Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a report in from the Seattle Film Festival on a film called POLICE BEAT, which made Sundance earlier this year, but has yet to find distribution. That is a crime, according to this reviewer. Sounds like an interesting flick. Take a gander!
While we're singing the praises of film here in Seattle with our 200+ movie lineup at our festival, god bless us, we also have time to sing the praises of our very city in a film. That film is "Police Beat," one of the few locally produced ventures that made it to this year's Sundance and won some critical acclaim (though no distribution deal).
Here's the skinny: the plot concerns a Seattle bike cop named Z (an African immigrant) and the random crimes and events he encounters on his beat. The story was written by Charles Mudede, a local writer who pens a police report column in the Seattle weekly newspaper, the Stranger. Every single bizarre event in "Police Beat" (from an elderly alcholic found passed out in a 10 foot tall hedge to a home intruder jerking off to a parakeet) is taken from actual police reports.
All these events provide a good hook, but the film's principal narrative centers on a personal crisis Z is having on his beat. Mostly, he's worried his girlfriend may be leaving him, and as he moves from call to call around the city (the film was shot with over 100 real locations), he narrates fears and fantasies via a monologue in his native language (subtitled).
The film is definitely one of the better flicks made about Seattle. First off, it shows the city without stereotypes (i.e. rain, the Space Needle). Second, the massive amounts of locations in and around the major metropolitan area convey a tremendous sense of imagery, both moody and ethereal. This contributes to the story by showing us an environment, that though beautiful, is also unforgiving. Some people may be a little taken aback by the depictions of the police reports onscreen, not only because they may seem out of the ordinary, but they also show that seemingly normal-looking folks are capable of lawlessness.
Pape Sidy Niang does a great job as "Z" and Seattle musician Anna Oxygen also turns in an impressive performance as his girlfriend. The actors who pop up in the police report sequences do a good job, but the same can't be said for the rest of the supporting cast since they often pop in and then disappear or just haven't really progressed enough to work in a feature film.
Still, "Police Beat" is a fine, fine achievement. Yo, distributors! Pick this shit up so everyone else can see it!
-Mr. Reid
