One Day Down...

...only 23 more to go.

Seriously, though, as first days go diving into SIFF I could have done a heck of a lot worse than this one. In fact, I saw my first bona fide masterpiece of the festival so far, writer/director Fatih Akin's mesmerizing The Edge of Heaven. This three-part overlapping stunner left me completely knocked cold by its sheer mesmerizing majesty and brilliance, it's final scene a poetic tome to hope, regret and forgiveness virtually impossible to forget.



Seriously, movies do not get better then this. What the filmmaker has accomplished here transcends simple explanations and short recaps, the film so magnificent I can't wait to actually put pen to paper and write a full review. Considering it is now just past 2:00 a.m. here in Seattle, however, don't expect me to do that now. Just know that this is one of the first truly outstanding feature films SIFF has up to now offered up. While others have come close (and I mentioned them in my last blog entry Thursday morning), this one instantly ranks as one of the best I've seen in 2008, only the beautiful independent winner The Visitor and the Romanian mind-blower 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ranking ahead of it right now at this point on the theatrical calendar. For those attending the festival, there is another screening on Sunday. I suggest you check it out.

Otherwise, my first day of a four-in-a-row SIFF marathon worked out pretty well. While I'm not exaclty a huge anime fan, I have to admit Fumihiko Sori's Vexille was damn amazing at times. He and his team of storytellers (the same ones who made the acclaimed Appleseed) have really crafted something visually stunning, some of the images of a dystopian Japan evoking the timeless imagery of Frank Herbet but mixed with a cybernetic recoil that's got plenty of kick. While it does't necessarily make a lot of sense, this Robotech meets Mad Max meets Ghost in the Shell meets The Matrix animated epic has energy and bravado to burn. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, and even when it get so darn silly I wanted to laugh my eyes were bursting so far out of my head the giggles just never made it out of my voicebox.

Speaking of giggles, it might just be officially time to mourn the passing of a true horror icon and legend. Dario Argento's latest gross-out epic The Mother of Tears, the final part of his Three Mothers series which began with his classic Suspiria and continued with the eerily grotesque Opera, is a flat-out howler (and I don't mean that in a good way). There are more unintentional laughs here than can be found in reruns of "Knight Rider" or "Baywatch," the midnight crowd I saw it with almost dying in hysterics in pretty much all the places they were supposed to be screaming in terror.

Not that the Italian master has completely lost it. There are a couple of his trademark tracking shots that just ooze creepy tension, and some of the blood and gore has that usual Argento relish no one else can even come close to matching. But the whole thing is just so unrelentingly dumb (even more so then usual) and makes so little in the way in sense you almost get the feeling they were making it up on the spot. True die-hard fans of the director may want to give this one a chance when it makes the art house rounds later this Summer. Everyone else, meanwhile, should probably do their best to avoid this one like the proverbial plague.

Thankfully, daughter Asia is also in The Last Mistress, and while she gets to look like a complete fool in her daddy's horror epic, for French director Catherine Breillat she gets to be treated like a movie star. In all honesty, I'm not really sure why I decided to take the time to watch this one in again, but something compelled me to make this period piece of infidelity, sex and lies my first repeat of the festival. While I admit the film played a lot slower on second viewing, I was still captivated by both the actress and her costar Fu’ad Ait Aattou, the pair having a lusty chemistry that at times is so freaking hot I couldn't help but blush uncontrollably.

That's really all there is to report right now. I'm tired - dead tired - and need to get some sleep before I attempt a six film marathon tomorrow. Not sure I'll be succesful, it's still early in the festival and I don't know if I have the stamina yet for that much bad popcorn and Diet Coke, but I'm certainly going to give it the college try. Besides, I'm really looking forward to Yoji Yamada's Love and Honor tomorrow afternoon at 6:30 p.m. and the delightful looking animated tale Nocturna first thing in the morning at 11:00 a.m. If I'm going to be out that early I might as well make sure I catch the two screenings between the ones I want to see. It would only be the right thing to do, after all, and when have I ever not done the right thing?

(NOTE - That was me being sarcastic. Please don't take that as a real question and start emailing me. Uness you're emailing to ask me out. Then messages are perfectly fine. I might not respond, but I'm sure I'll get a kick out of the messages. Thank you.)