CIFF 2009 preview, part IV

Mary and Max (2009, Australia, Adam Elliot)

It is easy to see why this wonderful claymation film opened the Sundance film festival. The film shows plenty of maturity and effortlessly pieces together moments of beauty, humour and darkness. The story is also a refreshing throw back to the old days of snail mail which allowed pen pals to exchange their ideas across the planet while they patiently waited by the mailbox to get the next letter. The voices of the two main characters are also cast perfectly -- the bubbly young Australian girl gets her vocals courtesy of Toni Collette while the depressive middle aged man is voiced by Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who else?).

Correction Update: Toni Collette voices the adult Mary not the young one.

Amreeka (2009, USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)

The opening 15 min of Amreeka are poetic and feature some soul stirring music, especially in the scene featured in the photo where Fadi is stopped at a checkpoint. This critical scene convinces Muna that she should move to the US to seek a better life for her son. When the film shifts to the US after that, the story contains some elements which overlap with many recent films examining the immigrant difficulties in adapting to life in the US, be it from a Latino or Indian immigrant perspective. But Amreeka's strength is that it maintains a pleasant light hearted tone despite the bleakness of the situation thereby giving the film depth while also having a feel good factor. The film features strong acting, sharp visuals and poses plenty of thoughtful questions about racism and political bias in the media.

White on Rice (2009, USA, Dave Boyle)

An impressive light hearted indie film that contains some of the funniest scenes to feature in an American film this year. For example, the opening scene of a Japanese samurai film dubbed in English with an American texan accent is downright hilarious. And the presence of some quirky characters ensures that the film never gets dull.

A taste of global film festivals

Kenneth Turan’s Sundance to Sarajevo is an insightful look at the diverse and rich world of international film festivals. While Turan covers popular festivals such as Cannes and Sundance, the real joy lies in the chapters dedicated to the FESPACO (Burkina Faso), Midnight Sun (Finland) and Pordenone (Italy) film festivals. Of the trio, I had never heard of the Midnight Sun and Pordenone festivals but the chapters covering them left the most impression.

Midnight Sun film festival

The Kaurismäki brothers were co-founders of this unique festival in Sodankylä where films are shown throughout the night because the sun doesn’t set for the duration of the festival. The first time I learnt of a place in Finland where the sun never sets was in Julio Medem’s wonderful film The Lovers of the Artic Circle. As Kenneth Turan points out, Julio got the idea for the segment in the film after he visited the Midnight Sun Festival. Overall, the concept of watching films right through the night is enticing but ofcourse how can one consider it night when the sun is still shining brightly at 4 am when some screenings end?

Pordenone Silent Film Festival

This is quite a remarkable film festival which not only brings together silent film buffs but also film collectors. Turan writes about how a majority of the silent films were almost destroyed when sound films started arriving but thankfully some individuals saved a majority of these films and kept them for their personal collections. Every year some of these personal collections are being released to the general public with Pordenone being the common meeting ground to discover precious gems and keep the heritage of silent films alive. Also, there is a section in the festival where unknown films are shown in the hope that someone can recognize them. One year in this section Sergio Leone was pleasantly surprized to discover a lost film starring his father Andrea.

This Pordenone chapter really gave me a new appreciation for silents films especially the following paragraphs which talks about the complex issues in running these films:

For though there is a uniform sound projection speed of 24 frames per second, nothing of the kind exists for silent films, largely because they were shot by cinematographers who hand-cranked their cameras. They speeded up or slowed down the movement from film to film and even within frames from 16 frames per second to 20-something per second as the action dictated.

Making things even more complicated is that footage was often supposed to be projected faster than it was hot, ensuring that stunts looked crisper and slapstick funnier. Speeds also varied with decades, and projecting D.W Griffith’s ambitious 1916 epic Intolerance at the late silent speed of 24 frames per second instead of the intended 16 to 18 makes it play like comedy, while showing 1929’s gently romantic Sunrise at 16 frames per second instead of the intended 24 has the unfortunate tendency, says Kevin Brownlow, "to put audiences to sleep."

Though modern silent projectionists don’t generally change the tempo within films, they must have a knowledge of what the standard frames-per-second count was in each of the films they show plus the ability to work with today’s breed of variable speed projectors. The aim remains what it was in 1911, when a practitioner wrote that the ideal projectionist is someone who "'renders' a film, if he is a real operator, exactly as does the musician render a piece of music, in that, within limits the action of a scene being portrayed depends entirely on his judgement."


Turan spends the second last chapter in the book talking about a failed French film festival which gives a look at the complexities of running a festival and also sheds some lights on the efforts of the French government to promote their cinema. And in the final chapter, Turan talks about his experiences serving on the jury of the Montreal film festival. This was a very delightful behind the scenes look at how film festival awards are given out, a process that hardly ever gets any press.

It is good to know that there are great films being shown in most parts of the world, albeit via film festivals. Ideally, good cinema should be shown week in week out, but until big studios stronghold over the world’s theaters is not loosened, film festivals are still the best way for a majority of the planet’s population to view true cinema.

Note: About half of the book's chapters are available online via Google Books. Unfortunately, the sections on the Midnight Sun Festival and Pordenone are not online.

CIFF 2008 Summary

By the numbers..

I saw 18 films over 9 days -- I skipped the opening night gala of Blindness and saw no films on Wed, Sept 24.

I ended up seeing three films from Iceland as this year's Spotlight shone on that Northern European nation.

Saw single titles from the following countries -- Canada, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, France, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Uruguay and USA.

