Scribbles and Ramblings

Man sitting on a chair looks at a goat....

2009-11-23T21:45:00.001-07:00

One can now easily find copies of Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare At Goats in Canadian bookstores but that was not the case 4 years ago. In 2005, there was no movie deal and the book was largely unknown in North America. I had not heard of the book when I first came across it in a London bookstore. I found the title amusing and picked up the book. After reading a few pages, I was still not sure what to make of it but I decided to take a chance on it. It turned out to be money well spent as Jon Ronson’s book was a quick and delightful read. Ofcourse, the most surprizing aspect about the book was that it was supposed to be true. The topic of psychic soldiers was something one would have found in The X-Files or things that one believed would take place in Area 51 but here was a book giving names and details. Hmmm.

Another jaw dropping aspect about the book were the segments which were tied to the Iraq war, such as using the "I love You" Barney song as a torture technique. As part of this method, the Iraqi prisoners were locked away in a shipping container and strobe lights were used in conjunction with the words of the purple dinosaur repeated over a period of 24 hours. Jon Ronson’s book was the first account I had read about such a torture technique but in the last few years other sources (books, newspaper articles) have talked about this and other torture methods meant to break prisoners.

I still have to see the movie but going by the trailers it looks to have ensured maximum humour by incorporating some of these bizarre and strange aspects from the book. Going back to the title, it is about a master sergeant who stopped a goat’s heart from beating just by concentrating. When I mentioned this to a friend, he referred me to the following video about fainting goats.

Now, this video does raise an interesting question. Was the original goat in the book a fainting one? Did that goat fake death? Or maybe the goat dropped dead out of boredom? Ofcourse, all it took was one dead goat for a legend to be born :)

Here are some quotes from the book:

Glenn leant forward in his chair. 'You've gone from the front door to the back door. How many chairs are in my house?'

There was a silence.

'You probably can't tell me how many chairs are in my house,' said Glenn.

I started to look around.

'A super soldier wouldn't need to look,' he said. 'He would just know.'

'A super soldier?' I asked.

'A super soldier,' said Glenn. 'A Jedi Warrior. He would know where all the lights are. He would know where all the power outlets are. Most people are poor observers. They haven't got a clue about what's really happening around them.'

'What's a Jedi Warrior?' I asked.

'You're looking at one,' said Glenn.

In the mid-1980s, he told me, Special Forces undertook a secret initiative, codenamed Project Jedi, to create super soldiers - soldiers with super powers. One such power was the ability to walk into a room and instantly be aware of every detail; that was level one.

'What was the level about that?' I asked.

'Level two,' he said. 'Intuition. Is there some way we can develop you so you make correct decisions? Somebody runs up to you and says, "There's a fork in the road. Do we turn left or do we turn right?" And you go' -Glenn snapped his fingers - 'We go right!"'

'What was the level about that?' I asked.

'Invisibility,' said Glenn.

'Actual invisibility', I asked.

'At first,' said Glenn. 'But after a while we adapted it to just finding a way of not being seen.'

'In what way?' I asked.

'By understanding the linkage between observation and reality, you learn to dance with invisibility,' said Glenn. 'If you're not observed, you are invisible. You only exist if someone sees you.'

'So, like camouflage?' I asked.

'No,' signed Glenn.

'How good are you at invisibility?' I asked.

'Well,' said Glenn, 'I've got red hair and blue eyes, so people tend to remember me. But I get by. I'm alive today.'

'What was the level about invisibility?' I asked.

'Uh,' said Glenn. He paused for a moment. Then he said, 'We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat.'

There was a silence. Glenn raised an eyebrow.

'Just by...'I said.

'Just by wanting the goat's heart to stop,' said Glenn.

Quotes from Pages 14-15, 2004 Picador edition.

'A Warrior Monk,' said Jim, 'is someone who has the presence of a monk, the service and the dedication of the monk and the absolute skill and precision of the warrior.'

Quote from Page 44, 2004 Picador edition.

"The Bucha Effect"

It all began in the 1950s, Sid told me, when helicopters started falling out of the sky, just crashing for no apparent reason, and the pilots who survived couldn't explain it. They had just been flying around as normal and then suddenly they felt nauseous and dizzy and debilitated and they lost control of their helicopters and they went down.

So a Dr Bucha was called in to solve the mystery.

'What Dr Bucha found,' said Sid, 'was that the rotor-blades were strobing the sunlight and when it reached the approximation of human brainwave frequence it was interfering with the brain's ability to send correct information to the rest of the body.'

As a result of Dr Bucha's findings, new safety measures were introduced, such as tinted glass and helmet visors and so on.

'Believe me,' said Sid Heal, 'there are easier ways of doing sleep deprivation than going to all those great lengths. Barney music? Flashing lights? Sleep deprivation may be a part of it, but it's got to have some deeper hidden effect. My guess is that this is the Bucha effect. My guess is that they're going for the amygdala.'

Quotes from Pages 157-158, 2004 Picador edition.

Spotlight on the Arab World

2009-11-22T00:12:00.002-07:00

1948 and the question of land...

Tick Tock. 1948. Silence. A minute later, chaos. Many Palestinians left, or were forced to leave, their homes in 1948 with the hopes of returning one day but their ownership documents are meaningless because legally now their homes belong to someone else. So what happens when all the surviving members of 1948 are gone? Annemarie Jacir provides one answer to that question in Salt of the Sea by showing an example of a third generation exile who keeps the memories of pre-1948 alive. In the film, Soraya leaves her home in Brooklyn to visit her grandfather’s land and retrieve his money. However, the bank can no longer hand over the money because in their eyes that old Palestinian branch no longer exists. So Soraya decides to rob the bank along with two accomplices. What follows is a road movie but in this case, the road passes through non-existent towns and streets because the old Palestinian towns are either renamed or in ruins. What remains of the original towns? Only their memories. After the original generation of 1948 has perished, only memories will remain about streets, houses and the smell of oranges.

Border and Checkpoints

In both The Syrian Bride & Rana's Wedding, a woman’s marriage plans are strained due to the presence of border and checkpoints respectively.

In The Syrian Bride, the border in question is between Syria and Israel (Golan Heights) while it is the various checkpoints dividing the Palestinian landscape that cause a problem in Rana’s Wedding. Interestingly, in both movies the bride is played by Clara Khoury. Completing the border/marriage trilogy is Randa Chahal Sabag’s The Kite which shows a girl’s relationship effected by the border between Israel and Lebanon.

Three different films but all tied together by images of a female foiled by man made borders. The following image of a bride in a white dress heading towards the border in The Kite can be found in The Syrian Bride as well.

Internal problems

Sometimes one’s problems are not created by a border but by friction within a nation’s boundaries. The two Algerian films Barakat and Rachida show how the consequences of internal struggle can effect the daily lives of people.

In Barakat it is civil war while in Rachida it is terrorism that causes fear in the population. In both films, women are the main characters who overcome their fear and find new strength to carry on. Interestingly, both films are also tied in another way -- the lead actress of Barakat is Rachida Brakni and her first name forms the title and character name of the other film.

Youth and life on the streets

The Moroccan film Ali Zaoua packs quite a punch in depicting the life of streets kids in Casablanca. While it is heart breaking to see young kids miss their childhood and head straight into an adult life of gangs and crime, credit must be given to director Nabil Ayouch for balancing the harsh street realities with a fantasy tale. The fantasy tale, which forms the basis of the title character’s quest to find an elusive land with two suns, lends a sprinkling of hope to the film. Such is the strength of Ali Zaoua’s belief that his friends go to great lengths to fulfill his wish and in turn give their lives a purpose as well.

All about the girl and some falafel...

The soothing lyrics of Yasmine Hamdan’s "Lili s’en fout" liven up the opening moments of Michel Kammoun’s charming and enjoyable Falafel. Whenever Hamdan’s voice comes on, we find the main character of Tou in a happy state. Tou has valid reason to be happy, especially when he learns that Yasmin will be at the party that he plans to attend. The night is progressing the way Tou planned but a series of incidents turn things on their head. After an altercation in a parking lot, a man strikes Tou’s face with a gun and leaves his face scarred. But the scar is more than skin deep and the violent incident eats away at Tou and he wants revenge. He manages to get a gun illegally and despite advice from his friends to cool down, he is determined to use his gun. However, he is saved in the most unlikely way thanks to the mystical powers of a rebel falafel. Yes, a falafel. It is true. Anything can happen in a magical night in Beirut.

What a Wonderful World

It is indeed a wonderful world. Every frame of Faouzi Bensaïdi ‘s What a Wonderful World is poetic and beautiful. Even though the wonderful individual parts of the film do not add up to a coherent whole, it is hard to resist the charms of this unique film. What a Wonderful World is a mesmerizing mix of a French comedy (references to Jacques Tati), a Spy spoof, a musical and a love story.

Films seen as part of this spotlight and in order of preference:

Salt of the Sea (2007, Palestine co-production, Annemarie Jacir)
What a Wonderful World (2007, France/Morocco, Faouzi Bensaïdi)
Ali Zaoua (2000, Morocco co-production, Nabil Ayouch)
Falafel (2004, Lebanon/France, Michel Kammoun)
Rachida (2002, Algeria/France, Yamina Bachir)
Enough! (2006, Algeria, Djamila Sahraoui)
The Kite (2003, Lebanon co-production, Randa Chahal Sabag)

2010 Movie World Cup

2009-11-18T21:32:00.001-07:00

In 2006, I conducted a personal movie World Cup to go along with the FIFA soccer tournament. The entire experiment of comparing films from the various countries turned out to be quite enjoyable and I repeated similar movie/soccer spotlights for the 2007 Copa America and Euro 2008. Now that all the 32 spots for the 2010 World Cup are filled, it is time to plan for another version of a movie World Cup. The format for the movie World Cup will be once again the same as the soccer tournament, meaning that I will divide films from the 32 countries into the same groups as the soccer tournament. The World Cup draw will take place on Dec 4, so the film groupings will have to wait until then.

In the meantime, I want to start thinking of finding titles from all the countries. Last time around, I watched the movies at the same time as the soccer tournament. That was a bit hectic, so this time I will start watching the movies as early as December and limit my viewing to only a few films per month. My target is to finish watching all the films by June 25, 2010, to coincide with the last day of all the group matches in the soccer World Cup. Another reason to start watching the movies this early on is to ensure I will have enough time to get as many movies from all the countries involved. In 2006, I could only find films from 22 of the 32 countries in the soccer tournament. I really want to get as close to 32 films as possible, although I have a feeling that getting a film from North Korea might prove to be a real challenge.

Here are the 32 countries:

Africa:
South Africa (hosts), Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast

Asia:
Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea

Europe:
Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, France, Italy, Holland

North, Central America and Caribbean:
USA, Mexico, Honduras

Oceania:
New Zealand

South America:
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay

Note: This page will be updated with the films as they get selected.

Eastern Europe 3, Greece 2

2009-10-31T02:00:00.005-06:00

Buick Riviera (2008, Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)

Goran Rusinovic’s brilliant film illustrates how hatred can persist through generations and lay dormant until one day it is unleashed into a full fledged war. On the surface, the film appears to be about two strangers whose chance encounter leads to volatile consequences but it is clear that the film is about more than just two people. The two characters give us one example of how hatred can suddenly flare out of a seemingly harmless situation and result in bloody revenge. In this regard, the film can explain why fighting broke out in the former Yugoslavia or why other cultures/tribes are in a race to destroy each other. The simple answer can be that people just don’t like each other. But why? Why don’t people like each other? Query this question and often the answers are the simplest things. An unreturned smile can immediately label someone as an enemy. And sometimes, ofcourse, a nice smile can cause distrust. Add all these little things up and you build a catalogue of distrust and hatred, eventually leading to horrific consequences.

Buick Riviera starts off in the snowy American mid-west. After Hasan’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he is fortunate to get a lift from Vuko. The two exchange jokes and things are quite pleasant especially after they discover they are both from the same land. But Vuko’s constants remarks about Muslim behavior anger Hasan and he counters about Vuko’s Serb identity. Immediately, hatred and distrust flare up. Hasan heads home and things appear to have ended. But Vuko shows up at Hasan’s door, determined to buy Hasan’s beloved broken car (the Buick Riviera). The car becomes a ground for asserting each other’s control over the other -- Hasan needs to preserve his car while Vuko wants it at all costs. Watching the duo’s confrontation with confusion is Hasan’s American wife, Angela, who does not understand what is going on. Still, her character is essential because she serves as a moderator who oversees a critical scene in Hasan’s and Vuko’s battle at the dinner table. The camera work is brilliant in this dinner table scene where Angela is seated at the head of the table, equidistant from Hasan and Vuko who are across from each other. However, the camera’s perspective is altered in moments to make it like look that Angela is siding with Vuko in some debates. In this regards, the camera perspective portrays Hasan’s inner feelings of how he feels he is on the verge of losing everything. Memories of bloodshed in his former land come to Hasan’s mind and he is determined to fight back harder.

