CIFF 2009: Kick-off

Day One, Friday Sept 25

There are plenty of titles that hover in the big world of film festivals. But it often seems that only a few films are ever talked about. What about the rest? Why is no one talking about them? Is anyone talking about Katalin Varga? I have not heard any noise about this film, so let me start the sound waves rolling.

Katalin Varga, the Film: Devastating cinema. Simple but extraordinary.
Katalin Varga, the Character: Hilda Péter puts in a mesmerizing and incredible performance. I could have watched her character all day long.

The film does not waste any time. Within a few minutes, Katalin’s husband kicks her out of her home along with her son. She has nowhere to go. A journey begins. But the music points to a dark past and even a darker future. Yes, there is some darkness, for this is a revenge tale. But it is unlike any other revenge movie. In fact, it carves out its own rules for vengeance. That means no dramatic dialogues but instead we are treated to beautiful images and haunting music, music which conveys the hovering tension in the air.

After such a beautiful and powerful film, something light was required. And the fun Icelandic feature White Night Wedding more than provided for that. There are plenty of laughs in White Night Wedding which feature unique and interesting characters/scenarios. The film also balances its funny side with some dramatic scenes of a strained relationship and question of death.

Overall, an excellent start for the opening day.

Ratings:

Katalin Varga (2009, Romania/Hungary/UK, Peter Strickland): 9/10










White Night Wedding (2009, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur): 7.5/10

Parisian cinemas

This is not a dream

I booked our Parisian hotel (Hotel de France) because of its reasonable price and close proximity to the Gare de Lyon train station. The night before we left for Paris, I decided to check out the exact street view via google to know how far we had to walk from the train station. And when I saw the street side view, my jaw dropped because our hotel was right next to a cinema hall!!! What a dream!! But when I checked the schedule, all the films were either in French or dubbed in French with no subtitles. So not quite the perfect dream but close...














In the end, I didn't have any time to check out a film because our days in Paris were jam packed. But I can't still shake off the idea that our hotel was next to a cinema. You walk out of the reception and there it is...

The Cinema name points to the next location

I came across a cinema in Champs-Élysées called the Lido. And the next day, I was on the Lido island watching a film. Hmmm..

Two films to look forward to

The two most common film posters I saw in Paris were for Un prophète and L'armée du crime (The Army of Crime). Jacques Audiard's Un prophète is already on my list to see at CIFF but I am not sure when I will get a chance to see Robert Guédiguian's The Army of Crime.

Venice & the film festival experience

The 2 day stay in Venice and attending the film festival became a microcosm of life in general, a life which consists of many events working beautifully together to lead towards an end goal. Or put simply, it confirmed that everything happens for a reason. Well almost everything.


Once Upon a time in Canada...a vacation was planned

It was simply really. A family vacation in Paris and Italy. Having been to Paris and Italy previously, I figured dropping Venice out of the Italian leg of the journey was an easy decision. Pigeons, tourists and canals. That was all Venice was, right? But my father politely queried about going to Venice. I could not turn him down, so I decided ok, Venice was in. After the flights were booked, I learned that we were going to be in Venice during the film festival.

Massive screams of joy!!!!!!

After I calmed down a bit, I was still in disbelief. What was that saying about parents knowing best? :)

The next question was how many films I could squeeze in? The festival was held on the separate island of Lido, so it would not be that simple to go back and forth. I decided on the safe bet of booking tickets for one film on day one and seeing how things turned out on the second day.



Day One -- The Plan

I had a look at the schedule and figured an early evening show would be best for me. So I set my sights on the 5:15 pm show of the Brazilian film, Insolação. This is how things were supposed to turn out on Day 1:

Sunday, Sept 6, 8:20 am flight from Paris to Venice.
Arrive in Venice by 10 am.
15-30 minutes to collect luggage.
30 min to reach the island from airport by bus at terminal Piazzale Roma.
A further 30 min by vaporetto (water bus) to get to the San Toma Stop.
A 10-15 min walk to the apartment.

So it seemed reasonable to reach the apartment by 11:30-12 atleast. Then some time for lunch & wandering around Venice with the family before taking the boat to Lido around 3:30 pm. That would have gotten me to Lido by 4 pm and allowed me to wander the festival ground for a bit before taking in the 5:15 pm show.

So how did things go?

Plan, meet window

The flight was on time. Check.
Missed the 10:20 shuttle bus. In fact, the bus was leaving as we arrived on the stop. Next bus was at 10:50.
Got to the Venice bus terminal by 11:25 am.
And then the chaos started.

I could not get a hold of the person who rented the apartment out. And this is exactly what I had feared. Something about the apartment booking had always bothered me. The Art Blue bed and breakfast was located in Campo s. Stefano but the apartment we were staying was around Scuola di San Rocco, which was on the other side of the Grand Canal. Even though we had booked for a spot at the B&B, it seemed we would be staying in an apartment away from the B&B, so was my concern was if the apartment was someone’s private residence or another B&B? We were never given a fixed address but simply asked to get off at the San Toma vaporetto stop and give the owner a phone call just before we got to the stop. Someone would meet us at the stop with the key in 10 minutes. I would have liked to use the phone number as a backup and would have preferred a fixed address. Anyway, I went along with the plan and got my cell phone changed to have roaming allowed for Europe.

Since the owner was still not picking up his phone, I decided to get boat tickets. The lineup to get tickets was atleast 30 min. Sunday = busy tourist day. Duh.

We finally reached the San Toma stop around 12:30 and the owner was still not picking up his phone. Stress. 4 adults, one infant, luggage and no where to go.

So made the quick decision to leave my parents with the luggage and the three of us (my lovely wife and clearly tired daughter) would cross the canal on foot and find the B&B reception. The heat was unbearable and we were all thirsty and getting tired now. I had only gotten 2-3 hours sleep the previous night in Paris, so my body was starting to show signs of fatigue.

