October 16, 2009

VIFF 2009: Gone, But Not Forgotten, VIFF Over for Another Year

The oh-so-glorious 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival wrapped on Friday, October 16th. More than 377 films, from 70+ countries across this planet of ours, the VIFF films screened more than 640 times, on 10 different cinema screens over 16 days ... and, it's over for another year. With a mixture of sadness and elation (the latter because of all the fine films we saw this past two-plus weeks), VanRamblings returns to our prosaic life. And it was always thus. Of course, there's always next year.

Today, in our final VIFF 2009 post, VanRamblings will provide insight into our favourite fiction, and non-fiction, films at VIFF 2009 ...

In the fiction film category, VanRamblings absolutely loved ...

Morphia: A Russian film, set in 1917 against the backdrop of the pending Russian revolution and telling the story of a young physician practicing in the hinterlands, this was epic, historic, humane filmmaking of the first order, by far our favourite film at this year's Festival.

The Girl: Always subdued, powerfully affecting, the story of a 10-year-old girl left behind by her parents on the family farm, expecting that her aunt will care for her, but doesn't, with two months on her own, we worry about her safety, and her ability to prevail. But, almost miraculously, she does.

Lost Times: Next to The Girl, the most affecting film we saw at VIFF 2009, this Hungarian import told a story that was always, always compelling to watch onscreen. You lived with the characters, and came to care for them deeply. Is there any more apt tribute to the filmmaker, and the performers, than to say that you came to love, and care for, the characters onscreen?

Night and Fog: VanRamblings saw Night and Fog in preview, and immediately fell in love with Zhang Jingchu (who was also in John Rabe), our favourite VIFF performance this year. Ms. Jingchu is gonna be a big star!

Written By: A heartrending, but surprisingly 'magical' story about a family in distress following the death of the father/husband, from the recursive storyline to the affecting performances, to the cinematography, Written By had style to burn, but kept things low key, and always human scale.

Air Doll: Who'da thunk that a film about a 'sex doll' who finds a heart and comes to life would emerge as one of the most affecting films we'd see at this year's Festival? From beginning to end, writer-producer-editor-director Kore-eda Hirokazu held us in sway, as he explored themes ranging from the objectification of women to hearbreak. First-rate filmmaking.

The Exploding Girl: A gentle character study about Ivy (Zoe Kazan), an absolutely lovely film about a young college student with epilepsy who comes home for her semester break, director Bradley Rust Grey's melancholy film looks closely and deeply at Ivy's capacity for love, her vulnerability, and the ordinary day to day things young people do during an uneventful summer in Brooklyn. Outstanding, first rate cinema, all around.

VanRamblings was also mightily impressed with ...

Mother: About a mother who desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a horrific murder, director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) creates a viscerally intense psychological study about a mother's capacity for love.

John Rabe: Epic filmmaking, writer-director Florian Gallenberger's true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38, when Gallenberger's film arrives back in theatres (and it will), you'll want to rush out to catch it.

Breathless: Foul-mouthed and involving throughout, Breathless is just what you'd expect from great South Korean cinema: gripping, no-holds barred movie-making. Writer-director Yang Ik-June delivers in spades.

La Pivellina: Who'da thunk that writer-directors Tizza Covi and
Rainer Frimmel could create a film that revolves, almost entirely, around a 2-year-old girl (Asia Crippa). But they did, and what a wonderfully affecting film La Pivellina turned out to be.

Yang Yang: Last year, we fell head-over-heels in love with Sandrine Pinna. So, when we saw that she had the lead role in a new film by writer-director Cheng Yu-chieh, we rushed right out to make sure that we had tickets for Yang Yang. A bit of a piffle, the film focuses entirely on Ms. Pinna, a warm, able actress, and the next big star from China. We were in heaven!

The Maid: Even given that Catalina Saavedra (as the maid) is hardly a sympathetic character, you just couldn't take your eyes off the screen, wondering what was going to happen next. Writer-director Sebastián Silva creates award-winning cinema. One of the audience favourites at VIFF 2009.

Antichrist: 'Showbiz' Shayne's favourite film at VIFF 2009, although VanRamblings found Antichrist to be very well made, and loved the first half of this film, when proceedings went off the rails, we were somewhat less enamoured. With Antichrist, provocateur Lars von Trier outdoes himself.

Of course, there were non-fiction films VanRamblings loved, especially ...

Soundtrack for a Revolution: Far and away, VanRamblings' favourite documentary at VIFF 2009, Bill Guttentag and Dan Furman's powerful film traces the history of the American civil rights movement through the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality.

