OK, five more films each day. On Tuesday, I swapped my first film from an Iranian one to another Spanish one, "Born To Suffer". The first two wonderful Spanish films I have seen this year, "Buitiful" and "Cell 211", did not make the Alvodovar-styled error of too much talk and explanation as most Spanish films do, but "Born To Suffer" does. It was a hilarious story though, of an elderly spinster who becomes worried that her nieces will take away her faithful, competent servant and place her in a home, so she convinces her maid to marry her by promising to make her her heir. 3.5 stars.
I had a rather nasty run-in in Theatre 4 for the next film when I was kicked out a seat the management had intended to reserve but had not. I cooperated by moving but it put me into a terrible mood and that ruined the 2nd film for me. It was a Palestinian film named "Zindeeq". I saw enough to get the drift and see that it was most likely a 3-star. Next was popular "Certified Copy" with Juliette Binoche, a bizarre story of an afternoon encounter between a writer and a fan that gets so carried away in fantasy play that it becomes confusing for all (a reluctant 4-star).
Then came "Cry Rock" and "Mammalian", two Canadian short films one low interest (2-star).
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
VIFF Days 8 to 11 - Thanksgiving weekend
Where have I been the last few days? Thursday, Day 8, started off well, another fine day though I was a bit tired. I saw "Anton Checkov's 'The Duel'" (4-star), the German film "Transfer", a sci-fi drama (4-star) and "Force of Nature: David Suzuki", a doc on Suzuki's work with Suzuki in a Q & A afterwards (also 4-star).
It was during this last one that I realized I was more than tired--I was coming down with a sore throat and head cold. I sat through "Aftershock", the Chinese tear-jerker blockbuster that follows 32 years in the life of a family torn apart by the great earthquake of 1976 (4-star). Then I limped home to succumb to my illness in bed.
I did next to nothing the rest of that night or Friday. Ironically, wet weather and a selection of mediocre films that day and the next made my time off rather perfect. It felt wonderful to be at home doing nothing. Just when I began feeling strong again on Saturday the heavy rain came and convinced me to stay home.
Sunday, Day 11, I took on another full slate of 5 films including "Another Year" (UK, 4-star), "The Ugly Duckling" (Russia, claymation, 3-star), "I Am" (India, 4-star), "The Robber" (Germany, 4-star) and "Of Gods & Men" (Algeria, 4-star). The last was the best, about a Benedictine monastery in Algeria that is attacked by terrorists. Of course they know the danger is coming and each monk makes a conscious choice to stay, that bleeds into the Romanist concept of martyrdom, but it was still a good film. Another Year was excellent too, with Jim Broadbent and Ruby Sheen playing the main couple and a great supporting actress as 'Mary', their neurotic friend.
Today my first film starts at noon. I already have a mile-long walk in, have bought groceries, had breakfast and picked up my tickets. It's only 10:50am. Still time to relax before I head out again.
It was during this last one that I realized I was more than tired--I was coming down with a sore throat and head cold. I sat through "Aftershock", the Chinese tear-jerker blockbuster that follows 32 years in the life of a family torn apart by the great earthquake of 1976 (4-star). Then I limped home to succumb to my illness in bed.
I did next to nothing the rest of that night or Friday. Ironically, wet weather and a selection of mediocre films that day and the next made my time off rather perfect. It felt wonderful to be at home doing nothing. Just when I began feeling strong again on Saturday the heavy rain came and convinced me to stay home.
Sunday, Day 11, I took on another full slate of 5 films including "Another Year" (UK, 4-star), "The Ugly Duckling" (Russia, claymation, 3-star), "I Am" (India, 4-star), "The Robber" (Germany, 4-star) and "Of Gods & Men" (Algeria, 4-star). The last was the best, about a Benedictine monastery in Algeria that is attacked by terrorists. Of course they know the danger is coming and each monk makes a conscious choice to stay, that bleeds into the Romanist concept of martyrdom, but it was still a good film. Another Year was excellent too, with Jim Broadbent and Ruby Sheen playing the main couple and a great supporting actress as 'Mary', their neurotic friend.
