“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” — Murial Rukeyser, American feminist poet
VanRamblings discovers another ‘knocked it out of the park’ film
The Patience Stone (Grade: A+). The film at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival with the strongest buzz, a profound truth-telling cinematic experience, a film that travels deeper inside the experience of women than any film in recent years — with an exquisite screenplay, and a performance of astonishing and searing impact from an exquisite Golshifteh Farahani, who is in virtually every scene of the film — The Patience Stone has catapulted into the first rank of feature films screening at VIFF 2013.
Sensual, horrifying and mesmerizing all at once, The Patience Stone is set in a war-torn Afghanistan village, the story centered around an unnamed attractive young woman (the fine Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani) who, as the story opens, is caring for her wounded, much older husband, also unnamed (Hamidrez Javdan), an immobilized Mujahedeen fighter with a bullet in his neck. The narrative’s eloquent, existential simplicity sets the stage for an unfolding story of a woman’s life, the notion of the universality of women’s oppression central to the film’s impact, the film’s compelling, revelatory exposition presented in whispered fears, as long-nurtured resentments, and broken sobs punctuated by intermittent cries of alarm.
Transporting, sad-eyed, straight-talking, painstakingly shot, offering an authentic story of a woman’s life, The Patience Stone emerges as a visceral yet transcendently poetic cinematic experience, progressive, quiet, evocative, anguished, forlorn, impossible to forget, and transformative, as fine a film as you’ll see this or any other year, and a must-see at VIFF 2013.
The Patience Stone screens again Tues., Oct. 8th, 4pm at The Playhouse.

The two best Latin American films at VIFF, one of which we wrote about this Monday past (and will present again below), and one of which we screened on Thursday, represent two, not-to-be-missed, must-see VIFF 2013 films.

La jaula de oro (Grade: A-): Humanist filmmaking of the first order, the best Latin American émigr&eacute drama to play at the Vancouver International Film Festival in several years, directory Diego Quemada-Diez’s powerful, absorbing and suspenseful drama about four teenagers on their 3800km journey from Guatemala to the U.S. border by train offers impactful, seat-of-your-pants viewing as the foursome experience cruelty and violence at almost every turn in a series of brutal encounters with corrupt cops, ruthless bandits, kidnappers, and sharpshooting U.S. border guards. Not an easy sit, but gripping and unforgettable, with touching characters at film’s centre. Screens today (Thursday, October 3rd), 9pm at the Rio Theatre, and again on Friday, October 5th, 1pm, at Cineplex International Village, Cinema 9.

Field of Amapolas (Grade: A): In pre-revolutionary states it is always working people who suffer, caught in the divide between the state and guerrilla forces. When accused of collaborating with the enemy in the ongoing guerilla war in Colombia, itinerant farmer Emilio, along with his nine-year-old son Simon, are exiled by rebels and find refuge in the home of a relative. Struggling economically in their new life, Emilio is forced to take work in the illegal poppy fields belonging to a local drug lord. With an atmosphere infused with, and made dense by, the omnipresent shadow of violence and death. With gorgeous cinematography, affective, authentic and moving performances throughout, employing a gritty, at times traditionally Latin American magical realist narrative and visual construct, Field of Amapolis has emerged as one of VIFF 2013’s strongest, most accomplished narrative features. Screens for a final time next Tuesday, October 8th, 7pm, at the Rio Theatre.

Arising from high audience demand for tickets (arising in part as well, perhaps, from VanRamblings’ continuing rave coverage of these films), the good folks at the Vancouver film festival have scheduled additional screenings of VanRamblings’ favourite feature, The Great Passage, and our favourite documentary, Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia. See below for info on screening times for both of these very fine VIFF films.
Here’s a précis of what we had to say about Ishii Yuya’s new film …

A masterwork from acclaimed Japanese director Ishii Yuya, as accomplished and moving a film as you’ll see this year, The Great Passage, Yuya’s gently old-fashioned romantic comedy and workplace dramedy offers random bits of loveliness throughout, in the story of Mitsuya — a lexicographer hired to research for The Great Passage, a new ‘living language’ dictionary planned by a Tokyo publisher — and his landlady’s granddaughter, Kaguya, his affection for her unbound.

