VanRamblings asks: Is there any more glorious and rewarding way to spend 16 days of your life than to be huddled in a Vancouver Film Festival theatre with hundreds of other movie-loving patrons just as dedicated as you are to participating in an event that brings to our shores the very best of world cinema, which provides an insightful window on our contemporary world, and seeks to remind us that we are — wherever we live across this planet of ours — participants in a common struggle for justice, equality and humanity, in our endeavours to make our Earth a better place for all of us?
Day 7 of the, always glorious, 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival brought the conclusion of Week One of our Festival-by-the-sea, with another week (and a couple of days more) still left to go, with even more moving film fare yet to be screened in the Festival’s remaining days.
Before we commence with, as the case may be, eviscerating or praising the films we saw on Wednesday, note should be made that the fine folks at VIFF have added a special final screening, this Saturday, of Soundtrack for a Revolution. The film, about which we wrote on October 4th will screen …
Soundtrack for a Revolution
Saturday, October 10, 2009
1:50 p.m.
Granville 7, Theatre 2
Soundtrack for a Revolution is our favourite film at this year’s Festival.
You’ll want to click on Buy on this page, or reserve your ticket TODAY, at 604.685.8297. Once you’ve secured your ticket (for your friends, as well), you’ll want to make sure to line up for the film at least an hour in advance.

Okay, here we go: Wednesday proved another salutary day on our Festival screening schedule, with four more much-anticipated films on tap …
Salt (Grade: B+): Tracking award-winning, internationally-renowned photographer Murray Fredericks on his annual solo pilgrimage to Lake Eyre, in the northern region of South Australia, as he captures the desolate beauty of the remote hinterland to which he has travelled each year for the past decade, it is not just the breathtaking imagery and spectacularly beautiful photographs Fredericks has taken and we see on the screen, it is as well Fredericks’ own story, his love for his wife and how he has set about to come to terms with the death of his parents that proves moving and transformative for him, as well as for us. Fredericks’ award-winning 28-minute short, which will screen for a final time this Saturday, October 10th @ 11 am, at the VanCity Theatre, is paired with the tremendous …
12 Canoes (Grade: A): One of our very favourite films at the Film Festival this year, in 12 Canoes Rolf de Heer has filmed the stories of the Yolngu people of Ramingining, the founding Australian aboriginal culture, through 12 wonderful, movingly narrated visual poems, covering Creation through the arrival of the ‘First White Men’ to Kinship, Ceremony, Language, and contemporary days. De Heer’s 66-minute cinematic tour-de-force is one of the must-see films at the 28th edition of Vancouver’s annual Film Festival. As above, paired with Salt, Saturday, Oct. 10th @ 11 am, VanCity Theatre.
Next up, on our ‘climate change’ film schedule, Yann-Arthus Bertrand’s …
Home (Grade: C): A brutally condescending piece of alarmist ‘feel good’ climate change crap, Home is at best second-rate Imax fodder, but in 2-D on the Granville 7 Visa screen, in order to protect one’s sanity it was best to leave the theatre to commisserate with fellow filmgoers who were equally put off by Glenn Close’s droning, patronizing narration, to discuss with them far better, far more worthwhile films they’d seen and recommend.
For instance, Jurgen recommended: Broke, which screens again at 1:30 pm, Saturday, Oct. 10th @ Pacific Cinémathèque, and a range of ‘music films’, including Ashes of the American Flag: Wilco Live (Tues., Oct. 13th, 4:20 pm, Gran7, Th2), Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy (Thurs., Oct. 15th @ 6:30 pm, Gran7, Th2 and Fri., Oct. 16th @ 1:15 pm, VanCity ), and Phil Grabsky’s In Search of Beethoven (Wed., Oct. 14th @ 11 am, Gran7, Th2).
Mr. Shayne and VanRamblings then tripped outside to Granville Street, as we waited for the next movie to begin, and ran into …