American Casino: By far, the most effective film in the 'Follow The Money' series at VIFF 2009, Leslie and Andrew Cockburn's lively, if depressing film (given that the subject matter deals with the financial devastation of Americans across the U.S.), 'Casino' takes an effective, and moving, look at how the Wall Street meltdown has impacted working class Americans.

Playground: Not didactic in the least, Libby Spears' eye-opening documentary tracks the child sex trade across North America in a non-pedantic, impressively effective, always moving, informational and cinematically compelling manner. You're guaranteed to learn some things you would never have expected to be the truth. A first-rate film.

The Inheritors: Producer-director Eugenio Polgovsky brought one of the most affecting, well-made and moving documentaries to VIFF 2009, with his compelling non-fiction film about child labour in rural Mexico, where he sets about to effectively examine the legacy of hard work in the Mexican family.

October 15, 2009

VIFF 2009: Winding Down, But Festival Still Going Strong

Four more films to see on Wednesday, the second-to-last full day of the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival.

Arrived early for the passholder's line-up, just before 9:30 a.m., and stood in line to make sure that VanRamblings secured a pass to ...

An Education (Grade: A-): Quite as heartbreakingly lovely, and transporting, as it's been reported to be, with an even lovelier ingenue performance from 'find of the year' actress, standout performer and certain Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, in addition to Ms. Mulligan's breakout performance, the whole cast acquit themselves well, particularly Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Cara Seymour and Olivia Williams, although Dominic Cooper, Peter Sargaard, Sally Hawkins and Emma Thompson are hardly pikers. Really, first-rate Oscar bait entertainment, and a VIFF must-see.

Next, we trucked on up to Pacific Cinémathèque, on Howe Street, to see ...

Empire State Building Murders (Grade:C+): French director William Karel and co-writer Jerome Charyn have crafted a film in which they've remixed classic noir genre footage from the '30s, '40s and '50s and edited them to tell an 'original story'. Essentially, in the viewing, a piffle and much too clever for it's own good, the movie's central conceit revolves around the 'real life' retelling of a series of murders that occurred within the Empire State Building. James Cagney is the central star of yesteryear, but given that he's been dead for a few years, actors Ben Gazarra and Anne Jeffries carry the storytelling weight. Clever, yes. Entertaining? Not so much.

Back to the Granville 7, on a rain-drenched Wednesday, Day 14, to see ...

The next film, introduced by writer-director, Alix de Maistre, herself ...

For a Son (Grade: B+): Sort of a Gallic take on Clint Eastwood's The Changeling, Alix de Maistre's For a Son is teeming with atmosphere and dark, brooding tension, as the psychodrama ratches up the stakes: is 'Tony' (Kevin Lelannier), the young man who presents himself as Catherine's (Miou-Miou) long lost son, in fact her long missing son, or will the detective who originally conducted the missing child investigation, Omer (a very effective Olivier Gourmet) find that 'Tony' is a fraud? Abounding with outstanding, natural performances, and first-rate camera work, the audience in attendance at Granville 7 was pleased they caught this VIFF film.

After a fine, natural organic dinner at Nuba, Mr. Know-It-All and 'Showbiz' Shayne took the bus (it was pouring outside) five blocks back to the Empire Granville 7 cinema for our final VIFF 2009 screening of the day ...

John Rabe (Grade: A): A challenging, but rewarding, way to end an inclement Day 14 of the Festival occurred with the screening of writer-director Florian Gallenberger's much acclaimed, award-winning epic drama, a moving, historically accurate and effective re-telling of the 1937 Rape of Nanking, when an invading Japanese army massacred more than 300,000 residents of Nanking, China over a six-week period. With a narrative rooted in the real John Rabe's personal journal, and with breakthrough performances from the whole cast — including Bavarian Best Actor winner Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl (recently seen in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds), Zhang Jingchu (recently seen, and impressive, in the lead role in Night and Fog, which screened early at VIFF 2009), among others — given that John Rabe is Germany's Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee this year, you're likely to see Gallenberger's very fine film on an art screen near you soon, when you'll want to ensure you take in a screening. A VIFF must-see.

October 14, 2009

VIFF 2009: An Out-of-The Blue Documentary Day

With just three days to the end of the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, Mr. Know-It-All and 'Showbiz' Shayne are hard at it, catching as many of the remaining VIFF films as is humanly possible. Your dynamic duo managed to screen five great VIFF documentaries over the course of a very long Tuesday, and have plans to see many, many more of the well-received VIFF fiction films before the Festival wraps late Friday evening.

The first non-fiction film on tap on a chilly, overcast Tuesday morning ...