After getting lost once, we were helped by 2 ladies who showed us the path to the Accademia bridge, one of 4 bridges that can be used to cross the Grand Canal, and the last major bridge in order to get to St Mark’s square. More chaos when we reached the B&B. There is an Art Blue Cafe & Restaurant at the bottom of the Art Blue Bed and Breakfast but the two are separate. This fact was made clear by an arrogant, angry restaurant owner who shouted at us for the sole reason that we inquired where the entrance to the B&B was. He told us to go around the corner and hit the buzzer for apartment #3. We did that, and the call went through to the same phone number I was trying. Once again, no answer. So we had to go back to the restaurant to ask if there was any other way to contact the B&B owner. We learned that was a reception to the B&B a block away, but not before we were dished out more shouting. Ofcourse, it appeared that the entire episode was our fault. In Canada, hotels/B&B’s have clear signs showing where the reception or entrance is. But silly us. We were ofcourse not in Canada, a fact made apparent by the shouting restaurant owner. He said he would help us but that would be all. Good, that’s all we wanted. Frustrated, tired and with a baby who was clearly getting unhappy, we were not impressed. But we listened to Mr. arrogant as he thankfully pointed us the way.

The reception was indeed a block away but still over a bridge, ofcourse. We were glad to reach the reception but the girl at the front desk surprized us by saying that the apartment was not supposed to be ready until 2 pm. What? Frustration increased. She finally managed to put us through to the owner. He explained he never got my call but assured as another person would give us the key at the San Toma stop by 2 pm.

Was it my fault that the call didn’t get through? Maybe. My cell phone was automatically supposed to switch to the Italian network but maybe for some reason the call didn’t get through. But the owner had not answered when we rang the buzzer for the apartment as well. Whatever. The long walk back again began. I met the guy at the vaporetto stop and we finally checked in just after 2 pm.

The heat had me drained. Being awake since 4 am didn’t help either. But I still decided to leave just after 3 pm for my film. All I had to do was take the vaporetto from San Toma and 25 minutes later, I would be in Lido. I left my map and cell phone as I thought my family would need that more. There was only one set of keys to the apartment so I had to leave the keys and agreed on a meeting time and point (the buzzer to the apartment was not labelled either).

After a quick 10 minute walk from the apartment, I found the San Toma stop closed. Horror. The police man explained that there was a gondola competition and as a result, the Grand Canal was closed to all water taxis and buses. What!!!! The only alternative I could think of was catching a vaporetto from St. Mark’s square. The officer explained that might not be possible as all boats might be stopped there as well. But I had to try.

2 hour journey begins...

There are 4 bridges that go across the Grand Canal. Two of them didn’t matter to me as they led to the bus stop (Piazzale Roma) and the train station away from the island of Venice. The 3rd was the Rialto and that would be a bit further off from St. Mark’s square. So the only choice was to take the Academia bridge, the same one I had crossed a few hours earlier. I rushed off, thinking I had a chance.

But I wasn’t the only one stuck. When I was in Venice 10 years ago, I had taken a day long tour. The tours had dropped & picked us at St. Mark’s square. Now, as I was walking towards the Accademia, I noticed groups of tourists. By the thousands it seemed. They were getting on private boats just before the Accademia bridge. This fact seemed to indicate that maybe no boats were leaving St. Mark’s square, so all of them seemed to be headed away from St. Mark’s square.

So I walked faster. And then the Accademia bridge appeared. I wish I had taken a picture of the bridge but I didn’t want to waste any more time. The bridge was packed completely, with a seemingly endless chain of people getting off and on. There was no room to put my foot anywhere on the wooden steps so I did what everyone else was and pushed for a spot. Someone pushed me from behind and I in turn fell forward and pushed the person ahead. The young Italian ahead of me didn’t like getting pushed but I told him that the same had happened to me. He took off his ipod headphones and started shouting. He didn’t understand any English it seemed. Whatever. The young Italian raced ahead. After I reached the Art Blue B&B, I had to navigate blindly without a map. I did the natural thing and followed the crowd. The lanes got even narrower and the crowds appeared to increase even more. Those Venetian streets were more crowded than anything I had experienced previously and that includes the crowded streets of New Delhi or Bombay. Once again, I wish I had taken pictures but I was on a mission. Along the way, I saw tourists trying to carry their suitcases across the bridges while throngs of people pushed them aside. I felt sorry for those tourists having gone through a similar luggage dragging episode a few hours ago.

A short while later, I caught up with the young Italian guy. This time around, I moved ahead of him. But our game of running into each other continued until we finally reached St Mark’s square around 4:10 pm. The entire square is a sight to behold but having seen the place 10 years ago and being pressed for time, I could not stop. As expected, all the boat stops were closed. I crossed bridge after bridge, with the same result. No boats (public or private) were arriving or leaving St. Mark’s square. All the ticket information offices were closed as well and the earliest boat appeared to be leaving past 7 pm. But I kept walking.

The heat was getting unbearable. All around me people were cooling off with gelato or icy drinks. But I could not think of stopping. Thankfully I spotted one woman still working on shift at a ticket office. The woman informed me that the only way to get to Lido was taking the boats from St. Helena, a stop 20 minutes from our current location. So a dozen (or 100) bridges later, I was on the edge of the island, where the first sight of grass appeared.

And this is where I met Pedro....

The journey still continues...