Videomatica’s Graham Peat, outside the Granville 7

For those of you who live elsewhere, and may not be aware of the handsome gentleman pictured above, Graham Peat is the ‘art house’ video God of Metro Vancouver, British Columbia and western Canada.
Way back in 1984, Graham and his partner, Brian, opened up Videomatica, in trendy, friendly Kitsilano, and as they say in the movies, the rest is history. With the largest collection of ‘nostalgia DVDs’ (1910 thru the swinging ’60s), and ‘art house films‘ available anywhere in western Canada, Videomatica is the place cinephiles go to, after the Festival is over, to catch the films they missed at the Fest. Although it is true that only 20% of the films that play the Vancouver International Film Festival ever arrive back on our shores to play on a big screen, somehow each year, Graham manages to find a goodly number of the more recommendable film festival titles to place on the shelves of his essential West 4th Avenue video emporium.
Afer bidding Graham adieu, it was time for the final screening of the day …
Precious, from the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Grade: B+): A certain Oscar nominee — Oprah is one of the executive producers of this film, and let’s face it, her imprimatur carries a lot of weight, in Hollywood and elsewhere — and one of the two break-out films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival (the other, An Education, which will play twice next week), Precious, from the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire tells the bleak, gritty, harrowing story of Clareece “Precious” Jones, an overweight black teenager in 1980s Harlem. Bullied at school, tormented by her mother, and repeatedly raped by her stepfather (at movie’s outset, she is pregnant with her second child by her ‘father’), Precious’ life is a living nightmare. Precious, the film, does not offer your regular, subtle film festival fare. The only restrained aspect in the film is singer Mariah Carey’s subdued performance as Precious’ social worker. Screens again tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 9th @ 2:30 pm, Gran 7 Th 3.

Wandered down the street to catch the bus, and then on downtown to the Granville 7 to catch a 2:10 pm screening of the Turkish film Pandora’s Box or, perhaps, a 3:30 pm screening of Forbidden Door, from Indonesia, although VanRamblings couldn’t necessarily decide on either, so we ended up asking for tickets for both (a tried-and-true film critic ploy to ‘play the field’ at film fests), and thus we hunkered down in the Granville 7 for …
Pandora’s Box (Grade: B-): There’s a ‘paint drying‘ quality to director Yesim Ustaoglu’s Golden Conch winner at the San Sebastian Film Festival, as well as a gorgeous travelogue quality as cinematographer Jacques Besse takes the viewer on a lush journey through the Turkish countryside, and into the heart of modern-day Istanbul. Pandora’s Box is a pleasant enough way to spend a Festival Tuesday afternoon, but given that we were unthrilled, we cut out early to join Shayne for a 3:30 p.m. screening of …
Forbidden Door (Grade: C): No sooner had VanRamblings snuck out early from the screening of Pandora’s Box, and into Theatre 3 for a screening of Forbidden Door, than we realized that entering the cinema to see Forbidden Door was akin to entering the third level of hell. We stayed for, oh say, a whole 5 minutes, and headed out to the Starbucks for a mid-afternoon snack. Mr. Shayne, who somehow stuck it out to watch the Best of Puchon Festival winner gave us this report: “Dramatically incoherent, ambitious (but to what end?), excruciatingly bloody and violent, with one of the most gruesome, most pointless, most viscera-filled final scenes in any movie I would never care to see again.” Mr. Shayne, tell us how you really feel.
Not a particularly salutary afternoon at the Festival, all things considered. Would Mr. Shayne and VanRamblings fare better in the evening?
Around 4:30 p.m., VanRamblings got in line for an evening ticket for R. J. Cutler’s well-reviewed new documentary, The September Issue. We already had our ticket for the 9:15 screening of Mother, snagged earlier in the day.
Upon entering the theatre, VanRamblings was very pleased to see the beauteous, tough, strong, talented, feminist / leftist / progressive, Alejandra Aguirre (our favourite Vancouver-based photographer). Ali even managed to take a better-than-decent photo (below) of Mr. Shayne and VanRamblings, a heretofore unheard of artistic feat …