The Inheritors (Grade: A-): The 'story' of child labour — focusing on the child labourers themselves — situated in every region of Mexico, and the particularly hardscrabble life these very young children lead, Eugenio Polgovsky's The Inheritors explores young lives defined by hard work and integrity of purpose. The film's almost wordless narrative focuses on the three-to-seven year old children as they harvest beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and any number of other vegetable and fruit crops, as they carry a third of their weight in overladen 6 - 8 kilogram pails to the produce transport truck. In addition, we see the children producing and laying earthen bricks, cutting sugar cane, ox-plowing fields and planting by hand. Made for only $35,000, The Inheritors is, throughout, magical and involving, hopeful and, in its own way, transporting. Most assuredly, The Inheritors is one of VanRamblings favourite VIFF films in 2009.

Next, VanRamblings sauntered up to Pacific Cinémathèque to see ...

Crude (Grade: B): Part of the VIFF's 'Way of Nature' environmental series, producer-director Joe Berlinger is better known for award-winning non-fiction dramas like Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, but this time around Berlinger has chosen to go the 'issue-oriented' route, with varying degrees of success. Overall the film does possess its gripping moments — when Berlinger, or a member of his crew, interview a family member whose life has been devastated by Chevron's mistreatment of the natural environment — but too often the film's approach is desultory, as it records the struggle of the Ecuadorean people to have the catastrophically impacted jungles of the Amazon remediated. Focusing on Ecuadorian activist lawyer Pablo Fajardo's David and Goliath court battle with multi-national oil conglomerate Chevron, Crude relays its message through 'talking heads', giving the narrative an adverse static feel. As praiseworthy as Berlinger's non-fiction telling of this little known story may be, he does not entirely succeed in his laudable mission.

Following a quick break for lunch at Starbucks, VanRamblings was off to see ...

American Casino (Grade: A): Positing that the predatory home mortgage lenders, and Wall Street, targeted inner-city African American neighbourhoods, and individuals who were in no position to pay a mortgage, even at a sub-prime rate, producer-director Leslie Cockburn's tremendous Tribeca Film Festival award-winning documentary involves from beginning to end, as it examines the subprime mortgage meltdown and its devastating impact, most particularly, on poor African-Americans across the U.S., all the way through to the equally devastating impact the financial crisis has had on wealthy Californians with swimming pools, whose previously secure lives have now been all but destroyed.

VanRamblings carried on with our VIFF duties by lining up for, and seeing ...

Sweetgrass (Grade: B+): Beautiful and evocative, with humour and grace documentary filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor (who addressed the audience before the 7 p.m. screening at the VanCity Theatre, and took questions afterward), and partner / co-director Ilisa Barbash, offer an extraordinary piece of visual anthropology as they track the last sheep drive, in 2003, up Montana's vertiginous Beartooth Mountains to summer pasture. Unhurried and unadorned, and empathetic to the weather-worn cowboys on the trail who, while on the trail, live in teepees made of branches and canvas, cook from stoves that have been used for generations, and ride on worn saddles across Montana's gorgeous blue sky country, there's both a zen peacefulness, and a reassuring 'old western' feel, to Sweetgrass that impresses mightily, and at every moment.

And for our final VIFF film on a rainy, overcast Festival Tuesday, Day 13 ...

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector (Grade: A-): British director Vikram Jayanti captures Mr. Wall-of-Sound himself, the ever weird — but phenomenally talented, if broken — Phil Spector, responsible for a groundbreaking set of 1960s hits, ranging from The Ronettes' Be My Baby to Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep - Mountain High, not to mention his role as producer of the Beatles' last album, Let It Be, in a series of candid, revealing interviews, recorded in 2007 during his first trial for the murder of 40-year-old actress Lana Clarkson. As cultural anthropology, Jayanti's film can't be beat. Offering a fascinating insight into a brilliant, if troubled mind, The Agony was fun to watch (no mean feat), if a bit disturbing at times.

October 13, 2009

VIFF 2009: A Photo Essay on the 28th Annual VIFF

October 12, 2009

VIFF 2009: A Quiet Sunday Along Granville Street

Up late again, but on the bus and downtown in enough time to catch ...

The Exploding Girl (Grade: A-): Essentially, the story of Ivy (Zoe Kazan), a young vulnerable woman, with epilepsy, who travels home on a break from college to upstate New York to visit her mother. Not so much mumblecore in presentation, but rather more naturalistic and heartfelt, director Bradley Rust Gray (Salt), in focusing on Ivy's every day life, and her relationship with her terminally indecisive friend, Al (Mark Rendall, in an outstanding performance) presents a more honest portrait of what it means for a twenty-something to live with the restrictions imposed by adult epilepsy than any you'd ever find on a disease-of-the-week TV show. For very good reason, Zoe Kazan won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. The Exploding Girl has finished its 2009 VIFF run.