The whimsical screenplay, tremendously engaging performances, the movie’s beguiling character arcs, warmly lambent cinematography, painterly shot composition, gently seductive pacing, and transcendently well-executed direction, makes Yuya’s follow-up to his winning VIFF 2011 entry, Mitsuko Delivers — one of VanRamblings’ favourite films that year — all the more welcome, extraordinary, profound and rewarding an artistic and cinematic accomplishment. A+. Not to be missed. A must-see. Two remaining VIFF screenings, an added screening this Saturday morning. October 5th, 11:30 am, at The Cinematheque, and two days later, on Sunday, October 6th, 2pm, at The Cinematheque.

And, here’s a little something on Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia:

Despairing, melancholy, screamingly funny at times, and filled with more wit and perspicacity than any film you’ll see this year, here’s the best non-fiction film to play at VIFF 2013, a doc that is not-to-be-missed. Quite simply, director Nicholas Wrathall, while offering a profound and immensely witty historical document on the nature of the 21st century state, has outdone himself.

In this open-minded memorial to one of 20th-century’s most original — and brilliantly curmudgeonly — thinkers, The United States of Amnesia captures Gore Vidal in all of his agent provocateur glory, chronicling a plethora of witty epigrams, social injustices, institutional manipulation, political corruptions, and the late 20th century slide into the wholesale adoption of a neoliberal economic agenda, which sees our wages and our taxes moving upwards and away from us, and into the hands of the economic elite. VanRamblings is awarding an A+, and considers Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia another must-see, not-to-be missed film at VIFF 2013. Screens three more times, today (Oct. 3rd), 1:15 pm, at The Cinematheque; again on Tues., Oct 8th, at 9pm, at The Cinematheque; and, at an added screening, on Friday, October 11th at 4:45pm, once again at The Cinematheque.

You’ll want to purchase your tickets for these VIFF films as soon as possible, cuz ticket sales for each screening is brisk.

We’ll leave you today with the following video, which we shot following a VIFF screening at SFU Woodwards’ Goldcorp Theatre, the video shot in an alcove (where we could get out of the rain) in the alley way in behind the complex, the video VanRamblings’ “artistic contribution” to VIFF 2013.

VanRamblings’ programme schedule continues to change each day, mostly of late arising from buzz from folks in line, or VIFF cinephiles who are quite as enthusiastic as we are about screening the very best that VIFF has to offer in 2013. It’s almost as if, for 16 days, we’re cinema junkies.
Note: Following several hours of arduous work, when publishing Part 2 of our weekend guide, all of our work was lost, disappearing into the ether. So, unfortunately, there’ll be no Part 2, a Sunday guide to VIFF films.
For those expecting our long promised Apple iOS post, we’ve decided to hold off on that post til either next week, or post-Festival. C’mon back tomorrow, though, for our regular fine Sunday post.

Not only is the 2013 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival the most welcoming Festival in years, it is as well the best run and organized Festival we’ve witnessed in years, each VIFF staff and volunteer becalmed, for sure, but vibrant and alive in their interaction with the many thousands of VIFF patrons who, this past week and next, will help to transform Vancouver into the world city that we oughta be, and the world city we become during the 16 days of VIFF each year, as 340+ films from more than 75 countries across the globe are brought to our shores.
Sure, like many, VanRamblings is given to the occasional kvetch — but, really, why bother taking the festival to task over picayune concerns when those of us who love the Vancouver film festival experience are allowing the world cinema of our time to wash over us during these 16 days of love?
Truth to tell, at present, we’re a little tuckered, have looked at our programme schedule (pdf) for the day (4 films!), so will leave you with a shortened version of today’s post. We do encourage you to take a look at:

• The column we wrote last Friday on the New York Film Festival, which unfolds in cinematic unison with VIFF, or
• Parts 1, 2 and 3 of our ‘best bets” posts are here, here and here.

