VIFF: mime-mime

my rating: awesome

my blurbie:
a japanese woman directed this film about a slacker woman in her early 20s who works part-time and avoids her family and has occasional sex with her former teacher.

interestingly, this film starts with this woman giving her former teacher a blow-job. but there's no gratuitous nudity or showing of body parts.

i think it was good mumblecore with lots of ambience and awkward family scenes. the director was in the theatre and she looked like she was 20 years old herself. she said that she took a part-time job to make the film.

i'm pretty impressed and although the film was a little uneven, i liked where she was going and how she filmed it all.

..............................

so at mime-mime, the guy sitting beside me was all friendly and chatting up the woman sitting on the other side of him and said hi to me. he was telling the woman that he volunteers at the 'english clubs' for some japanese and korean language schools in town.

i could tell he wanted to ask if i was japanese but i made sure not to look in his direction much so as to prevent further discussion.

so, here's the thing: this is the SECOND GUY who, at a japanese film screening, seems to be wanting to be friendly to me and ask me if i'm japanese.

i am so not impressed by this approach.

also, this dude was breathing rather loud.

yuck.

VIFF: Dancing with Time

my rating: meh

my blurbie:
a documentary about 4 german ex-ballet dancers in their 70s who are brought together to put on a dance piece. i thought it sounded cool. the doc was structured with the performance piece inter-spliced with interviews of the 4 dancers.

but i never felt that we really got to know the dancers. and so i never got emotionally attached/involved with them at all.

the part i liked most in the film was when the 4 were doing the basic movements in ballet and the close ups of their feet showed how much our bodies remember certain things.

VIFF: Sweet Food City

my rating: walkout

my blurbie:
so i didn't walk out even though rob whispered that he wouldn't mind leaving. this was horrible horrible wanna be autuer shit.

let me start with the sound: all the sound was reproduced afterwards which can sound fine IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. in this movie, the girl's footsteps sound like men's shoes and they weren't synced up. the dialogue was all redone and it sounded like the actors spoke too close to the microphone.

then there's the visual quality. THERE WASN'T ANY. clearly shot on the cheapest consumer brand camera, all the whites were blown out and all the blacks had no detail. my eyes were burning. and the cinematography? really bad; don't be fooled by the nice film still above.

when i came home, i re-read the film outline in the VIFF book and it sure sounds wonderful: "brilliant use of cinematic space" and "director who thinks in 3D." the main girl's story took up half the screen time, the other half was made up of indiscriminate, random, unrelated (except they happen in her ghetto complex) scenes of poor people being bored, kids with no pants on, and many minutes of cute kittens sleeping.

here's a line i though was special: "a real man should smoke"

about 10 minutes into the film, all us non-mandarin speakers were wondering where the subtitles were. if you squinted and looked at the bottom of the screen, you could see the subtitles were just off the screen. suddenly, during the scene when the girl is putting on her bra, the film stops and the projector menu comes up and we all watch as the projectionist adjusts the film image so we can see the subtitles.

wtf.

VIFF: Three Monkeys

my rating: awesome

my blurbie: by the same turkish director that made Climates and Distant; both films i have not seen but read many good reviews about. Three Monkeys did not disappoint.

every single frame of the film was cinematic eye candy for me. EVERY ONE.

it's a heavy duty dramatic film about a father who accepts the bribe of his employer (a politician) in exchange for confessing to accidentally running over someone. during his year in jail, his wife cheats on him with his boss and his 18 year old son fails college exams. when he gets out of jail, a contest of raised voices and burrowing stares between the family members ensue.

despite it looking freaking fantastic, i had trouble believing some of the character's motivations.

VIFF: JCVD

my rating: okay

my blurbie: sold out screening. saw some peeps there (martyn, ken) and settled in for a super saturated/filtered yellow green looking action drama. there's this very-long-no-edits shot that makes fun of jean-claude van dame's roles in films.

i liked how the director was this 20 something dude from taiwan who was throwing darts at a dartboard with the word hollywood on it. jc's monologue near the end of the film was truly impressive and showed his range as an actor and proved he's not just a martial arts machine.

even though this was a nice concept film, i found the plot and the acting inconsistent and somewhat poor.

VIFF: Still Walking

my rating: transcendental

my blurbage: despite the horrible film still, i went to see this movie. the director's previous film, Nobody Knows, was great although i have yet to see it. but i didn't need to worry because holy freaking god was this movie excellent. echoes of Ozu's generational divide and gorgeous cinematography and great natural acting and believable writing and superb pacing make this film a MUST SEE.

the second (and last) screening is this wednesday (oct 1) at 6:40pm.

VIFF: party

after watching Orz Boyz, i caught up with Rob, Terry and Casey who were about to go to a party at Insight's renovated theatre on Main Street. they managed to sneak me into my first ever film fest party.

oh man, is it nice in there with over a hundred lipstick red leather club chairs that can be configured in any way possible. last night, they had them in small groupings with 4-5 chairs in each to facilitate conversation.



and there were platters of deliciously prepared lebanese food from Nuba and not expensive booze ($5 per drink). PLUS, i noticed an actor from BATTLESTAR GALATICA!!!

ok, so she has a minor part but still. her real name is Jen Halley and she plays Diana Seelix who started as a deckhand and became a pilot later on. in real life her hair is super long and she's very tall and skinny. so cool.



and then i spoke with matt dentler who is big in the indie film community as he was the head of SXSW up until this year. he was nice and very tall.



and i wish i could say i saw/talked/gawked/shook the hand of don mckellar but he didn't show.