Parker Posey’s first leading role and the first feature film to premiere online, launching its signal from right here in Seattle!

Part of our Pocketful of Posey film series.

PARTY GIRL tells the story of Mary (Posey), a fashionable NYC nightclub scenester and social butterfly who rules the underground party scene. By day, however, she lacks purpose and enough funds to make rent. When her godmother bails her out of jail after throwing an illegal rave and gets her a job at the local library, Mary initially waffles under the constraints of the system, but then unexpectedly flourishes as a librarian (and does a lot of growing up along the way).

Parker Posey herself was on-hand in downtown Seattle to push the button that launched the movie’s historic Internet broadcast, and the movie was concurrently screened at the Egyptian theater as part of that year’s Seattle International Film Festival.

“[Posey] obviously has the stuff, and generates wacky charm.” Roger Ebert

“What makes it delicious fun is Posey, a party girl for the ages.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The contemporary cult classic featuring a scene-stealing performance by Parker Posey and original songs written and produced by Babyface and the late, great Adam Schlesinger, with lead vocals sung by Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo.

Part of our Pocketful of Posey film series.

Josie, Val, and Melody are three small time gals with big time dreams of taking their band out of the garage and straight to the top. But when fate gives Josie and the Pussycats the chance of a lifetime, they’ll have to carefully navigate the MegaRecords machine in order to stay true to themselves, and to each other, in this mega-entertaining blast of fun and friendship. Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid headline, with Alan Cumming and Parker Posey hamming it up as the manipulative music executives out for their own gain.

Widely panned and misunderstood upon its initial release, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS has since gone on to earn cult classic status due, in part, to its infectious soundtrack and pointed satire, which was downright prescient in its depiction of a world saturated with brand names and sponsored content. Most importantly though, the movie’s totally jerkin’ and a rockin’ good time!

“This is one sharp pussycat. Sensationally exuberant, imaginatively crafted and intoxicatingly clever, Josie and the Pussycats shrewdly recycles a trifling curio of 1970s pop-culture kitsch as the linchpin for a freewheeling, candy-colored swirl of comicbook adventure, girl-power hijinks and prickly satirical barbs.” Joe Leydon, Variety

“Many movies have tried, but Josie and the Pussycats remains one of Hollywood’s most entertaining damnations of consumerism… By writing the movie off as mindless drivel for teens, critics from the early 2000s missed the scathing takedown of American consumer culture and the satirical look at the commodification of every aspect of day-to-day life. Josie and the Pussycats was able to accomplish all of that with humor and heart while wearing leopard print pants.” Tina Kakadelis, Film Obsessive

A somewhat forgotten entry in Richard Linklater’s filmography, ripe for reappraisal.

Part of our Pocketful of Posey film series.

Five friends in their early twenties (Giovanni Ribisi, Amie Carey, Steve Zahn, Nicky Katt, Dina Spybey) spend their time hanging out behind a convenience store in a sleepy Texas town. Through meandering discussions, the group descends into a self-perpetuating cycle of malaise. Their routine, however, breaks when an old high school friend, Pony (Jayce Bartok), now an up-and-coming rock star, returns to town with his publicist in tow (Parker Posey), forcing the group to question their desire to stay in the suburbs doing nothing with their lives.

A darker variation on his single-night-hangout formula, SUBURBIA marked the first time Linklater didn’t direct his own script. Instead, Eric Bogosian adapted his play of the same name. Steve Zahn reprises his role from the original stage production and Linklater cast a couple DAZED AND CONFUSED alums to fill out the roster: Nicky Katt, whose bigoted ex-Air Force character unfortunately still feels all too familiar today, and Parker Posey, who makes enough of an impression among the ensemble that Roger Ebert gave her special mention in his and Gene Siskel’s enthusiastic “two thumbs up” review of the film.

“The performances are all good… Parker Posey is turning up a lot these days. She’s beginning to grow on me; I liked her in this film… It’s a real good film.” Roger Ebert

“The movie works because of Linklater’s direction and the script, a tough script, by Eric Bogosian, so dead-on that the film plays like an all-night howl of despair.” Gene Siskel

“SubUrbia provides a fascinating countermelody to Linklater’s freedom-rock choogle. In its own melancholy way, it captures something equally authentic about those alienated years between high school and adulthood…” Texas Monthly

30TH ANNIVERSARY!

America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Among the best teen films ever made, DAZED AND CONFUSED eavesdrops on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshmen. A launching pad for a number of future stars including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, and Ben Affleck, the first studio effort by Richard Linklater also features endlessly quotable dialogue and a blasting, stadium-ready soundtrack. Sidestepping nostalgia, DAZED AND CONFUSED is less about “the best years of our lives” than the boredom, angst, and excitement of teenagers waiting… for something to happen.

Part of both our Summer Blast! and Pocketful of Posey film series.

“Summer heat seeps from the screen, ambition goes up in a gentle haze of marijuana smoke and the film swaggers and lollops along to the beat of a supremely cheesy 70s rock soundtrack – Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ has never sounded so jaunty.” Ben Thompson, Sight & Sound

“Dazed and Confused ought to be in a prominent place at the Library of Congress, next to The Godfather, Frederick Wiseman’s High School, American Graffiti, Nashville, Citizen Kane and other quintessentially American works. Like all those films, Dazed succeeds on its own terms and reflects American culture so well, it becomes part of it. More important, it’s the best movie I’ve seen on serious butt whacking since If.” Desson Thomson, The Washington Post

Set in a painfully beige office against a constant cacophony of ringing phones, Jill Sprecher’s debut feature is about a group of temp workers whose bond is strained by capitalism’s daily grind when objects in the workplace start to go missing. The workers navigate the small indignities of “office culture,” which Sprecher’s script (cowritten by her sister Karen) skewers incisively.

While she tries to determine her career goals, Iris (Toni Collette) becomes a temporary worker for Global Credit. There, all the regular employees ignore her, so she becomes friendly with three other temps: socializing actress Paula (Lisa Kudrow), conceited Jane (Alanna Ubach) and rebellious Margaret (Parker Posey). Though Margaret pines for a permanent job with the company, a rash of office thefts makes people suspicious of her, and Iris wonders whether or not to stand behind her new friend.

Part of our Pocketful of Posey film series.

“A wicked, subversive comedy… This is a rare film about the way people actually live.” Roger Ebert

“In its quiet, unsensational way, this is one of the angriest and most politically charged movies I’ve seen in a while. For all its on-target humor, it seethes with moral fury at both the corporate beast and our acquiescence to its will… [It features] a truly surprising — and impressive — turn by Posey, who’s found exactly the right role to break the pert ingénue mold that was starting to harden around her.” Russell Smith, The Austin Chronicle