TeenTix Blog Film

What do superheroes, gifts to homeless people, and poisoned blueberry muffins have in common? These were all subjects of films presented in NFFTY’s “Northwest Life” screening on Sunday. Gothingham by Robert Bojorquez follows the misadventures of Batman and Spiderman in the underwhelming city of Bellingham, Wash. In Change of Heart, filmmaker Owen Craft and his team explore themes of altruism and kindness through a simple story about a boy on a shopping trip. A dark and humorous comedy, MUFFINS by Hadley Hillel tells the story of a baker who fails to successfully execute his duties as a hitman. Many of the films featured in “Northwest Life” possessed a quintessentially Northwestern spirit, and all of the talented filmmakers from this region are worthy of recognition. However, the three documentaries in this set of films deserve special mention.

Then and Now This film follows the narrative of Eloise and her family in her fight against cancer. Presented by a team of 17-year-old Washington filmmakers (Ana Krafchick, Dayan Flynn Walsh, and Enjuli Chhaniara), “Then and Now” conveys a poignant and authentic description of a young girl’s life. Eloise and her family are strong, and Eloise articulates the ways in which she has refused to be defined by her battle against cancer. This documentary shares an important story from a local family, inspiring and encouraging the audience.

Saturday's “Reel Animation” series of films showcased a variety of creative artistic techniques, some of them effective and others regrettably not.

Candy Floss by Linnea Ritland is one of the good ones. It is a music video recalling a summer romance. The music is a cute, little ukulele ballad, and the animation provides artwork for the lyrics. The combination of live action, hand-drawn pink figures, and 2D computer-assisted animation creates a unique narrative. The live action segments give the music video a retrospective point of view, while the pink color of the hand drawn characters gave the memory a light-hearted and fun mood, as well as tying into the color of candy floss.

This series of short films shown at NFFTY on Friday revolves around shared themes of black humor, endings, and death.

Standing out as a favorite is Applesauce by Nathan Hansen, Cory Soukup, and Drake Tucker. According to the description provided by the program, in this film “A man thinks he has found true happiness. But he quickly learns that this comes with a price.” This happiness comes in the shape of a curious life-sized horse statue by the name of Applesauce. This short has amazingly cheesy sound effects that provide irony and hilarity as well as solid cinematography techniques that are at once tactful and seamlessly blended into the narrative.

Friday marked the continuation of an exciting lineup of films at NFFTY. Among the sets shown on Friday was “A Guide to Growing Up” in which filmmakers from 3 different countries (Canada, Australia, and the United States) showed films addressing a plethora of issues regarding the difficulties (and joys) of what it means to grow up and maneuver your way through developing your identity, perspectives, and personality in today’s modern world.

The following films are some of the highlights of the evening and deal with a variety of themes that cover some aspect of what it means to grow up and to overcome the challenges encountered along the way.

On Thursday night, filmmakers and art fans flocked to the Opening Night Gala of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). This annual film festival, hosted in downtown Seattle, brings together international filmmakers ages 7-22 in order to cultivate the next generation of film talent. NFFTY presents films filled with passion, excellent visual design, and an innovative spirit. The films showcased at the Opening Gala of NFFTY 2014 were compelling and well-made, eliciting both tears and laughter from the audience.The following films are just a few highlights from the evening.

Dave’s Wild Life, directed by UK filmmaker Samuel de Ceccatty, captures the essence of what it means to live a passionate life. Dave would love to be a naturalist, and he keeps with pride a little leather journal full of diagrams and drawings of urban creatures (such as the “London Hipster”). Between Dave’s self-conscious grins and head-bobbing, you can’t help but smile. (Major shout-out to Stuart Benson for a fantastic portrayal of Dave and his endearing awkwardness.) From the outside, Dave’s life appears uneventful and mundane. But Dave lives his life to the fullest, armed with an infectious grin and creative perspective. His imagination makes life a worthwhile adventure. The film raises the question, “Do you live your life with as much passion as Dave?”

An evening that ignited excitement, joy and appreciation for the art and talent of young directors is the best way to describe the amazing gala celebration that kicked off the 2014 National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY).

The gala was held at Cinerama, where hundreds of spectators were excited to experience firsthand the talent of the young directors who opened the festival with high-quality films that varied in content and style. As crowds walked down the vibrant red carpet that lead to the theater, photographers, press, and audience members young and old gathered to celebrate NFFTY 2014.

Ever dreamed of a world with only other teenagers? Well, that world might be hard to find, but a little taste of it can be had at SIFF tonight.

They're hosting a special screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail to which only teens are allowed! For $5 (with or without a TeenTix pass) teens can view the classic film in a fun, interactive, and other-age-group-free way.

Goodie bags are usually given out at the end of a party, but goodie bags are just the beginning at SIFF’s screenings of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in Smell-o-Vision.