And please, please, please get your ticket now for Sunday, October 6th’s final screening of The Great Passage, 2pm at The Cinematheque.
Otherwise, we’ll point you in the direction of films that you don’t want to miss on this early autumn day at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, films we either saw in preview, screened since Festival’s start last Thursday, or have read great reviews on. So, here goes …

• Field of Amapolis. When accused of collaborating with the enemy in the ongoing guerilla war in Colombia, farmer Emilio, along with his nine-year-old son Simon, is forced by rebels to leave their land. After relocating with the help of a relative, Emilio and his son struggle with their new life, their economic hardship forcing Emilio to take work in the illegal poppy fields belonging to a local drug lord. Meanwhile, Simon meets and befriends Luisa, a girl his own age. Dense, dark, with the omnipresent shadow of violence and death infusing the film with a pervasive sends of dread, this one should be one to catch. Screens at 10:50am today, at VIFF’s / Cineplex’s International Village, Cinema 9.
• The Patience Stone. Suffice to say that VanRamblings has heard more positive response to this film than any other film in VIFF this year. Heard the phrase must-see? Yep, this film’s one of those creatures.
• Grand Central. Also arriving at VIFF with good buzz. Scott Foundas, chief film critic for Variety, and until recently the chief programming of the New York Film Festival loved it. 4:20pm, at Cineplex International Village, Cinema 10.

Enjoy your Festival today, eat good food, keep yourself hydrated, and we’ll be looking for you just before the lights go out in a darkening theatre.

Miyazaki Aoi and Matsuda Ryuhei, in The Great Passage, VanRamblings’ favourite VIFF film

On Monday, VanRamblings saw our first ‘knocked it out of the park’ Cinema of Our Time feature, The Great Passage, a masterwork from acclaimed Japanese director Ishii Yuya, as tremendously accomplished and moving a film as you’ll see this year. We are awarding the film a rare unreserved and enthusiastic “A+”, and recommend you do all in your power to arrange to take in VIFF’s final screening of the film on Sunday, October 6th, at 2pm, at The Cinematheque. You’ll want to purchase your tickets now — easy to do on VIFF’s web page for the film — just click on the film’s title link above.
Initially set in 1995, The Great Passage tells the winning and affectionate story of Mitsuya Majime, a socially awkward linguists post-graduate who lands his dream job — as a lexicographer hired to research for The Great Passage, a new ‘living language’ dictionary planned by a Tokyo publisher. In residence at the Sou-Un-Sou Rooming House, Mitsuya’s only palpably human contact comes in the form of his elderly landlady, his only other association of consequence that of a ginger cat named Tora-san. Upon the arrival of his landlady’s granddaughter, Kaguya Hayashi (Aoi Miyazaki), Mitsuya’s world is turned upside down, his affection for her unbound.
Yuya’s gently old-fashioned romantic comedy offers random bits of loveliness throughout. Early on, Kaguya — who as a chef is as obsessive in her love for cooking as Mitsuya is with the etymology of language — takes her undeclared suitor shopping, and when finding the knives she’s traveled to find offers up the most tremendous explanation on the construction, composition and utility of knives. VanRamblings proceeded directly to Ming-Wo’s to buy ourselves new knives following the screening, so impactful was Kaguya’s presentation on the history and utility of knives.
VanRamblings cannot recommend The Great Passage highly enough — the whimsical screenplay, tremendously engaging performances, the movie’s beguiling character arcs, as well as its warmly lambent cinematography, painterly shot composition, gently seductive pacing, and transcendently well-executed direction, makes Yuya’s follow-up to his winning VIFF 2011 entry, Mitsuko Delivers — one of VanRamblings’ favourite films that year — all the more welcome, extraordinary and rewarding an accomplishment.