A fascinating film and one of the year’s best!

Link: Sarajevo 2008 write-up.

Border (2009, Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)

A dialogue-less picture which lets the powerful images speak for themselves. The film shows that if people can’t trust an animal from the other side of the border, then how can they ever get along with humans from across the border. At the film’s start, a buffalo is found injured near the border. The people from across the border tend to the buffalo and bring it over on their side. However, the village people and even the farm animals treat the buffalo with suspicion. Seasons pass and the buffalo appears to be assimilated with the people’s daily activities. Still when something does go wrong, it is the buffalo that is blamed.

The buffalo ends up being a symbol of a refugee, a stranger who finds himself in a different community and tries to adapt. A few subtle images highlight the strains of the border on everyday life and the distrust that exists of those on the other side. Even the buffalo appears to feel the strain of that border and yearns to break free of the human created border.

The director has called the film a blend of documentary and “live-action film” but the film’s keen observances of everyday life erase the boundary between documentary and fiction. This film does not feel like scripted cinema at all but is a rich work where an animal is used to expose humanity's many faults, especially intolerance of a stranger.

Link: Official website

Delta (2008, Hungary, Kornél Mundruczó)

A special thanks is given to Béla Tarr at the start of Kornél Mundruczó’s Delta. It is easy to see why that is the case because Delta incorporates a few touches from Tarr’s masterpiece Satantango and The Outsider. While Tarr’s films are in black and white, Delta is in color and this sets the film’s mood and atmosphere apart from Tarr’s work. Also, there are some scenes in Delta that evoke Lisandro Alonso’s Los Muertos and Theo Angelopoulos’ The Weeping Meadow. Overall, Delta is a visually sharp film and a real cinematic treat.

Dogtooth (2009, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)
Original title: Kynodontas

This Un Certain Regard winner is part Lars von Trier, part Ulrich Seidl with a touch of the absurd. The story goes from dark humour to shock in an instant with its depiction of family abuse and incest. The film may be hard to like but it is equally difficult to ignore this work. There is plenty to chew on in this film, especially regarding the consequences of the controlled environment that the father imposes on his family. The father creates a closed environment where he controls every aspect of the household from what the children see on tv to what they learn. However, his closely guarded world is threatened when the introduction of an outside element into the house changes the equation drastically. In essence, the film forms a twisted case study of the butterfly effect.

Strella (2009, Greece, Panos H. Koutras)

After Yiorgos is released from prison, he encounters Strella, a transvestite, in a hotel. The two sleep with each other but complications arise after their encounter. What follows has roots in Greek mythology but the film takes things to another extreme by adding a wicked twist. It is hard to talk about the film without giving the twist away but without the twist, there is really nothing to talk about. Still, the film manages to pack an emotional punch.

Trailer for Dogtooth

(East + South East) Asia Spotlight

2009-10-29T22:18:00.006-06:00

Ten films covering four countries:

China -- Fujian Blue, Fish Eyes
South Korea -- Rough Cut, Daytime Drinking, My Love Yurie
Malaysia -- Call If You Need Me, Karaoke, This Longing
Philippines -- Independencia, Adela

Call If You Need Me, Karaoke, Daytime Drinking, Rough Cut and Fish Eyes were mentioned previously in CIFF previews I & III. These five films are included here with shorter comments.

So in order of preference:

Call If You Need Me (2009, Malaysia, James Lee)

A visually sharp film that combines the style of diverse film-makers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Quentin Tarantino while still retaining a unique Malaysian flavour. Hou Hsiao-Hsien elevated a gangster film to an art form with Goodbye South Goodbye and James Lee does a very job in carrying on that tradition. Call If You Need Me is about gangsters and kidnappings but there isn’t a single gun or drop of blood to be found on screen. All the violence is kept out of the frame and we are instead shown events that precede or succeed a violent act. Because there is no violence shown on screen, we can instead focus on the characters and their day to day lives, including their love interests and their choice of food and drugs.

Karaoke (2009, Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)

This beautifully shot film attains a level of beauty normally associated with the cinema of Thai film-maker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, especially Tropical Malady. While the images are mesmerizing, one must also pay careful attention to all the sounds that can be heard. The lyrics of the Karaoke videos are also important as they provide a clue to the film’s three act structure.

This Longing (2008, Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Original title: Punggok rindukan bulan

The minimalist style of This Longing will frustrate some viewers but patient viewers will be rewarded with moments of beauty spread throughout the film. There are two stories here which are loosely tied and both show the gradual decline of an apartment complex in Johor Baru which is slated for destruction. The 90 minute long first segment is about the relationship between a young boy (Sidi) and his father. The second segment (about 30 minutes) features a completely different character, Riza, who returns home to have another look at the place where she grew up. After she arrives, Riza finds that the complex is almost empty as most of the residents have been relocated. Her walks through the same halls that Sidi passed through makes one question all the scenes in the first segment and whether Sidi and a younger Riza had crossed paths.

This Longing blurs the line between documentary and fiction not only because of its style but also because it was shot in a real apartment complex which was about to be destroyed. Seeing the cranes crunching away at the building at the film’s end (without any background sound) lends a haunting perspective to the story.

Fish Eyes (2009, Korea/China, Zheng Wei)

Zheng Wei makes an impressive debut with this well shot film that does not burden the screen with needless dialogue. The minimalist style works to perfection here as we witness the everyday events of a father and his son. Their daily routines are altered when a mysteriously girl shows up. While the father cares for the girl, the son sees the girl as someone who can be used to gain an advantage with the local gang.

Fujian Blue (2007, China, Weng Shou Ming)

The film takes place in the Fujian province and observes a slice of the human trafficking operation. On one hand we witness the methods of the local gangs seeking to profit from people wanting to leave China and on the other, we see the reasons for these people’s departure. Leaving one’s country illegally isn't easy and not without danger, but it isn't any easier to carve out a respectable living at home when crime and poverty are close-by. In this aspect, the film shares sentiments of Italian films set in the port cities during the 30's-50's when Italians sought to leave for America.

The vibrant look of Fujian Blue makes for a very calm watching experience despite the negative characters and situations on display. Overall, a worthy debut film and it is easy to see why it won the 2007 VIFF Dragons and Tigers award.

Independencia (2009, Philippines co-production, Raya Martin)

Raya Martin has certainly carved a unique style for this film with the studio sets, black and white film mixed with some staged newsreel shots. The controlled set environment allows Martin to play with the lightning (example, a studio light serves as the shining sun) and sound, thereby providing some of the film's best moments. The story spanning two generations is set against the backdrop of the island's historical aspects between the departure of the Spanish and the arrival of the Americans, with the American involvement in the Philippines growing steadily during the course of the film. The film's title proclaims Independence but that is an elusive concept as depicted by the film. Even at the film's end, we get a clue to impending blood shed that will take place on the islands when two foreign countries (America and Japan) will go to war.

It took me two viewings to appreciate the beauty of Independencia but I still missed out on some of the symbolism on the second viewing. When I saw the film the first time, the controlled set surroundings didn't produce a natural reaction in me because I could not bounce any emotional resonance off the stage settings. Only after the news reel appeared around the 30 minute mark, did I being to appreciate the film's humour and pokes at history. The second viewing was far more rewarding and allowed me to observe things with a different perspective.

Independencia could form an interesting double-bill with Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain. While Independencia ends with the Japanese yet to arrive on the Philippines, Fires on the Plain shows the American and Japanese soldiers locked in brutal war on the islands. Atleast, in Independencia we see the local Filipinos but the locals are hard to come by in Ichikawa's masterful work.

Daytime Drinking (2008, Korea, Noh Young-seok)

A delightful film that provides plenty of laughs with its sincere tale of love, friends, alcohol and good food. When I was not busy laughing, I was craving hot ramen noodles with cold beer just like the characters in the film.

Rough Cut (2008, Korea, Hun Jang)

Rough Cut is a fascinating no holds barred action film that puts a new spin on the traditional gangster genre. Some aspects of the film within a film story are similar to the extraordinary Korean film Dirty Carnival but Rough Cut has gone in a far more gritty direction with good effect. Kim Ki-duk's screenplay is different from anything he done before, and that includes the gangster film Bad Guy that he directed early in his career.

Adela (2008, Philippines, Adolfo Alix Jr.)

The film resides on quite an emotional and powerful performance from the 85 year old actress Anita Linda. The usage of the slum location adds to the film's realism and invites a glimpse into the character's lives. In this regard, the film is similar to other recent fascinating Filipino films set in real slum/shanty town locales such as The Bet Collector (directed by Jeffrey Jeturian) and Foster Child, Slingshot (Brillante Mendoza).

My Love Yurie (2008, South Korea, Ko Eun-Ki)

Donga falls for his neighbour Yurie but he can't have her because of one tiny problem -- Yurie’s father is the devil! To complicate things, Yurie's father forces his daughter into prostitution, something which further torments Donga. Desperate to gain Yurie's love, Donga has no choice but to make a deal with the devil. After the deal is made, Donga is happy but his happiness has restrictions because a deal with the devil always has consequences.

The film has a creative take on Goethe's Faust tale and the interesting set-up of two houses in the middle of nowhere is a great idea as it gives the film a timeless look. After a very good opening, the film goes off track around the point when Donga makes a deal with Yurie's father. As part of the deal, Yurie's father gives Donga a picture book which shows his future with Yurie. The scenes that follow do not sit in the film's previously developed ideas of the purity of love that Donga wants and the devilish nature of the trade that Yurie is involved in thanks to her father. Instead, these picture book scenes halt the film's flow and grind the story to a halt.

Two brothers and two fateful penalty shots

2009-10-28T21:18:00.008-06:00

Rudo y Cursi (2009, Mexico/USA, Carlos Cuarón)

Ah. The beautiful game. It unites and can equally divide.

Two brothers, one a goal keeper and the other a striker. Mortal enemies on the field because of their opposing roles. One’s happiness depends on the other’s misery -- if a striker scores, then he is the hero yet if the goalkeeper blocks the shot, then the goalie comes out on top. An agent, Batuta (Guillermo Francella), is impressed with both brothers but he can only pick one, so he leaves it up to the brothers to decide who gets selected. Beto (Diego Luna), the goalkeeper, opts for a penalty shot to decide their fates.

As the two brothers run towards the goal, Beto indicates to Tato (Gael García Bernal) where he should shoot the ball.

“Shoot to the right”

“Let me block it. Shoot to the right.”

“Okay.”

Tato steps up and sends the ball perfectly to his right while his brother dives the other way. Batuta is impressed and asks Tato to meet him the next day. But Beto is upset.

“I said aim right! Why’d you shoot the other way?”

“I aimed right!”

“I meant the other right!”

“What other right?”

“My right, asshole!”

“You should have said to aim that way!”

The rivalry that was already present between the brothers intensifies. Tato takes a step towards healing that rivalry. After Tato makes it big, he forces Batuta to give his brother a chance. Sure enough, Beto is given his chance and manages to make his mark. However, the two brothers are plagued with problems off the field -- Tato throws his riches away on a fine looking gold digger named Maya while Beto gambles everything away.

Oddly, the brothers handle their off-field problems differently. While Beto’s gambling debt puts his life in danger, he still manages to shine on the field, keeping clean-sheet after clean-sheet. On the other hand, Tato’s goals dry up completely and he reaches breaking point when he learns that Maya is cheating on him.

Tato is on the verge of being sent to the second division and has one more game to salvage his career, while Beto is given one more chance to pay off his debts. Both brother’s get their chance to turn their lives around in the same game when they square off against each other.

It is clear how fate will decide the outcome.

A penalty shot. If a penalty shot kick-started their soccer careers, then it is appropriate that the two brothers face off again from 12 yards to decide the outcome of the rest of their lives.

Rudo y Cursi may feel like a Hollywood film in its treatment but the film redeems itself in the penalty shot near the end where the ironic fates of soccer and life in general are respected. The ending can only be written by someone who understands that, in soccer, games can end just as they start.

Note: The calm and soothing narration provided by the character of Batuta evoke the sentiments of Eduardo Galeano from Soccer in Sun and Shadow where Galeano poetically conveyed the beauty of the game.

Nordic Spotlight

2009-10-26T21:31:00.004-06:00

Denmark leads the pack with 3 entries followed by one each from Sweden and Finland.

