SIFFiciency expert

It's SIFF season again, and even though Maus and I are going to be out of town for half the schedule, on a per-diem basis we'll actually be seeing more films this year than in any previous year: ten movies in seven days.

Despite some misfires (like a Mongolian film about two constipated sheep), we managed to choose very well last year — gems like Grizzly Man, After Midnight, and The Syrian Bride will be very tough to beat. This year we've kept our selection very focused. Five of our ten movies are documentaries, and a sixth is a mockumentary. The remaining four are quirky comedies.

No epic dramas this year, and this is also the first year we won't be seeing a horror film. That's a little disappointing, but when you only have time for a handful of showings, we know from experience that you have to go straight for the docs.

Which reminds me: I did watch Errol Morris's Vernon, Florida yesterday. Not as good as his other stuff, I thought, but still interesting. The guy at Rain City also recommended “First Person” — a short-lived series Morris directed in 2000.

In each episode he spends about 20 minutes examining someone with a peculiar story (an autistic woman who designs slaughterhouses to make the cows' experience as serene and comfortable as possible; a writer who has fallen in love with two serial killers; a parrot who witnessed a murder and is now in a “parrot protection” program). And it's all presented in Morris's signature style: straight-on close-ups of the subject intermixed with clips from old movies, cartoons, and news footage.

Loved it, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to inject some surreal weirdness into their lives in convenient little 20-minute doses. There are ten more episodes of the show waiting for me back at the store. With a week to go until SIFF begins, that should work out just right.