Now, we could tell you that we didn't get downtown in time to pick up our ticket for Police, Adjective, and that we prevailed on a 'too busy for words' Pierre LeFebvre (pictured below) to take VanRamblings' pass to give to 'way-too-busy-for-words' Exhibitions Manager, Bob Albanese, to give to Mr. Shayne, so Mr. Shayne could pick up a ticket for the evening screening, because VanRamblings had a Thanksgiving dinner to attend, and wouldn't be available to stand in line at 4:30 p.m. to pick up ... well, we could tell you that tale of sadness and woe, and of how we imposed on Mr. LeFebvre and Mr. Albanese, and tears would flow, and readers would be aghast, but ...

Instead, we'll eviscerate ...

Police, Adjective (Grade: D-): The story of a Romanian police detective experiencing a crisis of conscience, surrounding the surveillance of three young people who are doing no more than smoking a little dope. That this teenage activity is not looked favourably upon by the authorities, and more particularly his boss, turns into a long, boring, pointless philosophical discussion about morality, and the role of the state to uphold social mores. Patrons walked out in droves. VanRamblings didn't. We should have.

October 11, 2009

VIFF 2009: Thankful for the VIFF Staff & Volunteers

Weekends are always tough for cinephiles, at the annual Vancouver International Film Festival. On weekends, VIFF draws novitiates to the Festival, and almost inevitably they 'talk'. The weekenders play with their iPhones or Blackberries or Samsung smartphones, the blue glow of the phone in the darkened theatre a disconcerting distraction from the more real-life drama on the screen. Better to attend matinée screenings on a weekday, as many of the filmgoers who love films are choosing to do, than risk having one's experience of the Festival tainted by a texter, or a talker.

But enough of that. On this day, as we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving ...

We are, on this Sunday, in the waning days of the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival so, perhaps, the time has come to acknowledge the very fine work of the staff and volunteers who create this Festival-by-the sea for all of us grateful patrons, each and every year.

First off, note should be made of the following: with 640 screenings of 377 films, thus far in the days of our annual Festival everything has gone off with uncommon aplomb. There have been no technical glitches, no one has reported seeing a DVD version of a film because the 35mm print failed to arrive, films start (mostly) on time, Festival staff and volunteers are invariably helpful and pleasant (which goes a long way to making the Festival an overall better experience for filmgoers) and, once again this year, from programmers Alan Franey, PoChu Au Yeung, Mark Peranson, Terry McEvoy and so many, many others, to the hard-working theatre managers, staff have created a first-rate filmgoing experience for the appreciative throng who attend screenings throughout each and every day.

We caught only one film on Saturday evening, the Cannes' stunner ...

A Prophet (Grade: B+): With a 'been there, done that' quality about it, given the surfeit of prison dramas we see on TV and film on this side of the pond, this Cannes 2009 Grand Jury / Palme d'Or winner, offers a French prison set drama that is as hard-edged as you might expect it to be, as it tells the story of 19-year-old petty criminal Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), who's been sentenced to six years in prison, amidst competing 'tribes'. Director Jacques Audiard traces Malik's development from cowering inmate to prison yard kingpin, and beyond, in a surprisingly humane manner, considering the amount of blood and gore onscreen. From beginning to end, it is Malik's maturational process, and our awareness of his keen, innate intelligence, that makes A Prophet compellingly watchable film fare.

October 10, 2009

VIFF 2009: The Second, Wearying (But Hopeful) Week Begins

As is the case with most film critics, in the first week of any Festival, VanRamblings' star burns luminous and bright. By the time the second week rolls around, though, we're weary. Most films critics 'pull out' in the second week. VanRamblings, though, will probably just reduce the length of our daily postings, altho' we'll still be there for you through Festival's end.

In the days leading up to the beginning of the Festival we 'rest' each day, sequestered inside a darkened theatre at various of the media screenings, and then when the Festival officially commences, from early morn to very late at night, Mr. Know-It-All and the inimitable 'Showbiz' Shayne may be found at one of the VIFF venues watching, bleary-eyed, one of the 4, 5, or 6 films on our schedule for the day. By the time the second week of the Film Festival rolls around, we are more than a little the worse for wear.