I saw a man carrying a Venice film festival bag, so I naturally assumed he was going to Lido as well. I approached him and he confirmed my belief. A few queries back and forth and it turned out we were both going to the same movie. Pedro asked how I was interested in Brazilian film and I likewise asked the same. It turned out Pedro Freire was a Brazilian film-maker whose newest short film O Teu Sorriso was playing in competition. Pedro also had a map and he figured we were another 15 min away from St. Helena. He thought our best bet would be to catch the #20 vaporetto at 4:45 pm otherwise, we would have no hope. It was around 4:37 pm when Pedro mentioned that we were nearing St. Helena and we saw a boat appear at the stop. Was this the #20? As soon as Pedro said “I think we have to run”, he was off. I ran on the grass unlike Pedro who bravely ran on the edge of the pathway overlooking the water (no railing, one slip and a person would be in the water). But no, it was not the #20.

4:45 pm. Still no sign of the #20. Just then, a ship cruiser tried to dock at the stop. But the captain could not align the boat with the landing and quite a few tourists waited to board their cruise vessel. By now, we could see the #20 waiting but it could not arrive until this cruise boat had left. 5 painfully long minutes went by before the cruise boat gave up and headed off allowing the #20 to dock. Joy, joy. Only 4 of us got on the boat with the rest waiting for their cruise boat. The #20 driver said we would be Lido in 10 minutes.

Venezia Film Festival, I am here

The driver’s 10 minutes were in fact 16-17 minutes but we made it to the movie village around 5:10 pm. Once again, I kept the camera in the bag. A quick dash from the boat stop as Pedro guided me to Sala Darsena via 2-3 checkpoints of well suited (ofcourse) Italian festival staff. All around, people had their film festival passes around their necks but my electronic ticket was enough.

5:13 pm. Pedro pointed out that the directors of Insolação were getting their pictures taken on the red carpet, so we had just made it. As soon as we entered the cinema hall, the directors/producers and cast of the film entered. Everyone stood up and applauded as the light shone brightly on the film personnel. As the film personnel sat down right in the middle of the theater, a voice introduced each person (actors, producers and directors in the end), applause followed. And then, lights out.

This is not that Brazilian film

Running into Pedro was the perfect tonic for my tired mind. It was fun chatting about Brazilian cinema with someone who was aware of all the titles I had seen. And when Pedro mentioned about Marcelo Gomes and Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, I almost gasped in delight as that was one of my favorite films of 2005. I had finally found someone who had seen this movie. It turned out that Marcelo Gomes’s newest film (which he co-directed with Karim Ainouz) was playing at Venice this year. During our talk, I mentioned to Pedro that I had never seen a bad Brazilian film or any film that didn’t have merit. Maybe that was because I had only seen Brazilian films sent to film festivals? Just before our boat arrived at Lido, Pedro warned me not to have high expectations from Insolação, especially if this would be the only film I saw at Venice. I told him not to worry.

Ha.

All good things must come to an end. And so it was with my run of seeing only quality Brazilian films. The first few minutes of Insolação seemed promising. A ground work was laid out and I expected the canvas to split open and the film to take on wings. The first walkout came around the 10 minute mark. I dismissed that as a bathroom break because I had never seen a walkout that early on in a film. A few minutes later, another walkout. Then a steady stream. Seats around me emptied out, giving me some extra leg room. I stretched out and began my battle to stay awake. For me, my extra long day was finally catching up. Little sleep, long walks in the hot sun, hunger and thirst. I didn’t have enough time to get some water before the film started and now that was looking like a bad idea.

The most walkouts took place around the 45 minute mark. Two people made sure they walked out right in front of the directors and film crew. My head started to drop and I found myself in a semi-dazed state. I opened my eyes hoping to find something different yet nothing had changed. The film appeared to be stuck in an endless cycle, something that was apparent early on in the film. Coming of age, love, loss. More loss. The narrator sheds tears, looks at the audiences and naturally it rains on him. No one left the movie after the hour mark. The entire experience still felt like a dream when the film ended. Applause greeted the work and the directors looked pleased, as they were smiling. For me, the film was painful viewing and I am certain my long day had nothing to do with it. Insolação didn't look and feel like any Brazilian film that I had seen before. The film's music and tone made it feel more like an American indie but the film appeared to be aware of itself at every point. Every scene appeared to be forced and had enough dramatic pause that appeared to be screaming "look at me, for I am high art". But once the layers were peeled away, there was nothing.

I briefly caught up with Pedro before I rushed out. It was close to 7 pm and I had to meet my family by 8 pm. I had time to grab a bottle of water just as a vaporetto pulled up. It was an express vaporetto which would go close to St. Mark’s square, so I got on. I would have loved to wander around the movie village and I really wanted to buy a program guide but I didn’t want to be late as I didn’t have keys to the apartment and had no phone either.

The crowds were still there as the sun set across the Venetian lagoon and a majority of them were in awe of a huge cruise liner just leaving Venice.































I reached the meeting point at 8:03 pm, almost on time. The rest of the night was lovely as we went back to St. Mark’s square for an amazing dinner and....some delicious gelato, finally.

Day 2 -- another film, but a surprize

I really wanted to watch 1-2 movies on Monday, especially the 5 pm shorts selection which featured Edmund Yeo’s newest film. Then there was a Peruvian film at 7:30 pm that I was interested in. But I decided to put family first. The plan was to visit the nearby islands of Murano and Burano and go from there.

I had been to Burano 10 years ago and it was interesting to head back and see how some things were still the same and how there were some changes.



We spent almost the entire day at both islands and it was just after 7 pm when we reached back to Venice. Our original idea was to get off at the San Toma stop but my mother wanted to stop at the Rialto bridge for a wander, so we got off there.

We had a map but I decided to head back without looking at the map as I didn’t expect us to take too long to reach the apartment. Alleys led into other alleys. I followed a simple rule. Whenever faced with two paths, I took the one which was lit more. And sometimes, I took the path where more voices or footsteps could be heard. After crossing a few bridges, we reached an open square.

