One of the more salutary aspects of attending and participating in the 25th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, at least for this scribe, is the ride home on the bus at the end of a long day viewing movies in one, or more, of the film festival theatres located in Vancouver’s downtown core.
The bus ride home from Vancouver’s West End / downtown area through Kitsilano and Point Grey, to our home on the far west side of the city, is rife with life and possibility, love and the potential for connection, energy and flow, all within the context of safe passage in Vancouver’s (let’s face it, we’ve got something good going on here) Pacific west coast paradise.
Now, we’ve already made mention of the unseasonably warm and inviting weather that has accompanied the 25th annual edition of the Fest (right now, it’s sunny and 57° on a beautiful sunny afternoon on Canada’s west coast, as we take a short break to compose this fourth entry of our Fest coverage), almost a continuation of summer. So, when the last movie of the night lets out, it’s on to a Translink bus, full of humanity, mostly of the late-and-post teen University of British Columbia variety, making out, tipsy from hours in the bar or at the disco, alive and full of energy — and the perfect real-life extension of a day spent inside the lives of men and women and children on the screen, those life experiences spanning our globe.
Saturday, as had been agreed the day before, was to be Mr. Shayne’s day to choose the movies, and for the evening’s entertainment he chose …
The Last King of Scotland: Everything you’ve heard is true. Forest Whitaker will absolutely garner an Oscar nomination for the perfect embodiment of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the film tremendously moving, funny, tragic, historically accurate (for the most part, that is; the doctor, played by James McAvoy, is a composite character created by author Giles Foden in his 1999 novel of the same title), and one of the most important films of the year.
You might think, “Maybe I’ll see The Last King of Scotland at the multiplex, maybe I won’t,” but you’d be doing yourself a tremendous disservice by not catching a film variously described by critics as “Shakespearean in its vision, an edgy, shockingly transformative, eye-riveting tale with a formidably compelling tour-de-force performance by Forest Whitaker that is all at once Faustian, suspenseful, volatile and absolutely spellbinding.”

Continue reading VIFF2006: In Search of the Perfect Orgasm →

Yes, it’s Day 3 of the 25th annual Vancouver International Festival, the rains and cloud-covered skies have returned (although the sun peeks through the clouds intermittently), the Festival is well underway and there’s still two salutary weeks to go before this year’s event draws to a close.
Just a few items in this brief third instalment of our Fest coverage, so here goes …
Should you be of a mind to do so, turn to page 195 of this year’s Festival programme, and take a gander under the final category, “Under 18 May Attend”. Then allow your eyes to traipse on down to the final title listed in this category, “The White Planet,” page 47. Then, turn to page 47, and this is what you’ll see … that’s VIFF for ya … progressive all the way.
Apparently, there are a good many mistakes in this year’s programme (those poor folks who put the guide together … oh well). When you run across similar “errors”, click here to drop us a line.
The Editor of the VIFF programme guide, longtime VIFF stalwart Jack Vermee, was present Friday evening in the G7’s Cinema 5 to introduce Swel Noury, the young co-director / screenwriter of Heaven’s Doors, surely the most audacious film that will screen at this year’s Fest. A propulsive, operatic, heartrending three-act passion play, the Noury brothers’ début feature has been compared to City of God, as well it should. Still due to screen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Granville 7, and again next Saturday at 1:30 p.m., again at the G7, this is one film you’ll want to catch for sure.
Another stunningly wonderful film at this year’s Fest is Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki’s concluding film in his “loser trilogy” — following “Drifting Clouds” and “The Man Without a Past” — the latest entry, titled Lights in the Dusk, telling the story of a sad sack night watchman who wouldn’t have any luck at all if it wasn’t bad luck. Easily the equal of the two previous films in the series in tone and substance, if more minimalist and somewhat less emotional in presentation, this is utterly original filmmaking, and another must-see at this year’s Fest. The film screens on Monday at 2 p.m. at the G7 and again next Thursday at 11 a.m., again at the G7.

Continue reading VIFF2006: Peace, Love and Understanding →

The first day of the 25th annual Vancouver International Film Festival is history, Vancouverites by the thousands were sequestered inside darkened theatres, and the family that constitute the regulars who have attended VIFF for a quarter century have once again come together in celebration.
First film: Arriving just minutes before the 6 p.m. screening of Passabe at the Granville 7, Pacific Cinémathèque’s Sue Cormier directed me towards G7 theatre manager Teresa Weir, who without benefit of VR plea resolved an access dilemma by grabbing a “ticket” to Cinema 5, allowing me ready entrance to the theatre in time to catch the beginning of the film.
And lest one is left with the impression that VanRamblings amounts to a hill of beans in this crazy world, we don’t; Teresa had no idea who we were. Yet she intervened. The VIFF is all about human contact, and an ideal (if sometimes despairing) world. Humanity, the milk of human kindness, empathy and going that one step further. That’s the VIFF. We’re gratetful.

Continue reading VIFF 2006: The Cinema of Despair Returns →

The Vancouver International Film Festival may be a quarter of a century young, but believe it or not there are still a few people around who’ve never taken in a screening of a VIFF film. Hard to believe, but true.
To move Vancouverites, and those farther afield, to partake in the illustrious delights of a couple of hours in a darkened theatre being offered a window on the world, VanRamblings will kick off this year’s coverage of the VIFF by offering a few tips to those as yet uninitiated in the joys and delights of Vancouver’s most welcoming Festival event. So, here goes ..
How do you know you’re a Vancouver International Film Festival newbie?
You know you’re a VIFF newbie when you look at the list of 550 screenings of the more than 300 films from 50 countries offered at our city’s illustrious international Film Festival and immediately break into a cold sweat.
You know you’re supposed to be excited about the award-winning German thriller that excited the critics in Toronto, not to mention Canadian actress Sarah Polley’s directorial début that wowed those same audiences. You’re pretty sure you’re supposed to be intrigued by the nihilistic stop-motion animation Czech film described as “darkly comic in a way that encourages laughter, horror and thought.”
But, frankly, you just don’t know what to make of a movie titled The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema and, now that you think about it, you have no idea what a “cinephilic feast” is and whether you’ll even like it.
And with 300 films at four venues on 10 screens over 16 days, you’re starting to feel the weight and scope of the whole thing press down upon you. Where to begin? What to see? All of a sudden, you think it might be a good idea to steer clear of this whole VIFF thing altogether because it’s just SIMPLY TOO MUCH.
But first, take a deep breath. We understand how it is. Asking a freshman to jump into the Vancouver International Film Festival is like asking a novice swimmer to jump into the ocean. The vastness of the open sea looks scary.
But here … let us offer you some water wings.

Continue reading VIFF 2006: Celebrating a Quarter of a Century →