The Blessing (2009, Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Original title: Velsignelsen

This impressive debut feature tackles a topic I have never seen on film -- the day to day challenges that takes place for a couple after their baby is born. Most movies only go as far as showing the child birth process and focus their energies on packing in as many jokes and incorrect information leading up to the birth (example: unlike in most movies, a woman's water breaking does not mean that the baby will be delivered right away). So it is refreshing to see a movie that realistically portrays the complications and stress that takes place from not only from feeding the baby but handling the familial relationships that surround the arrival of a newborn. The young mother shown in the film suffers from post-partum depression and her situation is complicated by the fact that she is unable to feed her baby while having a strained relationship with her own mother. The husband does not understand the wife's situation and when he is away on a business trip, she slips further into misery and depression.

The film does an excellent job in depicting things as they are without spelling anything out. For example, the words "post-partum depression" are never mentioned nor are reasons given as to why the baby is crying (unable to drink milk). Any stoppages for explanations would have ruined the film's flow and one can imagine how such a script churned through a Hollywood studio would look quite dramatic and formulaic.

The film got a jury prize at the Göteborg festival.

An interview with Heidi Maria Faisst.

Guidance (2009, Sweden, Johan Jonason)

Just when Ylva is losing hope in finding a treatment for husband’s worsening depression, a young man approaches her to offer a radical treatment to cure her husband Roy. She convinces Roy to try this new treatment in a bid not to only cure him but to save their marriage. The treatment involves Roy to break contact with the outside world and as a result he finds himself stuck in a farmhouse located in the middle of nowhere where this young therapist goes about imparting his version of holistic treatment. But as it turns out, the young man is in more need of spiritual help than Roy.

This fascinating film shares the core sentiment of Todd Hayne's Safe in poking fun at so called spiritual teachers and does so with varying shades of ironic, dry and dark humour. The Dogma 95 style treatment gives the film a realistic feel and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions of either horror or absurdity.

Little Soldier (2008, Denmark, Annette K. Olesen)
Original title: Lille soldat

This rugged film tackles many brutal issues ranging from prostitution to human trafficking to the lingering scars of war. After Lotte (Trine Dyrholm) returns to Denmark drained from her war experience, her father offers her a job as a car driver for his escort business. The escort service needs a strong driver who isn't afraid to deal with hostile clients and Lotte fits the bill perfectly. That is until, she starts to sympathize with the conditions of the women in the sex trade, especially Lily (Lorna Brown). Lotte's background as a soldier and the cold relationship with her father certainly brings a new and sobering perspective to the prostitution trade run in some European countries.

Three Wise Men (2008, Finland, Mika Kaurismäki)
Original title: Kolme viisasta miestä

Mika Kaurismäki presents an interesting portrayal of the three main character's collective misfortunes and failures. A person is expected to gain wisdom with age, so goes the saying. While the film's three males have certainly aged, they are still grappling to gain any wisdom. Through the course of the film, their characters evolve and become a bit wiser, although with some pain and tears. The film does start to run out of steam near the end but is still engaging, albeit packed with plenty of misery.

The Escape (2009, Denmark, Kathrine Windfeld)
Original title: Flugten

Quite a relevant story about Afghanistan, journalism and political decisions about refugees. The film is about a Danish journalist Rikki (Iben Hjejle, High Fidelity and The Boss of it All) who escapes from the Taliban and reaches back to Denmark where she is proclaimed a hero. A colleague suspects something and sets about to dig up the real story because he believes the saying that no one escapes from the Taliban. But the truth isn't clear cut and things get murky soon enough. The film does take plenty of short cuts in portraying the story but still there are some worthy debating points in the film, especially regarding war criminals and refugees.

A new festival hits town..

2009-10-25T00:39:00.006-06:00

This weekend marks the launch of the inaugural Calgary Arab Film Festival. In the last few years, quite a few different film festivals have started in this city but a festival focusing on Arab cinema was long overdue. Some people keep complaining that the city has too many film festivals but I disagree. In fact, I think the city has too few film festivals. The Calgary International Film Festival can't always cover the entire global cinematic spectrum, so it is essential that there are other festivals spread throughout the year that do justice to the multiple regions/genres of cinema that exist.

Regarding CAFF, I am impressed with the line-up for a first time film festival and clearly some planning and effort went into it. Also, the festival has spread their schedule out wisely by having a manageable total of 6 features + 2 documentaries.

Out of the 6 features, I have seen two films (Barakat and What a Wonderful World) already this past summer. So I restricted myself to only two films for the festival. On Saturday night, I caught Falafel and on Sunday night, I plan to watch Salt of this Sea, a film that I have wanted to see for more than a year.

On another note, this year CIFF didn't show a single Indian film, so to make up for that, a festival will take place in November showing 6 of the 8 Indian films that were submitted to CIFF. I am told all these films are very good, so I am curious to see some of them. More on that in upcoming weeks...

correction: apparently my usage of the word "pseudo" was wrong, so I rather not say anything more at all.

Spotlight on Japan

2009-10-23T08:19:00.003-06:00

A very healthy haul of 5, listed once again in order of preference:

Ain't No Tomorrows (2008, directed by Yuki Tanada)
Original title: Oretachi ni asu wa naissu

This is an excellent film that depicts the coming of age tale of a few teenagers with unflinching honesty. Considering that plenty of films mishandle the changing complex behaviour associated with a teen's sexual awakening, it is refreshing to see a film that does not shy away from handling the issues head on. The honesty of the film (along with the sexual conquests) feels a bit like Larry Clark's Kids but this film stands on its own.

Vacation (2008, directed by Hajime Kadoi)
Original title: Kyûka

Even though it deals with the grim topic of a prisoner's execution by hanging, the film maintains a poetic balance by depicting the story from the point of view of the prison guard who volunteers to work during the execution. As per Japanese law, a guard who works during the execution shift gets a one week vacation but there are clearly emotional repercussions associated with such a vacation. There are plenty of dialog-less shots in the movie where the actors expressions beautifully convey the sense of agony and pain their characters are facing. Also, the film is clearly meticulously researched regarding the Japanese prison system and the process involved with an execution.

Still Walking (2008, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda)
Original title: Aruitemo aruitemo

The style, shots and set design of Still Walking immediately bring the works of Yasujiro Ozu to mind. But that similarity ends as soon as the characters in Still Walking open their mouths. In most of Ozu's films, even though there was disagreement and resentment between the characters (be it children vs parents or vice-versa), the hatred was not out in the open. But in Hirokazu Koreeda's film, the knives are fully out as the family addresses each other with heavy doses of sarcasm and harshness. Given the tragic circumstances of the family gathering, the hatred is understandable because it is another form of failed expectations the family has of each other. Overall, a fascinating film that depicts the characters with a sense of beauty that Ozu would have been proud of.

Achilles and the Tortoise (2008, director Takeshi Kitano)
Original title: Akiresu to kame

Takeshi Kitano presents a light hearted spin on the Achilles and Tortoise tale by adapting it to the subjective world of art. The fact that Kitano has used his real life paintings in the film certainly suggest an autobiographical angle to the film. The only negative aspect is that the second half of the film repeatedly hammers home the same point over and over again by showing the (expected) rejection of the young artist's works.

Note: The art school segments echo the sentiments of Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential.

All Around Us (2008, directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi)
Original title: Gururi no koto

A good film that manages to integrate the two strands of the main couple's relationship problems and the court room stories nicely. Just like Vacation, All Around Us balances a grim topic with a touch of beauty. The husband is a courtroom artist covering the cases of brutal killings but since the camera focusses on him and his art work, the impact of the crimes is lessened and the confessions of the criminals turn into background noise. This tactic allows us to see the husband's work just as a routine job and something that comes in the way of his marriage. The one negative about the film is there are plenty of repetitive situations, especially the court room parade of killers. Still, there is plenty to admire in this film.

David Bordwell discusses Still Walking and All Around Us near the bottom of this VIFF 2008 post.

Spotlight on Germany

2009-10-22T20:47:00.004-06:00

5 very different films in order of preference:

Everyone Else (2009, director Maren Ade)

A fascinating look at how professional competition (architecture in the film's case) can put an already fragile relationship under more stress. The film has a slow start and at first it is not clear what the issues in the relationship are but gradually as we get to see more of the couple's behaviour, the problems become clearer and the film catches fire. Although it is not an open inferno but a slow burn which eventually leads to an implosion and not an explosion. It is credit to Maren Ade that the film does not resort to melodrama but instead lets the body language of the actors do most of the talking. The rawness and honesty of the couple’s relationship is unlike anything seen on film in the last decade.

Lulu & Jimi (2009, director Oskar Roehler)

A smartly developed film which perfectly combines a 1950's style forbidden racial love story with elements of Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, Othello) and David Lynch (Wild at Heart). The visuals are striking and oscillate beautifully from a dreamy feel to a nightmarish vision. It is a real delight to watch this film and pick out all the cinematic influences that are integrated in the story while still enjoying the refreshing and unique work.

Peaceful Times (2008, director Neele Vollmar)
Original Title: Friedliche Zeiten

A delightful light hearted German film about a fragile marriage shown through the eyes of the couple's three children, with the story focussing more on the dynamic between the two sisters while their younger brother is kept on the fringes. The performances of the children is excellent and their characters lend a cute touch to the film and manage to brighten the atmosphere despite the serious topics of divorce, infidelity and East-West German suspicions/tensions. The film is set in the 60's and forms a nice pairing with Lulu and Jimi as both are German films heavy with American pop culture influence from the 50's and 60's.

note: The humour and setting of Peaceful Times along with the story's focus on children is reminiscent of last year's enjoyable Canadian film Mommy is at the hairdresser (original title Maman est chez le coiffeur, directed by Léa Pool).

November Child (2008, director Christian Schwochow)

An engaging multi-layered story that looks at the consequences that arise from a woman's decision to cross the East-West German border. An interesting angle explored by the film involves how a professor seeks to profit by writing a book about someone else's troubled past. In order to complete his book, the professor decides to align himself closely with his subject, while observing the subject's emotional reactions at the pieces of evidence and research that he gives out in small chunks. Also, the film features a wonderful performance from Anna Maria Mühe daughter of the late Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others).

Variety's review.

10 seconds (2008, director Nicolai Rohde)

The wonderful 1999 Mike Newell film Pushing Tin shed a light on the stressful job of an air traffic controller. For an air traffic controller, the planes may only appear as tiny dots on a screen but each of those dots means hundreds of lives and an incorrect decision could lead to horrific consequences. 10 Seconds bases its story on a real life tragedy that resulted from a mid-air collision; the event also had dire consequences for the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the collision.

The film's story features multiple characters who are all tied to the night of the collision -- the air traffic controller who is an emotional wreck after the incident, his wife who handles the stress in her own way, a policeman on duty at the crash site and a man who is haunted by the loss of his wife and child who were on the plane. The film has slick production values but unfortunately fails to properly bring all the different elements together with the right amount of emotional depth that is required.

Spotlight on Turkey

2009-10-19T22:40:00.012-06:00

It has been a vintage year for Turkish cinema. The year started off with the Rotterdam Film Festival having a wonderful spotlight on Young Turkish Cinema. A few months later, at the Istanbul film festival local Turkish films managed to shine through. And as the year has gone on, new fascinating Turkish films have continued to pop up, like the wonderful Wrong Rosary that screened at CIFF’s Maverick competition.

But here are 5 films that featured at Rotterdam and Istanbul. The films are arranged in order of personal preference.

The Storm (director Kazim Öz)

This politically alive film handles the debate about Kurdish identity and illustrates the revolutionary awakening from a youth perspective. The political issues and revolutionary planning aspects presented in the film could easily apply to other parts of the world like the summer student protests in Iran. Even though the film was released last year in Turkey, it has hardly gotten any press coverage. One big reason could be because of the portrayal of the Turkish police and Government. The film is only shown from the Kurdish student’s point of view and the Turkish Government is shown to be the enemy and at times things look like a police state. Such a depiction of the state might have caused this movie to be looked unfavorably in certain quarters. But the film is highly relevant and shows how the seeds of revolution can take hold at an early age as students (and young adults) can be transformed into revolutionaries. The flip-side is that these same revolutionaries can be labeled as terrorists, depending on who is reporting the story.

