Today on VanRamblings we wrap up our look for the week at the Galas and Special Presentations programme set to screen between Thursday, October 2nd and 12th, as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival’s 44th annual edition.

By clicking on the underlined titles below, you will be taken to the VIFF web page for the film, providing you with the opportunity to purchase tickets, if you wish.

Orphan. Set in the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, Orphan is the heart-wrenching and ultra-realist latest from Oscar-winning filmmaker László Nemes (Son of Saul, VIFF#34, 2016 Oscar for Best International Feature Film). Set amongst the ruins of the violently suppressed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, in which thousands of anguished citizens challenged the USSR-backed dictatorship and were met with Soviet tanks and troops, the resultant violence and high death tolls led to nearly a quarter of a million Hungarians fleeing the country.

Living with his stoic and forbearing mother, Klára (Andrea Waskovics), in Budapest, Andor (12-year-old newcomer Bojtorján Barabas) is desperately searching for his identity. Although 11 years have passed since the liberation of the camps, his father has not returned. The family of two are members of the close-knit Jewish community, which — under the thumb of the Axis-aligned regime that preceded Soviet occupation — languished at the best of times and at the worst times disappeared. Although settled in their historic family home, they are under close observation by the current regime, which suspects their connection to at-large members of what remains of the underground resistance. Meanwhile, the family receives visits from Berend Mihály (Grégory Gadebois), a pompous and brutish man from the nearby countryside, linked to Klára’s mysterious past, who Andor begins to suspect holds the key to the true story of his mother’s survival during World War II.

Not to be missed.

Jay Kelly. Noam Baumbach’s latest is about a man (George Clooney) looking back at his life and reflecting on the choices, the sacrifices, the successes, the mistakes he’s made. When is it too late to change the course of our lives? Jay Kelly is an actor and as such the movie is about identity. How we perform ourselves. Who are we as parents, children, friends, professionals? Are we good? Are we bad? What is the gap between who we’ve decided we are and who we might actually be? What makes a life? Jay Kelly is about what it means to be yourself.

Jay Kelly follows famous movie actor Jay Kelly and his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as they embark on a whirlwind and unexpectedly profound journey through Europe. Along the way, both men are forced to confront the choices they’ve made, the relationships with their loved ones, and the legacies they’ll leave behind. A lock for multiple Oscar nominations. Another VIFF must-see.

Sirât. Sergi López plays Luis, a man desperately searching for his missing daughter Marina throughout the harsh southern deserts of Morocco, along with his young son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona) and their dog Pipa. At the film’s beginning — a pulsating open-air rave — the trio drifts through throngs of entranced and sweaty partygoers, handing out flyers with photos. As soldiers move in to shut down the festivities, father and son follow and ultimately join a motley bunch of roving ravers (memorably played by non-professionals) who set out in their van in search of the next party — and hopefully Marina — as hints of impending war multiply.

With swirling dust storms and solar flashes alighting the cinematic landscapes — all stunningly enhanced by director of photography Mauro Herce’s exquisite Super 16mm — and an award-winning, low end–heavy score by techno stalwart Kangding Ray, the gruelling expedition increasingly transforms into a sensorial and hypnotic experience that tests physical and psychological limits.

Simultaneously explosive and introspective — a film in which spirituality and altered states of consciousness exist alongside raw, sober humanity — Sirât, which means “path” in Arabic, explores the ways loss, grief, and violence can imbue life with both intensity and clarity. While many have evoked Mad Max, Zabriskie Point, and The Wages of Fear as cinematic touchstones, the film emerges cult-ready from the singular vision of Laxe, known for his mystical sensibility in probing truths.

The above capsule written by Andrea Picard for TIFF 50, which begins next week.

VanRamblings will be back next week to provide further insight into the breadth and depth of this year’s 44th annual Vancouver International Film Festival.

Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.

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