Today my first film starts at noon. I already have a mile-long walk in, have bought groceries, had breakfast and picked up my tickets. It's only 10:50am. Still time to relax before I head out again.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
DAY 7 - surrealness and Stonewall
Day 7, films number 30 to 34 -- "White Meadows" (Iran), "Winter Vacation" (China), "Screaming Man" (Chad), "Sawato Decides" (Japan) and "Stonewall Uprising" (USA).
The first film of the day were surreal. "White Meadows" buried the director's criticisms of the Iranian regime in analogies. An old man sails from island to island collecting peoples' tears in a small vile which he promises to turn into pearls to absolve them of their sins. It is the Caspian Sea and the beaches are made of salt, toxic and painful. In one scene an artist is buried up to his neck in salt and half-blinded for having painted the sea as red. "We don't want to take away his right to paint, but he must do it correctly," explains an Elder. Of course he must be tortured for not seeing things correctly, and eventually sent to a prison island to isolate him because he obviously has a disease in his eyes that allows him to see things differently from the right way and that disease must be contagious amongst the masses. The analogy wasn't obscure enough and the director was imprisoned in Iran and his film banned.
The second film was a Chinese version of a Jim Jarmusch-styled movie: minimalist and absurd for what doesn't happen or get said. It is winter break from school and no one can think of anything much to do other than standing around or sitting very still. The sound of distant fireworks throughout the film speaks of something exciting happening somewhere not far away but only the audience seems to be able to hear it. There are some very funny lines from the mouths of babes (one child is asked by another what he wants to be when he grows up and he replies "an orphan") and several ludicrous situations and action sequences.
"A Screaming Man" ("L'Homme Qui Crie") is the story of a son and father who work together tending a swimming pool at a ritzy hotel in Chad's capital city, but times are tight and the father's position is eliminated, but his self-identity as former swimming champion for central Africa is deeply threatened by this even though he is given another job. A civil war is brewing and the father has his son drafted so he can get his job back, then changes his mind and sets off to the front lines to fetch his son back.
"Sawato Decides" is a silly but entertaining story about a young woman with a bad track record with men and goals in her life, who tries to rescue her father's fresh water clam business when he becomes ill. It was the weakest of the day but they each, for various reason, only make it to 3-stars.
"Stonewall Uprising", however, really swept me up and it was a well put-together doc about those few hot days in late June, 1969, when the world changed for gays everywhere, not just in the US. I was swept up in old, old feelings of being part of a secret sub-culture, the exclusivity, and well as the fear and shame of being part of a hated and vilified minority that wasn't of my choosing. And when the weight and night-sticks came down I felt the immense rage and urge to fight back with violence I used to feel in my 20s and 30s. But at the end of the film, it brought back feelings of great love and brotherhood, a huge release as the weight lifted off and an immense pride for having stood up and faced the police, which I too have done personally, though not until the early 80s during Toronto's bath raids wars. The film merits a 5-stars, since my rating system is about how the films touch me personally.
When I stepped out into the night air, I looked around for others I could connect with who had just come from the same film and who were glowing like I was. I didn't see anyone, but I enjoyed the glow just the same.
The first film of the day were surreal. "White Meadows" buried the director's criticisms of the Iranian regime in analogies. An old man sails from island to island collecting peoples' tears in a small vile which he promises to turn into pearls to absolve them of their sins. It is the Caspian Sea and the beaches are made of salt, toxic and painful. In one scene an artist is buried up to his neck in salt and half-blinded for having painted the sea as red. "We don't want to take away his right to paint, but he must do it correctly," explains an Elder. Of course he must be tortured for not seeing things correctly, and eventually sent to a prison island to isolate him because he obviously has a disease in his eyes that allows him to see things differently from the right way and that disease must be contagious amongst the masses. The analogy wasn't obscure enough and the director was imprisoned in Iran and his film banned.
