As the weather office had been promising all week, on Saturday the rains finally came, the sort of chill, damp mid-November autumn day that arrives much too early this year.
Given that Sunday will mean an early morning for the 10 a.m. screening of the Cannes Palme d’Or winner, 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, VanRamblings took the early morning hours on Saturday to spend an extra few minutes in bed, planning the day’s film activities. Bundled up in the appropriate rain gear, VanRamblings headed downtown shortly after 2 p.m. to line up for tickets for the 3:30 screening of the Sundance Jury documentary winner …
Manda Bala (Grade: B+): Director Jason Kohn’s vivid portrait of corruption, crime, fear and anomie in modern-day Brazil, where the very act of getting up in the morning is fraught with the prospect of one’s imminent death, Manda Bala is gruesome at times (VanRamblings turned our eyes away during the ear reconstruction scenes), yet ultimately hopeful in tone and possessed of an insight into a Brazil that few of us in the northern hemisphere are even remotely aware of. Another must-see at the 2007 VIFF, Manda Bala screens again next Friday, October 5th at 4:15 p.m.
Although VanRamblings would have preferred to stay to listen to the post-screening questions the audience would place to Jason Kohn, who was in attendance at the screening, that darn pass line-up line outside the Granville 7 beckoned — either passholders get in line by 5 p.m. to pick up their evening tickets, or chances are they won’t see the films on their schedule. VanRamblings waited on damp, dreary rain-slicked Granville Street til 5:30 p.m., when we picked up our evening passes for …
You, The Living (Grade: C-): Although director Roy Andersson picked up the Jury Prize at Cannes, in 2002, for Songs From The Second Floor, his latest — Sweden’s entry in the 2007 Oscar derby — is utterly pointless film fare. Surprisingly, Jason Anderson in Eye Weekly gave You, The Living five stars when it played at the Toronto Film Festival, calling it “austere, ingenious, hilarious, romantic, hopeful and dyspeptic”. One is left only to wonder what drugs Mr. Anderson took the day he screened You, The Living, because for VanRamblings this film was an unwatchable, pretentious, uninvolving waste of 92 minutes (witness the numerous walk-outs).
The find of the day, though, the real Saturday stand-out was …
Beaufort (Grade: A-): Sparse but powerful, Beaufort recounts Israel’s evacuation of the Southern Lebanese mountaintop fortress of the title, in 2000. Telling the personal stories of a group of young soldiers held hostage in a vast labyrinth of concrete tunnels and bunkers while attempting to defend Israel’s interests, stationed within an inhospitable Lebanon and under constant attack by the deadly forces of the Hezbollah, director Joseph Cedar’s bleak, emotional film may not break any new ground when it comes to filming the drama of war, but that doesn’t make Beaufort any less compelling. Another must-see at the 2007 Vancouver Film Festival.

Nine films screened by VanRamblings in the first two days of the 2007 VIFF, and six of those films proved to be outstanding. At this juncture it must be said: this is a fucking great Festival, one of the strongest in years.
The first film on Friday was one of the most hotly anticipated documentaries of the year, and a certain Oscar contender come years’ end:

My Kid Could Paint That (Grade: A-): With 4-year-old Marla Olmstead an absolutely engaging presence at the centre of, but oblivious to, the maelstrom of activity involving questions as to the veracity of her talent for painting vibrant, ethereal abstracts, during the compact 81-minute running time of producer-director Amir Bar-Lev’s thought-provoking film, the viewer is taken on a roller coaster ride the likes of which you’re unlikely to experience in the cinema anywhere outside a screening of this film, this year. Marla’s embattled dental assistant mother, Laura, comes across as the single most sympathetic, articulate, bright, strong and caring person you’re likely to see on film this year. Rotten Tomatoes scores this film at 100%, and deservedly so. Screening again next Friday, October 4th at 6:20 p.m. at the Granville 7, and at 4 p.m. the following Thursday, October 11th at 3 p.m. this is one film you don’t want to miss. Another must-see at the 2007 VIFF.
Next up on the day’s film journey …
7 Years (Grade B-): The second sub-par film in the Spotlight on France film series, 7 ans is a kitchen sink drama which relates the somewhat perverse story of a young woman who, in the course of visiting her husband in jail, comes to have an affair with one of her husband’s keepers. Gritty and real, yet dramatically unsatisfying, 7 years offers low-budget, hardscrabble cable fare which manages only to be sporadically involving.
Taking a break in the afternoon to enjoy unseasonably warm and sunny weather, it was back to the Granville 7 at 6:20 p.m. for a screening of …

Caramel (Grade: A-): Along with Shotgun Stories, this Lebanese film may very well be VanRamblings’ favourite film thus far at the 2007 VIFF. Early Almodóvar in style and presentation, Caramel will likely emerge as the most accomplished film to screen at the this year’s fest. Written, directed and starring the stunningly beautiful and talented Nadine Labaki, the film emerged as a big hit at Cannes this year. In the early going Caramel would have to be considered the odds-on favourite for a 2007 Best Foreign Film Oscar. Sun-drenched and absolutely lovely in its evocation of modern-day Lebanon (a revelation all on its own), Caramel harkens back to the country when it was considered to be the Paris of the Middle East. Every frame of this picture is painterly, and every line of dialogue and every performance is little short of revelatory. And, yet, this is “only” a picture about five women who operate a beauty salon in Beirut. Obviously, it is about so much more, and so much so that you’ll want to make sure that you skip work on Monday afternoon, October 1st at 2 p.m. to catch the final screening of this absolutely wonderful film.
As the final film for the 2nd day of the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival, Mr. Shayne, music aficionado that he is, insisted on …
Control (Grade: A-): Joy Division were the link between the Beatles and Nirvana, a Manchester-based band that pioneered the post-punk sound of the late 70s. In this revelatory adaptation of Debbie Curtis’ chronicling of the era and first-hand account of the life and death of her husband / lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis — adapted from her recently-published in-depth biographical account, titled Touching From a Distance — director / chronicler of the era, Anton Corbijn’s stunning high-contrast monochrome movie played to appreciative, jam-packed Friday night houses in both the Granville 3 and 4, where the audience was kept in rapt attention by a film that was all at once somber, sad and compelling. Another 2007 must-see.