Films in order of preference with some ratings --

Wonderful Town (2007, Thailand, Aditya Assarat): 10
Gomorra (2008, Italy, Matteo Garrone): 10
Children (2006, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason): 10
Parents (2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason): 10
Used Parts (2007, Mexico, Aarón Fernández): 9
Alexandra (2007, Russia/France, Aleksandr Sokurov): 9
One Week (2008, Canada, Michael McGowan): 8.5
The Grocer's Son (2007, France, Eric Guirado): 8.5
Let the Right One in (2008, Sweden, Tomas Alfredson): 8.5
Corridor #8 (2008, Bulgaria, Boris Despodov): 8
The Pope's Toilet (2007, Uruguay, César Charlone/Enrique Fernández): 8
REC (2007, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza): 8
Paraiso Travel (2007, Colombia/USA, Simon Brand)
Time to Die (2007, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska)
Driving to Zigzigland (2007, Zigzigland, Nicole Ballivian)
Jar City (2006, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur)
I am from Titov Veles (2007, Macedonia, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Alice’s House (2007, Brazil, Chico Teixeira)

Favourites and overall comments:

Thailand’s Wonderful Town was a refreshing film with its dreamy and relaxed feel. It was also the only film which provided me with a genuine satisfaction of having spent my time wisely. Other films that I appreciated were Gomorra, the Icelandic films of Ragnar Bragason (Children & Parents), One Week, Used Parts and Alexandra. Children & Parents were very well made considering the non-existent budget Ragnar had to work with. I also had high hopes for the Canadian film One Week and thankfully the movie delivered -- it was a genuine pleaser.

There were quite a few films playing at the festival that I had seen previously or previewed. Of that bunch, I think the best film that played overall at CIFF this year had to be José Luis Guerín's beautiful En la ciudad de Sylvia. Also, close behind would be Reygadas' third feature Silent Light. Bill Plympton's wicked and dark animation Idiots & Angels is also worth the watch. There were plenty of excellent docs at this year's festivals with My Life Inside featuring a gut-wrenching topic & Meadowlark being a very brave personal journey by the director Taylor Greeson. Also, the Canadian doc Junior gives a rare insight into the cut-throat world of Canadian junior hockey. Many of the issues depicted in the film could easily apply to the professional world of the NHL.

It was a great move on CIFF's part this year to book some screenings in a multiplex (Westhills 10) located in the suburbs. From the few screenings I attended there, people showed up in big numbers. On top of that, the French film The Grocer's Son played to a sold out show in this very multiplex hall on Sat, Sept 27. It was great to see people attending a foreign film in a hall that normally only plays Hollywood stuff. I just wish that more international and independent films are booked on multiplex screens across the country as opposed to having all the nation’s screens hogged by a few nonsense flicks.

Even though I love film festivals, the idea of watching multiple films while working in a day job can become tiring very fast. This year was probably the first time I truly felt the strains, both physical and mental, of attending films while juggling everything else in my life. An ideal film festival viewing situation would involve the one I had in Vancouver last year when I was able to view 24 films over a 6 day period. It was tiring but being on vacation and dedicating all my energy into only seeing the films helped a lot. By the end of the 6 day period, I was knackered but I was still able to walk into each film with high spirits.

Festival Diary

Days 1-2

Day 3, Day 4

Days 5-7

Days 8-9, Day 10

Dispatches from VIFF

Cinema, Cafes, Crêpes, Curry, Beer and plenty of rain:

24 films in 6 days!! That total is even more remarkable considering I only started with two films on Day 1 and only viewed a single entry on my last day. I missed out on a further 10 days of the festival which would have enabled me to catch even more vintage films. For now, 6 rain soaked cinematic days was a perfect tonic.

Day 1: The journey starts:

5 am. Quiet, silent sleepy city. The drive from Calgary to Vancouver took a shade under 10 hours because of the lack of traffic encountered leaving that early in the morning. A few snow flurries on the way, some rain but other than that, it was smooth driving. Luckily, I was not the one behind the wheel as my good friend drove me to the promised film land.





Two films -- Silence vs Noise, Inner vs External conflict:

Films seen:

In Memory of Myself (2007, Italy, Director: Saverio Costanzo)

Soo (South Korea, 2007, Director: Sai Yoichi)

7 pm: I could not have picked a more difficult movie to start my film experience with. The Italian film In Memory of Myself is set inside a monastery and shows a man's (Andrea) struggle to give up the outside world for a life in religion. The long silent takes allows one to fully contemplate the spiritual difficulties Andrea is going through. A captivating film that forces one to think about the relevance of a life spent in devotion to religion.

Soo on the other hand is the complete opposite of In Memory of Silence. The first few minutes of the film offer some quiet before the loud car crashes, bullet firing, slicing, dicing and chopping take place. The film clearly has been influenced from Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance but Park Chan-wook's films have a solid framework within perfectly encapsulates the violence. Whereas, in Soo the needless scenes of killings reduce the film's dramatic impact and end up turning the movie into a cartoon where the bad guys refuse to die despite being sliced in half and shot multiple times. The story of a brother avenging his twin's murder has been covered before as well.

Day 2: 5 films, Asian delight:

Films seen:

Times and Winds (Turkey, 2006, Director: Reha Erdem)

Slingshot (Philippines, 2007, Director: Brillante Mendoza)

Ploy (Thailand, 2007, Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang)

Foster Child (Philippines, 2007, Director: Brillante Mendoza)

Secret Sunshine (South Korea, 2007, Director: Lee Chang-Dong)

All 5 films were very good but the two Mendoza films are simply outstanding. Both films are shot in a verite documentary style outlining everyday life in the shanty slumps of Philippines. Slingshot depicts how corrupt politics can thrive on the backbone of poverty while the slum residents struggle to make a living. Foster Child looks at foster families not only in Philippines but how such families inter-relate with their American counterparts.

Tony Rayns along with Brillante Mendoza:




The films are remarkably shot with the camera smoothly flowing between long shots and close-ups. The visual style seems even more impressive considering that Slingshot and Foster Child took about 11 and 12 days in shooting time respectively, which is just an incredible feat as the films were shot in location in tight quarters of a real slums. In the Q&A session, Mendoza mentioned that he and his crew found a way to integrate some of the actors with the slum residents to produce such free flowing films. I could not help but think of Jeffrey Jeturian's brilliant The Bet Collector (Kubrador) which is shot in a similar manner in a slum. As film critic and VIFF programmer Tony Rayns highlighted that it is truly remarkable that one person managed to make two such outstanding films in one year!

The day got off to a very good start with the Turkish film Times and Winds. A beautiful film which looks at simple village life during different times of day and through the passage of seasons. The film mainly focuses on three children and how they learn to adapt to the changing world around them.

In between the two Mendoza films is another balanced work from Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Even though Christopher Doyle has not shot this film like Ratanaruang's previous efforts (Last Life in the Universe, Invisible Waves), the visual images (shot by Charnkit Chamniwikaipong) still convey the cool bluish tint as Doyle's previous collaborations with Ratanaruang did. The main story of Ploy revolves around a marriage in a flux and takes place mostly in a hotel room. Like his previous films, a touch of murder hovers over the film but it is far more delicate than in his older ventures. What is interesting this time around is that Pen-ek Ratanaruang blurs the line between reality and dreams as each character's dreams are spliced with the cinematic reality that is taking place. Initially, the dreams and reality may seem confusing but gradually it becomes easier to distinguish between what is fabricated and what really is happening.

The night ended with a well tuned Korean flick, Secret Sunshine. The film starts out with a single mother, Shin-ae(Jeon Do-yeon) moving to Miryang (the town name translates to secret sunshine) with her younger son. Shin-ae is shown to be carefree and some of her decisions lead to tragic incidents. This is where the film takes us on a roller coaster of a journey as we literally see her character break down on screen. The acting is fabulous and no wonder Jeon Do-yeon was awarded as best actress in Cannes. Even when we think that her character might get some hope, events happen which shake her foundation and leave her in a worse situation than she found herself in to begin with. To director Lee Chang-Dong's credit, he has included the wonderful character of Jong Chan (Song Kang-Ho) in the story. No matter what the situation is, Jong offers support to Shin-ae and as a result provides a positive ray of light in her otherwise dark life -- he is the counter balance to all the negativity that takes place in the film.

Day 3: 6 films + 1 short, Documentary galore

Films seen:

The Man from London (France/Germany/Hungary, 2007, Director: Béla Tarr)

Drowned in Oblivion (Belgium/France, 2006, Director: Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd)

My Winnipeg (Canada, 2007, Director: Guy Maddin)

Keepers of Eden (USA, 2007, Director: Yoram Porath)

The Counterfeiters (Austria/Germany, 2007, Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky)

Useless (China, 2007, Director: Jia Zhangke)

Our Ten Years (China , 2006, 9 min, Director: Jia Zhangke)

The short running time (approx 80-85 minutes) of three docs (Drowned in Oblivion, My Winnipeg and Keepers of Eden) allowed me to pack in 4 films before 5 pm. Although, watching these movies involved plenty of rushed walks between the Empire 7 Granville theaters to the Pacific Cinematheque. Overall, it was a good balanced film day which covered a few different genres and story ideas.

Béla Tarr's The Man from London is a stylish black and white film with a touch of noirish elements. The film is too gorgeous to remove one eye's from even for a minute and the leisurely moving camera ensures we soak up every element within the frame. Although, I preferred Tarr's previous film Werckmeister Harmonies because in that movie the tension kept mounting until a chaotic climax. Whereas, in The Man from London very early on the clock starts ticking down to an expected climax after a man recovers a mysterious brief case of money.

The Belgian documentary Drowned in Oblivion is the story about a group of men captured and tortured during Mauritania in the 1980's. The men narrate their experiences while the camera shows us black and white images of the path via which the men were captured and eventually tortured. This simple tactic of showing us the locations from where the men were taken hostage while their voices in the background describe the experiences allows us to fully grasp the horror of their situation.

I never lived in Winnipeg but lived in a small town 1 hour from Manitoba's capital. Going to Winnipeg was a big thing in those days because it was the big happening city. Over the years, I have returned to Winnipeg a few times and I always find myself relieved to leave the city. So with those sentiments in mind, I found Guy Maddin's poetic documentary My Winnipeg quite funny. The film contains some typical Canadian humour which could relate to other Canadian cities as well. Minus the sleep-walking though. And, yes the winter in Winnipeg was brutal. So I can understand Maddin's repeated urge to leave the city as that was something I often found myself saying while walking bundled in the freezing cold streets.

There have been a handful of documentaries in recent years that have showed the exploitation of natural resources in South America. Keepers of Eden goes a step further and shows the environmental damage that results when oil companies have free reign over land development. The footage of oil corrupted rivers and land is nauseating as are the scenes of the locals bodies infected by the presence of petroleum in their water supply. Such films are relevant as they help bring to light issues otherwise ignored by the media.

The Counterfeiters is a well made film about a forger who made plenty of money while producing counterfeit currency during World War II. After the Nazis imprison him in a concentration camp, he is forced to produce fake American and British currency to help in the Nazis quest to destroy their enemies economies.

I was looking forward to Jia Zhangke's documentary Useless and it does not disappoint. But before the film I found a real treat in Jia Zhangke's short film Our Ten Years. In a few minutes, Jia Zhangke manages to show how the progress of time may not eliminate loneliness but leads to the disappearance of art thanks to advances in technology.

Useless looks at clothing in china through three avenues, clothing industry who manufacture the same clothes at a rapid pace, a fashion designer who strives to create unique clothing and the individuals who tailor clothes designed to fit an individual. We are also given a beautiful look at clothes without a human body and even the naked body without any clothes. Such poetic shots only highlight the relevance of clothes in some people's lives.

Day 4: Music and the pursuit of women

Films seen:

Great World of Sound (USA, 2006, Director: Craig Zobel)

Help Me Eros (Taiwan, 2007, Director: Lee Kang-sheng)

The Girl Cut in Two (France, 2007, Director: Claude Chabrol)

Dans la ville de Sylvia & Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia (Spain, 2007, Director: José Luis Guerin)

The day started off with a pleasant surprize in the form of Great World of Sound. I had no idea what to expect from this film but it is a satiric look at a small American music producing studio. We came across young men trained to be music producers in search of raw talent but the film shows how these men are encouraged to act more like car salesmen, only looking to extract money from eager musicians.

I was eager to see Help Me Eros. The movie is directed by Lee Kang-sheng whose plays the lead in most of Tsai Ming-liang's movies. I was curious to see how Lee Kang-sheng would do on his own. But unfortunately, the film still carries a huge stamp of Tsai Ming-liang (who produced this film). Lee Kang-sheng plays a more confident version of the same character seen in Tsai Ming-liang's films. His character is still lonely and suicidal but is more bolder and reckless -- he picks up hookers with ease and is not afraid to take risks with his money. The difference in the character is evident from the sex scenes which are much more adventurous than the ones in The Wayward Cloud. Although, there is an awkward self-gratification scene included in the movie which really should have been left out. But as uncomfortable as that scene is, its presence highlights the loneliness of a female character and the lengths she would go to satisfy herself.

The Girl Cut in Two is a refreshing and entertaining film that looks at the complicated relationship between men and women. The first hour is playful as we see the sexual games between the male and female characters. Even though the film takes on a serious tone after the hour mark, it is an engaging watch.

The ghosts of Sylvia -- the two films of José Luis Guerin

Three pics of Guerin (center):





The highlight of the night had to be the two Guerin films. Simple yet beautiful! Dans la ville de Sylvia looks at a man's return to the city where he met the lovely Sylvia 6 years ago. It is clear that the man is haunted by memories of Sylvia as he seems to encounter her ghost in every female he comes across. Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia is a collection of black and white pictures mixed with text which shows how Guerin's film developed.

While Dans la ville de Sylvia is like a short story, Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia is a personal travel diary which contains Guerin's thoughts, feelings and photos. Vancouver was lucky enough to have the world premier of Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia and before the film was shown, Guerin mentioned that he was hesitant to show this to a public because it was such a personal work. After watching the film, it is clear why Guerin was a bit cautious. fotos really gives an insight into his mind as he muses about women, literature and even managed to capture some of them in pictures.

Both films are equally enjoyable on their own but are connected in an inseparable way as well. In Dans la ville de Sylvia the man keeps a diary about Sylvia. We only get a full look into this diary in fotos while Dans la ville de Sylvia transforms the still fotos into a moving picture. But the entire film Dans la ville de Sylvia can be found within fotos whereas, we only get a brief look into the fotos diary in Dans la ville de Sylvia. In that sense, fotos is a larger work while Dans la ville de Sylvia is only a subset of the complex world of Guerin's Sylvia. It is hard to say which I prefer -- Dans la ville de Sylvia is a rich visual work while fotos is a living breathing photo journal. So if I am in the mood for some graphic literature, I would opt for fotos but if I want pure visual imagery, then I would go with ville.


Day 5: Lust and border crossings

Films seen:

Euphoria (Russia, 2006, Director: Ivan Vyrypaev)

Bad Habits (Mexico, 2007, Director: Simón Bross)

The Duchess of Langeais (France, 2007, Director: Jacques Rivette)

Sounds of Sand (Belgium, 2006, Director: Marion Hänsel)

Import Export (Austria/France, 2007, Director: Ulrich Seidl)

Simplicity won out again. The story of the Russian filmEuphoria could not be more simple -- an affair and a husband's quest for revenge against his wife and her lover. But pulsating and lively music combined with breath-taking visuals made this film such a delightful experience. If the characters were not speaking Russian, one could have mistaken the plain farmlands to be that of Saskatchewan.

Bad Habits is an interesting look at a few characters who lust for food and sex. We see a nun who can't control her urges for sinful cakes and pastries while a little girl can't stop herself from having desserts. The little girl's mother suffers from anorexia and tries to force her daughter to lose weight. While the husband can't fight his urge for sex.

Even though I knew that The Duchess of Langeais would be completely different from all the films I saw at the festival, I could not ignore this work by Rivette. As expected, the film contains perfect performances and impressive set design. But I can't see the relevance of this film in this day and age. The film focused on the sexual games between the countess and the general, something which has been covered enough times before. The political games that I am sure existed in Balzac's book are not even mentioned.

Sounds of Sand is the story of an African family's journey across the sub-Saharan desert in search of water and a better life. Along the way, they come across hostile gangs on either side of the border who have no hesitation in firing bullets or kidnaping people. There are some amazing visuals of the barren white sanded deserts of Djibouti.

Import Export vs Edge of Heaven:

Import Export is an engaging look at the lives of two characters who cross the border to make a living -- Olga leaves Ukraine for Austria while an unemployed Austrian youth heads to find some work in Ukraine. The film is shot in a documentary style which gives realism to many of the sequences. But I can't talk of this movie without thinking about Fatih Akin's Edge of Heaven. Both Cinema Scope (Issue 31) and Cineaste (Fall Issue) compared the two films and trashed Edge of Heaven. The two articles complained about Akin's screenplay and lack of subtleness. Now some of the criticism is justified. Akin's film is too neat and tidy with the screenplay appearing to tie all the loose ends appropriately. Also, in many scenes, Akin makes sure the camera turns back on a spot again just to ensure the audience didn't miss the obvious. Yes, this is not subtle. But neither is Ulrich Seidl's film. In Import Export, Seidl keeps the camera focused in between a woman's leg in the internet porn office. We know what happens in this office and we didn't need to see all the detailed shots of women going about their business.Ulrich Seidl has shot his sequences without much dialogue in a verite style. But he has purposely included sequences which push the poverty and helplessness of the character (for example, the choice of jobs that Olga gets helps one to sympathize with her). So his screenplay can also be considered manipulative.

While Import Export is a distanced cold look at the struggles of people in two countries, Edge of Heaven is an emotional look at the connections between two nations. Import Export starts with life and ends with death. Seidl makes sure the last words we hear before the screen fades to black is "death". The manner with which the film ends with such a word is clearly contrived. But in Edge of Heaven death is never shown at the end yet it is clearly implied. Akin ensures that the film ends on a poetic note which is in keeping with the emotional focus of his film. Whereas, Seidl's film is emotionless -- it starts and ends in utter coldness. I prefer both movies and liked what each director did. I just can't put one movie down compared to the other as both films approach their topics in completely different manners.


Day 6: Final day:

I only planned one early morning movie (10 am) before catching my flight in the afternoon. And it was a perfect choice to end the festival with. Abdullah Oguz's Turkish film Bliss is a wonderful shot love story set against the backdrop of honor and old traditions.


Film Ratings and Preferred movies:

The quality of most movies was such that ratings seem meaningless. There were some clear masterpieces and the rest made for some very good viewing. In the end, I didn't regret seeing any film at the festival.

Rating (out of 10) and films in order of preference:

Foster Child -- 10

Dans la ville de Sylvia & Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia -- 10

Slingshot -- 10

Our Ten Years (short film) -- 10

Euphoria -- 9.5

Bliss -- 9.5

Secret Sunshine -- 9

In Memory of Myself -- 9

The Girl Cut in Two -- 9

Import Export -- 9

Times and Winds -- 8.5

Help Me Eros -- 8.5

Ploy -- 8.5

Bad Habits -- 8.5

Sounds of Sand -- 8

Useless -- 8

The Man from London -- 8

My Winnipeg -- 8

Drowned in Oblivion -- 8

Great World of Sound -- 8

The Counterfeiters -- 8

Keepers of Eden -- 7.5

The Duchess of Langeais -- 7

Soo -- 6.5

Cafes:

Vancouver is packed with cafes. I have not come across any other Canadian city with as many cafes in downtown as Vancouver has. In that sense, it was appropriate that this city had the world premier for José Luis Guerin's film Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia. If it were not for cafes, the core of that film would not have existed.

While the big coffee chains dominate most street corners, it is still possible to find independent places. One of my goals was to find a new cafe everyday. I managed to do so and not miss a single film in the process either.





Crêpes:

I first came across Cafe Crepe in Vancouver back in 2000. That time, there was only one location on Robson street. But when I visited the city last year, I found a second location across from the Empire 7 Granville theaters where most of VIFF's screenings were held. The venue was open late and I managed to snack on some sweet crepes after a late screening. This time around, I found myself having a breakfast crepe on more than one occasion for the 10 am screenings. Yummy!



Curry:

The international cuisine in Vancouver is second to none. Another goal of mine was to try as many different types of food during my stay. But I could not go to proper restaurants as I often had less than an hour in between my shows. Still I managed to find time for some great Japanese and Brazilian food. But one of the highlights had to be the delicious Indian food found at Rangoli. Rangoli is owned by Vij's and located right next to their famous Granville street location. Getting into Vij's is not an easy task as they don't take reservations and are only open for dinner. I found locals who claimed to have waited almost 2.5 hours before they got in. So the owners started up Rangoli, a quick sit down place open for longer hours, with the idea of making their food more available. It is much easier to get a place in Rangoli and the food is quite similar to the menu in Vij's.

If I had more time, I might have lined up for Vij's. But instead I found curry bliss at Rangoli where I dined on Day 1 before I saw any VIFF films and on Day 6 after seeing my final VIFF film.




Beer:

One of my favourite beers is Granville Island . Unfortunately as of last year, I can't get this beer in my city (for reasons unknown). So the only way I can drink this is on a trip to Vancouver. I made sure to only have this beer on every occasion in the city and made it out to the brewery's taproom where I sampled all their four beers in season.



And lastly......

Rain:

What would Vancouver be without rain? It has rained atleast once on all my previous visits. But this time around, it rained on all 6 days with the sun only making a brief appearance for a few hours. That didn't matter much as most of my time was spent inside a warm cinema. Although, there were quite a few occasions I was soaked waiting in line for my tickets. In the following pictures, film fans waited for almost an hour in the rain to see 4 Months 3 weeks 2 days for the 10 am Sunday morning show.



Well that's it! Amazing trip with some fascinating films. The 14 days of consecutive film festival movies has finally ended. Time to recover now.....

VIFF Update

Attending VIFF even for 3 days was a great treat! I have to honestly admit that VIFF is the best film festival in Canada! Period!! No questions asked. Now I admit I have never been to TIFF or Montreal’s Fantasia and that I have loyally worked for CIFF for the past 3 years, but VIFF beats them all hands down. The simple reason is that VIFF is a festival for film-lovers. Toronto is more of a distribution market which is giving too much coverage to Hollywood and distributors lurking to pick up movie deals. For example, this year only 7 out of the 357 films at TIFF were Hollywood films. But guess which 7 movies grabbed all the headlines? On top of that TIFF charges way too much for each screening -- a single movie, no matter what time of the day it is shown at, can cost upwards of $20 Canadian dollars. Whereas VIFF charges $7.50 for shows before 6 pm and only $9.50 for night shows. On top of that, VIFF does not make it hard for the average fan to buy tickets or get into movies. Even though I had a full media guest pass, never did I feel that I was taking away the place of a regular ticket buying person. Whereas in TIFF, certain film critics and distributors feel it is their right to get in screenings more so than the paying public. On top of that if a screening was sold out, VIFF made sure an extra screening was booked for audiences. For example, all 3 shows of the German film, The Lives of Others was sold out, so the festival added another screening. And when four screenings of the doc, Colour Me Kubrick were sold out, the festival added a fifth screening! There were multiple screenings of almost all the big movies and the repeat screenings were split between matinee and evening shows such that a person had better chance to see the movie and pay a cheaper rate for the film.

Also, VIFF had an excellent selection of East Asian movies, better than TIFF. But when it came to Indian movies, then the best selection this year had to be that of CIFF :) Ofcourse, I take credit for CIFF’s excellent Indian film lineup. TIFF sold out to Bollywood with its Indian line-up and VIFF only had two Indian movies, one of them being a one year old Bollywood film (Paheli).

Next year, I plan to take a longer trip and spend an entire week in Vancouver. But for now, here are the 8 films that I got to sample. Because I was representing the Pan-Asian festival, four movies I saw were East Asian films. The rest were Italian, German, a US-UK-French animated film and a French-Belgian co-production. So overall, a good balance!

Friday, Oct 6: 3 films with the German flick the pick of the lot.

The Wedding Planner (Directed by Marco Bellocchio): Rating 7.5/10

I had such high expectations for this Italian flick. Needless to say it was a huge letdown. The film starts out very interestingly as a famous director (Sergio Castellitto as Franco Elica) is shooting a segment of his daughter’s wedding. Franco is held in such high regard that his every move is copied by other photographers and wedding cameramen. After the ordeal of his daughter’s marriage, Franco’s next hurdle is to tackle yet another remake of the classic Italian work The Betrothed . With such a burden on his shoulders, it is no surprise that he enjoys his freedom in Sicily after the train he was traveling in breaks down. There he seems to stumble onto an interesting subplot involving a prince, a soon-to-be princess, an amateur wedding camera man and other colorful characters. But is all this just a coincidence? Giving us shades of a film within a film, The Wedding Director asks the audience to try to understand the film’s motif. Is it really an open-ended work? Or is it a carefully crafted film? This is a technically well shot film but I really felt it went off the rails half-way through. I do believe an open-ended work still has to have some framework and this one really seemed to indicate that Bellocchio himself lost interest in this movie near the end. So why should we care?

The Lives of Others (Directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck):
Rating 9.5/10

This was never on my list of movies to watch but in the end, I decided to see this hit German film for the simple reason that Werner Herzog thought “it was the best German film he has seen in ages”. I was not the only one to go see the movie for this reason. As it turns out the girl standing in front of me also came to the movie for that very reason. But what a good reason it turned out to be. This is indeed a wonderfully crafted film. The film is set in 1984 in East Berlin (yes, Orwell would have approved) where the Stasi still intrude into people’s lives. A dedicated Stasi officer is assigned to spy into a famous writer’s apartment to find proof of moral corruption. But as it turns out, the officer begins to change and starts to question his own values. A piece of music is all it took! Yes the ending might be a bit too emotional but you know what, I fell for it. I was almost in tears in that final scene which proved that sometimes in life, all it takes is one gesture to uplift us from our mere mundane existence!

Congorama (Directed by Philippe Falardeau): Rating 8.5/10

Yes this is a Canadian film! I have to repeat it again, this is a Canadian film. Why? Because it certainly does not feel like it! Yes certain people in Quebec might not want to be considered Canadian but I consider them to be an integral part of this country’s struggling cinematic output. And this film seriously feels very un-Canadian in all senses yet deep down, it has certain elements which one can only owe to that wicked humour that comes out from that province. A story of two men separated by an ocean yet linked together by a well kept secret! What connects Congo, Belgium, Quebec, Hybrid Cars, Diamonds and an Ostrich? Why, this movie ofcourse! The movie does feel a bit long at 106 minutes but when it all ends, you can understand why the director wanted to have all those extra scenes.

Saturday, Oct 7: 4 films with the East Asian movies winning out

Still Life (Directed by Jia Zhangke): Rating 8.5/10

Much has been written about this award winning film fresh off the Venice film festival. Now, this is a film that will only find audiences at film festivals and won’t really get a theatrical screening outside of the major cities (New York, London). Why? There is not much of plot as the movie focuses on the lives of two people who go to a small Chinese village in the hopes of finding their spouses. The village is about to be fully flooded by the Three Gorges dam and is in a state of transition from alive to being dead. The stillness of the movie is not even altered by two CGI additions, one involving a UFO spaceship. And the film is shot with a digital camera which gives this a documentary feel and adds to the realism.


Betelnet (Directed by Heng Yang): Rating 4.5/10

The write-up in the program schedule warned us that there is no plot in this film and not much happens either. Yup, that was a perfect assessment, so I can’t say I was not warned. But I don’t consider it art when a new director places a camera on the side and watches things unfold at snail’s pace. No, there is no talent in having long takes of nothingness while the camera is left on the tripod. Watching two teenagers being bored out of their mind is not exciting at all!

The King and the Clown (Directed by Lee Jun-Ik): Rating 9.0/10

Yet another surprise! This movie was the biggest box office movie in Korean history earlier this year until The Host came along. And one can see why it took everyone by surprise. A simple story with no big budget based on a stage play beat out all the big named commercial films! The story is set in 16th Century Korea where two street performers undertake a risky game to make some money. They decide to lampoon the king and his mistress. Such a thing was never done before but it pays off, initially atleast among the common folk. But the king is not amused and wants to punish the street troupe. The lead person asks for one chance – if the king laughs, the troupe be spared. Well the king does laugh, a little at first and a lot over time as he makes the troupe perform only privately for the royalty. Such a thing does not go down well with the ministers but the king does not care as he seems to be pre-occupied with a crush on one of the performers. The performers are all excellent with the drama interesting to watch!

Renaissance (Directed by Christian Volckman): Rating 7.5/10

This French-British-Luxembourg animation film gets full marks on the wicked graphic novel type black and white animation. It also gets full mark on the noir structure and depiction of future Parisian streets in 2054. But where it fails is the story. The futuristic story of gene manipulation is not new, quite linear and predictably worn out. No matter how classy and sexy the animation looks, a good story is still needed. This is where Sin City succeeded -- it had a complex story portrayed via the black and white animation style.

Renaissance contains voice-overs from a lot of big names (including the lead voiced by Daniel Craig) but it gets tiring after the first hour. Still it was worth attending this sold out show. And the touch of calling the futuristic Parisian city, Avalon, was brilliant! As it turns out, in Avalon people don’t have to worry about looking old and can live young forever. And if you break Avalon down, you get Avon and Revlon, two cosmetic giants. Hmm….

Sunday, Oct 8: A gem

Film rating: 10/10

I took the day to enjoy Vancouver and visit some friends, so I was only left to see one movie, but what a movie that was. The movie was not planned to be shown on Sunday night but an extra screening was added. Jeffrey Jeturian’s The Bet Collector was the real find of this festival for me!! This Philippine film has won the FIPRESCI Jury award at both the Delhi and Moscow festival this year and contains an amazing performance from veteran actress Gina Pareno. The film contains a simple yet beautiful story which follows Gina’s character as she goes across town trying to collect bets for jeuteng, a popular but illegal numbers game. This film once again highlights the power of digital camera as a medium for new filmmakers armed with a good story.

Festival notes: A tale of two Black and White Masterpieces

10 days of CIFF have just wrapped up. An exhausting 10 days where I managed to squeeze in 22 movies! Now I have a few days to rest before I head off for an exciting weekend at VIFF to watch some more enticing titles. There were some interesting flicks at CIFF that deserve longer write-ups. But in the meantime, here’s a quick summary of the titles: (*** donates my fav's)

Day One: Friday, Sept 22

Posdata (North American premier, Director Rafael Escola): Rating 6.5/10

A train breaks down and the strangers within the compartment are made to confront their fears/desires as they pass away the time. However, there is a passenger on the train who seems to know more than he should about the others. Clues are given as to this person’s identity and after a while, it is obvious who this person really is. This would have been better as a short film and feels labored at 94 minutes.

Lunacy (Director Jan Svankmajer): Rating 8/10

The midnight showing of this Czech movie was an interesting event! We were warned before hand that there was plenty of “animated meat” in the movie, and sure enough, there really was. The idea of using meat pieces to symbolize the humans trapped in the madness of this world was a great idea but it does get tiring after a while. Nonetheless, this crazy movie is a weird watch but in the end, it makes sense, despite the constant lunacy. Beneath all the layers of sex, religion, meat, the story is a simple experiment in what is the best method to run a mental asylum – whether the patients should be left free or they should be tortured and controlled?

Day Two: Saturday, Sept 23

Mo & Me (Director Roger Mills): Rating 10/10 ***

Salim Amin has made this wonderful touching documentary about his father Mohamed Amin’s interesting life! The movie is perfectly balanced with Salim’s personal family story along with Mo’s struggle to bring the true pictures of Africa to the world. Salim was in attendance
and I ended up having an interesting chat with him about soccer (as it happens we support opposing teams :), middle east and politics.

Blessed with Fire (Iluminados por el fuego, Director Tristán Bauer): Rating 6/10

An Argentine movie about the horrors that the Falklands War left on certain soldiers. The film covers  familiar ground although to its credit, it does deal with the impacts of post-war trauma on people. Unfortunately, the movie never goes deeper than the surface.

Requiem (German film, Director Hans-Christian Schmid): Rating 9/10 ***

Requiem is an amazing movie which served as the original basis for the ..Emily Rose film. What makes this movie worth watching is that the audience is left to figure out for themselves whether the main character is possessed by the devil or not. The tight cinematography enables the audience to be up close with the characters while trying to decipher the situation for themselves.

Day Three: Sunday, Sept 24

The Fight for True Farming (Pas De Pays Sans Paysans, Director Eve Lamont): Rating 8/10

Following the footsteps of last year’s amazing doc The Future of Food comes this interesting film about how our food sources are being corrupted by globalization and corporations. And this is the 3rd documentary in the last 3 years which once again lists the same corporation (Monsato) as the bad guy. Will the corporations win out in the end and force us to eat junk all the time? Or will we be able to return to the pure agricultural ways that ancestors used to before the chemical companies started taking over?

Citizen Duane (Director Michael Mabbott): Rating 7.5/10

A light hearted Canadian high school film about one student’s quest to become town mayor! This was a refreshing movie in the middle of a film festival and will surely get commercial release in Canadian theatres.

Day Four: Monday, Sept 25

Khosla Ka Ghosla (Director Dibakar Banerjee): Rating 10/10 ***

A wonderful Indian comedy about land disputes which anyone living in India can relate to. Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Ranvir Shorey are just amazing.

The Guatemalan Handshake (Director Todd Rohal)

Right after a wonderful comedy like Khosla.. I had to sit through this offbeat American indie comedy. More people attended this film than Khosla.. and the audience was divided on the final verdict – some liked the originality and others were not too fond of it. The movie had some original scenarios and characters but the quirky characters and non-linear narratives feel forced and don't mesh completely within the film's well shot framework.

Day Five: Tuesday, Sept 26

Monkey Warfare (Director Reginald Harkema): Rating 9/10 ***

A delightful Canadian film about two ex-revolutionaries! Any movie with Don McKellar is an interesting flick and this one is no exception. McKellar is perfect in this movie. A simple story which manages to combine the past exploits of 60’s and 70’s revolutionaries with modern day youth looking to start Fight Club like movements.

La Moustache (Director Emmanuel Carrère): Rating 9.5/10 ***

A man shaves off his moustache but his wife, friends and co-workers don’t even notice the change. In fact, they believe that he never had a moustache in the first place! That sets him off on a journey where he starts unraveling his life and finds some interesting revelations. I loved this movie. It demands a longer write-up on my part which I will do once I am done all the festival screenings.

Day Six: Wednesday, Sept 27

Dosar (Directed by Rituparno Ghosh): Rating 10/10 ***

Konkana Sen Sharma put in another stellar performance and gave Penélope Cruz (Volver) a fine run for one of the best female acted roles from this year's festival selections. On top of that, Konkana's face was the object of the camera's affection unlike in Penélope's case where the camera gazed elsewhere at times.

Day Seven: Thursday, Sept 28

Radiant City (Directors Jim Brown, Gary Burns)

Nicely covers one of the hottest topics in North America: suburban sprawl. There is a fascinating twist in this film which blurs the line between reality and fiction. In the Q&A after the film, both directors mentioned that this film should get people talking, which hopefully happens. Cinematographer Patrick McLaughlin has done an excellent job in making Calgary look so good on screen.

El Violín (Director Francisco Vargas Quevedo): Rating 10/10 ***

Pure beauty! Just like Dosar, this was another example of vintage black and white cinema. This movie also deserves a longer write-up which I will do so in the upcoming weeks.

Day Eight: Friday, Sept 29

A jam-packed day where I attended 4 screenings – two docs and 2 American Indies!

Conquistadors of Cuba (Director Arto Halonen): Rating 7.5/10

An interesting movie about cars and revolution! Back in the 60’s, big American cars were the rage in Cuba. Everyone either owned one or dreamed of owning one. Now in the present time, these big American cars are even more valuable -- the cars are collectibles because of the original owners, be it a dictator (Batista) or a revolutionary (Che). And because of the embargo with America, it is impossible to maintain this cars as the parts are not available. Maximiliano is the only person in Cuba who can fix Che’s car. The fact that he is going blind does not stop him for attempting to preserve a piece of Cuban history as he attempts to restore Che’s car. In between clips of Maximiliano’s life are gorgeous shots of Cuba, archived newsclips and excerpts from an automobile tv show which helps trace all the owners of these collectible cars.

The journey of Vaan Nguyen (Director Duki Dror): Rating 8/10

Here’s a story you don’t hear often – second generation Vietnamese people growing up in Israel! As it turns out, an influx of Vietnamese left their war torn country in the 70’s to take life up in Israel (a war free country, of course). Some continued to live in Israel but others opted to return back. But what about the newborn Vietnamese kids who grew up in Israel? Are they considered Israeli or Vietnamese? These kids face the same problems as other second generation non-white kids growing up in ‘white’ western countries. In the case of this doc, Vaan is the Israeli born girl in question. She speaks Hebrew and has no connection with Vietnam. But she has to examine her identity as her parents attempt to return back home. Ofcourse, the land her parents left behind has being taken over by others and as a result, her parents have no real roots left in their homeland. This is an interesting doc which takes up the common question of identity that ‘white’ western nations seem to force on other non-white immigrants who migrate to lands once not owned by so ‘white’ people.

Mojave Phone Booth (Director John Putch): Rating 7/10

4 short stories intertwined around the real life case of a phone booth in the middle of the Mojave desert. Three of the stories were interesting but the fourth one was dull yet it was required to tie everything else together.

Mutual Appreciation (Director Andrew Bujalski): Rating 8/10

One of those purely independent movies which are either loved by people or simply loathed. I saw plenty of walk-outs during this film which was a shame. You just have to be in the right mood to watch three twenty something friends discuss their lives, career and their desires. Oh this indie is shot in black and white as well.

Day Nine: Friday, Sept 30

Iraq in Fragments (Director James Longley): Rating 9/10 ***

Iraq really is in fragments. It always was. But don’t tell that to the invading occupying forces. They won’t listen, they won’t stand for it. They like to believe they made things better. What I personally feared three years ago is becoming very true now as the Sunni’s and Shia’s exert their own voices. And what about the Kurds? This beautifully shot doc has three parts – the first is a street life story about a Sunni kid, the second is set in Sadr city and the third is a peaceful journey in the northern Kurdish region. The middle section is the most interesting and also the fastest in terms of pace. In fact, the beautiful footage from the Sadr city segment could be easily slotted into a Ram Gopal Verma film or other mafia gangster flicks. Expertly edited and superbly shot (albeit using filtered lens), this was one of the better docs I have on Iraq (or anywhere for that matter).

Mystic Ball (Director Greg Hamilton): Rating 10/10 ***

From one great doc to another! Mystic Ball is a must see simple film about Greg Hamilton’s love of chinlone, the national sport of Myanmar (Burma). Mr. Greg (as he is called in the movie) finds peace and happiness in this simple sport, which unlike other sports is not competitive. This is just a wonderful film that has to be seen by everyone, especially soccer players like Ronaldinho and Henry, who have performed similar skills shown in the movie on a lesser scale. The cinematography is just amazing as the camera footage of the chinlone tournaments is captured superbly.

The Elementary Particles (Director Oskar Roehler): Rating 7.5/10

Two Half-brothers who are completely different go their own voyage of self-discovery! Technically, there is nothing wrong with the movie. But there is nothing that great shown in the movie.

Day Ten: Sunday, Oct 1

The 4th Dimension (Directors Tom Mattera, Dave Mazzoni)

Despite the slick Black and White shots, the film ends up being disappointing. Especially since many aspects appear to be borrowed from Pi, such as the quick cut repeated scenes which show the main character washing his hands a few times. In Pi the quick cut repeated scenes had the main character opening a cupboard, taking his pills, etc.

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Overall there were some very interesting movies that were shown in this year's festival. And for the first time, I crossed over 20 movies watched over the 10 day festival. The two masterpieces in the title refer to two black and white movies, Dosar from India and El Violín from Mexico. Vintage Cinema really!!!