‘Showbiz’ Shayne & ‘Mr. Know-It-All‘ / VanRamblings (Ray Tomlin) at the Fest

While Ali was across the aisle from J. B. and VanRamblings, who should be sitting in the left aisle seats directly behind us? Yes, our favourite Film Fest attending couple, Donna and Frank (sorry for the blurry photo). So, here we were, in a packed theatre, rarin’ and ready for the 7 pm screening of …
The September Issue (Grade: B+): Not exactly The War Room, director R J Cutler’s stunningly produced documentary covering the Clinton run to the White House in 1992, The September Issue is — with its core message of “it’s not how you feel, it’s how you look” — an energetic, always involving and surprisingly moving portrait of Vogue editor / dominatrix Anna Wintour who, along with a winning ‘supporting cast’ (most particularly, longtime Vogue Features Editor, Grace Coddington) emerges as the feel-good flick of the 2009 Festival, insightful, enchanting and always compellingly watchable.
And, for our final film on a lustrously beautiful Tuesday at the film festival …
Mother (Grade: A): Just your average, run-of-the-mill Korean psychosexual thriller, replete with blood and violence, taboo schoolgirl imagery, raucous consensual sex involving a very young girl, and a mother who will go to any ends to rescue her son from the clutches of the judicial system, including … well, that would be giving it away, wouldn’t it? The most audacious film of the year, from director Bong Joon-ho (The Host), Mother offers a taut tale of murder and suspense that moves slowly in its first half, and in its second half grabs you by the lapels, throws you around, and just doesn’t let go. Plays again on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 12th @ 1:20 pm, Gran7, Th7.

Another day, another four movies. And so it goes.
First up today, though: for all of us iPhone users out there, the VIFF Fan Guide went up midday Monday, resplendent with an easy to surf and readable guide to the daily films on offer at the 28th annual VIFF.
Up late again on Monday, but still managed to get downtown by 11 a.m. to pick up four tickets for the day, the first film on tap …
Lost Times (Grade: A-): The Hungarian Film Week top prize-winner, this slice-of-life relationship drama revolves around the lives of three protagonists, a troubled young auto mechanic, Ivan (Jozsef Kadas) who cares for his willful, autistic teenage sister, Eszter (Térez Vass, writer-director Aron Matyassy’s wife), as he also tries to come to terms with his relationship with girlfriend, Ilus (Eszter Földes). A grippingly effective pastoral thriller (tension arises both from circumstances involved in Ivan’s cross-border gas smuggling business, and the fallout from Eszter’s sexual victimization). Still, narrative aside, the real reward offered by Matyassy’s film — as is the case with all other worthwhile VIFF films — is the entirely authentic insight into the humanity and circumstance of the characters on the screen. First-rate filmmaking, due to screen for a final time later this week, on Thursday, October 8th @ 9 p.m., Empire Granville 7, Theatre 4.
Ran into journalist / blogger extraordinaire, Frances Bula, lining up at the Granville 7 box office. We couldn’t help but ‘molest‘ her (VanRamblings is just a tad smitten with the indefatigable Ms. Bula’s very fine mind), but we trust she wasn’t too offended. Then it was off for Frances, her beau Doug, and a weary VanRamblings to Granville 7’s Theatre 4 for a screening of …
Applause (Grade: B+): Cold, desolate, abandoned and alone. Here’s yet another film that reinforces the operating theme of the Festival: wherever you live on our planet, no matter your circumstance or living condition, life is a struggle for every one of us, and just getting through each day has to be considered a triumph of our will just to survive. The narrative thrust of Applause involves imperious aging stage actress, Thea (Denmark’s Paprika Steen, in an outstanding, gritty performance), who has set about to recover her life, following treatment for her alcoholism, by re-establishing ties with her two young sons. That all does not go well is a given. But it is the tenderness of each character portrayal on screen, and the chance for Thea’s redemption that holds us in thrall. Played Monday for a final time.
The most salutary event of our filmgoing day occurred when, for the first time since Fest’s outset last Thursday, we ran into Donna and Frank — who were not able to start their Festival-going til Monday due to work commitments — by far our favourite Festival attending couple lo these many, many years. Somehow, Donna and Frank manage to put up each year with VanRamblings prattling on about one film or another, ad nauseam it must seem to them (and those poor unfortunates listening in). Just knowing we’ll see Donna and Frank each day til Fest’s end is just downright heartening. The Vancouver Film Festival is all about, among myriad other things, relationships, camaraderie, and being in this thing together.
Once again, we also ran into David Bordwell, prominent American film theorist, film critic, author, and Professor of Film Studies, Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who travels to the VIFF each year, and who told VanRamblings he’ll be in town thru week’s end. Aaahhh, the life.
Following a dinner break (we took the bus home to make a homemade organic chicken caesar salad), we rode the bus to Nelson and Seymour, walked the two blocks to the Granville 7, and joined the line for …
Kamui (Grade: B+): Japanese director Yoichi Sai’s stirring adaptation of the 40 year old Manga sword-and-sorcery source material tells an epic tale of treachery and shark hunting pirates through the experience of Kamui, a lonesome young renegade ninja nomad who cannot find a place for himself in the world. Kamui, the film, comes replete with all of the techno-wizardry pyrotechnics you’d expect from a film of this sort, and from beginning to end Kamui is just a helluva good time, a tree-top and seaside ninja battling, saturated ocean vista Asian ‘western’ that satisfies throughout. Plays twice more this week, on Thursday, Oct. 8th @ 10:45 am, Gran7, Th7, and Saturday afternoon, Oct. 10th @ 2:30pm, Gran7, Theatres 3 + 4.
Somehow the inimitable J. B. Shayne and VanRamblings managed to stay out of trouble while we strolled the darkened downtown streets awaiting the beginning of our final film of this glorious filmgoing Monday …
Breathless (Grade: B+): Surprisingly comic, and just about the most foul-mouthed movie you’re likely to see this year, with its jazz-inflected trance score, this low rent Korean gangster flick, even given the gloss and stylized sheen brought to the proceedings by first-time director / South Korean screen star Yang Ik-june, Breathless still manages to explore the same sort of anomie that is to be found in the best VIFF flicks, with it’s combination of melancholy and despair, tempered by just the slightest hint of hope. Plays for a final time this Friday, Oct. 9th @ 1:15 pm, Gran7, Th7.

Night and Fog (Grade: A): Still. Based on the actual 2004 Tin Shui Wai murder-suicide involving a mainland immigrant, her Hong Kong husband, and their two children, Ann Hui’s dark, muted and harrowing tragedy unfolds in flashback, from movie’s outset tracking how Lee Sum (Simon Yam) came to murder his wife Ling (Zhang Jingchu) and their twin 6-year-old daughters. Given the film’s arresting subject matter, it is Zhang Jingchu’s utterly still portrayal of Ling that will endure for audiences long after the film has ended. Screens twice more, on Monday, Oct. 5th @ 6:20 pm, Gran 7, Th 4, and Monday, Oct. 12th @ 4:00 pm, Ridge Theatre.

Next up on the ‘still‘ theme, this absolute gem from Sweden …
The Girl (Grade: A): More than an idyll, director Fridrik Edfeldt’s The Girl explores the summer days of 10-year- old Anna (Blanca Engström), left (unknowingly) alone to care for herself amidst the uncertainty of all that may unfold as the days and weeks pass. That tragedy, or near tragedy, awaits seems inevitable. Still, there’s a hot air balloon ride, catching frogs in the creek with her friend Ola, and the knowledge that by movies’ end, despite all, Anna has survived, quiet, alone and with uncommon bravery. One of this year’s must-see films, The Girl screens twice more: Wed, Oct. 7th @ 1 pm, Gran7, Th 6, and Thu, Oct. 8th @ 7:15 pm, Gran7, Th 6.
Ran into neighbour, Festival programmer, Guide editor, chief projectionist and all-around ‘go to’ guy, Jack Vermee, meditating outside the Granville 7 — looking none-the-worse for wear, given his almost fatal car accident last year — as he was preparing to introduce Kill Daddy Goodnight director-screenwriter Michael Glawogger, before the 9:15 screening in Theatre 3 …
Kill Daddy Goodnight (Grade: C): This is what one sardonically refers to as a “kitchen sink drama”, as in the filmmaker has thrown everything and the kitchen sink into a potboiler mess of a film, bereft of engaging characters, and in this instance with a plot that remains incoherent throughout, as it delves none-too-deeply into a Nazi massacre and pending parricidal genocide, among myriad other ‘themes’. Kill Daddy Goodnight screens at noon today, Gran7, Th 3, and Thurs., Oct 8th @ 12:15 pm, Gran7, Th 6.