There was a tower on one end and across from it, there appeared to be a large screen. Now, all those signs of "public screenings" for the Venice film festival made sense. And once we went around the corner, sure enough, there was indeed a large screen slated to show Claire Denis’ White Material at 9 pm. The French film only had Italian subtitles but the experience seemed tempting. Since we were hungry and I didn’t want to leave my family stranded, I decided against seeing the movie. But my better half insisted that I had to see the film as the experience would be worth it. I confessed that this was a movie I had wanted to see anyhow. So it was settled -- I bought the ticket and decided to rush back and leave everyone at the apartment and then find my way back.

It was 8:25 pm and it turned out that the apartment was only 15 minutes away. I had enough time to grab a calzone and coffee slush drink before I reached the square around 8:50 pm. The screen had a beautiful feel to it. Houses on all sides, a tower behind the screen and a restaurant on the other end. The square was lively and the restaurant was packed. A few kids were playing with a whistle and I expected some mischief from them during the movie.

The audience was mostly Italian with some festival pass carrying people. Copies of Variety and other film magazines were visible. I decided to take the last row, near the centre. There were just other two men in the last row, both a few chairs down on either end, one of them had a dog on his lap. Once the film started, the dog was awake and busy watching the movie. I could hear the noise of forks and plates from the restaurant behind me and halfway through the movie, when a lady opened the window of her house, the creaking noise made quite a few people look in her direction. She quickly closed the window. 30 minutes into the movie, those kids with the whistle made their presence heard. They ran to 2-3 different spots outside the curtains, blew their whistle, laughed and ran off. After an hour, when two dogs started fighting outside, the man to my right tried to ensure his dog was calm. I could hear his dog starting to breathe heavily but the man made sure his dog would not bark as he calmly petted him. But the dog did bark, about 15 minutes from the film’s end, probably out of fatigue as he (or she) wanted to go home.

Even though the film had no english subtitles, White Material was a good choice because the camera’s language was beautiful, easy to follow and allowed one to soak in the African surroundings. Plus, the open air theater made the whole experience more alive and breathable than watching something in a closed setting. The cool air and starry sky made it the best cinematic experience I have ever had. In fact, the experience was more memorable than the film itself. White Material was not bad, but given the cinematic images that have been portrayed about Africa, I didn’t find anything ground breaking about the work. A different pace and some beautiful moments were what I liked best.

And in closing...

The experiences of reaching and viewing at both venues were more memorable than the actual films itself. As I have mentioned the San Polo open air cinema experience to friends, they have mentioned Cinema Paradiso. I had not thought of that and in a way, it was like that. Quite simply beautiful.

Lots of amazing things came together for me to reach my film screening on time. If we didn’t have to cross the Accademia bridge to go to the B&B, then I might not have been so confident in leaving without a map and trying to take that route later on in the day. And then that long walk to St. Helena and running into Pedro. Ofcourse, I had to talk to Pedro first. There were two stops at St. Helena so if it were not for Pedro, I might have stood at the second stop and missed the boat altogether. The only thing that I can’t find a place for is being shouted at by the Art Blue Cafe & Restaurant owner (or manager, whatever he was). Was there a lesson to be learned there? I am sure there is although I don’t want to spend another minute trying to think about it. Out damn shouting image of arrogant owner, I erase thee.

Ciao Venice.

A decade long path from Dark City

Knowing (2009, USA/UK, Alex Proyas)

Note: Spoiler Alert -- key details about Dark City and Knowing are mentioned.

More than a decade ago, the brilliant Dark City showed a world where humans were the guinea pigs of an alien experiment. The film was smart and offered plenty of intriguing ideas about memories and human psychology.

11 years later, Alex Proyas returns with an end of the world sci-fi film with a key alien presence. As per the film, it is aliens who shepherd humans through the cycle of destruction and recreation. The aliens serve as angels in charge of ensuring that the cycle of life continues as per the Bible. While the film only focuses on one young Adam-Eve couple in charge of starting the birth of the planet from scratch, it also indicates that multiple couples might share the burden. Earth's destruction is quite beautifully done and "the end" does not feel like a finale. Instead, it appears as the board has been cleared completely so that a future recreation can take place.

I was pleasantly surprized by Knowing. I had mistakenly believed the film would be another run of the mill destruction film but it is much better than Hollywood's regular nonsense. Knowing is a decent watch even though it is not nowhere as good as Dark City. Interestingly both films form a bond due to the alien presence. In Dark City, the humans are not shown to be taken by the aliens, whereas in Knowing the transport of the humans is depicted. The aliens in Dark City use their minds as weapons but it is the mouth that serves as the weapon in Knowing (whispers and also for blinding light). Both sets of aliens from the two films wear trench coats but in Knowing, the aliens don't need a hat as they have a full set of hair. So clearly the aliens in both films are from different planets :) Maybe, another decade later Alex Proyas will present a third installment of an alien film. So let this blog entry serve as a time capsule in that regard.

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.

The diver..

Man Utd vs Arsenal

When the opponent is Arsenal, then Wayne Rooney knows when to dive. Back in 2004, it was from his dive that Man Utd won a penalty to end Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run. And on saturday, Rooney dove again to win a penalty, which he then scored to tie the game up.


As per the above picture, Rooney was already on his way to the ground before Almunia touched him. Almunia is to blame as well because there was no need for him to be so rash and he left himself no chance to pull his hands back. Rooney knew what he was doing. Even if Almunia had not touched him, Rooney would have fallen over Almunia's body and the penalty would still have been given. This is because when Man Utd are playing at home they get more penalties and decisions in their favour than any other team in the EPL.

And as usual, the other fouls that Man Utd players dished went unpunished and a clear penalty for Arsenal was also not called. A new season, yet the same ref bias. Eduardo gets charged by UEFA but Rooney will not be called out, never.