The little red bags, containing an assortment of seemingly random items, are the key to a scrumdiddlyumptious time. At first, the contents appear nonsensical, but everything falls into place as soon as the film begins. SIFF has perfectly orchestrated a viewing experience rivaling what Wonka might have created himself.

The Institute is a documentary about the pseudo-fictional Jejune Institute in California. I say pseudo-fictional because it is real in the sense that it exists in real life. However, in reality, it is not the mysterious organization of inventors and revolutionaries that it appears to be at first glance. In reality, it's both much more and much less than that. In reality, it's all just a game--a live-action, roleplaying game put on by a small group of people.

The film starts with a good, eye-catching opening that takes us around San Francisco and shows us some of the fliers for the Jejune Institute. It presents a compelling mystery from the start: what is the Jejune Institute? And what do they do?

Would you risk your life and freedom for a $100 bill? Probably not, but that is exactly what Victor, a 17-year old wheelbarrow porter in a busy Paraguayan market, does in the film 7 Cajas, or 7 Boxes. An entertaining comedy-thriller, 7 Boxes is well worth a watch. This South American film is a refreshing change of scenery and pace from typical thrillers.

The suspenseful mystery of the boxes’ contents consistently captures the audience’s attention while not slipping into an overly serious narrative. Instead, the film is a witty mix of miscommunications and dramatic irony that certainly provide an artistic escape from cookie-cutter Hollywood action films with predictable plotlines.

Ali is a grocery bagger who lives with her mother. She sells stolen booze to fat kids. Her best friend claims to have a gorgeous spouse from India. She is afraid of driving cars and falling in love with boys.

In other words, she is the average teenage girl. For those who watch Arrested Development, Ali is a lot like Maeby Bluth: often in rebellion simply for the sake of revolt. When fellow bagger and love interest Julio comes on the scene, she has to deal with all the classic dilemmas of young romance. The story is simple, but the script is witty enough to make the ride worthwhile.

Blackbird tells the story of a bullied, teenage, Goth outcast who is wrongly accused of planning a school shooting in a small, Canadian town. I enjoyed this film and the concept overall, but there are pieces that felt a little tired and unnecessary. For one, the film presents polarized cliques and stereotyped teenagers that are often seen in classic teen movies, but are, to me, completely inaccurate. Rarely will you find the letterman jacket jock group facing off against the extreme Goth kid in high school, nor will you see teens throwing food from across the room at their enemies. At points it feels like the story line clunks along in a very monotonous way, but the end result is slightly more satisfying.

The film presents hyper-sensitivity within our society and our tendency to blame the victim and ostracize the “other”. The main character is forced to conform, change his personality, and denounce his interests. He is pushed into a corner, and is forced to admit to a crime that he didn’t commit.

At some point, you’ve been introduced to the man in the moon. Perhaps a parent pointed out his face on a late-night drive, or a friend described his massive grin during a lull in a sleepover. Perhaps you discovered him yourself, making out his cheery face while lying in your backyard.

As it turns out, it’s lonely being the only man on the moon. The Moon Man of Stephen Shesch’s animated film certainly is. Though the children of the world bellow rely on the Moon Man for comfort and reassurance, he grows increasingly agitated in his rocky home. So when a meteor passes by one day on its way to Earth, the Moon Man doesn’t hesitate to climb aboard.

Many American teenagers these days have it easy. Apart from the grueling hours spent sleepwalking around our high schools, we lead cushy lives with video games, junk food, and (if it’s your thing) friends. We take for granted our families, the work that goes in to buying our food, and even how the food is prepared. Our biggest worry in life is not when we are going to next be fed.

If only Jin’s problems were this mundane.

The bayous of Louisiana are some of the treasures of the United States, rich in culture and wildlife, but are not often publicized in today’s media. One of this year’s Academy Award contenders, Beasts of the Southern Wild, brought us a mythical view of an isolated, yet vibrant, bayou community. Sharon Linezo Hong’s My Louisiana Love brings us a harsher reality of the conditions in the bayous.

My Louisiana Love traces Monique Verdin’s poignant story of love, both for her people and her home. Hong’s first full-length documentary is made more intimate through her use of home footage, recorded by Verdin and her partner Mark Krasnoff, and later by Hong herself.

Review of Mississippi I Am at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival by Jessika G.