The Storm may not be as visually stunning as other recent Turkish films but its cinematography is perfect for the story and gives the audience a fly on the wall view of the secret conversations that go on behind closed doors. There are two interesting shots in the film that convey the mood of the main character Cemal. When Cemal is on his way from his village to Istanbul, he throws a stone in the river. As the stone skips on the water, the camera is placed on the opposite side and we witness the stone gain momentum until it speeds past the camera. This same action is taken from a different angle near the film’s end, when Cemal is returning back to his village from Istanbul. He throws a stone again in the river but this time the camera is placed behind the stone and shows the stone skip and quietly disappear into the water. Cemal’s face hardly conveys any emotion but the position of the camera gives us a glimpse into his inner state. In the first instance, when the stone approaches the camera, we get a sense of a burst of energy and this mimics the enthusiasm with which Cemal is looking forward to university. But at the film’s end, he is returning tired and beat up from his city experience. He throws the stone with the same force but the camera angle allows us to see the stone quietly sinking into the water. Cemal is at peace at the film’s end and has had enough of the city life, so one can naturally assume that he will spend the rest of his life back in his village, a place where he will be eventually buried.

These are the words for the film on Rotterdam’s website: "Hardcore and heart-wrenching, The Storm has already started to gain cult status among young audiences in Turkey."

I can easily imagine that this film will indeed gain momentum in certain sections of Turkish society but I do hope that more people outside Turkey can get to see this gem.

Milk (director Semih Kaplanoglu)

An absolutely wonderful film that is packed with plenty of symbolism and cinematic beauty. The film manages to delicately handle a few issues such as a son's attempts to get published, his failed attempts at love, his relationship with his mother and adds a mystical element regarding the powers of milk to drive away evil. The relationship of the son to the mother feels similar to the one portrayed in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys but Milk shows more maturity and depth than Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s award winning film did.

note: Milk contains one of the most eye opening scenes I have ever seen on film in recent years. The image in question was something that I had never read about nor seen on camera, so this film added a new image to my memories. I won’t give it away but all I can say is that the image is not out of context and is relevant for a thread that runs through the movie.

My Only Sunshine (director Reha Erdem)

One of the year’s best shot films!! The film has a beautiful visual language but the story is not as strong as that of Reha Erdem’s previous feature Times and Winds. In My Only Sunshine every single bleak situation is easily anticipated but the film does have a knight in shining armour that comes to save the day, but the knight is in the form of a foreign soccer fan who arrives on his boat to give the film a much needed light fairy tale feel.

Pandora’s Box (director Yesim Ustaoglu)

An enjoyable Turkish family film that blends humor with emotional drama. There are some slack aspects in the movie but those are balanced out by some quiet thoughtful moments which give a glimpse into the character's lives.

Two Lines (director Selim Evci)

A nice debut film which is similar in style to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Climates. The relationship of the main couple is developed patiently with plenty of excellent expressions and moments of contemplation.

update: Wrong Rosary had also screened at the Rotterdam (where it won an award) and Istanbul film festivals.

CIFF 2009 Diary, Day 9 & 10

2009-10-18T23:17:00.003-06:00

Day 9: Saturday, Oct 3

Oct 3 was all about achieving a personal record of seeing 7 films in a single day. Originally, I had planned on seeing atleast 5-6 films but when an additional screening was added at 10:45 am, the path was clear for me to hit the elusive seven.

Cyborg, She (2008, Japan, Jae-young Kwak)
Time: 10:45 am at The Plaza

The originally scheduled screening for Wednesday night was sold out but the print never arrived on time. So a special screening was added on Saturday morning. But as it turned out, the film-makers still screwed up and sent a print without English subtitles.

Watching this film without subtitles is not that bad as there are quite a few stretches without dialogue (one such sequence was atleast 10 minutes long). But I was quite disappointed by this film because it looks like a recycled version of Jae-young Kwak's earlier film My Sassy Girl with a sci-fi angle tacked on. While My Sassy Girl was fresh and funny, the humour in Cyborg, She is stale and predictable.

I Killed My Mother (2009, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Time: 12:45 pm at the Globe, downstairs screen.

This film blew me away and was easily the single best film of the festival I had seen. Normally, only a few films inspire such strong reactions in me and I was certainly not expecting to be jolted this early in the day.

Dolan's film is raw, funny, emotional and brutally honest. It properly depicts the teenage vs adult struggle that exists in a majority of households in probably every country in the world. Normally, there is a mutual loving bond between parents and children early on in the child's life. But when the hormones start gushing through the children’s blood stream in the early teens, those same loving parents become the children’s enemy and the relationship between the two sides starts to degenerate. In some cases, the relationship starts to mend once the teen has grown up into an adult. For some people, this happens around the mid 20's, for others much later. But Dolan seems to have acquired this understanding a lot early on as he directed the film when he was 19 (and wrote it when he was 17).

The dialogues are sharp and pointed. In one case, the mother remembers the time when her son used to tell her everything and they were friends. To which the son replies "I was 4 and I had no choice". Ouch. Words can hurt, especially if they are always spoken with venom and sarcasm. The mother is unable to cope and the son wants away. Their arguments and fights may be about personality traits and specific issues but they echo the universal teenage angst and sense of rebellion. There have been many films in the past which covered similar topics but most works usually turn into one-sided rants from a teenager's perspective. On the other hand, I Killed My Mother perfectly depicts the struggle that exists on both sides -- it is not easy for parents to raise their kids while it is equally difficult for kids trying to assert their self, despite depending on their parents. We are also introduced to another parental example in the film which shows how a parent tries to be their child's friend. Yet, even that parent gets disrespect no matter how hard she tries. Damned if you let the kids have their way and damned if you stand in their way.

Plenty to take away from this film. Quite simply, a sensational debut.

Gigantic (2008, USA, Matt Aselton)
Time: 3 pm at Eau Claire, Screen #2

Sometimes the indie American films follow a prescribed formula especially by ensuring their stories contain quirky off beat characters who are supposed to generate humour for their unique behavior. Sure there are some tender moments of genuine humour here but for the most part, I didn't react with much enthusiasm. Still, it was a nice relaxing film to watch after I Killed My Mother.

Cooking History (2008, co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Time: 4:30 pm at Eau Claire, Screen #5

This insightful documentary highlights the rarely depicted topic of military cooks who fed the soldiers. Peter Kerekes does an excellent job of ensuring the documentary is vibrant and always interesting by getting the surviving characters to either cook or re-enact the tension of their war time drama. And as an added bonus, Peter Kerekes also provides humour in the form of recipes, in case someone wants to serve their nation by poisoning an entire enemy army. And each recipe appropriately ends with the common ingredient of "a pinch of salt". The final segment which features a cook standing in the ocean is precious, especially his preparation of imaginary dishes for an imaginary sea crew.

note: I missed the first 8 minutes of this film as Gigantic was a 98 minute long feature.

Breathless (2009, South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
Time: 6:30 pm at the Globe, downstairs

For the second time in the day, I was absolutely shook up by a film. But it took a while to appreciate what the director had in mind because the first 20 minutes appear to be routine stuff straight out of most Korean/Japanese gangster films -- punching, swearing and some slapping. The person dishing out all these is Sang-Hoon (played by the director himself), one of the nastiest on screen personas seen in recent years. The violence is put in context via a flashback when we observe a tragic episode in Sang-Hoon’s childhood where his mother and sister were accidentally killed in an episode of domestic violence. Sang-Hoon never forgave his father and after his father is released from prison, Sang-Hoon visits and beats him up frequently. Sang-Hoon’s kicks at his father usually occur at the end of night when a drunk Sang-Hoon ponders over his past. The father quietly accepts the beatings.

Sang-Hoon is a loner with no friends but one day he comes across a fiery teenage girl, Yeon-Hue, who refuses to take his abuse and fires back. The two form an unusual friendship and take comfort in each other’s presence, even though the two swear and put each other down. It turns out that another example of domestic abuse is taking shape in Yeon-Hue’s house, where her teenage brother is just starting to assert his “manliness” by taking his anger out on his sister. The abuse that Yeon-Hue suffers is two fold because her father is mentally disturbed (triggered most likely after his wife and Yeon-Hue’s mother’s death) and hurls profanity at his daughter frequently.

A few years ago, I had seen an Israeli documentary where someone asks an Israeli woman how her fellow countrymen could treat the Palestinians so badly considering the suffering Jews underwent. The Israeli woman replied that if a young boy saw his father slapping his mother, would the young boy be a peaceful person when he grew up? Her reply was negative and she said most likely the young boy would grow up into a man who would in turn slap his own wife. Her words came to my mind while watching Breathless because the film shows that kids who witness violence in their youth will grow up and re-enact those same episodes onto others. While the film may not be the most pleasant to watch, it takes a brave stand in drawing a direct line from domestic abuse to gangster violence. There are some examples of youth joining the gang due to unemployment but the film emphasizes the cycle of violence aspect quite clearly.

There are many movies out there which have graphic scenes of violence and horror and the directors of such graphic films defend their works by emphasizing their movies are anti-violence and the violent scenes are meant to prove a point. But in most cases, these movies end up glorifying violence because the consequences of violence is never fully explored. On the other hand, Breathless clearly depicts the danger of a violent life, whether that life is in a household or in a gang. There is a consequence to every violent action and Yang Ik-June’s film is the only one I can think of that has a purpose for every scene of violence and abuse. This film should be shown to every teenage and adult male. And if after seeing this film, those males would still opt for a violent life, then there is no hope not only for those people but humanity in general.

And to think that Ddongpari (Breathless) is just a debut feature by Yang Ik-June! Wow. Easily one of the year’s best and relevant films!

Seven Minutes in Heaven (2008, Israel, Omri Givon)
Time: 9:30 pm at the Globe, downstairs

There is a good story idea in this Israeli film but while the idea may have worked perfectly for a 20 minute short film, it is painfully worn out in a full length feature. The needless repetition and spoon-feeding do nothing for the story but merely pad the time, and when the interesting twist on the story is revealed near the end, it is too late.

Daybreakers (2009, Australia, the Spierig brothers)
Time: 11:30 pm at the Plaza

For the seventh film, I was back at the location where I started my day, almost 12.5 hours earlier at 10:45 am. I got to the Plaza at 11:15 pm and the long line up had me worried. There were two lines, one for the advanced ticket and pass holders, and the other for rush tickets. Only a certain amount of pass holders are let in and when that quota is reached, the pass holders have to join the back of the rush ticket line. Since I was a pass holder who was at the end of the advanced ticket line (only 5 people were behind me and they all had tickets), I was certain I would not make it. But amazingly, I just made it.

As for the film itself, after an impressive start and good setup, it was a huge letdown to see the film settle into a comfortable Hollywood template, complete with loud music, some explosions and even a car chase. The film does redeem itself with a good ending. There are lots of neat elements in the film not covered by other vampire movies, especially the “Daytime Driving” aspect, which could also serve as the film’s alternate title. I thought the film had a great idea in combining a vampire tale with a sci-fi & political angle and there are many aspects which add something new to the vampire genre. So it was especially frustrating to see the film contain a very dull and average middle segment.

After 7 films in a day, sleep. Precious sleep. zzzzzzzzzzz

Day 10: Sunday, Oct 4

The Prophet (2009, France, Jacques Audiard)

I had first heard of Jacques Audiard about 4 years ago when I was in London. His film The Beat that My Heart Skipped earned rare reviews, especially from Peter Bradshaw. So I decided to check the film out during its opening weekend in London and was left in awe of both the film and Roman Duris’ performance. Duris was already a favourite of mine, especially from his performance in the pulsating Exils, but he was mesmerizing in Audiard’s well crafted film. I made a point to see the next film that Audiard would direct.

Fast forward to 2009 and when Audiard’s Un Prophet hit Cannes, I lay in eager anticipation. My excitement only grew over the coming months and hit a high point when I was in Paris where almost every cinema seemed to be showing the film. I waited for its CIFF debut and quickly snapped up my ticket. And it was a good thing I had an advanced ticket because the film was sold out on its 7 pm show on the festival’s final day.

The Prophet dives into the heart of the gangster world, right from the prison cells to the controlling ports and cities. The prison’s hierarchy and daily routines are outlined with a fine observant eye, which at times recalls the work of Jacques Becker in his brilliant film Le Trou. We observe a criminal (Malik El Djebena played by Tahar Rahim) elevate himself through the ranks by his quick intelligence, observant and diplomatic skills. There are plenty of neat references (religious are the common ones) tucked away in this film which will ensure a second viewing will also provide a pleasurable experience. Overall, quite an amazing film.

note: In the second half of the film, I found Tahar Rahim to resemble a bit like Robert Pires. Since at one point in my life I considered Pires to be a footballing God, I found the presence of his look like in a film called The Prophet to be appropriate.

CIFF 2009 Diary, Days 6-8

2009-10-14T22:09:00.003-06:00

Day 6: Wednesday, Sept 30

The 10 film Maverick competition kicked off on September 30 with 4 screenings, followed by a further 4 on Thursday and the final two on Friday night.

Schedule for the 10 Maverick films:

Wednesday -- Juntos, Everyone Else, Unmade Beds and Karaoke.
Thursday -- Be Good, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, Wrong Rosary and Fish Eyes.
Friday -- My Suicide and Be Calm and Count to Seven.

I had seen four stellar films prior to the festival (Be Calm and Count to Seven, Everyone Else, Fish Eyes and Karaoke) and I was looking forward to seeing a few more.

Juntos (2009, Canada/Mexico, Nicolás Pereda)

Before the screening, Nicolás Pereda mentioned that he felt strange talking about Juntos as a movie because originally it was intended to be an art gallery project. He then asked the audience to watch the film with an open mind.

It is easy to see why this work could have been an art gallery project. One can imagine seeing the footage beamed on walls as audiences walk by a particular moment and then return later on to see what the three characters are up to. The film contains long static takes and gives a glimpse into the relationship between three people living in an apartment -- Gabino, his girlfriend Luisa and his friend Paco. Gabino finds himself in the middle of this awkward dynamic as Luisa's dislike at Paco's presence means that Gabino's relationship with Luisa is put under stress. The stress is conveyed early on and reaches breaking point in a stellar 10 minute long dialogue less scene with Gabino and Luisa sitting quietly at the kitchen table. With each passing second in this scene, one can feel the tension rise between the two and had Gabino dared to speak a word, then the relationship would surely have been over then and there.

The title Juntos refers to Gabino's dog that goes missing at the film's start. The dog's disappearance also signals the degradation of the relationship Gabino has with Luisa and Paco, although Gabino's easy going manner with Paco suggests that he will eventually forgive any of Paco's mistakes (a beautiful dialogue exchange between the two when Gabino is working on the sink pipes is another strong highlight of the film). There is also a scene that will inspire walkouts or discontent from the audience. In this particular scene, the camera does not shy away from watching Gabino take a bath in the nude. The scene starts off with Gabino's member slightly covered but slowly, everything is out in the open. This long sequence, which features Gabino lathering himself with soap, brought laughter from some of the women in the crowd and caused one man to loudly blame another woman for bringing him to see this movie. The man walked out a few minutes after the scene was over. But the scene does bring up the question that if it was a woman shown bathing instead of a man, would there have been any walkouts or even any laughter?

There are also some precious moments of humour derived from watching the characters and their crumbling household appliances. The film certainly requires an investment from the audience and does reward those who are patient enough.

note: Robert Koehler's review is worth reading.

Karaoke

After Juntos I headed down to the Plaza to meet up with Chris Chong Chan Fui and introduce his film. As it turned out, Karaoke proved to a frustrating challenge for quite a few of the audience members, including some good friends.

Day 7: Thursday, Oct 1

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009, USA, Damien Chazelle)

This black and white free flowing jazzy film is a breath of fresh air and has shades of John Cassavetes. The story is simple enough -- Boy Meets Girl, Boy dumps Girl, Boy meets another Girl and eventually Boy realizes he made a mistake. But the film has such a beautiful free style to it, like a jazz piece, that one can forget about the story and enjoy the images that are musically conveyed on the screen. There are also a few musical numbers, especially the cute restaurant tap dance sequence, that are integrated nicely in the film's framework.

Note: originally I had intended on seeing Be Good but then I changed my mind because I figured that I might have better chance of catching Be Good on DVD than Damien Chazelle's film. As good as Guy and Madeline.. is, I do wonder what future the film might have outside of the film festival circuit.

Wrong Rosary (2009, Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)

There is a famous Indian song from the film Padosan: "Mere samne wali khidki mein ek chand ka tukda rahta hai..". which roughly translates to "a beautiful girl lives next door" (I think an exact translation for this song would lessen the impact). The words for that song perfectly describe the story in Wrong Rosary as Musa, a muezzin, is smitten by his neighbour Clara. While the two belong to different religions, it is not religion that forms a barrier in their relationship but instead Musa's shyness gets in the way. Gradually, as he takes takes baby steps to edge towards Clara, we see his confidence grow. And just when things look like heading towards a happy sunset over the Bosphorus, a heart breaking conflict is thrown in the mix, ensuring some tears will take place.

Overall, Wrong Rosary is a wonderful crowd pleasing film. At times, the two characters of Musa and Clara look straight out of a Chaplin movie as both are outcasts in the beautiful city of Istanbul.

Note: Wrong Rosary continues the trend of fine Turkish films I have seen this year. And like most of those Turkish films, Wrong Rosary is expertly shot and allows one to completely soak in the atmosphere. The previous Turkish films that I saw this year will be outlined in a “Spotlight on Turkey” post shortly.

Day 8: Friday, Oct 2

Zero films seen!!

Despite my best intention of seeing a film on friday, a bizarre sequence of events (rain + car troubles) ensured that I once again failed to see a film on each of the 10 festival days.

Still, the rest was welcome as I was able to take in a record 7 films on saturday.

In celebration of cinema

2009-10-13T23:54:00.003-06:00

Chacun son cinéma is a collection of short films that were commissioned to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes film festival. In most short film anthologies, one usually gets a mixed bag of results. But in the case of Chacun son cinéma, the three minute length ensures that most shorts offer something worthwhile. Only one segment by Amos Gitai comes to mind as being quite awful, while most are enjoyable and some quite brilliant.

However, the most fun I got was in guessing the director of each short. I had not looked at the full list of directors before hand so it was an enjoyable game, provided the director's name was not displayed before the short began (which I think happened only once). Here was the criteria by which I could identify most of the shorts:

director's style (example: Tsai Ming-Liang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wong Kar Wai)

director's presence (these were giveaways)

setting (such as the one by Aki Kaurismäki)

location (Walter Selles)

the presence of an actor used by a director (Manoel de Oliveira)

Still, there were some that I wouldn't have guessed such as the Gus Van Sant or Jane Campion pieces. But Jane Campion's short makes sense considering she was the only female director in the anthology. Also, there was a director (Bille August) I was not aware of.

Overall, there are some which convey the pleasure and magic of the cinematic experience. And the final segment which shows that there is nothing good ever playing in a multiplex is quite funny.

note: my DVD didn't have the segments from David Lynch and the Coen brothers.

CIFF 2009 Diary, Days 2-5

2009-10-12T23:29:00.002-06:00

Day 2: Saturday, Sept 26

Tetro (2009, USA, Francis Ford Coppola)

Family again. But this time the family does not deal with the mafia but instead with the arts -- music, theatre, opera, ballet and literature. A tale of 2 brothers forms the core but there is also a second rivalry of 2 brothers (the two brother’s father vs their uncle) around the nucleus. Women, the love interests, left standing by.

The Black and White gives La Boca a beautiful sensual feel. It starts with a blinding light and ends with a similar light. Flicker, flicker, off.

Houston, We have a problem (2008, USA, Nicole Torre)

Oil. Wars and boardroom deals. Politics and foreign policies, all about oil. The black gold has driven humanity forward and it may prove to be their downfall.

Good to see the ideas that one reads about in books and papers given coverage on film. It is essential that people watch this film but what good will come out of it? The film covers the emergence of alternative forms of energy in the latter half and that is where hope lies for humanity. Hopefully, the politicians get that message as well. Otherwise, the clock is ticking and more wars may await.

The White Ribbon (2009, co-production, Michael Haneke)

In The White Ribbon Haneke displays the same keen observation towards society and culture that was evident in Cache, although the methodology between the two films differs in terms of images vs words. In the absorbing Cache, it was solely the images that gave clues to the character’s true feelings and the audiences were required to derive their own conclusions. But in The White Ribbon, the character’s words clearly spell out the hatred and feelings of disgust. On some occasions, the images do convey the hatred & fear but words are the real weapon here.

The White Ribbon does take a while to catch fire though. The first hour appears to be devoid of much drama as we get a dry glimpse into the character’s daily lives and activities. But after the first signs of the horror and hatred in the village are revealed, then the purpose of those earlier scenes which depicted the mundane activities is made clear. After that point, the film is a riveting pulsating catalogue of the hatred and evil that would be unleashed beyond the borders of a single village and across the European landscape.

The use of a narrator to carry us through the small town tale in The White Ribbon feels a bit like Lars von Trier from Dogville and Manderlay. In fact, Dogville and The White Ribbon have quite a bit in common as both films use the story of a few selected characters to stand in for a nation -- in both cases, the directors are trying to depict their understanding of the psyche of a larger group of people by focussing on a selected few characters. While von Trier set his film on a stage set thereby eliminating any feelings for the character’s environment, Haneke uses a real environment to depict the character’s daily routines thereby making his film feel like a living breathing case study.

Day 3: Sunday, Sept 27

Crackie (2009, Canada, Sherry White)

Ah Newfoundland. Beautiful landscape but devoid of jobs. Not a stereotype but a reality as documented by the large number of people that leave the place to head west to look for jobs, especially in Alberta. Sherry White’s film also picks up on this aspect as the young Mitsy is abandoned by her mother who heads to Alberta to etch out a better living. Crackie is an engaging coming of age tale garnished with a mix of humour and drama. The humour is provided by Mary Walsh who plays the strong outspoken grandmother who looks after Mitsy.

Revache (2008, Austria, Goetz Spielmann)

I had been looking forward towards this movie since it made the cut for Cannes back in 2008. And I was not disappointed as this beautiful bank heist + moral tale certainly delivers. Also like in Spielmann’s previous film Antares, steamy sex is thrown in for good measure. Having now seen two movies each by the Austrian film-makers Goetz Spielmann and Ulrich Seidl, there are overlapping similarities in both film-makers style, especially considering both film-makers start their recent films in sex centers before expanding to a larger canvas.

Police, Adjective (2009, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)

Serious conversations between characters regarding the meaning of words and grammar forms a rich cinematic experience. Things are presented in a simple easy to absorb manner with long takes mixed with precious moments of humour. The film builds up on Corneliu Porumboiu’s previous film 12:08 East of Bucharest and also has a nod towards The Death of Mr. Lazarescu as it depicts another example of the bureaucratic circle of paperwork hell.

Day 4: Monday, Sept 28

The Happiest Girl in the World (2009, Romania co-production, Radu Jude)

Winning a free car was supposed to usher in new freedom for Delia Fratila. All she had to do was act in a 35 second car commercial and drive away with her new car. But things don’t turn out to be that simple. Her parents want to exchange the car for money to finance a better future and the commercial shoot turns out to be an artistic and physical challenge. Funny and engaging. Another vintage film from Romania.

Day 5: Tuesday, Sept 29

The Last Lullaby (2008, USA, Jeffrey Goodman)

This was a real discovered gem of the festival. Originally there was only a single screening of this film (Sunday 7:15 pm) which I had intended on seeing but unfortunately missed. Scott, a true film buff, raved about this film later on and I wondered when I would get to see it. But thankfully a second screening was added on Tuesday in place of An Insignificant Harvey (the film-maker of An Insignificant Harvey got a distribution deal and decided to pull his film from the festival). And true to Scott’s words, The Last Lullaby is indeed a treat.

Price (Tom Sizemore), a retired assassin for hire, rescues a girl from a bunch of kidnappers and demands a ransom from the father for his opportunistic rescue effort. Price disappears after he collects the money but things get interesting when the girl’s father tracks him down and offers a hit job with a lot of money. On paper, it looks to be easy money. But in the tradition of film noir, it turns out to be anything but. Stylistically shot and nicely acted (Sasha Alexander looks immensely charming), The Last Lullaby is easily superior to a majority of what Hollywood has to offer. So you can be sure that this film won’t play in a multiplex any time soon, but it is one that has to be seen.

St. Nick (2009, USA, David Lowery)

The last few years have seen a richer and different America depicted on screen thanks to film-makers such as Ramin Bahrani’s (Man Push Cart & Chop Shop) and Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy). Now, David Lowery’s name can be included in that list as his St. Nick is a beautiful addition to the new American cinema that is emerging despite the dominating presence of the mostly suffocating one-dimensional Hollywood cinema on the North American screens.

While the main story of St. Nick is about two young run away kids, the film also highlights the current America where empty abandoned houses reflect the tough economic times. At the film’s start, the young boy examines one such abandoned house and gets about making it habitable both for himself and his younger sister. While it is engaging to watch such a young boy go about fixing the house, it is also heart breaking to see these two kids skip past childhood and head straight into the struggles of adulthood. Since the two have no money, they have to resort to stealing to feed themselves. In this aspect, the film is related to Wendy and Lucy as both films examine the young character’s struggle to make ends meet while on the road.

St. Nick is also another shining example of a film that does not need to drown the screen with dialogue and instead lets the powerful visual language of the camera convey its thoughtful story.

Festival notes

2009-10-08T22:16:00.006-06:00

"The Audience never lies. See they didn’t have any questions. What does that tell?"

"At the end of the day, you have to cater to the audiences."