CIFF 2009 preview, part III

Asian hat-trick

Call if you need me (2009, Malaysia, James Lee)

A visually sharp film that combines the sensibilities of diverse film-makers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Quentin Tarantino while still retaining a unique Malaysian flavour. Hou Hsiao-Hsien elevated a gangster film to an art form with Goodbye South Goodbye and James Lee does a very job in carrying on that tradition. Call if you Need me is about gangsters and kidnappings but there isn’t a single gun or drop of blood to be found on screen. All the violence is kept out of the frame and we are instead shown events that precede or succeed a violent act. In one instance, the gangsters surround a guy and are ready to beat him up but the next scene shows the victim playing cards with the gangsters. A few moments later, we learn that the guy is kidnapped and can’t go until the money he owes turns up so he is forced to pass the time by playing cards but you can sense his nervousness. Because there is no violence shown on screen, we can instead focus on the characters and their day to day lives, including their love interests and their choice of food and drugs.

The film also maintains a cool look and tempo similar to the cinema of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (especially Invisible Waves) thereby making it a perfect film for a nice summer day. Even though the topic is about gangsters, one never leaves the film with a bad taste and the film does not glorify the gangster’s lifestyle, something that Ram Gopal Varma consistently does in his work.

Rough Cut (2008, Korea, Hun Jang)

Rough Cut has taken some aspects of the extraordinary Korean film Dirty Carnival and gone in a different direction with good effect. Dirty Carnival showed how gangsters complained about movies not having authentic fight scenes and in order to correct things, a local gangster (Byeong-du) helped his old college friend (Min-ho) to make an authentic gangster film by giving pointers to the actors and fight instructors. In Rough Cut, a once popular action star asks a local gangster to play a villain in his movies so that the actor can save his career. The gangster, who always dreamed of being an actor himself, agrees provided that all the fight scenes in the film are real and not staged. The end result is a no holds barred on screen contest where even the film’s director has no idea if the end result would hold true to his original script.

Rough Cut is a very good film that puts a new spin on the traditional gangster genre. Kim Ki-duk's screenplay is different from anything he done before, and that includes the gangster film Bad Guy that he directed early in his career.

Daytime Drinking (2008, Korea, Noh Young-seok)

A delightful film that provides plenty of laughs with its sincere tale of love, friends, alcohol and good food. When I was not busy laughing, I was craving hot ramen noodles with cold beer just like the characters in the film. In recent years, most of the Korean films that have showed at film festivals have been big budget slick productions. So it is great to see an independent Korean film like Daytime Drinking doing the festival rounds.

The Beautiful Game vs the Kicking Culture

The Champions League Draw -- A thing of beauty!



Group C is easily the toughest and the most interesting: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille & FC Zürich

The Milan vs Madrid game is one for the history books as the two most successful European Cup winning teams take to the field. Also, the game marks the return of Kaka to his former club. But Milan are not the team they once were so Marseille have a great chance to take second stop. On the other hand, fans of FC Zürich are in for a treat as they will witness their team take on some of the best players in the world.

Group A is the second toughest with the games between Bayern, Juventus and Bordeaux likely to be tight affairs. Maccabi might not be able to spoil the party but they will likely score some home goals.

Group E provides a bit of a challenge for Liverpool. On paper, Liverpool and Lyon appear to be favourites but Fiorentina might be able to ring a surprize. It will be interesting to see if Liverpool can continue their CL luck from past years.

Group C rematches Chelsea with Porto for only the 100th time. Well it feels like the 100th time. Chelsea should easily win this group although Atletico Madrid need to show more consistency if they are to take second spot. What can APOEL do? They will certainly have a noisy home crowd behind them but their best chances of points are at home to Porto.

Group G appears to be a bit evenly balanced but Stuttgart and Seville should advance. Rangers have to secure an away win against one of these two if they want to take 2nd spot.

Reunion is the flavour in Group F: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan

Both Eto'o and Zlatan face off against their old teams while Jose will surely be greeted with some boos at the Nou Camp. Both Barca and Inter should advance from this group with some ease, although Inter will drop points away from home.

Now to Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Beşiktaş, Wolfsburg.

Just like every season for the past decade, Man Utd get the easiest draw. Man Utd should easily win this group. And even if they are not playing well, they will still carve out a 1-0 or 2-0 win.

And finally, Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiacos, Standard de Liège

The second easiest group after Man Utd's. Even if Arsenal have injury problems, they should advance. The second spot is up for grabs but Olympiacos should take that. AZ Alkmaar can cause an upset or two.

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The entire uproar over Eduardo's dive is insane. Yes diving and cheating are ruining the game but why were the British press not upset when Rooney or Steven Gerrard or Ryan Babel dove to earn a penalty? And why was nothing ever said about the multiple dives by Ronaldo in every game when he played for Man Utd? The answer is that the British press always protect their own players and any player who plays for Man Utd or Liverpool because these teams represent some sort of English identity. Arsenal don't get that treatment because of the huge number of foreign players they have.

Another frustrating aspect is that the British always turn a blind eye to the excessive number of fouls their players commit in every game. When Eduardo's leg was broken by Martin Taylor in Feb 2008 because of an awful inept tackle, the British press jumped to Taylor's defense. They didn't want to discuss why the game is being ruined by players like Taylor or the numerous incompetent players who ply their trade for Blackburn, Bolton or other teams with no skill. The British press consider excessive fouling and kicking as part of the game. This goes back to the old days when the British game was nothing but tackles and long balls. A perception in the English game prior to the 1990's was that foreign players were considered too weak to withstand the physical part of the game. It was believed that players had to be men enough to take the kicks, get up and carry on. And if a player complained about getting kicked too much? He was considered weak. These narrow views have changed slightly in the last two decades because of an influx of skillful foreigners who came into the English league and improved the overall style of the game. One can still find commentators refer to some players as having a “silky touch” yet not being physical enough.

