THE RAIN FALLS DOWN ON PDX: WEEKEND ROUNDUP FOR 5/11

Here we go again...it's the weekend roundup of films opening in and around PDX.

First up, Cinema 21 hosts Portland's theatrical run of the Norwegian crime-thriller Headhunters.  I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make the press screening for this one.  Dan Halsted, programmer for the Hollywood Theatre and the Grindhouse Film Festival personally chose it for one of his single night PIFF After Dark screenings back in February.  By all accounts from those who attended, it was a unique take on the genre.  Cinema 21's Tom Ranieri commented via e-mail that it's "a lot of fun, some of it gruesome fun certainly."

The NW Film Center continues their month-long Studio Ghibli retrospective, Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata, and the Masters of Studio Ghibli, with Kiki's Delivery Service (reviewed here), Only Yesterday and Princess Mononoke.  It's a rare chance to see these films on the big screen; Only Yesterday has never had an official North American release!  And I believe that two out of the three features will be 35mm prints!  More info on the Studio Ghibli series available here.

Over at the Hollywood Theatre, the annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthuluCon runs through the weekend.  Highlights include It's in the Blood, starring Lance Henriksen (Aliens, The Terminator),  and The Horror Express with Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man) and Peter Cushing (Star Wars).  All info pertaining to tickets and passes can be found here.

Living Room Theaters begins showing Jesus Henry Christ with Michael Sheen and Toni Collette today.  They're also getting the magnificent The Deep Blue Sea (reviewed here), which just finished a two week run at Cinema 21.

The Laurelhurst Theater & Pub continues its winning series of classic screenings with John Ford's eternally great 1956 anti-western The Searchers, starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood.

And, finally, PSU's student-run 5th Avenue Cinema has a three-day screening of Michael Haneke's incredible (as well as incredibly disturbing) 1997 home-invasion classic Funny Games.

A lot on the horizon for next week, including a 35mm print of Jaws at the Hollywood Theater, Cinema Project's latest event (reviewed here), the opening of QDoc (Portland Queer Documentary Festival), HD Fest at the Living Room Theaters, etc.  Keep your eyes on the blog as we'll be following all of these and more over the coming days.

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THE FILMS OF STUDIO GHIBLI: KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE

Early on in Kiki's Delivery Service, Kiki's mother bemoans the loss of her traditions, wondering who will carry on making medicinal potions after she's gone.  An elderly neighbor reminds her that "things change, little by little," setting the stage for Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 animated film; the story of a young woman striking out on her own, seeking to distinguish her life from the ones lived by her parents.  The fact that our young heroine, Kiki, also happens to be a witch, matters to the story but mostly as a textural device, considering that, with or without the magical dressing, the film's basic thrust involves the chronicling of one young woman's exploration of the world and her identity within it.

The film opens right as Kiki has decided that today will be the day she cuts the apron strings and leaves her parent's home.  She's thirteen years old, traditionally the age when young witches go searching for a town to call their own.  Heading off with her familiar, a black cat named Jiji, she flies unsteadily into the future, unaware of the adventures that await her.

Miyazaki keeps the tone light and the pacing unhurried throughout Kiki's Delivery Service.  There are moments when Kiki must rise to the occasion, necessitating the orchestration of a grand action sequence.  But there's also quite a lot of room made in the film for her to simply wander, explore, and contemplate both her surroundings and her prospects.  Surprisingly enough, the story shrugs off the standard girl or boy with powers conventions; no one she encounters seems all that surprised that she can fly on a broomstick, so there's no time wasted on Kiki denying her base self.  This is a film that looks to empower, not shame, its protagonist (and by extension, it's young viewers).

Funny but not without its share of character-building lessons, the film is fashioned out of the same enchanted materials that power most of Studio Ghibli's output.  Exquisite hand-drawn animation blends with imaginative storytelling that's applicable to real life situations, all without pandering to its target audience or relying on the sort of cheap laughs that routinely appear in lesser works by Dreamworks or Disney (fart jokes, anyone?).  Like its youthful central character, Kiki's Delivery Service is a magical creature with a personality all its own.

Kiki's Delivery Service screens as a part of the retrospective series, Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata, and the Masters of Studio Ghibli.  More info about the Studio Ghibli series here.
It plays at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Friday, May 11th at 7pm, Saturday, May 12th at 1pm, and Sunday, May 13th at 1pm.
The film will be presented in the original Japanese w/ English subtitles.  


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