Calgary International Film Festival 2015

I had the awesome opportunity to co-program the world cinema section at this year’s Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF). My section included narrative features from Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. I am listing some of my favourite films showing at this year's festival in no particular order, with links to the festival website.

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (2015, Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina, Ciro Guerra)

TAXI (2015, Iran, Jafar Panahi)

FIG FRUIT AND THE WASPS (2014, India, M.S Prakash Babu)

AUGUST WINDS (2014, Brazil, Gabriel Mascaro)

VIAJE (2015, Costa Rica, Paz Fábrega)

ONE FLOOR BELOW (2015, Romania/France/Germany/Sweden, Radu Muntean) 

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (2015, China/France/Japan, Jia Zhangke)

UNDER CONSTRUCTION (2015, Bangladesh, Rubaiyat Hossain)

HAEMOO (2014, South Korea, Shim Sung-bo)

OUR LITTLE SISTER (2015, Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Wild Card

Wild Card (2015, USA, Simon West)

Wild Card went straight to VOD and had a limited theatrical release. It was universally slammed by critics. However, it is not as bad as all the reviews make it out to be. Even though, the film cannot be salvaged under the "Vulgar auteurism" tag, there is some merit when viewed in a different light, which is a straight up B-movie. Put simply, Wild Card is a solid B-Movie. The film doesn't present any new ideas as that is not its intention. Instead, the film performs a worthy correction to the recent fun image of Las Vegas by taking the city back to its original depiction of misery, sadness. It does so by packing the material with all the cliches, symbols associated with Las Vegas, a city which relishes in celebrating all the vices of humanity.

Beneath all the lights and glamour of Las Vegas, there is an inherent sadness and depression that was famously captured by Mike Figgis’ 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas. In that film, the character of Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue perfectly depicted the hopelessness and circle of misery that the city inflicts on people. However, in recent years, that depressive side has been replaced by a fun side. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) turned Vegas into a light hearted fun background while Knocked Up (2007) included some good deal of humour when Paul Rudd’s character is obsessed with the different kinds of chairs in his Las Vegas room. Then The Hangover (2009) truly celebrated the drunkenness that comes with sin city. Wild Card tilts the pendulum back to that miserable side of Las Vegas that Mike Figgis showed. However, Wild Card layers this misery with some action, humour and even fun. There are characters one would expect to see in Las Vegas and scenarios which are commonplace. However, at the core, Jason Statham’s character of Nick Wild is a similar to that of Nicolas Cage’s Ben Sanderson from Leaving Las Vegas with one big difference. Cage’s Ben Sanderson wanted to end his life in misery. While, Nick Wild recognizes his miserable state yet like Sisyphus accepts his fate. Wild knows he is stuck in Vegas and no matter what he does, he cannot leave the city. So he lives with his misery yet manages to smile and continue on with this life. He has no desire to kill himself but is willing to be stuck in an endless loop of misery that Vegas brings. In a sense, Wild Card is Leaving Las Vegas with some optimism thrown in.

Top Childhood films

The Top Childhood films countdown has begun at Wonders in the Dark. Essays of the Top 83 films will be posted from June - October 2015.  As per the ballot rules, films where the character's age fell between 1 - 18 years were eligible for consideration. Such a broad age gap certainly made for some challenges in coming up with a list because a like for like comparison is not feasible between films where the main character is under 10 years of age compared to films where the main character is a teenager. Therefore, I came up with my own criteria when submitting a ballot of the Top 60 films. I decided to place films where the main character was a teenager near the end of the list and opted to have films with younger characters closer to the front. There were some exceptions but I tried to maintain this distinction.

Here is my Top 60 Childhood films ballot submitted to Wonders in the Dark:

1. The 400 Blows / Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959, France, François Truffaut)
2. Pather Panchali (1955, India, Satyajit Ray)
3. The Red Balloon (1956, France, Albert Lamorisse)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, USA, Robert Mulligan)
5. I was Born, But... (1932, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
6. The White Balloon (1995, Iran, Jafar Panahi)
7. The Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy, Vittorio De Sica)
8. Naked Childhood / L'enfance nue (1968, France, Maurice Pialat)
9. Where is the friend’s home? (1987, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
10. The Kid with a Bike (2011, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
11. Mouchette (1967, France, Robert Bresson)
12. Cinema Paradiso (1988, Italy, Giuseppe Tornatore)
13. Good Morning (1959, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
14. Yi Yi (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
15. The Night of the Hunter (1955, USA, Charles Laughton)
16. Kes (1969, UK, Ken Loach)
17. The Kid (1921, USA, Charlie Chaplin)
18. A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
19. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Spain, Victor Erice)
20. Hope and Glory (1987, UK, John Boorman)
21. Cria Cuervos (1976, Spain, Carlos Saura)
22. The Long Day Closes (1992, UK, Terence Davies)
23. Crows (1984, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska)
24. My Childhood (1972, UK, Bill Douglas)
25. Rosetta (1999, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
26. My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)
27. Germany, Year Zero (1948, Italy/West Germany/France, Roberto Rossellini)
28. An Inn in Tokyo (1935, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
29. Zero for Conduct (1933, France, Jean Vigo)
30. Aparajito (1957, India, Satyajit Ray)
31. Nobody Knows (2004, Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
32. Fanny and Alexander (1982, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
33. The Tin Drum (1979, West Germany, Volker Schlöndorff)
34. The Last Picture Show (1971, USA, Peter Bogdanovich)
35. Ghost World (2001, USA, Terry Zwigoff)
36. Lord of the Flies (1963, UK, Peter Brook)
37. Pixote (1981, Brazil, Hector Babenco)
38. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938, USSR, Mark Donskoy)
39. Los Olvidados (1950, Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
40. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, France/West Germany, Italy, Louis Malle)
41. The Apple (1998, Iran, Samira Makhmalbaf)
42. Ivan’s Childhood (1962, USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky)
43. Spirited Away (2001, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)
44. Blood / O Sangue (1989, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
45. Mon Oncle (1958, France/Italy, Jacques Tati)
46. Aniki Bóbó (1942, Portugal, Manoel de Oliveira)
47. I Killed My Mother (2009, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
48. Let the Right One In (2008, Sweden, Tomas Alfredson)
49. Fat Girl (2001, France/Italy, Catherine Breillat)
50. Beijing Bicycle (2001, China, Xiaoshuai Wang)
51. Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Japan, Isao Takahata)
52. Dead Poets Society (1989, USA, Peter Weir)
53. Taare Zameen Par (2007, India, Aamir Khan/Amole Gupte)
54. Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990, Tunisia/France/Italy, Ferid Boughedir)
55. Mon Oncle Antoine (1971, Canada, Claude Jutra)
56. I Wish (2011, Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
57. Show me Love (1998, Sweden/Denmark, Lukas Moodysson)
58. A Summer in La Goulette (1996, Tunisia/France/Belgium, Ferid Boughedir)
59. Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
60. Kids (1995, USA, Larry Clark)