Pressure

While sitting at the downtown Seattle W Hotel and chatting with a trio of my favorite local publicists waiting for actor Paul Giamatti to return from a quick cigarette break, the diminutive writer-director of his quirky new science fiction dramatic comedy Cold Souls Sophie Barthes exited the conference room where our interview was to take place and started conversing right along with us. Turns out she was excited about her last three interviews, all of them going so well she just had to come out and let the three ladies know about it.

“Seattle is fantastic,” she said with a gigantic smile, her thick French accent reverberating around the hallway. “They are so knowledgeable about cinema and they ask such wonderful questions. We’re enjoying this so much more than we did Sundance. The questions there were horrible!”

Talk about pressure. Suddenly I had that frantic piece of Billy Joel music reverberating around in my head as a little bit of sweat more than likely began to appear on my brow. Three not just good but great interviews in a row, and here I was the last print journalist of the afternoon standing in the hallway having to follow them up. Would my questions make the grade? Or would I be the one disappointment in a day filled, to that point at least, with probing insights and thoughtful discussions?

Granted, there was always the chance the director was exaggerating. “No, not at all,” stated a just returned Giamatti just as we were heading into the interview room. “It’s true. It has been great. I think we’ve all been surprised a little bit just how good these interviews have been. It’s nice.”

My own insecurity and fears as to how the interview went aside (for the curious, Giamatti and Barthes said afterwards I was more than up to par – hopefully they just weren’t being nice), I think these comments say a lot about the cinema loving climate here in Seattle. Not only do we celebrate and embrace the largest, most exhausting film festival in the world, we also know what we’re talking about when we discuss it afterwards.

I can’t tell you how nice that is to be reminded of. Living in our own Pacific Northwest bubble, we tend to forget just how passionate and knowledgeable we are around here. After all, thanks to moviegoers here films like The Stunt Man, Like Water for Chocolate, Two-Lane Blacktop, Il Postino and Memento got noticed to the point their respective studios decided to expand their releases for wider than they’d originally planned. In at least three of those cases, the films went on to become bona fide hits, while two have become cult favorites discussed and talked about long after their day in the art house screening room has come and gone.

As for Cold Souls? Well, in regards to the interview you’re unfortunately going to have to wait until the end of July to read the rest of that. As for the movie itself, it’s one of the best things I’ve seen at SIFF so far, and considering just how strong many of the more high profile entries at this year’s festival have been that’s really saying something. Funny, insightful, thought-provoking and poetically moving, this is what intelligent science fiction is all about, and I almost can’t wait to go into it all in greater detail later this Summer.