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Baila’s arts reviews: Film: Vancouver International Film
Festival
Hi everyone. Here are my mini-reviews for the movies I managed to
see during the 25th annual VIFF. Total screenings: 50. Total films
seen: 51. Films are ranked from best to worst.
This page has the features. For documentaries, click here.
Full film descriptions can be found at
http://www.viff.org
Last King of Scotland***** (UK) Forest Whitaker is
amazing as crazed dictator Idi Amin. James McAvoy is also excellent
as the naïve doctor who goes to Uganda for a taste of helping
others. He gradually becomes embroiled, sinking slowly in Amin’s
nightmarish existence. Brilliant. Alternately harrowing and calm.
Some scenes very hard to watch. Oscar worthy.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints***** (USA) An incredibly
powerful biographical drama of director Dito Montiel’s life
growing up in Queens. Robert Downey Jr as the older Montiel. Hard
to watch because of the violence and feelings of hopelessness and
helplessness it engenders
A Comedy of Power**** (France) Subtitles. A fantastic crime
drama, based on a reknowned wave of white-collar crime in the oil
industry in France in 2003. Tremendous performance by Isabelle Huppert.
The Lives of Others**** (Germany) English subtitles. Five
years before the Berlin Wall comes down, an East German Stasi officer
is chosen to spy on a director and actress girlfriend. The experience
changers the officer and results in his softening for the couple
he was spying on. Audience Award for Best International Film at
this year’s VIFF.
The King and the Clown**** (S.Korea) English subtitles.
Second-highes grossing film in S.Korea’s history after The
Host. Tremendous acting and story. This and The Host were two of
the more popular festival films.
The Host **** (S.Korea) English subtitles. A really entertaining
film, from beginning to end. A great Asian monster movie with a
wonderful story line. Lots of laughs and shrieks. Top-grossing film
in S.Korea’s history.
Colour Me Kubrick**** (UK/France) John Malkovich seems to
dance his way through all the voices and personae as he plays a
Stanley Kubrick impersonator in the late 1990s. Based on a real-life
story, it’s funny, intelligent and entertaining.
The Valet**** (France) English subtitles. The French have
won back my respect with the drama A Comedy of Power and this comedy.
Smart writing an believable performances. A valet who has little
luck with women ends up reluctantly sharing his apartment with a
supermodel. A fun, feel-good movie. Another good date movie.
Little Children**** (USA) Kate Winslet, as a bored suburban
housewife and former academic, has an affair with a married man
played by Patrick Wilson. An honest look at the responsibilities
that have to be faced in life, and what we give up by accepting
them.
Dir.: Todd Field (In the Bedroom)
Border Post**** (Croatia/Slovenia/Bosnia/Servia/Macedonia)
English subtitles. I have to admit I love Yugoslavian films. They
have such a great mastery of absurd comedy; I’ve rarely disappointed.
And this film, the first made with cast and crew from all former
republics, kept up the standard. It’s one of my favorites.
A Lieutenant contracts syphilis and has to declare a fake state
of emergency, claiming Albanians are going to attack Yugoslavia,
in order to give him a reason to stay away from home for the three
weeks the disease will take to heal. It’s hilarious, tragic
and great European humor.
12:08 East of Bucharest**** (Romania) English subtitles.
Joining Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, Romania brings its own dry
humor, and I still laugh thinking about this film. The film follows
the leading up to and taping of a call-in TV show. The topic: was
there a revolution in this small town east of Bucharest. The proof?
Did people spontaneously flow into the town square before 12:08
pm or after 12:08 pm, the time of Ceausescu’s overthrow. The
deadpan humor is hilarious. But I heard some say they were bored.
Catch a Fire**** (UK/SouthAfrica/USA) Tim Robbins and Derek
Luke star in a story of a black worker in Arpartheid South Africa
who is mistakenly arrested and tortured and, as a result, joins
the ANC. Strong performances, but the story is not in the league
of Cry Freedom about Steven Biko.
Un dimanche a Kigali*** (Quebec) English subtitles. A white
journalist fails to get his Rwandan bride out of Rwanda because
of his own stubbornness and naivite. Very good acting, hard to watch.
Doesn’t pack any huge punches, though.
Almost Heaven*** (B.C.) One of the better Canadian films.
A more laugh-out-loud comedy than Everything’s Gone Green.