And, thus it was on Friday, after securing only two hours sleep (that darn Board of Variance thing reared its head late on Thursday evening, with the arrival in VanRamblings' e-mail Inbox of a correspondence from Joan Bunn, about which Mr. Know-It-All was thankful) — and not to mention the taking of five hours to write and post to the web, each day for you our constant reader, this after a lllooonnnggg day inside a darkened theatre, does take its toll — that Mr. Know-It-All found himself back in the lineup for tickets for his and 'Showbiz' Shayne's planned Friday evening screenings.

While waiting in the lineup, we conversed with Jackie, a retired teacher and organizer of our annual, local Latin American Film Festival, and longtime VanRamblings reader, Julian (so, he's the one) who told VanRamblings about all their favourites at this year's Festival. Now, as constant reader might well expect, Mr. Know-It-All is rarely at a loss for words, but this particular late afternoon, given the 2 hours sleep and all, VanRamblings was pleased just to listen to Jackie (playing the role of journalist, asking the questions Mr. Know-It-All should have been asking), and Julian.

Julian asked Jackie what Latin American films were her favourites at this year's Festival, and she enthusiastically responded with: the Peruvian film The Milk of Sorrow (her favourite and now, unfortunately, gone), Argentina's Berlin Silver Bear winner, Gigante (also gone), and Chile's The Maid (one more screening, Thursday, Oct. 15th @ 11 am, Gran7, Th7).

As for Julian, he recommended: Lebanon's The One Man Village (now gone), France's Villa Amalia (about which we've heard good things, and Jackie also liked, and which will screen for a final time this coming Tuesday, October 13th @ 9:15 pm, at the far-flung but still glorious Ridge Theatre).

Who should we see in line asking a question of the folks about to hand out the tickets for passholders but Aussie import, Jeff Sinclair (sorry, this is the only photo we have of the very talented and hard-working Jeff), a founding partner of XOMO Digital, the principal person behind this year's invaluable Apple iPhone app, the VIFF Fan Guide. Jeff was voluble, wonderful and informative, and answered some questions we had about posting to the Fan Guide (most of which we think we caught, given that VanRamblings was half asleep). We'll write more about XOMO Digital in the coming week.

Anyone attending most of their film festival screenings at the Empire Granville 7 will know that, this year, there is hardly a surfeit of decent places to grab a bite between films. One of the more reliable, tasty and healthy places to nosh is Halawie Alawie's always reliable Falafel Maison, on Robson.

Not only did we enjoy our Shawarma sandwich, Hussein was kind enough to treat us to the single most delicious falafel we'd ever eaten (guess where Mr. Know-It-All, and 'Showbiz' Shayne, are going for dinner tonight?).

Back it was, then, for 'Showbiz' Shayne, and a still weary, but at least sated, VanRamblings, to stand in line for the 7 pm screening of ...

Amreeka (Grade: B+): One of the buzz films coming into the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, writer/director Cherien Dabis' Amreeka is at all times honest and heartfelt while relating its immigrant story of Palestinian divorcee Muna Farah (played by Haifa-trained actress Nisreen Faour, in a powerfully rendered performance), who wishes to get herself and her adolescent son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), out of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Set post 911, as Bush II was preparing to invade Iraq, the xenophobia to which the principal characters are exposed by their American neighbours is, at all times, disillusioning and impactful. Somehow, though, Muna and Fada manage to prevail, despite the intolerance to which they are subjected, and by film's end a sense of a fitful optimism emerges.

'Showbiz' Shayne and Mr. Know-It-All then repaired to the Starbucks, on the southeast corner of Smithe and Granville, where we engaged in conversation with two, young middle-eastern women who had also taken in the screening of Amreeka (and loved it as much as VanRamblings did), both of whom, like VanRamblings, are employed as mental health workers in the Downtown Eastside (while working on their Master's degrees at UBC).

And, then, it was time for Shayne's and VanRamblings' final screening of the day, the Tribeca Festival winning film (directed by Conor McPherson) ...

The Eclipse (Grade: B+): Set in Cobh County, Ireland, McPherson's supernatural tale tells the down-to-earth tale story of Michael Farr (a superb Ciaran Hinds), a recently widowed father left to care for his two teenage children. Michael has agreed to act as a driver for writers attending the annual Cobh Literary Festival, which causes him to meet (and, we suspect, fall in love with) Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), a London-based writer of ghost stories. Addressing the themes of grief, love and the possibility of the unknown, with its not entirely successful supernatural theme, The Eclipse is, overall, still winning and eminently watchable (the budding romance between Michael and Lena, for instance, is near breathtaking), and from movie's beginning to end the performances are both authentic and heartrending, and always engaging. Due to screen twice more before Festival's end, first tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 11th @ 9:00 pm, Ridge Theatre, and the next Thursday, Oct. 15th @ 4:00 pm, Ridge Theatre.