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As promised on Monday, VanRamblings will recommend 20+ of a total of 40 films (20+ more tomorrow) playing at 2012’s Vancouver International Film Festival — based on great reviews available on the web written by critics employed by industry trade magazines Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, as well as IndieWire, Screen Daily, and The Playlist, among other web sources, as well as on the recommendations of friends who’ve seen the films you’ll see covered in today’s post (say, at the recent Toronto or Venice film festivals, or earlier in the year at the Berlin, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, London, Seattle, Locarno or Cannes film festivals), or on the strong recommendation of friends who work within VIFF’s superstructure, in the programming department or elsewhere within the Festival.
Without further ado, then, here goes …
Sister: The buzziest of the buzz films at 2012’s VIFF, yet inexplicably off the radar for most festivalgoers — even given that the film stars the always radiant Léa Seydoux — the film, a winner of the Silver Bear award at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival, Ursula Meier’s latest outing has been called a tough, tender and compelling Dardennes-style drama by Screen Daily critic Lee Marshall, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn gave the film an A-, and writes “Sister bears the mark of a filmmaker with supreme control over her material,” while The Hollywood Reporter’s Jordan Mintzer calls the film touching, and Variety’s Boyd van Hoeij suggests that “a gentle sprinkling of humor offsets the generally darker material.” Plays late in the Festival, on Thursday, October 11th at 9:15 pm, Empire Granville 2, and on the final day of the Festival, Friday, Oct 12th, at 10:30 am, again in the Granville 2.
Neighbouring Sounds: Vogue magazine and NPR critic John Powers writes, “Written and directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho, this isn’t merely the best new movie I’ve seen this year; it may well be the best Brazilian movie since the 1970s,” while Variety’s Jay Weissberg writes that the film is “superbly constructed, skillfully acted and beautifully lensed … it’s equally clear this exceptionally talented helmer understands exactly what he’s doing & why.” Trailer. Sep 27, 9pm, Gr 7; Oct 1, 3:15pm, Gr 2; Oct 3, 10:30am, Gr 7.
Bay of All Saints (Grade: A-): The winner of SXSW’s Audience Award for best documentary, Annie Eastman’s potent documentary paints an often tragic picture of life in a palafitas slum, just off the coast of Salvador, Brazil, yet manages somehow to offer a profound and moving expression of hope, through the fighting spirit and struggle of the film’s principles, who provide such strong rooting interests for the viewer that you’re just pulled right in (just wait to see how you feel when 9-year-old Rebeca goes missing). Outstanding. Humane. VanRamblings’ favourite documentary thus far. Screens on Friday, September 28th at 10:45am, Pacific Cinémathèque; October 8th at 9:15pm, Gr1; and, for a final time, Oct 9th, 3:30pm, Gr 6.
Amour: Won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, will likely emerge as the Oscar’s Best Foreign Film winner next February, has the critics raving (another A- from Indiewire’s Eric Kohn) and has Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman calling Amour, “transfixing and extraordinarily touching, perhaps the most hauntingly honest movie about old age ever made.” Screens: Saturday, October 6th at 6:15pm, Vogue Theatre; Oct. 8th at 3pm, Vogue; and for a final time, Friday, Oct 12th, at 6:20pm, in the Gr3.
A Royal Affair: Starring Alicia Vikander (VanRamblings’ favourite actress at VIFF2011, when she starred in Pure), and Hollywood’s new “it boy“, Mads Mikkelsen (who stars in another film at VIFF2012 that we’ll be recommending), both ViewLondon and Empire give the film four stars, while Mike Goodwin in Screen Daily writes, “Denmark’s much-heralded costume drama set in the royal court of King Christian VII is a richly satisfying affair which tells an extraordinary true story of political change and royal intrigue with impeccable production values, charismatic actors and gorgeous gowns and wigs.” Screens: Wednesday, October 3rd at 1:45pm in the Granville 7; Saturday, Oct 6th at 9:15pm, Gr7; and Tuesday, Oct 9th, 10:30am, Gr7.