The above words may seem harmless but they were anything but. They were highly critical regarding the film Karaoke. And the festival goer who uttered the words was even more angry and slightly bemused when he learned that Chris Chong Chan Fui had just won the best director award in the Maverick competition, beating out 9 other directors. Atleast, the festival patron pointed out he had not seen any of the other 9 Maverick category films that had played at CIFF. He went onto add that his three other friends hated the film as well. And one of his friends "knows about films" because he regularly attends other festivals, including "Toronto". My friends were equally angry about Karaoke. My explanations about why I liked the film fell on deaf ears.

I had to do the introduction for Karaoke before the screening and hosted the Q&A after the film, although the Q&A turned out to be surpizingly short, limited to only my questions. In between those two activities, I had a nice chat with Chris about not only his work but other films in general. Chris told me he hoped that people wouldn’t fall asleep during Karaoke and he was not sure if most people would get the film; the film’s true story is only revealed in the third act but he was not sure if most people would be alert up to that point. I was surprized to hear his concerns, to which Chris causally remarked that CIFF was just the third film festival that his film was showing at. But he was being modest. The previous two festivals were Cannes and TIFF and after Calgary, his film was headed to VIFF and Pusan before getting a November release in Malaysia.

Still, he was honest. And in a way, his concerns turned out to be true. There were people who probably fall asleep and there were quite a few that hated it. After the film Nicolás Pereda, the director of Juntos which played earlier that night in the Maverick category as well, came over and congratulated Chris on his film.

I found Karaoke to be an absolutely beautiful film and reacted to it instinctively. There are a lot of elements in the film to chew at and not all of them are apparent at first. Chris does outline his thoughts about the film quite well in his interview with Andréa Picard in Issue 39 of Cinema Scope (unfortunately, the interview is not available online). My discussion with Chris picked up from some aspects of that interview. Chris talked about how his film maintained the three act structure throughout and the lyrics of the three Karaoke videos were a clue towards that. On the other hand, I felt the film had a 2 part structure in a similar manner to Tropical Malady but where as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s film had a distinct cut in between the two parts, Chris’ film had a fluid barrier between the two parts. Still, not having the same take and not picking up on everything in the film didn’t hinder my appreciation of it. But there were quite a few people who didn’t want to make that effort. Trevor Smith, director of programming for CIFF, was spot on with his comments:
"The film made you work and made you put the pieces together....I think that's what made it exemplary in a lot of ways. Innovative is an overused word and it's tough to be fresh in cinema. But I think what it had was a sense of bravery, a sense that he was stepping out on a limb and using images and sound to tell a very complex story that's unsculpted and he expects you to finish off the final pieces. It was just a real gutsy, brave film and it's not easy. And I know it wasn't easy for a lot of our Calgary audiences."

What do the audiences want?

Here’s my formula for what kind of films always sell at CIFF:

Sex, gore and Pedro!

That’s Almodóvar, not Costa. Not a single Costa film has played in Calgary.

True to form, Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces sold out this year, just like all his previous films have at CIFF. After Karaoke, the zombie film Dead Snow was scheduled to pay at 11:15 pm on a wednesday night. And not surprizingly, it was sold out and 100+ people had to be turned away. People had started lining up for that film almost 2 hours in advance.

In the past when it came to foreign cinema, it was the French or Spanish language films that automatically drew large crowds. That is still true but atleast people are now trying to wander towards the beautiful Eastern European cinema that shows at CIFF. 2 years ago, 4 Months 3 weeks 2 Days was sold out and this year there was a nice turnout for Police, Adjective on a sunday night 9:15 pm show. But Asian cinema, outside of the shock horror midnight series, still suffers. Amazing films like the artful gangster Malaysian film Call if you Need me and the Korean indie Daytime Drinking suffered from a lack of attendance. Will that change with time? I hope so, but change comes slowly.

It is essential that audiences have the choice to see different cinema. This is where the festival has an important job in booking brave films. And CIFF did that this year, especially with the Maverick category which pushed the conventional expectations of cinema. But even though the festival did its job in booking different kinds of film, it was up to the audiences to make an effort to see something outside of their comfort zone. Some did and I am grateful for those people that made the effort. Now, they may have disliked the film they picked but atleast they tried to see something that didn’t neatly fall into a formula.

It is always a tough job in finding that perfect balance in booking a film festival. One has to be careful and avoid booking too many similar kinds of films; there always have to be diverse choices and a few undiscovered gems. I think the smaller festivals can do a better job in these aspects because a smaller festival can’t always get all the big Cannes films so they have to look harder for gems from elsewhere. Ofcourse, it is impossible to have a perfectly booked film festival, one that will satisfy everyone. There will always be a film which someone won’t like and that person's subsequent anger might be pointed towards the film’s director or even at the people that booked the film. And sometimes, the complaints about a festival are not directed towards the films that are showing, but they are about what's missing. Every year, TIFF shows almost all the big names from Cannes. But when TIFF misses a single title from Cannes, then the complaints ring out (example last year when TIFF didn’t book the "Martel").

CIFF 2009, wrap-up

2009-10-05T21:51:00.021-06:00

The 10th edition of CIFF ended up being the best programmed year in the festival’s history. I managed to catch 22 films over 9 days as I missed one day of film viewing. In fact, it has been a few years since I have managed to watch a film on each of the 10 days. My overall total number was less than I had hoped for but in the end, even getting to this total took a lot of effort. But I managed to do something that I have longed for a long time now -- watching 7 films in one day. A few years ago some festival programmers mentioned how they watched 7 films in a single day at TIFF. For me getting to that number appeared to be impossible as the maximum number of films that anyone could watch at CIFF and VIFF was 6 (I managed 6 at VIFF in 2007). This year, when the print of Cyborg She didn’t arrive on time for the wednesday night (Sept 30) screening, CIFF added a screening for that film at 10:45 am on saturday. I was already planning on watching 6 films that saturday and this additional screening gave me the perfect chance to hit 7. In the end, it was close as the 7th film was sold out and I just managed to snag one of the last few spots in the theater.

Best Films -- Canada, South Korea, Romania and France

Romania had a very strong showing at the festival with three excellent films. Police, Adjective is simply outstanding. Corneliu Porumboiu brings the same style of humour that he used in 12:08 East of Bucharest. In both films, the funniest moments arise while watching characters engaged in serious discussion; what is serious chatter for the characters is rich comedy for the audience. The Happiest Girl in the World is another interesting dry humour product from Romania. The entire film is essentially about a 35 second commercial but there is plenty of drama around filming that commercial such as the lead girl’s tussle with her parents, the production crew’s silliness, producer interference and the director’s struggle to maintain his view. Katalin Varga rounded out the trio of Romania’s strong candidates.

The Prophet is engaging and a delight to watch. The Korean film Breathless is easily one of the best films I have seen this year. The film manages to draw a direct line from domestic abuse to gangster violence. It is not an easy film to watch but it is also powerful, raw and just damn brilliant.

But...the best film of the festival for me was the Quebecois film I Killed my Mother. It is hard to believe that the director, Xavier Dolan, wrote this film when he was 17 and directed this at the age of 19. The topic of a teenager’s tussle with their mother is universal but Dolan shows plenty of maturity and intelligence in this outstanding debut feature.

22 precious films

All the films deserve a proper write-up but I am taking the easy way out and lining up the films in order of preference. The ratings are somewhat fluid as most films are quite good.

I Killed My Mother (2009, Canada, Xavier Dolan): 10/10
Breathless (2009, South Korea, Yang Ik-June): 10/10
Police, Adjective (2009, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu): 10/10
The Prophet (2009, France, Jacques Audiard): 10/10
Katalin Varga (2009, Romania co-production, Peter Strickland): 9/10
Revache (2008, Austria, Goetz Spielmann): 9/10
The Happiest Girl in the World (2009, Romania co-production, Radu Jude): 9/10
Wrong Rosary (2009, Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun): 9/10
Cooking History (2008, co-production, Peter Kerekes): 8.5/10
The White Ribbon (2009, co-production, Michael Haneke): 8.5/10
The Last Lullaby (2008, USA, Jeffrey Goodman): 8.5/10
Tetro (2009, USA, Francis Ford Coppola): 8/10
St. Nick (2009, USA, David Lowery): 8/10
White Night Wedding (2009, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur): 7.5/10
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009, USA, Damien Chazelle): 7.5/10
Houston, We have a problem (2008, USA, Nicole Torre): 7.5/10
Crackie (2009, Canada, Sherry White): 7.5/10
Juntos (2009, Canada/Mexico, Nicolás Pereda): 7/10
Gigantic (2008, USA, Matt Aselton): 7/10
Daybreakers (2009, Australia, the Spierig brothers): 7/10
Cyborg, She (2008, Japan, Jae-young Kwak): 6/10
Seven Minutes in Heaven (2008, Israel, Omri Givon): 5/10

CIFF 2009, Venues

2009-10-04T22:52:00.008-06:00

The festival is over and my slow return to normality can begin. Unlike previous years, I was unable to maintain a daily log of films that I saw but I still plan to do a recap soon. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about the venues, something I have not done before.

When CIFF first started 10 years ago, it was based around the city's three art-house theaters -- Globe Cinema, The Plaza & The Uptown. In the last few years, CIFF expanded to include more locations (at one point as many as 6 venues including Eau Claire Cineplex cinemas) but this year it was back to basics and only three locations -- the Uptown dropped out leaving Eau Claire to take its place.

1) Eau Claire Cinemas -- Previously, CIFF only used a solitary screen (the IMAX). This year the festival used two regular screens and that was quite convenient as both halls were almost across from each other. The Cineplex at Eau Claire is not your average multiplex. Each week, one can find an independent/foreign film playing alongside the newest Hollywood flick. If most multiplexes around the country were programmed like the Eau Claire, I would have fewer complaints.

2) The Globe -- The two cinemas at this venue have been showing great indie/foreign films for years. And the manager, Dan Silver, is quite supportive of local film festivals as he was very helpful when we booked the theater for our Pan-Asian film festival a few years ago.

3) The Plaza -- The best programmed cinema in the city and probably one of the top cinemas in this country!! On each night, one can find multiple movies playing in the single hall. And those movies range the entire cinematic spectrum -- old silent & foreign classics, new indie/world cinema, hollywood, midnight/cult and genre films. The Calgary Cinematheque uses the Plaza as its regular spot and virtually every film festival in the city shows all their movies here. One can even find the odd Ethiopian or Tamil movie playing here. And until a few years ago, the Plaza used to regularly show Bollywood movies. In fact, the first movie that I saw in the Plaza was a Bollywood film almost 12 years ago. And I also saw my first ever foreign film (the Japanese film Shall we Dance) at this same theater.

And the Plaza's location is great too. The Plaza is surrounded by a wine bar and a bookshop on either end. Plus there are plenty of good restaurants, cafes and pubs within walking distance. So there is enough opportunity to be properly nourished in between movies.

CIFF 2009: Kick-off

2009-09-26T00:21:00.006-06:00

Day One, Friday Sept 25

There are plenty of titles that hover in the big world of film festivals. But it often seems that only a few films are ever talked about. What about the rest? Why is no one talking about them? Is anyone talking about Katalin Varga? I have not heard any noise about this film, so let me start the sound waves rolling.

Katalin Varga, the Film: Devastating cinema. Simple but extraordinary.
Katalin Varga, the Character: Hilda Péter puts in a mesmerizing and incredible performance. I could have watched her character all day long.

Too few words? Ok. Some more.

The film does not waste any time. Within a few minutes, Katalin’s husband kicks her out of her home along with her son. She has nowhere to go. A journey begins. But the music points to a dark past and even a darker future. Yes, there is some darkness, for this is a revenge tale. But it is unlike any other revenge movie. In fact, it carves out its own rules for vengeance. That means no dramatic dialogues but instead we are treated to beautiful images and haunting music, music which conveys the hovering tension in the air.

After such a beautiful and powerful film, something light was required. And the fun Icelandic feature White Night Wedding more than provided for that. There are plenty of laughs in White Night Wedding which feature unique and interesting characters/scenarios. The film also balances its funny side with some dramatic scenes of a strained relationship and question of death.

Overall, an excellent start for the opening day.

Ratings:

Katalin Varga (2009, Romania/Hungary/UK, Peter Strickland): 9/10

White Night Wedding (2009, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur): 7.5/10

Parisian cinemas

2009-09-24T21:25:00.008-06:00

This is not a dream

I booked our Parisian hotel (Hotel de France) because of its reasonable price and close proximity to the Gare de Lyon train station. The night before we left for Paris, I decided to check out the exact street view via google to know how far we had to walk from the train station. And when I saw the street side view, my jaw dropped because our hotel was right next to a cinema hall!!! What a dream!! But when I checked the schedule, all the films were either in French or dubbed in French with no subtitles. So not quite the perfect dream but close...