Awoke to leaden skies, with a chill in the morning air and just the slightest hint of rain. In other words, perfect Film Festival-going weather.
Took transit downtown, and when alighting from the bus ran into Armand, the recently-retired head of Warner Brothers’ western Canada DVD distribution, who was on his way to a ‘pioneer’s luncheon’ for all those involved in some facet of the film industry in British Columbia, from theatre managers, publicists, booking and distribution agents and writers, to just about anyone else involved in some facet of the film business in Vancouver.
Once Armand trundled off on his way, VanRamblings made our way down to Pacific Cinémathèque for our first screening of the Fest, a film from the Spotlight on France series, titled …
La France (Grade: C): Essentially a trifle, a melancholy WWI story of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to join a wayward squad of seemingly lost soldiers, in hopes of finding her husband. A low-budget second outing for director Serge Bozon, whether it’s the soldiers breaking out into periodic Beatle-esque song, or a story that doesn’t quite seem to know where its going, although La France is decidedly un-Hollywood fare, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to want to rush out to see this VIFF film.
Emerged from Pacific Cinémathèque into a fine mist shower, so bundled up for the five-block walk to the Empire Granville 7, the main Film Festival venue, where tickets were available for our second screening of the day …
Losers and Winners (Grade: C+): Part of the Non-Fiction Features series, Losers and Winners tracks a group of Chinese workers brought to Dortmund, Germany to dismantle a coking plant for reconstruction in China. Even though the docs’ production values are flat, the story of a German workforce hired to provide aid to the Chinese workers dismantling the factory, and the insight provided to the audience as to what is expected of Chinese workers makes for fitfully compelling viewing.
After the screening of Losers and Winners, VanRamblings joined the inimitable Mr. Shayne outside the Granville 7 to pick our passes for our third film of the day …
September (Grade: B+): Set in 1968, this was the first film at the 2007 VIFF to sweep us off our feet, the cinematography of the prairie landscape of western Australia lush and beautiful, and the story of two boys — one aboriginal, one white — coming to terms with changing times compelling fare from beginning to end, and a must-see at the 2007 VIFF.
Next it was time to wait in line (from just after 4 p.m. til 5:40 p.m. !!!) to pick up our passes, outside the Granville 7, for the evening fare on our viewing schedule …
Shotgun Stories (Grade: A+): In this highlight of our first day’s filmgoing, Michael Shannon, as “Son” Hayes, offers a shattering performance of coiled rage against the travesties of a life gone terribly wrong, and seemingly out of control. Painting a withering portrait of near anomie and dispossession in Little Rock, Arkansas, the film’s title is apt given what occurs in the film’s second half, but Shotgun Stories is less a low-key revenge thriller than a character study of one segment of the lumpen class in the southern U.S. First-rate production values, great performances throughout, and a sure directorial hand by tyro helmer Jeff Nichols makes this another must-see, particularly given that there’s no distributor in place for what is, most assuredly, one of the best films of the year.
And, as the final film of the day …
Atonement (Grade: B+): With a critics score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, does Atonement require comment from VanRamblings? Mr. Shayne was swept away by the majestic, epic scope of the picture — and there’s no denying that director Joe Wright does a superb job of bringing Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel to the screen — but Keira Knightley … this is the kind of film which requires heaving bosoms, and even though they were present in Ms. Knightley’s previous collaboration with Mr. Wright (Pride and Prejudice), in Atonement Ms. Knightley (porcelain beauty though she may be) proves to be so anorexically thin as to be distracting. Still, a good film.

On Thursday, September 27th, the annual marathon Vancouver International Film Festival opens its 26th edition. Over the course of the next 16 days, the city will play host to more than 350 films. Statistically, VIFF is Canada’s largest film festival. Here’s a breakdown: 242 features, 90 documentaries and 119 shorts — representing 50 countries, 42 world premières, 29 North American premières and 34 Canadian premières.
Beyond the record number of débuts, VIFF ’07 is mounting more film-related events — celebrity appearances, director Q&A’s, forums, panels — than ever before. VIFF continues to be both a supermarket of films and an industry convention all in one, while offering a window on the world to an ever-increasing and enthusiastic group of cinéastes from across the globe.
This year, the Vancouver International Film Festival expands its traditional Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia series to include a spotlight on China. Speaking at the Festival launch earlier in the month, Festival Director Alan Franey emphasized B.C.’s importance as Canada’s “Pacific Gateway” to Asia. “China will take centre stage — not just this year but for the next couple of years,” Franey announced at VIFF’s VanCity Theatre.
Meanwhile, all the usual VIFF features will be back: Galas and Special Presentations, Non-Fiction Features; Canadian Images, Cinema of Our Time, and Spotlight on France. New this year is Climate for Change, a series that will include both dramatic features and documentaries emphasizing fresh information, vision and cinematic artistry, a $25,000 juried environmental film series committed to eco-consciousness, sponsored by Kyoto Planet.

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