The kicks are also incorrectly considered as showing "commitment". When Celtic’s players kicked Arsenal every chance they got, the only thing the commentators kept repeating was that Celtic’s players showed tremendous commitment. In Gianluca Vialli’s insightful book, The Italian Job, he examines the differences in Italian and English footballing cultures and management styles. In one section, Vialli mentions how English fans applaud a player attempting to run after a lost ball (meaning lost cause) and consider that attribute as part of a player’s commitment. They wrongly believe that “the player is giving it his all”. Whereas, in Italy fans consider that player as wasting his energy. Such false sense of commitment also applies to kicking in the English game. English managers often tell their players to “give it their all”, to “get stuck in”, etc. Now, each player will interpret these instructions as per their ability. And the inept players consider kicking and breaking another player’s leg as part of their commitment. The fact that their managers, the fans or the press don’t condemn such kicking only reinforces their belief that they are a worthy player.

One reason that Hleb left Arsenal was because he could not withstand the constant kicks he got. He was one of the most fouled players in England because of his ability to dribble and spin past players. Who knows if Ronaldo felt the same? He was one of the few players who spoke up Eduardo’s leg was broken. Maybe he feared the same treatment. Although it won’t happen, but it would be nice if all the foreign players left the English league. Then the British game can enjoy the Blackburn or Bolton style of “commitment” and “getting stuck-in” while the rest of the world can enjoy the beautiful game.

CIFF 2009 preview, part II

Euro Delight




My Only Sunshine (2009, Turkey, Reha Erdem)

My Only Sunshine has a beautiful visual language and is probably one of the best shot films of 2009. However, the film’s story is not as strong as that of Erdem’s previous feature, Times and Winds. Still, the stunning cinematography makes this film a treasure to cherish.

Link:Istanbul festival report.

Birdsong (2008, Spain, Albert Serra)

Serra’s leisurely paced film can either be a truly rewarding experience or a painful one. With high expectations from this feature, I let the gorgeous black and white images take over and went along for an absorbing ride. Once the absurdity of the character’s behavior became apparent, then watching them fumble their way through the desert was a humorous experience. It is essential to have the film in black and white because that allows one to pay attention to the characters and forget about the surroundings. This point is demonstrated by the documentary, Waiting for Sancho, where we get to see each locale in its original color and then can compare those shots to the black and white footage. If the film were not in black and white, then the rich colorful surroundings of Tenerife would have dwarfed the three main characters and the film would have lost its impact.

Can go Through Skin (2009, Holland, Esther Rots)

After a traumatic experience, Marieke leaves the city and moves to the country side to rebuild her life. But as per the title and the saying that some things can get under one’s skin, Marieke is unable to bury her past and alternates between fantasy and reality. The film leaves it up to the audience to decide what scenes are real and what are fabricated, although there are some clues as to which direction things are going. This is a stunning debut feature film by Esther Rots that lets the audience get inside the head of Marieke with a dazzling technical package (cinematography, editing) that contain tight close-ups of Marieke and objects directly in her line of sight, thereby giving us an idea of which objects trigger negative and fearful emotions in her. The sense of space that the camera uses is quite amazing and one can understand how Marieke’s environment is crushing her or when she is finally starting to breathe again.

Mid-August Lunch (2008, Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)

Full credit to Gianni Di Gregorio for making such a delightful film about a topic that may not seem appealing on first glance (“middle aged man taking care of his mother”). Even more remarkable is the fact that Gianni Di Gregorio & producer Matteo Garrone’s previous venture was Gomorra (directed by Garrone and co-written by Di Gregorio). It seems that after working on a hard hitting gangster film, the best remedy for the duo was to pour their energy into this charming appetizing film which is likely to work up an appetite with the loving scenes of food preparation.

Sight & Sound’s interview with Gianni Di Gregorio.
Sight & Sound’s review of the film which gives away plot details.

Boy meets girl...but this is not a love story

500 Days of Summer (2009, USA, Mark Webb): 8/10

Love, Fate, Destiny. Words which are used quite a bit. Especially love. Many films claim to be a "love story" without ever understanding what love is. 500 Days of Summer doesn’t make that claim. In fact, the narrator at the film’s start makes it clear that "this is not a love story." So what is the film about then? Boy sees girl. Boy thinks he is in love with girl. Boy and Girl date. Girl still feels nothing. Boy is crushed, heart-broken. And then, only then, boy wakes up.

Some of the best "boy meets girl" tales are when a writer injects their personal experience into the mix. This is because valuable lessons are only learned when one is forced to look within for answers after a heart break. And sometimes, one needs time to understand what a coincidence means or what fate is really indicating. Sometimes meeting a person isn’t the end goal of fate, but that person is simply a marker which will ultimately point towards "the one". Such is the case in 500 Days of Summer.

And what comes after summer? Autumn, ofcourse!

CIFF 2009 preview, part I

The full line-up for CIFF is out. This year marks the 10th anniversary of CIFF and the line-up is the strongest ever. A new competition category this year is the Mavericks. All 10 films in this category should be noteworthy but I can only comment on the 4 gems that I have seen.

Be Calm and Count to Seven (2009, Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)

This stunning debut film can take one’s breath away with its poetic beauty. The opening scenes feature fast boats landing on the beach, followed immediately by burqa covered women running and unloading the goods off the boats and disappearing into the mud houses. We only learn later on in the film what the contents of those bags are but both the contents and act of smuggling are minor details. The most important aspect of this film is observing the way of life on a tiny beautiful island in the Persian Gulf.

If the character’s didn’t speak Farsi, then I would have placed this film to be shot in either Yemen or North Africa due to the setting in a fishing village by the ocean. In fact, the film reminded me most of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Waiting for Happiness because of the theme of characters waiting to cross the ocean to seek a better life. But this is a completely refreshing work that exudes life in every frame.