In the end, I didn't have any time to check out a film because our days in Paris were jam packed. But I can't still shake off the idea that our hotel was next to a cinema. You walk out of the reception and there it is...

The Cinema name points to the next location

I came across a cinema in Champs-Élysées called the Lido. And the next day, I was on the Lido island watching a film. Hmmm..

Two films to look forward to

The two most common film posters I saw in Paris were for Un prophète and L'armée du crime (The Army of Crime). Jacques Audiard's Un prophète is already on my list to see at CIFF but I am not sure when I will get a chance to see Robert Guédiguian's The Army of Crime.

Venice & the film festival experience

2009-09-23T23:51:00.008-06:00

The 2 day stay in Venice and attending the film festival became a microcosm of life in general, a life which consists of many events working beautifully together to lead towards an end goal. Or put simply, it confirmed that everything happens for a reason. Well almost everything

Once Upon a time in Canada...a vacation was planned

It was simply really. A family vacation in Paris and Italy. Having been to Paris and Italy previously, I figured dropping Venice out of the Italian leg of the journey was an easy decision. Pigeons, tourists and canals. That was all Venice was, right? But my father politely queried about going to Venice. I could not turn him down, so I decided ok, Venice was in. After the flights were booked, I learned that we were going to be in Venice during the film festival.

Massive screams of joy!!!!!!

After I calmed down a bit, I was still in disbelief. What was that saying about parents knowing best? :)

The next question was how many films I could squeeze in? The festival was held on the separate island of Lido, so it would not be that simple to go back and forth. I decided on the safe bet of booking tickets for one film on day one and seeing how things turned out on the second day.

Day One -- The Plan

I had a look at the schedule and figured an early evening show would be best for me. So I set my sights on the 5:15 pm show of the Brazilian film, Insolação. This is how things were supposed to turn out on Day 1:

Sunday, Sept 6, 8:20 am flight from Paris to Venice.
Arrive in Venice by 10 am.
15-30 minutes to collect luggage.
30 min to reach the island from airport by bus at terminal Piazzale Roma.
A further 30 min by vaporetto (water bus) to get to the San Toma Stop.
A 10-15 min walk to the apartment.

So it seemed reasonable to reach the apartment by 11:30-12 atleast. Then some time for lunch & wandering around Venice with the family before taking the boat to Lido around 3:30 pm. That would have gotten me to Lido by 4 pm and allowed me to wander the festival ground for a bit before taking in the 5:15 pm show.

So how did things go?

Plan, meet window

The flight was on time. Check.
Missed the 10:20 shuttle bus. In fact, the bus was leaving as we arrived on the stop. Next bus was at 10:50.
Got to the Venice bus terminal by 11:25 am.
And then the chaos started.

I could not get a hold of the person who rented the apartment out. And this is exactly what I had feared. Something about the apartment booking had always bothered me. The Art Blue bed and breakfast was located in Campo s. Stefano but the apartment we were staying was around Scuola di San Rocco, which was on the other side of the Grand Canal. Even though we had booked for a spot at the B&B, it seemed we would be staying in an apartment away from the B&B, so was my concern was if the apartment was someone’s private residence or another B&B? We were never given a fixed address but simply asked to get off at the San Toma vaporetto stop and give the owner a phone call just before we got to the stop. Someone would meet us at the stop with the key in 10 minutes. I would have liked to use the phone number as a backup and would have preferred a fixed address. Anyway, I went along with the plan and got my cell phone changed to have roaming allowed for Europe.

Since the owner was still not picking up his phone, I decided to get boat tickets. The lineup to get tickets was atleast 30 min. Sunday = busy tourist day. Duh.

We finally reached the San Toma stop around 12:30 and the owner was still not picking up his phone. Stress. 4 adults, one infant, luggage and no where to go.

So made the quick decision to leave my parents with the luggage and the three of us (my lovely wife and clearly tired daughter) would cross the canal on foot and find the B&B reception. The heat was unbearable and we were all thirsty and getting tired now. I had only gotten 2-3 hours sleep the previous night in Paris, so my body was starting to show signs of fatigue.

After getting lost once, we were helped by 2 ladies who showed us the path to the Accademia bridge, one of 4 bridges that can be used to cross the Grand Canal, and the last major bridge in order to get to St Mark’s square. More chaos when we reached the B&B. There is an Art Blue Cafe & Restaurant at the bottom of the Art Blue Bed and Breakfast but the two are separate. This fact was made clear by an arrogant, angry restaurant owner who shouted at us for the sole reason that we inquired where the entrance to the B&B was. He told us to go around the corner and hit the buzzer for apartment #3. We did that, and the call went through to the same phone number I was trying. Once again, no answer. So we had to go back to the restaurant to ask if there was any other way to contact the B&B owner. We learned that was a reception to the B&B a block away, but not before we were dished out more shouting. Ofcourse, it appeared that the entire episode was our fault. In Canada, hotels/B&B’s have clear signs showing where the reception or entrance is. But silly us. We were ofcourse not in Canada, a fact made apparent by the shouting restaurant owner. He said he would help us but that would be all. Good, that’s all we wanted. Frustrated, tired and with a baby who was clearly getting unhappy, we were not impressed. But we listened to Mr. arrogant as he thankfully pointed us the way.

The reception was indeed a block away but still over a bridge, ofcourse. We were glad to reach the reception but the girl at the front desk surprized us by saying that the apartment was not supposed to be ready until 2 pm. What? Frustration increased. She finally managed to put us through to the owner. He explained he never got my call but assured as another person would give us the key at the San Toma stop by 2 pm.

Was it my fault that the call didn’t get through? Maybe. My cell phone was automatically supposed to switch to the Italian network but maybe for some reason the call didn’t get through. But the owner had not answered when we rang the buzzer for the apartment as well. Whatever. The long walk back again began. I met the guy at the vaporetto stop and we finally checked in just after 2 pm.

The heat had me drained. Being awake since 4 am didn’t help either. But I still decided to leave just after 3 pm for my film. All I had to do was take the vaporetto from San Toma and 25 minutes later, I would be in Lido. I left my map and cell phone as I thought my family would need that more. There was only one set of keys to the apartment so I had to leave the keys and agreed on a meeting time and point (the buzzer to the apartment was not labelled either).

After a quick 10 minute walk from the apartment, I found the San Toma stop closed. Horror. The police man explained that there was a gondola competition and as a result, the Grand Canal was closed to all water taxis and buses. What!!!! The only alternative I could think of was catching a vaporetto from St. Mark’s square. The officer explained that might not be possible as all boats might be stopped there as well. But I had to try.

2 hour journey begins...

There are 4 bridges that go across the Grand Canal. Two of them didn’t matter to me as they led to the bus stop (Piazzale Roma) and the train station away from the island of Venice. The 3rd was the Rialto and that would be a bit further off from St. Mark’s square. So the only choice was to take the Academia bridge, the same one I had crossed a few hours earlier. I rushed off, thinking I had a chance.

But I wasn’t the only one stuck. When I was in Venice 10 years ago, I had taken a day long tour. The tours had dropped & picked us at St. Mark’s square. Now, as I was walking towards the Accademia, I noticed groups of tourists. By the thousands it seemed. They were getting on private boats just before the Accademia bridge. This fact seemed to indicate that maybe no boats were leaving St. Mark’s square, so all of them seemed to be headed away from St. Mark’s square.

So I walked faster. And then the Accademia bridge appeared. I wish I had taken a picture of the bridge but I didn’t want to waste any more time. The bridge was packed completely, with a seemingly endless chain of people getting off and on. There was no room to put my foot anywhere on the wooden steps so I did what everyone else was and pushed for a spot. Someone pushed me from behind and I in turn fell forward and pushed the person ahead. The young Italian ahead of me didn’t like getting pushed but I told him that the same had happened to me. He took off his ipod headphones and started shouting. He didn’t understand any English it seemed. Whatever. The young Italian raced ahead. After I reached the Art Blue B&B, I had to navigate blindly without a map. I did the natural thing and followed the crowd. The lanes got even narrower and the crowds appeared to increase even more. Those Venetian streets were more crowded than anything I had experienced previously and that includes the crowded streets of New Delhi or Bombay. Once again, I wish I had taken pictures but I was on a mission. Along the way, I saw tourists trying to carry their suitcases across the bridges while throngs of people pushed them aside. I felt sorry for those tourists having gone through a similar luggage dragging episode a few hours ago.

A short while later, I caught up with the young Italian guy. This time around, I moved ahead of him. But our game of running into each other continued until we finally reached St Mark’s square around 4:10 pm. The entire square is a sight to behold but having seen the place 10 years ago and being pressed for time, I could not stop. As expected, all the boat stops were closed. I crossed bridge after bridge, with the same result. No boats (public or private) were arriving or leaving St. Mark’s square. All the ticket information offices were closed as well and the earliest boat appeared to be leaving past 7 pm. But I kept walking.

The heat was getting unbearable. All around me people were cooling off with gelato or icy drinks. But I could not think of stopping. Thankfully I spotted one woman still working on shift at a ticket office. The woman informed me that the only way to get to Lido was taking the boats from St. Helena, a stop 20 minutes from our current location. So a dozen (or 100) bridges later, I was on the edge of the island, where the first sight of grass appeared.

And this is where I met Pedro....

The journey still continues...

I saw a man carrying a Venice film festival bag, so I naturally assumed he was going to Lido as well. I approached him and he confirmed my belief. A few queries back and forth and it turned out we were both going to the same movie. Pedro asked how I was interested in Brazilian film and I likewise asked the same. It turned out Pedro Freire was a Brazilian film-maker whose newest short film O Teu Sorriso was playing in competition. Pedro also had a map and he figured we were another 15 min away from St. Helena. He thought our best bet would be to catch the #20 vaporetto at 4:45 pm otherwise, we would have no hope. It was around 4:37 pm when Pedro mentioned that we were nearing St. Helena and we saw a boat appear at the stop. Was this the #20? As soon as Pedro said “I think we have to run”, he was off. I ran on the grass unlike Pedro who bravely ran on the edge of the pathway overlooking the water (no railing, one slip and a person would be in the water). But no, it was not the #20.

4:45 pm. Still no sign of the #20. Just then, a ship cruiser tried to dock at the stop. But the captain could not align the boat with the landing and quite a few tourists waited to board their cruise vessel. By now, we could see the #20 waiting but it could not arrive until this cruise boat had left. 5 painfully long minutes went by before the cruise boat gave up and headed off allowing the #20 to dock. Joy, joy. Only 4 of us got on the boat with the rest waiting for their cruise boat. The #20 driver said we would be Lido in 10 minutes.

Venezia Film Festival, I am here

The driver’s 10 minutes were in fact 16-17 minutes but we made it to the movie village around 5:10 pm. Once again, I kept the camera in the bag. A quick dash from the boat stop as Pedro guided me to Sala Darsena via 2-3 checkpoints of well suited (ofcourse) Italian festival staff. All around, people had their film festival passes around their necks but my electronic ticket was enough.

5:13 pm. Pedro pointed out that the directors of Insolação were getting their pictures taken on the red carpet, so we had just made it. As soon as we entered the cinema hall, the directors/producers and cast of the film entered. Everyone stood up and applauded as the light shone brightly on the film personnel. As the film personnel sat down right in the middle of the theater, a voice introduced each person (actors, producers and directors in the end), applause followed. And then, lights out.

This is not that Brazilian film

Running into Pedro was the perfect tonic for my tired mind. It was fun chatting about Brazilian cinema with someone who was aware of all the titles I had seen. And when Pedro mentioned about Marcelo Gomes and Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, I almost gasped in delight as that was one of my favorite films of 2005. I had finally found someone who had seen this movie. It turned out that Marcelo Gomes’s newest film (which he co-directed with Karim Ainouz) was playing at Venice this year. During our talk, I mentioned to Pedro that I had never seen a bad Brazilian film or any film that didn’t have merit. Maybe that was because I had only seen Brazilian films sent to film festivals? Just before our boat arrived at Lido, Pedro warned me not to have high expectations from Insolação, especially if this would be the only film I saw at Venice. I told him not to worry.

Ha.

All good things must come to an end. And so it was with my run of seeing only quality Brazilian films. The first few minutes of Insolação seemed promising. A ground work was laid out and I expected the canvas to split open and the film to take on wings. The first walkout came around the 10 minute mark. I dismissed that as a bathroom break because I had never seen a walkout that early on in a film. A few minutes later, another walkout. Then a steady stream. Seats around me emptied out, giving me some extra leg room. I stretched out and began my battle to stay awake. For me, my extra long day was finally catching up. Little sleep, long walks in the hot sun, hunger and thirst. I didn’t have enough time to get some water before the film started and now that was looking like a bad idea.