The second film was a Chinese version of a Jim Jarmusch-styled movie: minimalist and absurd for what doesn't happen or get said. It is winter break from school and no one can think of anything much to do other than standing around or sitting very still. The sound of distant fireworks throughout the film speaks of something exciting happening somewhere not far away but only the audience seems to be able to hear it. There are some very funny lines from the mouths of babes (one child is asked by another what he wants to be when he grows up and he replies "an orphan") and several ludicrous situations and action sequences.
"A Screaming Man" ("L'Homme Qui Crie") is the story of a son and father who work together tending a swimming pool at a ritzy hotel in Chad's capital city, but times are tight and the father's position is eliminated, but his self-identity as former swimming champion for central Africa is deeply threatened by this even though he is given another job. A civil war is brewing and the father has his son drafted so he can get his job back, then changes his mind and sets off to the front lines to fetch his son back.
"Sawato Decides" is a silly but entertaining story about a young woman with a bad track record with men and goals in her life, who tries to rescue her father's fresh water clam business when he becomes ill. It was the weakest of the day but they each, for various reason, only make it to 3-stars.
"Stonewall Uprising", however, really swept me up and it was a well put-together doc about those few hot days in late June, 1969, when the world changed for gays everywhere, not just in the US. I was swept up in old, old feelings of being part of a secret sub-culture, the exclusivity, and well as the fear and shame of being part of a hated and vilified minority that wasn't of my choosing. And when the weight and night-sticks came down I felt the immense rage and urge to fight back with violence I used to feel in my 20s and 30s. But at the end of the film, it brought back feelings of great love and brotherhood, a huge release as the weight lifted off and an immense pride for having stood up and faced the police, which I too have done personally, though not until the early 80s during Toronto's bath raids wars. The film merits a 5-stars, since my rating system is about how the films touch me personally.
When I stepped out into the night air, I looked around for others I could connect with who had just come from the same film and who were glowing like I was. I didn't see anyone, but I enjoyed the glow just the same.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
VIFF - Day 6
There must be another reason than "ownable" to qualify something as 5-star. I saw another film today, such as "Buitiful", that shook me up as much but at the same time is so effectively unpleasant that I might not want to own it. That film was "When We Leave", about a young Turkish woman who flees her abusive husband in Istanbul to seek refuge with her family in Berlin, only to find she has brought shame and disgrace to her family in Berlin's Turkish community by doing so. From the start the viewer to sneak preview as to what terrible thing will happen, but the snippet is misleading. The issue is explored from both sides so the pain can clearly be seen by all, and the situation seems hopeless, but it isn't really hopeless until the end when someone takes it a step too far. It left me reeling for a bit. Fortunately I had a break between that and the next film.
The first film of the day was "In The Shadows", a German film about an armoured car heist that goes wrong. A slightly different twist to an old story: 3 stars. The second was a documentary about a B-Boy dance competition in Soweto in 2007. Interesting to see once, and some amazing bodies, but that's where it ends: 3 stars.
After "When We Leave" I saw Stephen Frear's latest, "Tamara Drewe" about a girl who returns to her former hometown (i.e. village) and stirs up all kinds and humour and other shit. 4 stars. The last film, "Chantrapas" from Georgia, was a write-off. I really wasn't into it and only made it one-quarter of the way through. (I should still be there but it was dreadfully boring and trite.) Oh well, maybe I can count it as a 'short'.
The first film of the day was "In The Shadows", a German film about an armoured car heist that goes wrong. A slightly different twist to an old story: 3 stars. The second was a documentary about a B-Boy dance competition in Soweto in 2007. Interesting to see once, and some amazing bodies, but that's where it ends: 3 stars.
After "When We Leave" I saw Stephen Frear's latest, "Tamara Drewe" about a girl who returns to her former hometown (i.e. village) and stirs up all kinds and humour and other shit. 4 stars. The last film, "Chantrapas" from Georgia, was a write-off. I really wasn't into it and only made it one-quarter of the way through. (I should still be there but it was dreadfully boring and trite.) Oh well, maybe I can count it as a 'short'.
