Only three days to go until the start of the 39th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, when most films will be available through your computer at home, your laptop, or on your TV, employing Apple TV, Roku, an Amazon Firestick, or Chromecast, any of which will allow you access to the 100+ films VIFF programmers have scheduled virtually in 2020.
Now, VanRamblings has been doing our bit to bring you up-to-speed on VIFF 2020, but there are others out there who are also working to prep you for the big event.
For instance, Shane Scott-Travis at Taste of Cinema has prepared his annual list of 15 VIFF films he believes you should not miss, explaining in cogent and convincing detail why that is the case.
For instance, in no particular order, the following three films …
Last and First Men (directed by Jóhann Jóhannsson, Iceland). Mr. Scott-Travis writes, in part, “… the ambitious and sadly posthumous release from composer Jóhann Jóhannsson that has drawn comparisons to Kubrick and Tarkovsky, as challenging and creative as it is mind-expanding and moving. Narrated by Tilda Swinton, and presented as an immersive monolithic artifact from the future, irrevocably connected to our past.”
Violation (directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, Canada). Says Mr. Scott-Travis, “This nerve-jangling revenge picture, set in the deceptively pastoral Québec Laurentians, is one of the most explosive genre film directorial débuts in some time. The writing and directing team of Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer (who also leads the exceptional cast) cut their teeth making several memorable and menacing short films now make a feature length début most people will be enjoying online through VIFF Connect.
Violation is an elegantly filmed and disturbingly savage feminist revenge film that actually is feminist, and at VIFF 2020 essential viewing.”
Sanzaru (directed by Xia Magnus, USA). Says Mr. Scott-Travis, “While paying homage and taking visual cues from 70s horror films, not to mention the gloomy Gothic sensibilities of Henry James’ pitch black classic The Turn of the Screw, Sanzura promises to be more than your typical creaky old haunted house yarn. The first feature from Xia Magnus, the Texas-set chiller begins as Filipina caregiver Evelyn (Aina Dumalo) moves into the large country estate of Dena Regan (Jayne Taini); it’s here, in this perfectly eerie setting, that the troubles begin.
Already garnering promising notices from the festival circuit, Sanzura has been praised for its Hitchcockian story elements, suggesting parallels to recent genre breakout films like Hereditary and Relic. Just the sort of perfect midnight fare you require for your next injection of nightmare fuel.”
Year in, year out for 39 years, Vancouver’s alternative newspaper has emerged as the ‘go to’ media outlet for reliable, informed, out of the box and engaging Vancouver International Film Festival reviews. In 2020, during VIFF Virtual, such once again proves to be the case — with a difference this year, given that most of The Straight’s VIFF reviews were first printed in their sister paper, Toronto’s Now magazine.
Still and all, writerly élan makes for a wondrous read no matter the source of the original film reviews, and there are a great many reviews this year to aid you in putting your VIFF 2020 virtual film festival online schedule together, to completely consume your life over the 14 days commencing this upcoming Thursday, September 24th.