A Late Quartet: Played at the recent Toronto Film Festival, where Grid magazine’s Martin Morrow gave the film an 8/10, writing …
In this finely tuned drama, an eminent New York string quartet begins to fall apart after its aging cellist (Christopher Walken) is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. While he calmly prepares for his retirement, his younger colleagues handle the change badly. Old doubts and resentments surface, and a long-time marriage hits the rocks. Director Yaron Zilberman casts an ironic but sympathetic eye on the contrast between the harmonious group dynamics that make for musical perfection and the discordant emotions of the individual players. The virtuoso cast is superb — especially Walken, who proves all those quirky comedy roles haven’t impaired his onscreen dignity.
The film stars Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Imogen Poots and Wallace Shawn. Did we mention that Collider’s Matt Goldberg gave the film an enthuisastic B+? Screens: Sunday, September 30th, 3pm, Gr3; Oct 4th, 9pm, Gr3; and, Oct 7th, 9pm, Gr 3.
Stories We Tell: A late addition to the VIFF 2012 programme, Sarah Polley’s documentary examination of her own family has all the critics raving: Oliver Lyttelton in The Playlist (“lovely, fascinating”, an A-), Eric Kohn in IndieWire (“brilliant, nuanced, engaging”, and a full A grade), Martin Morrow in The Grid (9/10, “Sarah Polley crafts her most complex and playful piece of filmmaking to date.”). Need we go on? Screens: Wednesday, October 10th at 8:45pm, in the Gr3; and Friday, October 12th, 2:30pm, in the Gr3.
Rather than have this article run to 10,000 words, we’ll truncate the remaining recommended films in this post, each film about which we feel equally strong, based on everything we’ve read and heard to date.
Aquí y Allá (Grade: B+): A subtle and quietly devastating feature début from director Antonio Mendez Esparza — the film taking top honours in the Critics’ Week sidebar at Cannes this year — tracks Pedro, the paterfamilias of an indigent Mexican family, and the impact his return from performing illegal migrant work in the United States has on his family, wife Teresa, and daughters Lore and Heidi. The second to last scene of the film, between Pedro’s two teen daughters, had me on the floor. Recommended. Screens: Oct 4th, 8:45pm in the Gr 5; Oct 8th, 3pm, Gr 4; Oct 12, at 9:15pm, Gr 4.
Thursday Til Sunday: Winner of the Tiger Award at Rotterdam this year, writer/director Dominga Sotomayor’s feature film début tracks a family of four on a long road trip that looks to be their last. One anonymous online critic writes …
The young daughter, Lucía, played sublimely by first-time actress Santi Ahumada, is old enough to sense a ripple of discord between her mom and dad, but instinctively hesitates to absorb it. How is this hesitation revealed? With glances, pauses, silences and subtleties that speak volumes. While stops along the road provide some expository elaborations, there is always an intoxicating artlessness afoot in the way the film looks, feels and sounds. In knowing exactly what to leave out, Sotomayor’s evocative minimalism feels like a curative.
Screens: Friday, Sep 28th at 6:30pm in the Gr2; Sep 29th at 4pm, Pacific Cinémathèque; and, Oct 3rd at 1:30pm, Vancity Theatre.
Ernest and Celéstine: Four out of four stars by Stuart Wilson when it played at the Melbourne International Film Festival back in August, garnering special mention at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, and a possible Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film. Have a look at the clip above. VanRamblings is in; what about you? Screens: Saturday, October 6th at 1pm in the Gr 7; and Monday, Oct 8th at 10:30am, in the Gr2.
Beware of Mr. Baker: Drew McWeeny at HitFix loved it, awarding this winner of the documentary Jury Prize at SXSW a full-blooded A (readers give it an A+), while Joe Leydon, in Variety, writes …
When a documentary begins with its subject using his crutch to deliver a vicious blow to the director’s nose, it’s reasonably safe to expect less-than-smooth sailing ahead. And sure enough, the teasing possibility that other outbursts may disrupt the uneasy alliance between legendary drummer Ginger Baker and filmmaker Jay Bulger provides an underlying tension to the aptly titled Beware of Mr. Baker.
Screens: Sep 28, 3:20pm, Gr5; Oct 2, 9:30pm, Gr1; Oct 6, 3pm, Gr1.
Nameless Gangster: Rules of The Time: One of the two South Korean films we’ll be recommending this year (the other one you’ll find on the site on Thursday), Megan Lehmann in The Hollywood Reporter calls Nameless Gangster “a terrific South Korean mob drama that puts a fresh spin on genre tropes,” while Jacob Templin in Time, writes …
The best moment in every movie about organized crime comes when the aspiring gangster becomes an actual one. In Goodfellas, it’s when Henry returns from his first arrest and is rewarded by fellow mafiosos for not ratting them out. In The Godfather, it’s when Michael Corleone puts a bullet in Sollozzo’s head. In the Korean epic crime drama Nameless Gangster it’s when Choi Ik-hyun (Choi Min-sik) goes to a high-end karaoke bar. Place an untraditional mobster in this realm, and the result is a movie that ponders what it means to be a tough guy when everyone seems to have a little gangster in them. It’s a question worth asking and a film worth seeing.”
Setting box office records in South Korea (the film drew a million moviegoers in its first four days in Korean theaters), and given the quality of South Korean cinema over the past decade, here’s one can’t miss film. Screens: Friday, Sep 28th, 9:30pm, Gr 7; Tuesday, Oct 2nd, 4pm, Gr7.
The Last Time I Saw Macao: An 8/10 from Jason Anderson in The Grid, when it played recently at TIFF, a B+ from IndieWire’s Eric Kohn, and Variety’s Boyd van Hoeij seems pretty darn enthusiastic about Portuguese director Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ new film. Screens only twice, on Saturday, September 29th at 9:30pm, Gr2; and, Oct 2nd, at 4pm, Vancity Theatre.
Camion: Winner of Best Director and the Ecumenical Jury award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Québec-based helmer Rafaël Ouellet’s quietly engrossing indie drama tracks the mending of a broken relationship between a widowed father and his adult sons following a tragic car accident that costs a young woman her life. Screens the final week of VIFF: Tuesday, Oct 9th at 9:30pm, Vancity Theatre; Wednesday, Oct 10th at 10:30am, Gr2; and, Friday, Oct 12th at 9:15pm, Vancity Theatre.
Our Children: A rave from Jordan Mintzer in The Hollywood Reporter, who writes …
Turning a gruesome real-life incident into an arresting portrait of one woman’s gradual slide towards the unspeakable, Our Children represents another tightly wound study of domestic malaise from Belgian auteur Joachim Lafosse. Featuring a riveting lead turn from Emilie Dequenne as a young mother caught between two men (A Prophet stars Tahar Rahim & Niels Arestrup) in a claustrophobic nightmare, this penetrating psychological drama sticks to the facts of the Belgian mother Genevieve Lhermitte, who turned herself into the police after coldly and clinically murdering her five kids with a kitchen knife.
There’s no question that Our Children will not be an easy sit, but you don’t attend VIFF because you want more Hollywood fare, do you? Screens: Oct 1st, 1 pm, Vancity Theatre; Oct 8th, 3:45pm, Gr 7; Oct 11th, 6:45pm, Gr7.
Rebelle (War Witch): The 2012 Canadian nominee for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, winner of the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, winner of the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for Rachel Mwanza, director Kim Nguyen’s Oscar-worthy new film garnered critical raves from the Globe and Mail when its played at TIFF, and obviously did well in Berlin (The Hollywood Reporter review), offering every good reason to catch Rebelle (War Witch). Screens twice: Sunday, Sep 30th at 6:30pm, Gr7; Sunday, Oct 7th, at 1:30 pm, Vancity Theatre.
