 10, and One Minute of Darkness (Christoph Hochhauseler) on Sunday, March 11. Descriptions and showtimes here, and a series pass is available.
“[T]hree different directors have made three feature films linked by a crime—more precisely, by the hunt for an escaped murderer in and around the picturesque village of the title—and if anything the results differ more in tone, style, and focus than the three parts of Red Riding,” writes Richard Jameson, who describes “the mission of Dreileben overall” in this way: “to define the incompleteness of “truth,” to underscore the impossibility of “seeing” everything, even about ourselves.” Read his complete review here.
Continue reading for more screenings, openings and events…
Chances are, they’ll get around to discussing Dreileben at the March installment of Framing Pictures, a discussion of the current cinema in Seattle (and in the culture at large). It occurs on Friday, March 9 at 5pm at NWFF and Parallax View regulars Robert Horton, Richard T. Jameson and Kathleen Murphy are set to lead the conversation. The event is free, so there’s no excuse not to join the discussion. Plus, they sell beer and wine, which only lubricates the conversation.
The 2012 Seattle Jewish Film Festival opens Thursday, March 15 with the film Mabul (The Flood), screening at Cinerama, and runs through Sunday, March 25 with screenings at Pacific Place and the Uptown.
The Hunger Games geek alert! The cast of the film is doing a roadshow series of personal visits. Not only is Seattle on the list, we’ve got the A-listers coming. On Saturday, March 10, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson will be making a personal appearance at University Village. Crowds are not permitted to start lining up until 7am. Doors open at 9am, and a Q&A will be conducted in the parking lot at 3:30pm.
Keep next weekend open: eight films from the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema will screen between Friday, March 16 and Sunday, March 18. Schedule and details here.
Notable Seattle Openings
In Darkness, one of the five nominated Foreign Language films in this years Academy Awards, is Agnieszka Holland’s third film about the holocaust. John Hartl praises Robert Wieckiewicz’s incarnation of the lead character and unlikely hero: “he’s an anti-Semite and a walking contradiction: a grouchy small-time thief who finds himself absurdly and almost accidentally playing the role of a lifesaver. He’s never a saint and far from rational.” At Seven Gables.
House of Pleasures, Bertrand Bonello’s portrait of the last days of a turn-of-the-century Paris bordello, opens at Grand Illusion for a week. “Bonello’s posh maison close is a realm of beautifully dressed (and undressed) whores, alternately languid or high-spirited, if sadly victimized,” writes J. Hoberman, in a review written before he was canned by The Village Voice.
Let the Bullets Fly, a Chinese action comedy with a streak of dark humor starring Chow Yun-fat, Ge You, and Jiang Wen, opens for a week at The Uptown. “Sweet crimony, what a madcap lark this is,” exclaims Robert Horton at The Crop Duster. His full review is at the Herald here.
How to Make a Book with Steidl, a documentary about the fading art of producing a physical book, plays for a week at Northwest Film Forum. Tom Keogh, at The Seattle Times, describes it as a “tour de force of dogged, sometimes unexpected observation…”
Lula, Son of Brazil, a documentary on Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, plays through Wednesday at The Uptown.
Sound of Noise, a Swedish comedy about musical criminals who break into banks and turn the equipment into instruments, opens at The Varsity.
Repertory
The Francois Truffaut series is “officially” over but because of a snow closure, SAM has rescheduled Jules and Jim for Thursday, March 15. 7:30 at the Plestcheef Auditorium at SAM Downtown. Some tickets are available for purchase at the door.
Norwegian Ninja, the latest installment of Psychotronic Cinema, plays Thursday, March 15 at SIFF Cinema at the Film Center.
Rushmore plays one night only on Friday, March 9 at SIFF Cinema Film Center, as part of the “Class Reunion: High School Through the Decades” series.
Late nights: True Romance is at The Egyptian, Battle Royale is back for another late night screening at NWFF on Friday, March 9 (details here), and at Grand Illusion, Raw Force plays late night. Not so late is the Sci-Fi Saturday Secret Matinee, which continues through the month at Grand Illusion.
And at Central Cinema, V for Vendetta plays through Wednesday and Saturday Night Fever play through the weekend, plus cult film The Room is back for a showing (close captioned) on Thursday, March 15.
For more alternative screenings, read Moira Macdonald’s At A Theater Near You roundup at The Seattle Times.
Schedules and Showtimes
You can check your favorite independent cinemas, neighborhood theaters and multiplexes here.
Independent theaters:
SIFF Cinema
Northwest Film Forum
Grand Illusion
Seattle Art Museum
Central Cinema
The Big Picture
Majestic Bay Theatres
Cinerama
Multiplexes and Chains
Cinebarre
Landmark Theatres (Egyptian, Guild 45, Harvard Exit, Metro, Varsity and others)
Regal Cinemas (Meridian 16, Thornton Place and others)
AMC Cinemas (Pacific Place, Oak Tree, Alderwood and others)
Kirland Park Place
Lincoln Square Cinemas
Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas