VIFF 2008 Trailers

For the last two years I have enjoyed the VIFF trailers shown before all the film screenings. I missed out on VIFF this year but thankfully the trailers are online. All the 8 Trailers hilariously describe the possible audience members who attend a VIFF screening.

But these are my three favourites in order of preference:

1) Overanalyzer:


2) Die Hard -- I narrowly avoided being this person last year.


3) Foreign Film -- Love this. I have been guilty of dragging people into a film they didn't want to see. If they had seen this trailer, they might have run away :)

The Blame Game

It is a universal human trait to blame one's problems on someone else. But in Friday's Globe and Mail, Marcus Gee took the blame game to absurd heights in his column "China Should save less, spend more". Gee agrees with U.S. Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, that China should "encourage its citizens to be more like Americans and open their wallets". In his explanation:

China's government, too, has been building up a hoard. Years of huge trade surpluses and rising foreign investment has given Beijing foreign exchange reserves of $1.8-trillion (U.S.), a staggering figure that is rising more and more quickly. This surplus sloshes around dangerously in China's bilges, causing inflation and overinvestment.

Beijing could reduce the surplus by letting its currency rise against the U.S. dollar, a natural evolution for a country whose goods are in high demand. That would make Chinese products more expensive for Americans, reduce China's trade surplus with the United States and slow the flood of dollars to China.

The statement that it is up to China to make their "products more expensive" for Americans is completely absurd. The truth is that American companies have been taking their business to China in order to maximize their profits. The American companies (and even some British companies) play hard ball to ensure they can get Chinese products for as little money as possible. Proof is provided by the insightful documentary China Blue which shows how a representative from one of the big jean corporations negotiates the per jean price to a lowly figure of $1 and some odd cents. I cannot remember the exact figure but the representative brings the price down from $1.20 to something like $1.13. The Chinese factory owner in the film complains that if he didn't comply, another company would have beat them to the huge order. In the film's end, we follow the jeans from this factory via a gigantic ship containers to its destination in an American mall. There a sales girl opens the box of fresh jeans and puts them on the rack under a sign proclaiming "SALE" for a price of $40. Ofcourse, the same jeans would be sold for $80 at a different time during the shop's non-sale. Either way, there is a huge profit margin being made. So who gets the profit? Not China or the Chinese factory workers but the Multinational company.

If China starts demanding more money for its products, then you can be sure these companies will take their business to another country who would make the products for less. The basis of the capitalist system is that companies will take their business to where they can get more profits. So why is Marcus Gee not concerned with this? To prove his point Marcus quotes an American author: "As the U.S. author Ted Fishman put it in China Inc., "China lends America all the money it needs to spend itself silly." Why is Marcus not questioning the inherent greed that is buried in a capitalist system? At the end of the day, the current problems are down to greed, not only from the companies but individuals who spent more than they could have afforded to, and not about another nation.

The Carrie Bradshaw School of Journalism

This is not the first time Marcus Gee has written an article which reeks of personal agenda. In fact, this problem plagues a majority of the newspaper writers in Canada, especially those writing for the Globe and Mail and even the National Post. It seems most of the newspaper writers in this country do very little investigation or original thinking but merely voice their personal opinions just like Carrie Bradshaw did on her show Sex and the City. So are these personal newspaper articles considered a journalistic output or a personal blog? Are a majority of the newspaper writers merely churning out blogs but only in print? Considering how so many recent newspaper film critics have attacked film blogs for not being creditable, I find the same criticism can be thrown towards the newspapers writers who simply spend too much telling us how they feel on a particular morning or simply get their frustrations out.

Psst...Have you heard?

In these times of financial crisis, we need strong leadership! We need someone to tell us the word. Thankfully, we now know the word!


Family Guy BIRD IS THE WORD! - The most popular videos are a click away

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded today to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. Unfortunately, I have never read anything by him because very few of his books have been translated into English. But hopefully this award addresses that and English translations of his work appear in the near future.

When the truth is much scarier than scripted fiction...

Imagine a scene 6 years or so ago.

A meeting room packed with “important men”.

Man #1: War, War, War.
Man #2: Oil, Oil, Oil.
Man #3: Is this all really good for us?
Man #1: No doubt sir. We will win in one week. Everyone will love us.
Man #2: Who Cares if we are loved or not? We are who we are. We are #1. The rest can go to hell.

And so it was. A one hour meeting. And the nightmare continues 6 years on. The worst part of all of this is that these men will get away without any blame. They have washed their hands of this problem and the rest of the world is left to pick up the pieces.

Now Imagine another scene about three decades ago.

A university room packed with some “intelligent minds”, plus some world politicians and a dictator or two.

Professor #1: There is only one perfect system. Open everything up. Privatize and free markets.
Dictator #1: But there will be problems.
Professor’s follower #1: No pain, no gain. The people will suffer but they will get used to it.
Professor’s follower #2: For those people that cause problem or oppose the ideas, lock them up and throw away the keys.

Men sitting in rooms thinking they had all the answers. Men who never traveled outside of their country yet they treated the world as their private experiment. Men who are still called “intelligent”. Well the truth is out now. Those men were fucking wrong. They were plain fucking wrong. The think tanks were full with men with no practical experience. There were no computer simulations back then. And even if there was evidence to show that these men were wrong, they would have ignored the advice. These men were just too arrogant to factor in the human element into their “intelligent” ideas.

And this is where we find ourselves in. These “intelligent” men still make more money than the average person. Yet it is their mistakes that are fucking the system up.

History is filled with instances where people fail to learn from the mistakes of the past. Systems and ideas can fail. Sure that is acceptable. But if one is arrogant and convinced they are right while everyone else is wrong, then they are doomed to failure.

For the last 4 years, the team which plays the best football on the planet continues to make the same mistakes and constantly fails. If an intelligent man like Arsene Wenger can continue to make the same mistakes, then what about the countless arrogant men who are in charge of much more important issues which they have no idea how to solve? Ha, they will never admit their mistakes. But even if they did, what good will that do now?

The damage has been done. And it will continue to get worse.

5 years ago, I thought greed and stupidity of some “intelligent men” was going to result in some severe situations. Yet, I could not have imagined how severe the situations would end up being. My mistake? I truly underestimated the stupidity of these men. These men are beyond stupid. And the only thing worse than stupid men is stupid men with power to implement their foolish ideas.

There are some things a good soccer game or film cannot cure.

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

From the archives...

The Globe and Mail have put up their 1972 film review of The Godfather. The review was published a day after the film was released and it certainly makes for an interesting read. I love the last few lines which describes the movie in a nutshell:

"Yet the movie isn't just about this family. It's about secret horrors and false fronts. It's about how people turn themselves into monsters to maintain power and wealth -- and that's what makes it the all-American nightmare".

It is too tempting to apply the last line to a certain financial situation right now. Must resist rant.....

Also of interest is the article below The Godfather review. It talks about the mobile film studios which have become commonplace now.

Final Day of CIFF!!

Tired and jaded. I managed to take in 3 films on the closing day but I really should have only watched 1. The last two really tested any endurance I had whatsoever.

Day 10, Sept 28

Corridor #8 (2008, Bulgaria, Boris Despodov): 8/10
Jar City (2006, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur): 6/10
The Pope's Toilet (2007, Uruguay, César Charlone/Enrique Fernández): 8/10

If there is a new wave in Romanian cinema, then Bulgaria may be becoming a hotspot for interesting documentaries. Last year I enjoyed the Bulgarian doc Mosquito Problem and Other Stories and this year Corridor #8 does not disappoint. With a short running time of 75 min, Corridor #8 is an interesting look at life between Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania using trade, a proposed highway and cultural perception as a focal lens.

Jar City was a disappointing film even though it does feature some very stunning overhead visuals of the Icelandic landscape. It is a genre murder mystery with some slight variations to the conventional murder puzzle solving plots. The background score which attempts to evoke a spiritual essence around the film does not blend with the story and ends up being needlessly overpowering.

I was looking forward to seeing The Pope's Toilet but watching it at 9:45 pm on the final day of the festival was a bit too much to bear. On any other day, possibly an afternoon show, I might have enjoyed this film a bit more. Despite its charm, it felt too lightweight to sustain my tired eyes. Still I managed to stay awake despite the 90 minute running time taking forever to cycle through. How I wish this film had played at an earlier time in the festival!

That's a wrap..

Once I have caught up on my sleep, I will attempt to do a recap of some sort.

CIFF Notes -- Days 8 & 9

Day 8, Sept 26

Time to Die (2007, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska): 7/10
One Week (2008, Canada, Michael McGowan): 8.5/10

The Polish film Time to Die is mostly a soliloquy, beautifully shot in black and white. Credit goes to an excellent performance from Danuta Szaflarska for playing such a vibrant character. While the film is technically sound, like most recent Polish films, it took me a while to warm up to this story. Even though I was not bowled over this film, I did find a certain charm to it, not only from Danuta’s performance but the dog in the film whose actions and expressions were appropriate.

All it took for me to go see One Week was reading that Joshua Jackson plays a character who goes on a motorcycle journey from Toronto to Tofino. I love journey films and one set in Canada was definitely worth checking out. Thankfully, the film does not disappoint. In a way, the film is a postcard for Canada, showcasing the beauty of this country, along with snapshots of those small towns whose fame depends on that one big icon (largest mosaic, etc). Joshua Jackson plays Ben, a character whose life is turned upside down when he learns he has cancer. Unsure about what to do, he heads for a quiet moment with his newly acquired motorcycle and a cup of coffee. The sold out theater erupted with laughter when they recognized what coffee Ben was drinking. And the laughter increased when Ben ‘rolled up the rim’ to see what prize he won. He didn’t win anything but the message in the rim proclaimed ‘Go West Young Man’. And so it was. The Tim Horton's cup sealed Ben’s destiny and he undertakes a beautiful journey that ends at the beaches of Tofino.

Day 8, Sept 27

The Grocer's Son (2007, France, Eric Guirado): 8.5/10
Driving to Zigzigland (2007, Zigzigland, Nicole Ballivian)
REC (2007, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza): 8/10

The Grocer's Son is a charming film set in a beautiful small French town. While the story deals with the title character and his life, we get a glimpse into the farmers and town folk he interacts with on his daily grocery deliveries via his father’s truck. There is a tiny reference to some of the farmers being in debt even though that is discussed in passing. The film would form a perfect companion piece to the excellent French documentary Modern Life, which is about the decline of farming in France and played in Cannes this year.

Sometimes the best way to deal with tragedy is via comedy. And in the international political world the issue of Palestine and the occupied territories is no laughing matter. So credit goes to the film-makers of Driving to Zigzigland that they manage to portray the issue of occupation, homeland security and racial profiling in a humorous manner. The film is about a theater actor (Bashar) from Palestine who dreams of working in Hollywood. He leaves his home and daily problems of checkpoints behind to make his living in the promised land where he ends up driving a cab in order to pay his bills while constantly auditioning for small acting parts. In conversations with his passengers, whenever he mentioned his homeland as Palestine, the discussions often ended up in an argument. So he decided to name his country as Zigzigland, a trick that works surprisingly well.

It has been almost 9 years since The Blair Witch Project was released, yet its legacy lives on. Blair Witch.. came up with a very smart formula for a horror film by using a handheld camera to shoot their film in darkness. The absence of light does evoke fear in some people and the film-makers cashed in on that idea and proved that if one had a good myth, there was no need of nasty creatures or even gory blood because the darkness would cause the audience some jitters. Cloverfield tried this idea but one reason I didn’t think it worked was because the film was not confined to closed quarters. And the reason the Spanish horror film REC works is because it takes the Blair Witch concept into a confined space of an apartment building. There is plenty of opportunity for the spooks and screams while the camera moves around in darkness.

REC has a short running time of just under 80 minutes and gives enough screen time to develop the characters before turning into a screaming pitch dark film. The story is about a television crew (the lovely reporter Angela and Pablo, her cameraman) who follow two firemen into an apartment building after the fire-station received a call that an old lady was trapped in her apartment. Early on, it is clear something strange is going. A bite and some blood later, the film pauses to catch up with the other residents in the apartment. And then the jerky camera goes into over-drive as the actors engage in a screaming match. What strange force is at work in the apartment building? Thankfully, the film does give a glimpse into the mystery near the end, with a taped recording voice that reminded me of the radio messages in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness. Plenty of nods to Blair Witch and it seems that Hollywood has already noticed as their remake Quarantine will hit theaters in a few weeks. It is certainly fun to watch such a movie in a packed cinema hall because the nervousness and anxiety of the audience raises the decibels of the on-screen screams. And the directors do give the audience plenty of time to prepare for the oncoming danger. There are plenty of moments when the camera moves around a darkened space and one knows that something will appear in front of the camera and when it does, there will certainly be a few screams among the audience.

CIFF Notes -- Days 5-7

Day 5, Sept 23

Paraiso Travel (2007, Colombia/USA, Simon Brand)
Gomorra (2008, Italy, Matteo Garrone): 10/10

Border hopping

The Colombian co-production Paraiso Travel depicts the journey and struggles of a love struck couple (Marlon & Reina) who illegally cross the border into the USA. The film is divided into two portions starting off with the couple already in the USA and interleaved with their journey in flashbacks. Their journey takes them from Medellin to Panama to Guatemala via air followed by a river crossing and bus into Mexico. From Mexico, the duo make their way into Texas trapped in hollowed out tree logs along with a group of other Colombians. Once they get to New York, their troubles truly begin. After the duo get separated, Marlon is left to fend for himself on the streets of NY. The film has a good heart and tries to sprinkle hope, humour and even love into a story that could easily have headed towards complete darkness.

The wait is finally over!!!

Back in May after I finished Roberto Saviano’s well researched and written book Gomorrah, I found out that the book was going to be made into a movie by Matteo Garrone. I had no idea when the movie was going to be completed so I was completely shocked when I found out 3 days later that the movie was playing in competition at Cannes. Since then, I had looked forward to the movie. I figured even if the film tackled less than half of the book’s contents, then it would be a gripping and stellar flick.

Very rarely do sky high expectations translate into a satisfying film experience. But Gomorra did just that for me. The film dives straight into the world of mafia killings in Naples and continues to explore other areas touched by the Gomorra such as drug trade, fashion and even waste disposal. Reading the book is not essential for watching the film but the one benefit of reading the book is that it puts the different scenes and characters in context even before the film describes the situation. For example, in the film when you see two men scoping out a quarry, one can immediately decipher that the two men are looking for empty land for waste disposal as the final chapter in the book describes the operation in great detail. Also, one can pick out the subtle differences in between the book and film. Saviano talks about the incident where a dress that Angelina Jolie wore for the Academy Awards was stitched by a tailor with ties to the fashion underground. In the film, Scarlett Johansson is the one who wears such a dress.

The one aspect that stands out from the film is the use of guns to control power and commit crime. Two teenagers running up a sand-dune with guns in their hands while struggling to pull their jeans up. Two older fat men, wearing shorts and flip-fops, with guns in hand. It is hard to imagine the mafia operation existing without the hand-gun because any kid can be recruited off the street, given a gun to carry out a ‘job’ and initiated into ‘manhood’.

Day 6, Sept 24

Sleep. Zzzzzz. Skipped watching any films.

Day 7, Sept 25

Alice’s House (2007, Brazil, Chico Teixeira)

It came down to a choice between Brazil and Argentina. On one side was Alice’s House from Brazil and on the other XXY from Argentina. Normally, in terms of soccer and film, I prefer Brazil slightly over Argentina even though there are many excellent soccer players and films from Argentina. So continuing that trend, I once again opted for the Brazilian film, but I believe this time, I got it wrong. Even though I am not sure how XXY compares but I didn’t enjoy Alice’s House as the film is essentially a soap opera (affairs, romance, domestic issues) with some hair salon gossip and sexual urges thrown in the mix.

CIFF Notes -- Day 4

Sometimes our reactions to movies are similar to how we behave when we meet people. There are some people we take an instant liking to -- within a few minutes of meeting the person, we could be chatting like we were old friends. And then there is the flip-side to that behavior. There are some people we not warm up to and no matter what the other person does, we may never see eye to eye. One could say that at times our preconceived notions and prejudices come in the way, but no matter how much we try, we just cannot mesh with some people.

I had such reactions to the two films I saw yesterday – one that left me cold, while the other charmed me easily.

Day 4, Sept 22

Two films seen:
I am from Titov Veles (2007, Macedonia co-production, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Wonderful Town (2007, Thailand, Aditya Assarat): 10/10

I am from Titov Veles didn't work for me. Even though the production values were top-notch and the cinematography was very good, I just couldn't get over how the film was purposely trying to include a few elements to appeal to the audience – the few nude scenes of the lead actresses (and who plays the narrator), the sexual sequences, the dreamy shots with a vague biblical reference or the lovely overhead shots of everyday objects.

On the other hand, I was completely as ease just a few minutes into the Thai film Wonderful Town. The movie, set in the southern Thai town of Pakua Pak which was hit hard by the Tsunami in 2004, is a tender love story between a Bangkok architect (Ton), who comes to the town to work on a new beach resort, and Na, the owner of the hotel that Ton stays in. The film has a steady rhythm that is maintained no matter what happens. The scene could be a kiss or even a deadly crime, but everything takes place in the established dreamy and peaceful framework. Everything in the film exists in harmony, be it the haunted house, the construction of the new resort, the empty hotel, the isolated beach or even a road-side garage. The town is empty, almost a ghost town, where everyone knows each other. Yet this loneliness never feels oppressive but just a natural cycle of life.

Notes: As it turns out, Ton is the only one staying at the hotel as it is off season for tourists and most of the visitors stay in the expensive hotels near the beach. The isolated hotel setting reminded me of another Thai film, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Invisible Waves, which was set in Phuket. Even the film’s leisurely mood and dreamy feel made me think of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s work. The resort construction is almost an inverse of Jia Zhangke's Still Life. In Still Life, we see buildings taken apart while in Wonderful Town, we see a resort being constructed from ground up. Just something haunting about seeing a building’s skeleton. In Tsai Ming-liang’s I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, we also see an under construction building but I never equated that building with the one from Wonderful Town. Maybe because in Wonderful Town we see sideways view of the empty resort while in I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, we see the empty building from within, either from a higher floor looking downwards or from the ground floor looking up. And finally, the scene where Ton and Na enjoy a quiet moment in the lush green field made me think of the peaceful picnic that the characters in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Blissfully Yours take.

Opposite feelings

I saw both movies with two cinephile friends and it was interesting to note their reactions to the two films. They both didn't mind the first one and one of them liked it more than the second one. But for whatever reason, I can’t bring myself to feel the same about I Am From Titov Veles. I find it interesting that my least favourite film of the festival so far and the one I liked the most were separated by a 30 minute interval.

Keeping it simple, Hank Moody style

The only reason I wanted to see Californication was because of David Duchovny. Even though I had not read anything about the episodes, I had no hesitation in renting the first season DVD, although I only got Disc 1 which contained 6 episodes. I figured if the show was good, I would get the second disc which had the remaining 6 episodes.

With each episode lasting 30 minutes or so, the first DVD was 3 hours in length. I had only planned to watch one episode at a time, but after I put in the disc, I only stopped after the 3 hours was up. In fact, I hardly noticed the time fly by. I found Californation to be such a fun show, very well written and cast. The on screen relationship between Duchovny & Natascha McElhone's characters is just refreshing.

Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a writer struggling to get his new novel out. He still lives off the fame (and money) from his previous book and never gets tired of the drink or the women. He is also in the process of separation from Karen (Natascha McElhone) but the two keep in touch, partly because of their 12 year old daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). And then there is Charlie (hilariously played by Evan Handler), Hank's agent who grills him every now and then about his proposed new novel. Hank and Charlie are good friends who often share tales of their women adventures, and even offer advice to one another. Charlie also has an interesting relationship with his wife and secretary. Okay, interesting is an understatement! I cannot forget Karen's current boyfriend, Bill, and Bill's 16 year old daughter Mia who had a fling with Hank. To Hank's defense, he was not aware that Mia was Bill's daughter or that she was 16 when he slept with her.

Despite all the emotional pulls and tugs between the characters, the show is amazingly balanced -- mature yet playful, humorous but still keeping things in perspective. In a way, Hank shares some similarities with Nick Hornby's characters from Fever Pitch & High Fidelity but the presence of a daughter also gives Hank a level head.

And for the record, I finished off disc 2 also in 3 straight hours. Season 2 starts on Sunday, Sept 28. I can't wait to see more of Mr. Moody and Karen.

Average rating of all 12 episodes: 9/10

CIFF notes -- Day 3

Day 3, Sept 21

Two films seen:

Used Parts (2007, Mexico, Aarón Fernández): 9/10
Let the Right One in (2008, Sweden, Tomas Alfredson): 8.5/10

The Slovenian film Spare Parts was about illegal border crossing and focused mainly on the drivers who transported the people seeking a better life. The theme of border crossing also exists in the Mexican film Used Parts but the film instead focuses on the people who want to cross the border. The majority of the film looks at the lives of two teenagers (Ivan & Efraín) who work at odd jobs in order to make ends meet. Working with his uncle, Ivan eventually resorts to stealing car parts (hub caps, mirrors, etc) to make some fast cash to pay for their border crossing payments. The early part of the film spends time laying out all the characters and situations properly, so when things do go wrong, we know exactly the different paths that the characters would end up taking. In fact, one can say the ending could be seen coming for a long while, but still when it does arrive, it does not feel manipulated. If the options in front of people are limited, then there are only a few paths they can take.

The Swedish film Let the Right One In could be described as a coming of age tale spliced with a vampire story. But that generalization does not do justice to the fact that the film beautifully takes components from each genre and seamlessly integrates them into an original story. 12 year Oskar meets 12 year old Eli. But as Eli mentions, she is "more or less" 12. In fact, her real age is unknown as a vampire is trapped within 12 year old Eli's body. And the vampire may not even be female. The film highlights their innocent friendship, while depicting the blood lust that gargles within Eli's body. The thirst drives her to kill. Initially, an accomplice helps fetch human blood for Eli in a method akin to animal slaughter -- slitting of the throat and letting the blood drip out. But when the frailty of the accomplice takes him out of the equation, Eli is left all alone. Which is where her friendship with Oskar takes on more meaning -- two lonely people in a cold, snowy landscape.

The cinematography is very good and the best part of the film is that it does not descend into any end of the world scenarios but simply focuses on the solitary vampire's friendship with a human. Also, the film does a good job of making full usage of the screen. For example, in a scene where Oskar is being submerged into a swimming pool by a bully, the camera stays on Oskar's face but in the far end of the screen, we can see that help is on the way.

CIFF notes -- Day 1 & 2

While the opening CIFF gala was on Thursday night with Blindness, the festival proper kicked off on Friday, Sept 19. In the past few years, it is usually around the middle of the 10 day festival that I finally start getting a bit tired after juggling a day job along with the evening weekday screenings. A few years ago, I even had to take a day off right in the middle of the festival (Wed) to rest up for the final few days. But this time around, I was exhausted even before the festival truly started.

Day 1: Friday, Sept 19

5 am. I woke up awfully early so I could put in a full day’s work before resting up for two possible screenings in the evening. But despite two coffees, I was already tired by mid-afternoon. Still I made it out to the festival expecting my first choice to wake me up. If the film did just that, then I would have classified it a success, otherwise it wouldn’t have been not worth it. And Aleksandr Sokurov’s Alexandra proved to be a perfect cinematic tonic for my tired self.

The film follows a grandmother (who plays the title character of Alexandra) who goes to visit her grandson in a Russian military base in Chechnya. She hasn’t seen him in seven years but goes to visit him because she is lonely. For the first hour, we only see her on the base, wandering around and interacting with the soldiers, most of whom are not happy at being stationed there. The film truly comes to life when Alexandra leaves the base and wanders the local market. There she meets a local Chechnyan woman, Malika, who befriends her. As the two walk back to Malika’s place, a few shots of the neighbouring buildings tell us all we need to know about the region -- some buildings are marked by bullet holes while others are heavily bombed. Malika lives in a building on the verge of collapse and her causal remark to Alexandra that there are always men aimlessly hanging outside the building points to the state of unemployment in the region.

There is a shared bond of suffering and understanding that comes across when Alexandra and Malika talk. But when a local Chechnyan boy takes Alexandra back to the base, we get a glimpse that Alexandra is not very understanding after all. When the boy asks her why can’t the Russians just give the Chechnyans freedom, Alexandra remarks that weapons won’t accomplish anything but intelligence is required. Later during the night when she is talking with her grandson, her real views come into focus. She accuses the genes of the Chechnyans for the acts they commit regarding kidnapping and torture.

Sokurov has managed to tenderly weave political sentiments into the film without any melodrama or bloodshed. And the camera stays on each character’s face for the just right time for us to gauge their true feelings, be it insecurities or anger, without having them utter needless dialogue. A wonderful film.

Alexandra (2007, Russia/France, Aleksandr Sokurov): 9/10

I decided to skip watching a second film later in the night.

Day 2: Saturday, Sept 20

An Icelandic double

It was a real treat to watch Ragnar Bragason’s double features
Children & Parents. I had never heard of either film or even the film-maker previously but I had a good feeling about both movies and I was lucky to have been proved right. The two films are part of CIFF’s Iceland Series this year.

