Herald Movie Critic Robert Horton’s recommendations for this week at the Seattle International Film Festival:
“Summer Hours”: A beauty from director Olivier Assayas, about a family coming to terms with a long-held summer house, and the legacy of a near-great artist who lived there. Juliette Binoche leads an impressive cast in this gentle, contemplative gem; 4:30 tonight, SIFF Cinema; 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Uptown.
“The Yes Men Fix the World”: Another documentary featuring “the Yes Men,” two trouble-making activists who pose as corporate bigwigs in order to infiltrate conventions and press conferences, where they deliver their ludicrous ideas with straight faces. Some choice “Borat”-like moments ensue; 7 tonight, Neptune; 11 a.m. tomorrow, Neptune.
“Departures”: The surprise winner of this year’s foreign-language film Oscar, this likable Japanese picture follows a young man who moves back to his home town and finds an unlikely job in the ceremonial preparation of dead bodies. Nothing goes too deep, but there are some droll moments here; 9:30 tonight, SIFF Cinema; 2 p.m. Sunday, SIFF Cinema.
“The Adventures of Robin Hood”: Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, introduces this beloved telling of the tale, with Errol Flynn as the tights-wearing bandit of Sherwood Forest; 11 a.m. Saturday, Harvard Exit.
“Sunset Boulevard”: Billy Wilder’s classic poison-pen mash note to Hollywood, with Gloria Swanson as a silent-movie star dreaming of an unlikely comeback and William Holden as the washed-up screenwriter humoring her; 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Harvard Exit.
“The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle”: Seattle filmmaker David Russo brings his dizzying, stubbornly mainstream-defying comedy to town, with some of the film’s actors (including Natasha Lyonne and Marshall Allman) attending. It’s your basic story of janitorial staff consuming experimental cookies that might precipitate gross and miraculous physiological events for the consumer; 4 p.m. Saturday, SIFF Cinema; 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Egyptian.
“Treeless Mountain”: An intense South Korean film about two very little girls who are shuttled from the care of their mother to an aunt in the country, a story told with fierce commitment to the girls’ point of view. A somewhat challenging but very affecting movie; 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Pacific Place; 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Pacific Place.
“Still Walking”: A study of family dynamics, told with great subtlety by Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda (whose “Nobody Knows” was a brilliant study of lost children). Ignore the rather syrupy music score and enjoy the insights about long-held family issues; 7 p.m. Sunday, Harvard Exit.
“The Third Man”: Robert Osborne will introduce this splendid 1949 classic, director Carol Reed’s sardonic look at wide-open postwar Vienna; 11 a.m. Sunday, Harvard Exit.
“Dodsworth”: Less known than Osborne’s other presentations, this 1936 William Wyler film is a superb adaptation of the classic Sinclair Lewis novel about a very American couple adjusting to life in Europe; 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Harvard Exit.
“Bluebeard”: A curious take on the fairy tale from the usually provocative director Catherine Breillat; it culminates in some surprises, but doesn’t feel as forceful as her recent run of pictures (“The Last Mistress”); 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Egyptian; 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, SIFF Cinema.
“The Cove”: This could turn out to be the talked-about documentary of the year, a scathing uncovering of Japan’s ongoing slaughter of dolphins, which the filmmakers capture on video by virtue of illegally hidden cameras. Lots of activist documentaries don’t quite close their case; this one has the smoking gun, and audiences around the world are going to be horrified and outraged by what they see; 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Egyptian; 6:30 p.m. Monday, Neptune.
“It Takes a Cult”: For anybody who grew up in this area, this is a fascinating look inside the Love Israel family, which had a commune near Arlington. Filmmaker Eric Johannsen, who grew up in the family, has lots of interviews and home-movie footage; he surely doesn’t tell the whole story, but casts light on a lot of it; 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, SIFF Cinema; 5 p.m. Thursday, Pacific Place.
“Tribute to Spike Lee”: The “Do the Right Thing” director will be on hand for a tribute with clips, Q&A and a screening of his new film, “Passing Strange”; 7 p.m.Wednesday, Egyptian.
“The Hurt Locker”: A riveting Iraq War suspense film about a bomb-defusing squad going through a series of tense situations. The absence of overt politicizing doesn’t mean the film is toothless, as director Kathryn Bigelow proves in every shot; 7 p.m. Thursday, SIFF Cinema.
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