Donal Logue plays a drunk film director who has to take a job on
a fishing show in Scotland. Would have gotten four stars except
for its predictability.
The Wedding Director*** (Italy) English subtitles. Some
great absurdist humor and unlikely romance in the comedy/drama/love
story. A well known director is commissioned to film a wedding and
falls for the bride.
Offside*** (Iran) English subtitles. Totally unexpected
sleeper hit about a bunch of Iranian girls who try to disguise themselves
to get into a soccer stadium. The story is fascinating and lots
of fun; but it doesn’t rise to the level of similar films (like
The Cup) because the acting falls short. Still, it’s nice to
see an Iranian film that’s not all about Mid-East violence.
Everything’s Gone Green*** (B.C.) Douglas-Coupland-written
Canadian boy-meets-girl story. A great date movie. lol. (Although
it might bring up some controversial conversation topics.) I really
liked it.
Paris, Je t’aime *** (France) A series of 18 short
films by 21 directors. Based in different Parisian quarters. Names
involved include Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Olivier Assaya,
Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi. The quality ranges
from average to excellent. If you like films about Paris, though,
it’s definitely worth it. French and English, with subtitles.
Fido*** (Canada) Zombies, 1950s America (or is it Canada?).
What could be sillier? No great revelations or discoveries here,
despite what the film description says, but a lot of fun.
Dir.: Andrew Currie. With Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Henry
Czerny.
Filmed in Kelowna.
Dans Paris*** (France). English subtitles. I understand
why some might have found this film tedious. It really depends what
baggage you’re dealing with at the time. Two brothers in Paris,
including the very hunky Louis Garrel, come to terms with depression,
break-ups, parents and suicide. OK, it doesn’t sound like It’s
A Wonderful Life, but it sort of ends the same way.
Hana*** (Japan) English subtitles. The hapless son of a
samurai has to kill the man who killed his fathers. But he’s
a terrible Samurai so he has to come up with a way out. Really enjoyable.
Congorama*** (Quebec). English subtitles. Some people might
find this a bit slow, but if you like Quebec drama like La Turbulence
des fluids (Chaos and Desire, 2002), you’ll like this drama.
Cheech*** (Quebec) English subtitles. I liked this movie
for it’s unique story line. An escort agency gets broken into,
it’s owner needs to recreate a special book, and it sets off
a weird day of events. Dark humor. Kind of like After Hours.
Slumming*** (Austria) English subtitles. I disliked all
the characters in this bleak drama about a poor little rich kid
who’s got nothing to do with his time but play pranks on drunks
and take pix of women’s crotches. But I liked it for the look
at the human condition.
Relatives*** (Hungary) English subtitles. A new attorney
general learns the hard way how you can’t fight city hall or
the corruption at city hall. I liked the look at life in small-town
Hungary.
Northern Light*** (Netherlands). English subtitles. The
relationship of a father and son barely survives after the wife
and daughter die in a car accident. Well done. Not maudlin or clichéd.
Goes straight to the heart.
Lost in a Moment*** (Israel) English subtitles. Based on
numerous stories (and one in particular) about Israelis going to
Asia to hang out and relax, many of them to do drugs. It wasn’t
riveting, but definitely entertaining. And uncovers some dirty sides
to the Israeli traveler.
Eccentric Orbits** (Canada) English. French with subtitles.
Seven short films ranging from awful to excellent. Of particular
note is B.C.’s Michelle Porter’s Regarding Sarah.
Obaba** (Spain/Germany) English subtitles. OK, I’ll
admit, there were far too many characters for me to follow or care
about. I know others loved this movie. I didn’t find the story
that enthralling.
The Fountain ** (USA) Sorry, the emperor has no clothes.
If you like weirdness, failed attempts at portraying the spiritual
on screen, and cinema in the genre of Mulholland Drive, then go
see this; otherwise, stay away. Stay faaaaaar away.
Dir.: Darren Aronofsky. With Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz.
Renaissance* (France/Luxembourg/UK) English. If the stunning
animation even had a tenth of its quality in the writing, it might
have faired better; but after the initial impressiveness of the
animation wears off, you’re left with tedious, cliché-driven
babble. It’s supposed to be film-noire-ish, but it doesn’t
work as well without the craggy Bogart-style face.
The Violin* (Mexico) English subtitles.
The Great Bazaar* (Mozambique) English subtitles
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