Northwest Film Forum Showtimes

Looking For Eric

Thu, 27 May 2010 10:08:21 -0700

Cannes crowd-pleaser Looking for Eric is a tender, life-affirming, and hilarious nod to the possibility of second chances. When down-and-out postal worker Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) reaches the end of his rope—his two layabout stepsons are set on driving him to an early grave, his second marriage is in ruins, and that's just the start of his troubles±he finds some unexpected motivation to turn his life around and win back the love of his life from none other than his idol, the legendary footballer Eric Cantona of Manchester United.

"Genuinely Hilarious... Gentle and sweet and often very funny. The clarity of Loach's view of the world, and his absolute mastery of cinematic storytelling, endows films with an authoritative feeling of solidity and coherence." —A. O. Scott, The New York Times

"Irresistible! Capable of lifting even the stoniest of hearts." —Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

"Absolute Joy. An undeniable crowd-pleaser." -Stephen Garrett, Time Out New York

Watch the trailer:

Showdate(s) Aug 27 - Sep 02

Around a Small Mountain

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:07:00 -0700

The French New Wave titan (and subject of our 2007 retrospective) Jacques Rivette is back with this winning depiction of a chance encounter on a mountain road. Vittorio (Sergio Castellitto) is compelled to tag along with Kate (Jane Birkin) as she returns to the circus community she left years ago.

On full display within this enigmatic tale is the filmmaker's love of improvisation and the theater. Melancholia, felt here through the grief and guilt that carries Kate so far from her performing days and casts a spell over the story. Rivette regular Birkin is mesmerizing as a woman used to closing herself off who awakens slowly to life’s possibilities. The film is also full of humor, mystery and subtle romance, with a valedictory tone. If this is, indeed, the eighty-two-year-old director's swan song, he exits at the top of his game.

"A gorgeous, melancholy miniature." —Time Out London

Showdate(s) Aug 27 - Sep 02

Mamma Roma

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:15:57 -0700

Perhaps Pasolini’s greatest film, Mamma Roma packs an emotional wallop. Anna Magnani’s Mamma is a prostitute who tries to go respectable, bundling her troubled teenaged son off to Rome to tend a produce stand. The return of her pimp thwarts her new life.

In stone ruins and suburban housing projects, Pasolini finds a combination of the seamy and the lyric, the ugly and the classical, rough trade tempered by raw beauty. His dreamlike edits open neorealism to a transcendent modernity, though the film sears with reality. Raucously funny, woundingly moving, by turns exhilarating and heartbreaking, Mamma Roma is a must-see.

Don't miss Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Amiche, playing at Northwest Film Forum September 10-15!

Watch the original trailer:

Showdate(s) Sep 03 - Sep 09

Wheedle's Groove

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:14:01 -0700

Seattle, get ready for some Soul searching! Jennifer Maas' Wheedle's Groove provides a look back some thirty years before grunge music put Seattle on the map, when late 1960s groups like Black on White Affair, The Soul Swingers and Cold, Bold & Together filled airwaves and packed clubs every night of the week.

Many groups started to receive widespread attention with invitations to perform on national television and collaborate with mainstream acts. Just as many of the groups were on the verge of breaking out, the fickle public turned its ear to disco, and Seattle's soul scene slipped into obscurity.

Rediscover that history with local collector DJ Mr. Supreme, who uncovered Seattle's soulful past after finding a dusty Black on White Affair 45 called "Bold Soul Sister" in a 99-cent bin at a Seattle Center record show. By 2003, he had a rough impression of a once-thriving scene and a hefty collection of Seattle soul and funk 45s, some of which were fetching upwards of $5,000 on the collector circuit. Supreme approached local record label Light In The Attic with the idea of releasing a Seattle soul and funk compilation.

Light In The Attic spent twelve months tracking down artists and fleshing out the story of Seattle's funky past, and the result was a CD compilation entitled "Wheedle's Groove." At the CD release party in August of 2004, a line of nostalgic 60-somethings and funk-hungry 20-somethings wrapped around the building as the musicians inside, now janitors, graphic designers, and truck drivers, look back at careers derailed and prepare to perform together for the first time in 30 years.

"Eye-opening, ear-teasing, irresistible!" —Seattle Metropolitan

Tickets $6/Film Forum and EMP members, $6.50/seniors, children under 12 and students with ID, $9/general

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Special guests almost every night!

Friday, September 3 - Performance with Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright and members of Total Experience Gospel Choir

Sunday, September 5 (8pm show) - Drum seminar and Q&A with Robbie Hill (Family Affair, Black On White Affair)

Tuesday, September 7 - Q&A with members of Cookin' Bag, along with King County Councilman Larry Gossett discussing the music, culture, and history of the Central District and the Seattle Black Power movement during the late '60s and early '70s.

Wednesday, September 8 - Performance with Overton Berry

Thursday, September 9 - Q&A with Wheedle's Groove mastermind DJ Supreme La Rock and the film's narrator Sir Mix-A-Lot, discussing Wheedle's Groove and the resurgence through sampling and hip-hop

Watch a preview:

Showdate(s) Sep 03 - Sep 09