The most walkouts took place around the 45 minute mark. Two people made sure they walked out right in front of the directors and film crew. My head started to drop and I found myself in a semi-dazed state. I opened my eyes hoping to find something different yet nothing had changed. The film appeared to be stuck in an endless cycle, something that was apparent early on in the film. Coming of age, love, loss. More loss. The narrator sheds tears, looks at the audiences and naturally it rains on him. No one left the movie after the hour mark. The entire experience still felt like a dream when the film ended. Applause greeted the work and the directors looked pleased, as they were smiling. For me, the film was painful viewing and I am certain my long day had nothing to do with it. Insolação didn't look and feel like any Brazilian film that I had seen before. The film's music and tone made it feel more like an American indie but the film appeared to be aware of itself at every point. Every scene appeared to be forced and had enough dramatic pause that appeared to be screaming "look at me, for I am high art". But once the layers were peeled away, there was nothing.

I briefly caught up with Pedro before I rushed out. It was close to 7 pm and I had to meet my family by 8 pm. I had time to grab a bottle of water just as a vaporetto pulled up. It was an express vaporetto which would go close to St. Mark’s square, so I got on. I would have loved to wander around the movie village and I really wanted to buy a program guide but I didn’t want to be late as I didn’t have keys to the apartment and had no phone either.

The crowds were still there as the sun set across the Venetian lagoon and a majority of them were in awe of a huge cruise liner just leaving Venice.

I reached the meeting point at 8:03 pm, almost on time. The rest of the night was lovely as we went back to St. Mark’s square for an amazing dinner and....some delicious gelato, finally.

Day 2 -- another film, but a surprize

I really wanted to watch 1-2 movies on Monday, especially the 5 pm shorts selection which featured Edmund Yeo’s newest film. Then there was a Peruvian film at 7:30 pm that I was interested in. But I decided to put family first. The plan was to visit the nearby islands of Murano and Burano and go from there.

I had been to Burano 10 years ago and it was interesting to head back and see how some things were still the same and how there were some changes.

We spent almost the entire day at both islands and it was just after 7 pm when we reached back to Venice. Our original idea was to get off at the San Toma stop but my mother wanted to stop at the Rialto bridge for a wander, so we got off there.

We had a map but I decided to head back without looking at the map as I didn’t expect us to take too long to reach the apartment. Alleys led into other alleys. I followed a simple rule. Whenever faced with two paths, I took the one which was lit more. And sometimes, I took the path where more voices or footsteps could be heard. After crossing a few bridges, we reached an open square.

There was a tower on one end and across from it, there appeared to be a large screen. Now, all those signs of "public screenings" for the Venice film festival made sense. And once we went around the corner, sure enough, there was indeed a large screen slated to show Claire Denis’ White Material at 9 pm. The French film only had Italian subtitles but the experience seemed tempting. Since we were hungry and I didn’t want to leave my family stranded, I decided against seeing the movie. But my better half insisted that I had to see the film as the experience would be worth it. I confessed that this was a movie I had wanted to see anyhow. So it was settled -- I bought the ticket and decided to rush back and leave everyone at the apartment and then find my way back.

It was 8:25 pm and it turned out that the apartment was only 15 minutes away. I had enough time to grab a calzone and coffee slush drink before I reached the square around 8:50 pm. The screen had a beautiful feel to it. Houses on all sides, a tower behind the screen and a restaurant on the other end. The square was lively and the restaurant was packed. A few kids were playing with a whistle and I expected some mischief from them during the movie.

The audience was mostly Italian with some festival pass carrying people. Copies of Variety and other film magazines were visible. I decided to take the last row, near the centre. There were just other two men in the last row, both a few chairs down on either end, one of them had a dog on his lap. Once the film started, the dog was awake and busy watching the movie. I could hear the noise of forks and plates from the restaurant behind me and halfway through the movie, when a lady opened the window of her house, the creaking noise made quite a few people look in her direction. She quickly closed the window. 30 minutes into the movie, those kids with the whistle made their presence heard. They ran to 2-3 different spots outside the curtains, blew their whistle, laughed and ran off. After an hour, when two dogs started fighting outside, the man to my right tried to ensure his dog was calm. I could hear his dog starting to breathe heavily but the man made sure his dog would not bark as he calmly petted him. But the dog did bark, about 15 minutes from the film’s end, probably out of fatigue as he (or she) wanted to go home.

Even though the film had no english subtitles, White Material was a good choice because the camera’s language was beautiful, easy to follow and allowed one to soak in the African surroundings. Plus, the open air theater made the whole experience more alive and breathable than watching something in a closed setting. The cool air and starry sky made it the best cinematic experience I have ever had. In fact, the experience was more memorable than the film itself. White Material was not bad, but given the cinematic images that have been portrayed about Africa, I didn’t find anything ground breaking about the work. A different pace and some beautiful moments were what I liked best.

And in closing...

The experiences of reaching and viewing at both venues were more memorable than the actual films itself. As I have mentioned the San Polo open air cinema experience to friends, they have mentioned Cinema Paradiso. I had not thought of that and in a way, it was like that. Quite simply beautiful.

Lots of amazing things came together for me to reach my film screening on time. If we didn’t have to cross the Accademia bridge to go to the B&B, then I might not have been so confident in leaving without a map and trying to take that route later on in the day. And then that long walk to St. Helena and running into Pedro. Ofcourse, I had to talk to Pedro first. There were two stops at St. Helena so if it were not for Pedro, I might have stood at the second stop and missed the boat altogether. The only thing that I can’t find a place for is being shouted at by the Art Blue Cafe & Restaurant owner (or manager, whatever he was). Was there a lesson to be learned there? I am sure there is although I don’t want to spend another minute trying to think about it. Out damn shouting image of arrogant owner, I erase thee.

Ciao Venice.

A decade long path from Dark City

2009-09-20T00:40:00.014-06:00

Knowing (2009, USA/UK, Alex Proyas)

Note: Spoiler Alert -- key details about Dark City and Knowing are mentioned.

More than a decade ago, the brilliant Dark City showed a world where humans were the guinea pigs of an alien experiment. The film was smart and offered plenty of intriguing ideas about memories and human psychology.

11 years later, Alex Proyas returns with an end of the world sci-fi film with a key alien presence. As per the film, it is aliens who shepherd humans through the cycle of destruction and recreation. The aliens serve as angels in charge of ensuring that the cycle of life continues as per the Bible. While the film only focuses on one young Adam-Eve couple in charge of starting the birth of the planet from scratch, it also indicates that multiple couples might share the burden. Earth's destruction is quite beautifully done and "the end" does not feel like a finale. Instead, it appears as the board has been cleared completely so that a future recreation can take place.

I was pleasantly surprized by Knowing. I had mistakenly believed the film would be another run of the mill destruction film but it is much better than Hollywood's regular nonsense. Knowing is a decent watch even though it is not nowhere as good as Dark City. Interestingly both films form a bond due to the alien presence. In Dark City, the humans are not shown to be taken by the aliens, whereas in Knowing the transport of the humans is depicted. The aliens in Dark City use their minds as weapons but it is the mouth that serves as the weapon in Knowing (whispers and also for blinding light). Both sets of aliens from the two films wear trench coats but in Knowing, the aliens don't need a hat as they have a full set of hair. So clearly the aliens in both films are from different planets :) Maybe, another decade later Alex Proyas will present a third installment of an alien film. So let this blog entry serve as a time capsule in that regard.

CIFF 2009 preview, part IV

2009-09-16T20:08:00.007-06:00

Mary and Max (2009, Australia, Adam Elliot)

It is easy to see why this wonderful claymation film opened the Sundance film festival. The film shows plenty of maturity and effortlessly pieces together moments of beauty, humour and darkness. The story is also a refreshing throw back to the old days of snail mail which allowed pen pals to exchange their ideas across the planet while they patiently waited by the mailbox to get the next letter. The voices of the two main characters are also cast perfectly -- the bubbly young Australian girl gets her vocals courtesy of Toni Collette while the depressive middle aged man is voiced by Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who else?).

Correction Update: Toni Collette voices the adult Mary not the young one.

Amreeka (2009, USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)

The opening 15 min of Amreeka are poetic and feature some soul stirring music, especially in the scene featured in the photo where Fadi is stopped at a checkpoint. This critical scene convinces Muna that she should move to the US to seek a better life for her son. When the film shifts to the US after that, the story contains some elements which overlap with many recent films examining the immigrant difficulties in adapting to life in the US, be it from a Latino or Indian immigrant perspective. But Amreeka's strength is that it maintains a pleasant light hearted tone despite the bleakness of the situation thereby giving the film depth while also having a feel good factor. The film features strong acting, sharp visuals and poses plenty of thoughtful questions about racism and political bias in the media.

White on Rice (2009, USA, Dave Boyle)

An impressive light hearted indie film that contains some of the funniest scenes to feature in an American film this year. For example, the opening scene of a Japanese samurai film dubbed in English with an American texan accent is downright hilarious. And the presence of some quirky characters ensures that the film never gets dull.

The diver..

2009-08-29T22:10:00.006-06:00

Man Utd vs Arsenal

When the opponent is Arsenal, then Wayne Rooney knows when to dive. Back in 2004, it was from his dive that Man Utd won a penalty to end Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run. And on saturday, Rooney dove again to win a penalty, which he then scored to tie the game up.

As per the above picture, Rooney was already on his way to the ground before Almunia touched him. Almunia is to blame as well because there was no need for him to be so rash and he left himself no chance to pull his hands back. Rooney knew what he was doing. Even if Almunia had not touched him, Rooney would have fallen over Almunia's body and the penalty would still have been given. This is because when Man Utd are playing at home they get more penalties and decisions in their favour than any other team in the EPL.

And as usual, the other fouls that Man Utd players dished went unpunished and a clear penalty for Arsenal was also not called. A new season, yet the same ref bias. Eduardo gets charged by UEFA but Rooney will not be called out, never.

CIFF 2009 preview, part III

2009-08-28T00:02:00.006-06:00

Asian hat-trick

Call if you need me (2009, Malaysia, James Lee)

A visually sharp film that combines the sensibilities of diverse film-makers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Quentin Tarantino while still retaining a unique Malaysian flavour. Hou Hsiao-Hsien elevated a gangster film to an art form with Goodbye South Goodbye and James Lee does a very job in carrying on that tradition. Call if you Need me is about gangsters and kidnappings but there isn’t a single gun or drop of blood to be found on screen. All the violence is kept out of the frame and we are instead shown events that precede or succeed a violent act. In one instance, the gangsters surround a guy and are ready to beat him up but the next scene shows the victim playing cards with the gangsters. A few moments later, we learn that the guy is kidnapped and can’t go until the money he owes turns up so he is forced to pass the time by playing cards but you can sense his nervousness. Because there is no violence shown on screen, we can instead focus on the characters and their day to day lives, including their love interests and their choice of food and drugs.

The film also maintains a cool look and tempo similar to the cinema of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (especially Invisible Waves) thereby making it a perfect film for a nice summer day. Even though the topic is about gangsters, one never leaves the film with a bad taste and the film does not glorify the gangster’s lifestyle, something that Ram Gopal Varma consistently does in his work.

Rough Cut (2008, Korea, Hun Jang)

Rough Cut has taken some aspects of the extraordinary Korean film Dirty Carnival and gone in a different direction with good effect. Dirty Carnival showed how gangsters complained about movies not having authentic fight scenes and in order to correct things, a local gangster (Byeong-du) helped his old college friend (Min-ho) to make an authentic gangster film by giving pointers to the actors and fight instructors. In Rough Cut, a once popular action star asks a local gangster to play a villain in his movies so that the actor can save his career. The gangster, who always dreamed of being an actor himself, agrees provided that all the fight scenes in the film are real and not staged. The end result is a no holds barred on screen contest where even the film’s director has no idea if the end result would hold true to his original script.

Rough Cut is a very good film that puts a new spin on the traditional gangster genre. Kim Ki-duk's screenplay is different from anything he done before, and that includes the gangster film Bad Guy that he directed early in his career.

Daytime Drinking (2008, Korea, Noh Young-seok)

A delightful film that provides plenty of laughs with its sincere tale of love, friends, alcohol and good food. When I was not busy laughing, I was craving hot ramen noodles with cold beer just like the characters in the film. In recent years, most of the Korean films that have showed at film festivals have been big budget slick productions. So it is great to see an independent Korean film like Daytime Drinking doing the festival rounds.