In Part One of a three part series, today on VanRamblings we take a look at this year’s VIFF’s Galas & Special Presentations on offer at the 44th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, set to run from Thursday, October 2nd thru 12th.
If you click on the underlined link of the titles below, you will be taken to the VIFF page that will both provide you with more insight into the films, and allow you the opportunity to purchase tickets for the screening of your choice.
Sentimental Value. Winner of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value — a ravishing, uncommonly rich, contemplative, poignant and humane look at existence — took Cannes by storm, emerging as a favourite among critics, even if Jafar Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident (which will also screen at VIFF this year), won the Palme d’Or.
Sentimental Value will feature prominently in this year’s Oscar race, with guaranteed nods for Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Actress for Renate Reinsve (Worst Person in the World), Best Actor for Stellan Skarsgård, and Best Director for Joachim Trier. Here’s your opportunity to get an early look at one of the best films of the year, a piercing reflection on family and memory, and a film that mines the inner truths of the characters we see on screen. Not to be missed.
| Friday October 3rd 5:45 pm Vancouver Playhouse |
Wednesday October 8th 5:30 pm Vancouver Playhouse |
After the Hunt. Opening to mixed reviews at the Venice film festival this past weekend, Luca Guadagnino’s “bizarrely retrograde” (IndieWire), “weirdly muddled” (Variety), “frustratingly cryptic” (The Hollywood Reporter) #MeToo era film follows the havoc caused by an accusation of sexual assault on a U.S. university campus.
Ever the contrarian, Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells has an entirely different take, as he writes …
I immediately fell in love with the opening frames of Luca Guadagnino‘s After The Hunt, or more precisely the amplified sound of a slowly ticking clock — an aural statement that says “ominous stuff is brewing, you bet”. Though I was fully familiar with the basic story bones, having read an early draft of Nora Garrett‘s original screenplay, a #MeToo rape accusation drama mostly set on the Yale campus, I was pulled in all over again.
Assured, unforced and deliberate, Guadagnino‘s interpretation of Garrett’s screenplay fascinates by not pushing too hard, advancing the campus mystery in a gradual, sharply observed manner. I was actually kind of startled — pleasantly — by his decision to keep things on the subdued side. No raised voices or glaring expressions or slamming doors or anyone throwing things around.
Except, that is, for a tantrum thrown by Andrew Garfield’s Hank Gibson, who’s also up for tenure — a reaction to his having been accused of sexually assaulting Ayo Edibiri‘s Maggie Price, an allegedly mediocre philosophy student, the daughter of super-wealthy parents, and a lesbian.
Maggie is a key story figure, not just because of this alleged assault but also because of her protégé relationship with Julia Roberts‘ Alma Imhoff, a whipsmart, well-liked, seriously admired Yale professor who’s in line for tenure. But as things develop and social pressure increases, Alma and Maggie’s relationship becomes less and less trusting, and then tips over into hostility.
But I was mostly taken by a tone of ambiguity that manifests in the third act. A haunting ambiguity mixed with stabs of suspicion. And, not incidentally, by a somewhat instructive score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
| Sunday October 5th 9:15 pm Vancouver Playhouse |
So, there you have it. Two outstanding films set to screen at VIFF 2025, where you can get an early look at two Oscar bound films, sequestered within the always comfortable and welcoming Vancouver Playhouse.
C’mon back tomorrow for two (or more) VIFF #44 Gala & Special Presentation films.