ALERT: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

There are bad movies. There are really bad movies. There are movies that you thought would be enjoyable, but turn out bad. Then there are movies that you had high hopes for, are actually so terrible that they slap you in the face for ever believing they might be worthwhile. Detention is one such film. What Detention aims to be and what it actually ends up being are two very different things. Billed as a witty sendup of nearly every teen movie being made, it promises to be both a quirky parody as well as a horror movie. True to form, the writers seem to have worked hard to mock every teenage movie known to man in less than an hour and a half. References to teen classics are both endless and heavy-handed. I could have saved the writers some time in developing Detention: rather than go to all the effort of actually writing a story, they could have simply loaded the screenplays of Freaky Friday, Ten Things I Hate About You, The Breakfast Club, and Friday the Thirteenth into a gun, fired the gun, and then picked up the pieces at random. They would have ended up with a script of about the same caliber of meaningless drivel. The simple fact is that Detention is prey to every imaginable pitfall in a teen movie. The acting is terrible, the direction is schizophrenic, the plot is simultaneously vapid, ridiculous, and convoluted, and the cliché is laid on so heavily that the actors appear to have actual difficulty standing up. While it is true that in teen movies these are all forgivable offenses, the biggest sin of Detention is that it simply does not have anything to say. As a film and a parody it is soulless; even spoofs need to offer their own insight and take on the world. All Detention does is merely giggle at and plagiarize other movies, without offering anything original. To be blunt, this movie can definitely be passed over in your forays through SIFF. There are some real gems in this year’s festival, and they are not to be missed. Detention is true to its title in that being there is certainly a punishment. My best advice is to do like the cool kids: cut Detention and go see something Swedish. (…That’s what cool kids do, right?) DETENTION Part of Seattle International Film Festival Playing at: Neptune Theatre, June 3 at 9:30 PM Egyptian Theatre, June 5 at 9:15 PM More info at siff.net Recommended for Ages 17+ (contains bloody violence, nudity, and strong language)

If the realization hits you about an hour into Cold Weather that absolutely nothing has happened yet, my best advice is to calmly collect your things and exit the theatre as unobtrusively and politely as possible. The bad news is that you’re dead right—nothing has happened. The worse news is that for the remaining hour or so, it only gets worse. I exaggerate a little. True, stuff happens in Cold Weather. The problem is that it happens at about intervals of about half an hour. And when it does happen, it is done in a manner that is so clichéd, contrived, and sophomoric that it’s almost worse than nothing happening at all. I spent large sections of this movie intently wondering if it would be more satisfying to drive an ice pick through my own head or the head of the grating main character Doug, who is as moronically ridiculous as he is coma-inducing. Even more regretfully, the two mildly interesting characters abruptly and inexplicably disappear for large sections of the film, leaving the audience like castaways on a desert island, desperately trying to find a way off Part of the problem may have been that I had high expectations for this film. Promotional materials touted it, saying “[Director Aaron Katz’s] coy and funny thriller keeps audiences guessing, while sharpening his singular cinematic style. Cinescope hailed it as ‘the greatest American film of the year,’ and we happen to agree.” After reading this and watching the actual film, I can really only come to the conclusion that we were either watching different movies, or that I am a complete and utter moron. However, I don’t think I’m alone, given that several other patrons got up and left in the middle of the movie. I envy them. The fact of the matter is that for every second of footage that might be remotely considered thrilling (if you squint really hard, maybe) there is about five solid minutes of absolutely nothing happening whatsoever. Director Aaron Katz must really, really, love making movies about people sitting in parked cars discussing topics that have absolutely nothing to do with the storyline, because he seems to have gone far out of his way to fill up this film with it. I have a long list in my head of things I could have done rather than see Cold Weather, running the gamut from “read a really interesting book,” to “write an angry and confused letter to Aaron Katz asking why he thinks we are so interested in watching people sit in parked cars.” In the meantime, I will be hanging on to my receipt for the movie, because I expect that when I die I will be able to get the time I spent watching the film subtracted from my sentence in Purgatory. I will be sure to let you know if Purgatory or Cold Weather is more interesting. P.S. Readers! Did you see this movie and agree that I am a complete and utter moron? Please tell me why, because I am mystified. Sincerely, Tucker. Cold Weather Northwest Film Forum Through March 17

I'm a 17 year old guy and I read every book. I am (only slightly) ashamed to say that I was at the midnight release party for Breaking Dawn at my local Barnes and Noble. I saw Eclipse at midnight. I own a Spanish translation of Twilight. And while this might usually qualify one as a crazy fangirl, I don't think of myself as one. For me, Twilight is like Cheetos. They're not filling, they're light and fluffy, and you can eat them pretty mindlessly. You also know deep in your mind that in the long run, it's probably bad for you to have them, but hey, what's another hand full, right? So when someone brings up Twilight, especially when it's a big, fat, angry argument for or against it, I just kind of laugh. Love it or hate it, Twilight is pretty ridiculous when you look at it. But really, it's just mental junk food, either way. And really, a little more can't hurt you, right? Right. Our Teen Press Corps will be telling us what Twilight makes them do all week long. Click here to read them all. Movies at the Mural SEATTLE CENTER Saturday, August 21st @ 9pm: Twilight Sunday, August 22nd @ 9pm: The Twilight Saga: New Moon Free!