Screening on Thursday, the eye-opening documentary Downwind, narrated by Martin Sheen, exposes what happened in Mercury, Nevada, the site for testing 928 large-scale nuclear weapons from 1951 to 1992. In addition, the documentary Starring Jerry as Himself, with its producer Jonathan Hsu in attendance, also screened with lots of interest, especially in the film’s blending of fiction and non-fiction storytelling.
On Friday, VIFF screened the comedic drama I Like Movies, the dramatic film Deadland, and the documentary Even Hell Has Its Heroes, a significant artistic film about the band Earth, a minimalistic metal/grunge band, which carved found its music genre with its lead guitarist Dylan Carlson who was friends with Kurt Cobain. Even Hell Has Its Heroes is an archival film for a particular genre of music in which the film’s director, Clyde Peterson, spared no detail on providing classic experimental film techniques and references to boost the music and artists behind this genre of extended and carefully constructed minimal sound. Peterson’s avant-garde approach with homage to Stan Brackhage and other influential avant-garde filmmakers and artists was an excellent choice for connecting the many levels of art that describe a band and its journey from its founding to the present day. Although lengthy, it would be tough to cut down as the many vignettes of storytelling match the music and the film’s tone, making Even Hell Has Its Heroes a film-going experience for those who enjoy the art behind film and music.
Offering a great deal of humor and reminiscent of Blockbuster Video days, I Like Movies, directed by Charlotte Levack, is a coming-of-age comedy about Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen), a socially inept but intelligent 17-year-old cinephile who gets a job at a video store to earn money to attend film school at NYU. Forging a complicated relationship with his manager, Alana (Romina D’Ugo), an adult, the two learn much from each other. An audience favorite, I Like Movies’s Claudia Dall’Orso won VIFF Best Production Design and Romina D’Ugo received the VIFF Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Deadland, directed by Lance Larson, includes an outstanding performance by Roberto Urbina, portraying a Mexican-American U.S. border agent who becomes bewildered when a deceased undocumented immigrant reappears days later in the same spot. It’s a serious film about an important subject where the location is a character as much as the actors with a mystical touch that lingers.
VIFF 2023: l-r Deadland Lance Larson Director and Chris White Composer and Festival Director Mark Mathias Sayre
On Saturday, the Vashon Theatre filled up for Tobacco Barns, Boom, Somewhere Quiet, and Scrapper. A family-friendly film, Tobacco Barns’ Paloma Peñarrubia received the VIFF Award for Best Original Music, which the film’s director accepted in her honor. A magical and mysterious family-friendly film, Tobacco Barns provides a sense of adventure for the curious and one of belonging to all.
Adding to the already excited community vibe at VIFF 2023 was the documentary Boom: A Film About the Sonics, the 2023 VIFF Audience Winner. Just a ferry ride from his Whidbey Island home, director Jordan Albertsen screened a director’s cut of the indie film festival favorite Boom: A Film About the Sonics. Leaving no box unopened, Albertsen refused to give up on telling the untold story about one of rock ‘n’ roll’s wildest and most influential bands, The Sonics. Unknown except to the Pacific Northwest, which many believed, The Sonics were a worldwide phenomenon 50 years after the band retired, shaping music for decades. Albertsen assembles interviews with artists from Pearl Jam, The Sex Pistols, Heart, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, The Presidents of the United States of America, and so many more to create a rock doc like no other. Traveling to London and uncovering images and archives, Albertsen never gave up his pursuit to give The Sonics a proper place in music history, especially covering their reunion concert. However, Albertsen’s journey in making Boom is an ever bigger story about Albertsen bonding with his father and never giving up.
“I knew I had to make this movie,” says Albertsen. “I loved the band so much, which is why my father and I have the relationship we did. It was a kernel that shaped my life just from a simple gesture from my father. He laid down The Sonics record and changed my life.”
Despite the extraordinary Vashon Island weather, Olivia West Lloyd’s Somewhere Quiet psychological thriller was an excellent Saturday film choice. For her first film, which debuted at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, West Lloyd hit all levels of tension with a story about recovering that went wrong. Meg (Jennifer Kim) is finally getting her life back after a hideous abduction. On a trip to Cape Cod with her husband Scott (Kentucker Audley) to stay at his family’s compound, his cousin Madeline (Marin Ireland) arrives, wreaking havoc and pushing Meg back to her traumatic state, causing a frantic sense of existence, reliving her abduction, which she must handle. Somewhere, Quiet captures a mood and tension with great skill, but West Lloyd.
"…"We must show up for these independent films and festivals so they can continue to thrive and inspire.”"