Ragnar was present at both screenings and I was able to ask him a few questions in between the movies and he answered further audience questions at the end of Parents. Both films are shot in black and white and as per Ragnar the reasons for B&W and his filming style were the following:

Ragnar was inspired by the early films & style of John Cassavetes. Like Cassavetes, Ragnar got together with a group of actors and flushed out their characters over a period of 6 months. The actors were given a rough skeleton of the film, with just some situations, but were required to improvise their own dialogues.

The lack of budget was a big reason for Ragnar’s choice of B&W. Since he didn’t have money for art design, make-up, etc, Ragnar decided to shoot the films in B&W to give them a consistent look.

One cannot tell that the films are improvised. Such is the strength of the acting and the characters portrayed. The two films stand separately on their own, with some characters making a brief appearance in the other film. Both films are a gritty look at the chaotic lives of humans, with the parents trying to juggle their jobs & family while the children face enough pressures of their own to keep sanity.

I will say a bit more about the films in a future post, after the festival is over. But both films were a real find and such gems truly make attending a film festival a real joy.

Children (2006, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason): 10/10
Parents (2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason): 10/10

Scotty, beam me the new Cannes title!

A few years ago, Canadian multiplexes started showing operas beamed live from the Met. I have no idea what the attendance figures are like for these opera screenings but I have seen people easily plunk down more than $40 for two tickets. I have often thought if they can do this for opera, then why not for film festival flicks? Why can't we have the Cannes Film festival beam its screenings to movie theaters around the world allowing thousands of film fans to enjoy the feature film screenings?

Beaming films -- Technical aspect

I remember seeing an article last year about Hollywood wanting to beam films to cinemas directly. I can't remember the exact article I read, but I found this one. Also, I heard the same noise in Bollywood as well about beaming films to theaters around India.

When I first heard that, I thought that would be great. But then could this idea not be taken one step further and people could actually watch beamed movies directly at home, sort of like the satellite model? It seems that even this idea exists.

While both the above methods would improve the delivery methods of movies, I still think the content of the films shown would still be a problem because these methods would still be geared towards Hollywood films. I think back to May 2007 as an issue. Most multiplexes across Canada were only showing three films -- Spider Man 3, Pirates 3 & Shrek 3. I am pretty sure almost all the shows were sold out. Such a beamed delivery method might ensure that more screenings of Spider Man 3 could be booked as opposed to Pirates.. because there might be more demand of good old Spidey in a certain location. But what about those Cannes titles that demand to be seen? Would they get beamed up? Probably not.

Beam me something I want

A lot of has been debated in print over the last year about the relevance of film critics. But for me, the question of film distribution is far more important -- how can we distribute better film content to markets around the world in a faster manner? As it stands, after films premier at Cannes, a select number end up making the rounds around film festivals for more than a year. And maybe after 15 months or so, an even smaller selection of titles open in North America, with a DVD release taking anywhere from 18 - 24 months. This filtering process does not ensure that every single Cannes Competition title would ever get distribution.

Who do I trust more? A Cannes film programmer or a North American distributor?

Easy answer. The Cannes Film Programmer. Now that does not mean that I agree with every single selection choice that the Cannes film programmers make. But in a way, I am glad that they have worked hard to select a few titles to showcase. Still I rather see all the Cannes competition films and be able to judge their merit for myself.

And I do believe that if more international films are easily available around North America, the value of critics would go up. Critics would not have to waste time debating why people must not go see the new popcorn flick and could spend more time talking about that relevant title from [insert country of choice] that is also playing at the local multiplex.

Open the taps, please!!

As much as I want Cannes film titles to be beamed up, I don't think the film industry would ever allow it. Too much has been invested in the current distribution model, a model which I don't think works as well as it should. Sure, more and more foreign films are washing up on the shores of North America but they are still going through a small filter. But why we can't we fully open the taps and allow North American markets to be flooded freely with international films?

But will it make money?

I can already see the first argument against opening up the cinematic taps. Since film production and distribution is a serious business, driven by profit margins, will those beamed up Cannes title make money? I do not know. But are there more people willing to spend $20 to watch an opera in a theater than wanting to spend $10 on an international film? Once again, I don't have numbers to prove any one side but I like to think that international films would hold their own.