Vee Hua 華婷婷Directed by Ivan Noel In Your Absence, or En Tu Ausencia, is a surprising first-time effort by director Iván Noel that emanates beauty in more ways than one. Set in a pristine stretch of Spanish countryside, In Your Absence is filmed amidst a breath...
About a year ago, I was working for a start-up in an old building in Seattle’s SoDo District. It was complete with rickity floorboards and unusual decorations crafted from salvaged parts. The overwhelming scent could’ve been described as...
School Days With A Pig is a film that begins initially with a delightfully cute premise yet veers into the territory of issues such as morality and death. Teacher Mr. Hoshi, played by Satoshi Tsumabuki, introduces to his class of sixth graders a...
I watched Donkey Punch on a whim (it was between that film and the French sci-fi flick, Chrysalis). Both films were up for midnight screenings, but I chose Donkey Punch. Given its lude title and classification as an erotic thriller, it seemed more...
I guess erotic thrillers aren’t supposed to be that much more than erotic and thrilling. Summer Heat is pretty much exactly those two things, manifested in the form of two somewhat good-looking people with sexual attraction for one another and...
Cool graphic design doesn’t even make this film interesting. An extremely minimalist take on the lives of four deeply unhappy people. Well-shot if you are fine with a drab color palette. Largely pointless. I mean, one can stretch potential...
One of my favorite films of the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival, The Wave is based off of a true story. Although the actual story takes place in Palo Alto, California, the film takes place in Germany.Teacher Rainier Wenger receives...
Savage Grace is a tale about the incestuous relationship of a mother and her homosexual son. The entire film is an ever-deepening downwards spiral that is disturbing to watch. Yet, like a car accident, the viewer cannot help but be interested by the...