The Minister: A Fipresci prize winner at Cannes (in 2011, though, not this year), Pierre Schöeller’s new film is laced with dark humour, according to Variety’s Peter Debruge, who writes that the writer-director “coolly observes the loneliness and soul-crushing pressures of a Minister of Transport in the French government.” Not a satire, but a dense (if talky) political drama, according to Screen Daily’s Allan Young, the film stars frequent Dardennes brothers actor Olivier Gourmet in the lead role, who “delivers a superbly controlled performance as a French departmental minister.” Screens: Friday, Sep 28th at 9pm in the Gr3; Sunday, Sep 30th at 11:40am, Gr3; and, Thursday, Oct 4th at 11:40am, Gr3.
Valley of Saints: Winner of the Audience Award, as well as co-winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance earlier this year, according to Screen Daily’s Anthony Kaufman, Musa Syeed’s lyrical neorealist feature début (the film named for the Kashmiri region of India) intermingles political, ecological and romantic awakening. The Hollywood Reporter’s Justin Lowe is praising of this “tender romance set during a tumultuous time in India.” Screens on the Festival’s opening day, Thursday, September 27th at 9:15pm, in the Granville 4; on Sunday, September 30th at 1:30 pm in the Pacific Cinémathèque; and Tuesday, October 2nd at 10:30am in the Gr2.
Otelo Burning: Set around Lamontville township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, during the time of political instability and violence between the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the United Democratic Front in the late 1980s, according to Johannesburg’s Times Live critic Refilwe Boikanyo …
Director Sara Blecher delves beneath the obvious and uncovers an inspiringly unconventional story, the tale of three boys — Otelo Buthelezi (Jafta Mamabolo), New Year (Thomas Gumede) and Mandla Modise (Sihle Xaba) — who, in their young teens discover surfing …the narrative of the film a metaphor for our country en route to becoming the “New South Africa” … as the young men learn, through triumph and tragedy, that their new-found freedom comes at a price.
Following it’s London première, critic Ricardo da Silva wrote, “the film is a tale about our relations with others, a poignant exploration of our relation to ourselves, the inescapable urge we have to challenge our perceived fate, and the necessity of discovering reality for ourselves.” Screens: Oct 4th, 4pm, Vancity Theatre; Oct 9th, 12:20pm, Gr1; and, Oct 11th, 7pm, Gr2.
Nuala: An unflinching look at the life and death of the late Nuala O’Faolain, Nuala tells of a complicated life, the story of an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and author who survived bouts of self-destruction …
Nuala was destined to repeat the failure in love of her mother. Born in 1940, she was the second eldest of nine children. From outside the curtains, it looked as if she was part of a bustling, well-to-do family. Inside the front door, there was nothing romantic about their bohemian squalor. Neighbours were warned by their parents not to play with the wild O’Faolain children. The kids, living in houses with “doors that were dead flimsy”, were exposed to their parents’ fighting, which was often violent, and their sex. O’Faolain, who was cavorting late at night around the streets of her town with married men at barely 14, was dispatched to boarding school at St Louis’s, Monaghan. It was the saving of her, she confided to Marian Finucane, who narrates the documentary. It gave her a focus for her love of books and music.
Poignant, elemental, and absolutely unsentimental, Nuala is one documentary not to miss. Screens: Thursday, September 27th at 6:30pm, Gr5; Sep 29th, 12:40pm at the Gr5; and, Oct 3rd, 11am, Vancity Theatre.
Of course, the films any us of choose to see emerges purely as subjective choice. Some filmgoers read the critics, others listen to the buzz in the film festival lineups, while others go by their gut, or choose from various of the genres within the Festival. However it is that you decide on which films you’ll be taking in this year at VIFF2012, VanRamblings hopes that you find the Festival to be both an edifying and psychologically moving experience.
C’mon back here on Thursday for 20+ more VIFF films recommended by VanRamblings. We’ll see you here then.