Tuesday looks to offer yet another salutary day at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival. As we did yesterday, we’ll point you to the films that are screening today that are worthy of your attention …

Just click on this pdf for today’s VIFF screening schedule for …

• Honeymoon (Grade: B+). An audience favourite at this year’s Festival, with its insinuating score, impending threat of violence and operatic theme of regret told within a Hitchcockian thriller construct, master Czech filmmaker Jan Hřebejk’s elegantly intimate thriller weaves welcoming darkness into a nuanced story of repressed secrets and the possibility of forgiveness, all set over the two days of a bourgeois wedding celebration. Recommended. 11:10am, Cineplex, Cinema 9.
• Heli. Winner of Best Director at Cannes for Amat Escalantes, the wildly controversial Heli — a gritty Mexican drugs and guns saga — screens today for the first time at VIFF 2013, at 4pm in The Playhouse.
• Desert Runners (Grade: A-). Jennifer Steinman’s fascinating, entirely alive documentary feature tracks a phalanx of desert marathon runners on the grueling 4 Deserts race series — encompassing Chile’s Atacama Desert, a thousand kilometre strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains, the driest hot desert in the world; the 1600 km stretch of China’s inhospitable palearctic Gobi Desert; the world’s largest and hottest desert, Africa’s Sahara; and Earth’s southernmost and coldest desert, the Antarctic — while introducing us to the film’s four main protagonists (ex-pro baseball player Ricky, now relocated from the U.S. to London; law-student Samantha, from Australia; British bodyguard Tremaine, who recently lost his wife to cancer; and 56 year-old Irish businessman Dave), the attendant trauma of their lives, and the transformation each undergoes throughout an ultramarathon year of physical, psychological, and emotional endurance. Recommended. 6:30pm today, and 4pm Thursday, at The Playhouse.
• Youth. Another buzz film and audience Festival favourite, about which Variety says, “a hauntingly observational Israeli kidnapping story with riveting performances, a bold and disturbing adventure sure to trouble many in the audience.” Screens today at 6:30pm, at Cineplex, Cinema 9, and again on Thursday, 4pm at SFU Woodwards.
• From Neurons to Nirvana (Grade: B+). Oliver Hockenhull’s thoughtful and rousing defense of psychotropic drugs as medication, and the role politicians play in denying us access to needed therapies, co-executive produced by Mark Achbar (The Corporation) and Betsy Carson, compels throughout in a film that is challenging for the senses and the mind. Recommended. Screens 4pm today, at the Vancity, and again on Wednesday, October 9th, 2pm, at The Rio.
• The Past. If the trailer above doesn’t catch your interest, maybe the fact that Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) picked up the Best Actress prize at Cannes this year will move you to catch the new film by Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi (last year’s, A Separation) that all the critics at Cannes loved this year. Screens tonight at 9pm, at The Centre.

Apropos of nothing in particular, we’ll leave you today with the following video by Rhye — VanRamblings’ music find of autumn 2013 — with Toronto-born singer/songwriter Mike Milosh on vocals, and Danish instrumentalist, composer and arranger Robin Hannibal producing, their wildly nostalgic and romantic video below redolent of our youth, the video, one of our favourites of the year. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Full VanRamblings coverage of VIFF 2013 is available by clicking here, replete with reviews, previews, Festival logistics, buzz and much more.
Here’s VanRamblings’ October 1st programming schedule update (pdf).

Sunday was a sodden day at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, which fit perfectly, of course, with the underlying theme of the Festival: the Cinema of Despair. In 2013, VanRamblings seems to have internalized that despair and processed it in such a way as to prejudice our ability to write (in the short form poetic manner of years past) about the films we screened pre-Festival, and since VIFF32’s opening day.
Today, we’ll attempt to rectify the circumstance of previous days’ lack of writing on things cinematic, and offer readers a quick, pungent take on three VIFF films which have most impressed us in 2013, as well as a guide to what-not-to-miss on this overcast and inclement last day of September.
VanRamblings has already written about the three films we’ve found most rewarding, gut-wrenching in their own idiosyncratic way, and authentic and truthful in their exposition. Those films are: Oil Sands Karaoke (VanRamblings cannot imagine that this doc will not emerge as our favourite VIFF32 doc), the spectacularly engaging Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, and Felix, the film which pulled us in and threw us around more than any other film we’ve seen at the film festival this year.