VIFF Day 5 - a slower day
The weather continues to hold out but I am afraid it won't be much longer. It is supposed to rain all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But at least it hasn't rained the first week as it was supposed to be by Day 5.
Today I branched out into films from South Korea, Ireland and Russia. No 5-stars today but there were two 4-stars: "Poetry" from South Korea and "How I Ended My Summer Vacation" from Russia. The last was the best. Before today I had never seen a film as bad as "Snap" from Ireland. Bad everything. The first film "Man From Nowhere" was an action film from South Korea, something that country does particularly well. It was gory and violent, of course, but entertaining too. 3-stars limit for formula films.
"Poetry" was about a grandmother raising a spoiled slob of a brat who gets involved with 5 other boys in raping a girl in their high school until she commits suicide (all of which has happened by the start. The grandmother , on a search for beauty in her life while taking a poetry class, realizes she isn't comfortable just making a monetary settlement to quiet the mother of the dead girl.
"The Infidel" was a packed house on a Monday afternoon, not a common occurrence. It is the story of a lax Muslim man and his son who wants to marry the daughter of a fundamentalist Muslim and who must prove he is devote enough, but then he finds papers in his dead mother's house that he was adopted and Jewish at birth. I thought "La Cage aux Folles" or the like but the humour was lame and pointless. Perhaps that's why it's so popular.
Today I will see another 5 films, #s 25 to 29 of the festival. Germany and Georgia enter the fray. Must get going now as the line up even Monday morning is 150m long by 9:08.
Today I branched out into films from South Korea, Ireland and Russia. No 5-stars today but there were two 4-stars: "Poetry" from South Korea and "How I Ended My Summer Vacation" from Russia. The last was the best. Before today I had never seen a film as bad as "Snap" from Ireland. Bad everything. The first film "Man From Nowhere" was an action film from South Korea, something that country does particularly well. It was gory and violent, of course, but entertaining too. 3-stars limit for formula films.
"Poetry" was about a grandmother raising a spoiled slob of a brat who gets involved with 5 other boys in raping a girl in their high school until she commits suicide (all of which has happened by the start. The grandmother , on a search for beauty in her life while taking a poetry class, realizes she isn't comfortable just making a monetary settlement to quiet the mother of the dead girl.
"The Infidel" was a packed house on a Monday afternoon, not a common occurrence. It is the story of a lax Muslim man and his son who wants to marry the daughter of a fundamentalist Muslim and who must prove he is devote enough, but then he finds papers in his dead mother's house that he was adopted and Jewish at birth. I thought "La Cage aux Folles" or the like but the humour was lame and pointless. Perhaps that's why it's so popular.
Today I will see another 5 films, #s 25 to 29 of the festival. Germany and Georgia enter the fray. Must get going now as the line up even Monday morning is 150m long by 9:08.
Monday, October 4, 2010
VIFF Day 4 - Jackpot
What an incredible day! 11 hours and 43 minutes of film - again, 5 in total. The first was a Canadian, "Barney's Version", based on Mordecai Richler's last novel of the same name. It was perhaps the best Canadian film I have seen in years; funny, intelligent, fascinating, upsetting and heart-wrenching at a couple points--definitely a 5-star.
The second was "A Somewhat Gentle Man", a Norwegian comedy/drama, worth a 4-star rating. The third was "An Inside Job", an American doc about how the current financial crisis came to be. It was informative but the director tended to cut off the answers of those he wanted to vilify to make them seem speechless, without explanations or alibis for the crimes they are accused of. He definitely he had too much rage to handle the subject fairly, not that I blame him, but that's only worth 3 stars.
The fourth, China's rural comedy called "Single Man", was playful, daring, ribald and terribly acted and directed. Some good scenery and delightfully stupid scenes. 3 stars. That was the last film I had seen when I called you, Danzante.
The last film, "Cell 211" from Spain, about a first day guard trapped in a riot in a cell block in a Spanish prison. It totally kept me on the edge of my seat. Perhaps the best action/suspense movie I've ever seen. My adrenaline was still pumping on the way home.