Everyone Else (2009, Germany, Maren Ade)

A fascinating look at how professional competition (architecture in the film's case) can put an already fragile relationship under more stress. The film has a slow start and at first it is not clear what the issues in the relationship are but gradually as we get to see more of the couple's behaviour, the problems become clearer and the film catches fire. But it is not an open inferno but a slow burn which eventually leads to an implosion and not an explosion. It is credit to Maren Ade that the film does not resort to melodrama but instead lets the body language of the actor's do most of the talking. The rawness and honesty of the couple’s relationship is unlike anything seen on film in the last decade.

Karaoke (2009, Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)

This beautifully shot film attains a level of beauty normally associated with the cinema of Thai film-maker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Plus, the film’s structure of two inter-related parts has shades of Tropical Malady. One segment of Karaoke appropriately takes place inside a Karaoke bar and the other is in the beautiful Malaysian country side where the Karaoke videos are shot. There are two memorable moments where the camera moves freely and one can truly breathe in the atmosphere. The first such free movement comes in the opening 15 minutes of the film as the camera shows the diverse ethnic make-up of Malaysia by listening in on snippets of conversations taking place at the different tables. The different ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese and Indian) don’t always get along and one can sense that distrust by the few observable moments at the film’s start. The second free movement takes place near the film’s end when the camera stops following a character and drifts into the jungle to show some truly mesmerizing sights.

Fish Eyes (2009, Korea/China, Zheng Wei)

Zheng Wei makes an impressive debut with this well shot film that does not burden the screen with needless dialogue. The minimalist style works to perfection here and this film is another example of the impressive Chinese films being made in the last few years. The film’s style evokes memories of another wonderful Chinese/Korean co-production, Grain in Ear, that showed at CIFF a few years ago.

Quinglorious Tartare

Inglourious Basterds (2009, USA/Germany/France, Quentin Tarantino)

A WWII fantasy comedic drama in 5 chapters.

Chapter One: "Once Upon a time...in Nazi occupied France.."

Beautiful French country side. A French farmer. A german solider. French dialogues, english subtitles. Glass of milk. “Bravo”. Language switches to english. Where are they hiding? Rat-a-tat. Gun shots. One girl is allowed to escape.

Haaaaa...haaaa..the laugh of evil.

Chapter Two: Inglourious Basterds

Gang of men. Killing is all they do. But since Eli Roth is playing one of the men doing the killing, there has to be an element which will fit nicely within Roth’s Hostel films.

Chapter Three: German night in Paris

This chapter is dedicated entirely to the cinephile. Talk of German directors and even the propaganda cinema that existed under the Nazis. And a brief lesson to spoon feed audiences about nitrate film.

Chapter Four: Operation Kino

Mike Myers makes a brief appearance and delivers his few dialogues with the same dramatic pause that Austin Powers would. And a film critic character is introduced. Hmm.

Tavern in Nadine. Laughter. Das Boot filled with beer. All merry. But the accent throws things off. The film critic comes to the rescue but the lying can’t go on for too long. Gunshots. Rat-a-tat.

Chapter Five:

Lady in Red. Cue music. Revenge. Burn. Bullets.

Before fade to black: "I think this just might be my masterpiece".

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Majority of the critics and Tarantino’s fans will probably nod their heads in agreement at those words. For the few critics who disagree, well Tarantino lets us know what fate he would like a film critic to get as per the example in his movie. And if there are audience members who don’t agree with Tarantino’s gospel, the fans boys will take care of them, as I found out when I dared to suggest that Tarantino should have edited Kill Bill 2 a bit more. The angry abuse I got suggested his fans believe that every scene he shoots is the greatest and all the dialogue in his film drips with intelligence. There is no doubt that Tarantino can write great snappy dialogue and he knows how to shoot a scene, but that does not mean that every scene should be present in his movie especially if it does not contribute to the overall structure of the film. Why are writers, be it short story, novel or screenplay, asked to re-write and edit repeatedly? Because abstract or intelligent ideas may be great on their own but sometimes they don’t contribute anything to the overall work. If every director was allowed to have all their favourite scenes in a film, then each film would be longer than 3 hours. But Tarantino is allowed a greater degree of self-indulgence than other film-makers. The harsh opening lines of this review for The Fall by Ed Gonzalez come to mind as an example. Gonzalez blasted Tarsem for being self-indulgent. Yet whatever Tarsem did fit within the framework of his film’s structure but his usage of exotic locales & props were slammed for being selfish. Tarantino does not do locales but uses his dialogue as a canvas for his inner ideas. Gonzalez does not have such harsh words for Basterds but his opening line from The Fall's review could easily apply here as there are plenty of self-indulgent scenes in Basterds (and in all Tarantino movies for that matter) which don’t fit within the film's framework.

The overall framework of Basterds is a beautiful French language film garnished with a bit of German and Italian. Tarantino should get a lot of credit for keeping his film mostly non-english as that gives it a wonderful atmosphere. And his overindulgent dialogues are toned down a bit thanks to Christoph Waltz, who does a brilliant job in expressing Tarantino’s words and is a delight to watch. Unfortunately at times the French film is almost squeezed over by a Kill Bill style movie complete with dramatic soundtrack, bold yellow titles, colorful background introduction of some characters and quick cuts to spoon feed audiences or to add humour. Brad Pitt is fun to watch but I wish there was a way to have Pitt’s character included within the framework of the French film and not be pushed aside along with Eli Roth in an almost separate segment, even if that segment is not longer than 30 minutes. The counter argument is that if this second style movie didn’t exist, then Basterds would have had trouble in getting marketed to North American audiences; the weaker english language film is probably needed to support the superior French language film otherwise the overall movie might have ended up in art house theaters and not in multiplexes.