A Bag of Flour (Grade: B+): With a wildly sympathetic, stubborn and strong-minded heroine at film’s centre (played to wrenching affect by newcomer Hafsia Herzi), director Kadija Leclere’s powerful indictment of women’s subjugation in the Moroccan state, with its undercurrent of insurrection and social change, has emerged early in VIFF 2013 as a subtle, elegantly shot favourite among VIFF cinephiles, including this writer. As we wrote previously, A Bag of Flour — the story of a young kidnapped girl growing up a stranger in her own land, deep within a repressive rural, Muslim Middle East state — offers a thoughtful reflection on female identity in contemporary Arab society, the film destined to become one of VIFF 2013’s most memorable films.

La jaula de oro (Grade: A-): Humanist filmmaking of the first order, the best Latin American émigr&eacute drama to play at the Vancouver International Film Festival in several years, directory Diego Quemada-Diez’s powerful, absorbing and suspenseful drama about four teenagers on their 3800km journey from Guatemala to the U.S. border by train offers impactful, seat-of-your-pants viewing as the foursome experience cruelty and violence at almost every turn in a series of brutal encounters with corrupt cops, ruthless bandits, kidnappers, and sharpshooting U.S. border guards. Not an easy sit, but gripping and unforgettable, with touching characters at film’s centre.

Our Sunhi (Grade: B+): A piffle, a delight, and an entirely engaging film of some wit and intelligence and well-realized directorial ambition, Our Sunhi is another in the feminist contingent of films we’ve taken in a VIFF 2013, with (as is the case in A Bag of Flour) the heroine at film’s centre presenting as an ambitious take no guff, strong-willed — and at all times sympathetic — on screen presence. A film filled with romantic frustration and confusion, this is Korean off-kilter comedy at its very best. Entirely winning, and absolutely worth attending.

Today — Monday, Sept. 30th — you don’t want to miss the buzz films that’ll be screening throughout the day, as is the case with …

• Stray Dogs: Currently screening at the New York Film Festival, Tsai Ming-liang’s new film relates the story of a middle-aged father, and his young son and daughter, who during the day work as human billboards. Bleakly funny and absolutely terrifying film fare. Not to be missed.
• The Great Passage: A quirky tug of love drama involving a nerdy dictionary maker and a sexy chef, Japan’s foreign-language Oscar nominee offers quiet, gentle audience-friendly film fare.
• A Time in Quchi: One of this year’s buzz films, Taiwanese director Chang Tso-ch’s new film offers delicate and poetic film fare full of offbeat humour, this warmly conventional coming-of-ager emerging as an inviting meditation on transience.
• Matterhorn: The pick of the day, with very strong strong buzz emerging from its first Festival screening. We wrote about about the film last Wednesday.

That pretty much wraps the post for the day. We’ll leave you with this VIFF film search advice: as searching for films on the VIFF website is an exercise in frustration, disappointment and near calumny, there is a way around the dilemma of finding information on VIFF 2013 films: whoever “spidered” the VIFF site for Google has done a spectacular job. To access information on the VIFF website for any film playing at VIFF 2013, simply place the title of the film and the word VIFF in the Google search box, and voilà … VIFF 2013’s web page for the film title on which you’re seeking information.

VanRamblings’ pre-and-early coverage of the Festival was expansive. If you haven’t glanced through this past week’s posts, here are some links …

• For those of you who did not catch last Monday’s introductory VIFF 2013 post, just click here.
• Parts 1, 2 and 3 of our ‘best bets” posts are here, here and here.
• The titles, and more, of the 15 films shared by the New York and Vancouver Film Festivals may be found here.
• The VIFF’s calendar schedule is located here (you’ll need to put in the correct date).
• The search engine for VIFF 2013 films may be found here.

Enjoy your Festival, keep rested, and c’mon back to VanRamblings for more of our 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival buzz each day.