So there is was, two own-able films (which almost never happens on the same day), one other recommendable film, and 2 so-so films. Not bad! There's a great start to this year's festival: seven very good films out of 14.
The second was "A Somewhat Gentle Man", a Norwegian comedy/drama, worth a 4-star rating. The third was "An Inside Job", an American doc about how the current financial crisis came to be. It was informative but the director tended to cut off the answers of those he wanted to vilify to make them seem speechless, without explanations or alibis for the crimes they are accused of. He definitely he had too much rage to handle the subject fairly, not that I blame him, but that's only worth 3 stars.
The fourth, China's rural comedy called "Single Man", was playful, daring, ribald and terribly acted and directed. Some good scenery and delightfully stupid scenes. 3 stars. That was the last film I had seen when I called you, Danzante.
The last film, "Cell 211" from Spain, about a first day guard trapped in a riot in a cell block in a Spanish prison. It totally kept me on the edge of my seat. Perhaps the best action/suspense movie I've ever seen. My adrenaline was still pumping on the way home.
So there is was, two own-able films (which almost never happens on the same day), one other recommendable film, and 2 so-so films. Not bad! There's a great start to this year's festival: seven very good films out of 14.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
VIFF Day 3 - hanging in
Only saw four films yesterday but one, Biutiful, a Spanish film set in Barcelona with Javier Bardem, was worth the 5-star rating. It was a hard film though, with characters and events I wanted no part of and lots of hand-held camera action, and it was long, 152 minutes finishing at midnight.
Fathers & Sons, a Vancouver-based comedy, was much better than I expected. Bhutto, the documentary of the Bhutto family was less than expected, though informative and Made In Dagenham was a piece of Hollywood-styled formula British fluff, a feel-good film with clear and simple issues and villains.
I found myself fighting the fatigue and wishing I was in bed by the evening. I am occasionally fantasizing about taking time off. I will let myself if I need to. For now it's just a whim.
Fathers & Sons, a Vancouver-based comedy, was much better than I expected. Bhutto, the documentary of the Bhutto family was less than expected, though informative and Made In Dagenham was a piece of Hollywood-styled formula British fluff, a feel-good film with clear and simple issues and villains.
I found myself fighting the fatigue and wishing I was in bed by the evening. I am occasionally fantasizing about taking time off. I will let myself if I need to. For now it's just a whim.
Friday, October 1, 2010
VIFF DAY 2 - a very good day.
I rate films I see as "excellent" (5 stars, or worth owning), "very good" (4 stars, worth recommending), "good" (3 stars, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it but I don't feel ripped off), "fair" (2 stars, some merit but somewhat regrettable), "poor" (1 star, to be avoided) and "terrible" (0 stars, worth walking out on). Yesterday I had one 4-star film (The Protector) and the other four were 3-stars.
Today I had a good start; breakfast at home and at the line-up by 9:40. I got all the tickets I wanted once again, but the first film "Psychohydrology" was a dud, my first 2-star this year. Film directors and photographers might have liked it but it was very dull--most of the film was rapid time elapsed on repeating loops every few seconds. It wasn't film making so much as digital masturbation. It turns the maker on and no one else. On top of that, the 27-minute Chinese film that was supposed to accompany it was canceled.
The next four films were another story, however, and they made today rather incredible. The 2nd film, "The Man Who Will Come", set in a rural village in northern Italy during WWII, was a true 5-star film. Last year I didn't even see one 5-star so I am off to a wonderful start. To make it even better the next three films were each 4-stars: "The Family Tree", a French film about a family crisis that erupts when the father fails to show up at his son's funeral (best acting so far); "Reverse", a Polish film about an ugly girl who falls for the wrong guy in 1952 under the Communist regime (it is definitely the best comedy so far); and "Of Love And Other Demons", set in 17th century Colombia and based on a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. With 5 of the first 10 films being 4 or 5-star, it is looking like a very good VIFF this year.
