SFIFF59 Spotlights #7: The Lobster / Escapes / The Islands and the Whales / Ayiti Mon Amour

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Spinning Platters is slowly but surely completing its coverage of the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival. Alas, SFIFF59 ended two nights ago, but we’re here to keep providing you spotlights on little known films that may come to a theater near you in the foreseeable future — so here’s a quick glimpse at four more features!

The Lobster
(USA, 2015, 119 min, Added Programs)

Colin Farrell, et al. in THE LOBSTER.
Colin Farrell, et al. in THE LOBSTER.

Dark and satirical, romantic and visceral, The Lobster is a bizarre piece of thought-provoking cinema from Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos. Colin Farrell plays a recently single man who checks into a “center” of sorts that focuses on matching romantic couples together — and the ones that don’t succeed in finding love get turned into animals. This peculiar premise and all of its intricacies are treated with extreme informality. The most brilliant aspect of The Lobster is that at the heart of all the odd characters (including top notch performances from John C Reilly, Rachel Weisz, and Ben Whishaw) and morbidly humorous absurdities is a uniquely human story that connects to our innermost societal fears, anxieties, and emotions.

The Lobster will be in Bay Area theaters May 20th.

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SFIFF59 Feature: Golden Gate Awards

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Last night at Gray Area, the newly remodeled Grand theater, the Golden Gate Award winners of the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival were announced. With tacos and chardonnay in our stomachs, and smiles being exchanged between filmmakers, Film Society members, SFIFF59 staff members, and press members alike, we took time to honor all the films at this year’s festival.

Here are the winning films in the 12 categories announced at the GGA celebration (~$40,000 in prize money):

Golden Gate New Directors (Narrative Feature) Prize:
Winner: The Demons, Philippe Lesage (Canada)
Jury note: “The Demons is an extraordinarily perceptive and structurally daring exploration of childhood in all its terrors and anxieties, both real and imagined.”

Special Jury Prize: Mountain, Yaelle Kayam (Israel/Denmark)
Jury note: “The film provides a rigorous and multifaceted character study that becomes a bold statement about the role of women in physical and psychological confinement.”

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SFIFF58 Final Spotlight: The End of the Tour/Golden Gate Awards

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This post must begin with a huge thank you to the entire SFIFF58 staff. Thank you! From the awesome crew that ran the press lounge, those manning the box office, the publicists, and programmers, to the volunteers and event coordinators, your tremendous effort was not overlooked or taken for granted by us covering the festival for Spinning Platters. We can’t thank you enough. We can’t wait for next year! Here’s a last look at one final film (appropriately titled) and the festival winners at this year’s SFIFF Golden Gate Awards:

The End of the Tour
(USA, 2015, 106 min., Big Nights)

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THE END OF THE TOUR

Based on Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky’s Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, The End of the Tour depicts Lipsky’s conversations with author David Foster Wallace during the home stretch of his Infinite Jest book tour. Breaking out of his Apatow-produced shell, Segal proves he is ready for more dramatic roles with his honest and understated portrayal of the late author, who committed suicide in 2008. Comprised mostly of dialogue amidst some gorgeously shot muted midwest colors, The End of the Tour never loses our attention as the two central figures discuss universal topics that we are sometimes too afraid to face, or too afraid to hear.

Info available here.

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