Rating: 7.5/10

Even though Kill Bill, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds are original movies, they are works which are completely aware of other film genres and movies. Part of the joy in watching these films is to see how they build up on past films and incorporate newer elements while remaining completely unique and fresh. It wouldn’t surprize me if Tarantino will put his unique imprint on another genre next. But I am waiting to see if Tarantino will go back and make a unique genre free film again, a film free of the past.

District 9: 1.8 million 'prawns' in a slum

District 9 (2009, South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp): 10/10

District 9 is a rare thing -- an intelligent sci-fi alien film with plenty of political and social observations packaged as a fun summer movie.

Sci-fi aware

The film starts off with a voice-over explaining that an alien spaceship didn’t stop over New York City, but surprisingly came to a halt over Johannesburg. This is clearly a reference towards films like Independence Day or other Hollywood films which believe that aliens would somehow only stop over America.

The basis of some sci-fi movies in the past was that aliens were kept in Area 51 and government/military personnel used alien technology to develop weapons. District 9 also picks up on this idea and expands it to depict private military contractors wanting to harness the power of advanced alien weapons. Given the rise of private military contractors around the world, the film is properly updated.

Segregation, Refugees and border issues

The setting of the film in South Africa and the director’s interview has focused most of the attention on apartheid but District 9 achieves a lot more than that as it highlights the problem that refugees face in temporary camps when they cross a border. In the film, the alien population is forced to live in slums with substandard conditions, the same treatment that refugees who cross boundaries in Africa or Asia face. On top of that, the social hierarchy shown in the camps is modeled on real life people who take advantage of refugees living in camps.

Another interesting point is depicted by the character of the alien child born and raised in District 9. The alien child asks his father what their planet is like and wants to go home even though he has never seen his home planet. Scores of refugee children are born in camps far away from their home nations and hardly get a chance to ever return to their homeland. As a result, an entire generation (or two) of people have no concept of understanding their roots and have to depend on stories or the rare picture of their homeland (a hologram stands in for a photo in District 9).

The genesis of hatred and genocide

One key ingredient for genocide is when one group of people dehumanizes another group and considers the other group unworthy of living. In District 9 that concept is shown at face value as the tall, skinny and underfed aliens are the object of hatred of their neighbours. The sentiments of the people who live around District 9 indicates that if the South African government does not act to move the aliens, then something far more dangerous would likely take place.

Cruel humans

In a twist on the regular Hollywood alien film template, District 9 shows that if aliens did land on earth, then it would be humans who would do more harm to the aliens than the other way around. Given the messed up carnage that has taken place over the last few decades, it is entirely believable that humans would be far more evil when dealing with aliens. Once again, the film is appropriately updated.

Action...

There are some action sequences in the film but they are nicely integrated in the story and do not cause the film to halt for mindless 20 minutes of explosive situations. The finale action scene takes place in the same slums that the rest of the film is shot in thereby making the action scene an inevitable consequence of the forces brewing in the camps. Plus, the action scenes do not include any silly cuts to generate humour (like Spider Man 3 or even Dark Knight) but are completely focused on the task at hand.

Overall...

District 9 brilliantly proves that it is possible to make an intelligent action/sci-fi film without loud explosions or a brain dead script. If strong word of mouth enables the film to make more money, a sequel would follow. And the sequel will surely be called District 10.

Question: What happens when you put 1.8 million 'prawns' in a slum?

Answer: You get a brilliant film called District 9!!!

Just returned from the midnight screening of District 9 and I am very very impressed. Hollywood should take note on how to make a smart yet enjoyable movie. I hope this film does well than certain other Hollywood trash that has made oodles of cash this summer.

Will write more about the film in coming days but for now only one complaint about the movie's usage of subtitles. Whenever the black characters in District 9 speak perfectly audible english, their words are subtitled. Yet when the white characters speak English in a South African accent, then no subtitles. Although I have a feeling that this decision might be made by someone other than the director as I have seen similar usage in quite a few documentaries where there are subtitles when the non-white characters speak English.

Public Enemies

A Michael Mann film is always an event to look forward to but I was more keen to see how the Sony F23 HD camera would be used to depict a 1930’s gangster film, a genre that does not offer too much in the way of story variance. The story of Public Enemies is mostly atypical of the genre -- gangsters rob banks and split the loot to spend the cash on women and drinks while the cops hire their best to hunt the outlaws down. A love interest and strong opposing characters complete the story. But still, within a confined template there are plenty of moments where time stops and one can enjoy the scene for what it is. There is one amazing scene where the wanted criminal John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) audaciously walks into the police station department that is planning his arrest. The bright sunlight shines on his face which bears a confident smirk and he causally lowers his sunglasses to examine the evidence gathered against him and even has a word with a few policemen who are listening to the baseball game on the radio. The natural sunlight and pacing of the scene may be at odds with the rest of the film’s dark look but this scene highlights Dillinger’s confident personality and need for fame, be it from the police or even the media, as some other scenes attest with close-up of his eyes.

Overall, Mann’s style and usage of the camera prevents the film from being another run of the mill Hollywood gangster flick. There are some moments where the film is alive as the rich images flood the screen (example: in some scenes, the gunfire literally sets the screen on fire). The close-ups combined with the speed of the camera give a documentary feel and one forgets that Public Enemies is a 1933 period film.

In previous Mann films such as Miami Vice, Collateral and The Insider, there were plenty of ‘cool’ scenes with either a bluish or greenish tint. In Public Enemies there isn’t any such bluish tinting but instead natural sunlight or minimal lighting is used to light up most scenes. The police station scene would qualify as the patent Mann cool scene in Public Enemies. Plus, Diana Krall’s beautiful voice lends a jazzy touch to the film.

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Next up: I am curious to see how the Red Digital Camera’s usage would make District 9 different from other alien films.