I met a lovely young man named Brian who is on crutches (sprained toes due to a skateboard accident). Definitely friendship material there. I am so tired though. It has been an emotional day.
Today I had a good start; breakfast at home and at the line-up by 9:40. I got all the tickets I wanted once again, but the first film "Psychohydrology" was a dud, my first 2-star this year. Film directors and photographers might have liked it but it was very dull--most of the film was rapid time elapsed on repeating loops every few seconds. It wasn't film making so much as digital masturbation. It turns the maker on and no one else. On top of that, the 27-minute Chinese film that was supposed to accompany it was canceled.
The next four films were another story, however, and they made today rather incredible. The 2nd film, "The Man Who Will Come", set in a rural village in northern Italy during WWII, was a true 5-star film. Last year I didn't even see one 5-star so I am off to a wonderful start. To make it even better the next three films were each 4-stars: "The Family Tree", a French film about a family crisis that erupts when the father fails to show up at his son's funeral (best acting so far); "Reverse", a Polish film about an ugly girl who falls for the wrong guy in 1952 under the Communist regime (it is definitely the best comedy so far); and "Of Love And Other Demons", set in 17th century Colombia and based on a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. With 5 of the first 10 films being 4 or 5-star, it is looking like a very good VIFF this year.
I met a lovely young man named Brian who is on crutches (sprained toes due to a skateboard accident). Definitely friendship material there. I am so tired though. It has been an emotional day.
VIFF DAY 1 - couch potato Olympics
I have a schedule mapped out to see 80 feature-length films over 16 days of the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), which started yesterday.
There were no major first day glitches or problems yesterday. The weather was perfect, which meant no line-ups in the rain, no delays, cancellations or dead loss films. I was able to get to each film in plenty of time and have empty seats around me for each of the 5 films, and I didn't fall. I had a bit of a struggle getting the box office to honour my voucher for a festival program which I was owed, but one my 3rd attempt I got a supervisor to ask for me and she was successful. Other than that I had a reluctant digestion that caused me some worry but no problem, and I was quite tired in spite of lots of rest the night before.
The first film was a Czech one set in WWII called the Protector, and it proved to be the best of the day. The second was a 2+ hr-long series of shorts compiled in honour of the 200th birthday celebration of the start of the Mexican Revolution, called 'Revolucion'. Some of the shots were interesting. The third was a slow Romanian film called "Morgen" about a rural Romanian dead weight who takes in an illegal Turkish refugee who is trying to get to Germany. The fourth was a Uruguayan film called "Noberto's Deadline" and the fifth was a documentary of a Danish comedy troupe, two Korean Danes and their Danish director who visits North Korea. It was a bit disturbing what they are put through but it was good for a few laughs at the end of the day.
Today the films I have selected promise to be better. I'll soon find out.
There were no major first day glitches or problems yesterday. The weather was perfect, which meant no line-ups in the rain, no delays, cancellations or dead loss films. I was able to get to each film in plenty of time and have empty seats around me for each of the 5 films, and I didn't fall. I had a bit of a struggle getting the box office to honour my voucher for a festival program which I was owed, but one my 3rd attempt I got a supervisor to ask for me and she was successful. Other than that I had a reluctant digestion that caused me some worry but no problem, and I was quite tired in spite of lots of rest the night before.
The first film was a Czech one set in WWII called the Protector, and it proved to be the best of the day. The second was a 2+ hr-long series of shorts compiled in honour of the 200th birthday celebration of the start of the Mexican Revolution, called 'Revolucion'. Some of the shots were interesting. The third was a slow Romanian film called "Morgen" about a rural Romanian dead weight who takes in an illegal Turkish refugee who is trying to get to Germany. The fourth was a Uruguayan film called "Noberto's Deadline" and the fifth was a documentary of a Danish comedy troupe, two Korean Danes and their Danish director who visits North Korea. It was a bit disturbing what they are put through but it was good for a few laughs at the end of the day.
Today the films I have selected promise to be better. I'll soon find out.
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