20 June 2008, terribly early in the morning
Shima and I watched Fire Wednesday night. It’s the first film in Deepa Mehta’s elements trilogy. Compared to Water, which I really enjoyed, I found Fire a bit weak. I think the film is a bit too heavy handed and in your face with all the Ramayana allegory. The fact they keep mentioning the story, and keep explaining the parts of the story Metha is criticizing, struck me as very lame. I suppose she was worried Western audiences may not be aware of this Indian religious literature. That aside, it was still a good film. The actors were great, and the story is well told. I think it’s worth watching.
Reviews of Fire on MetaCritic.
[1] Movies
13 May 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched Street Health Stories and the Interventionists last night at DIGIN to DOCS. Street Health Stories features a few homeless people discussing their lives; this narration is played over portraits of them taken by 4 ladies who were at one time homeless. It’s basically an attempt to put names and faces to statistics on homelessness. I thought it was a well executed film. The Interventionists looks at a new unit within the police force that deals with mentally ill people: a police officer is paired with a psychiatric nurse, and they attempt to diffuse situations that would normally be dealt with by EMS or the police. They try to divert people that would normally be sent to jail or to the hospital to services in their area, unless this isn’t feasible. It struck me as a smart and effective use of resources. Both films were interesting.
The discussion after the film went the way most of these discussions seem to. I get the sense that people in the area feel no one listens to their concerns — which is probably true — so whenever they are given a chance to speak, I find they are generally far too antagonistic. The people who came to speak were all basically working to improve the lives of the homeless in Toronto. They really aren’t the people you need to demand more from, since they are fighting the good fight. The fact they might be based downtown, rather than in our neighbourhood really isn’t something you can fault them for. I see this sort of thing happen all the time. Adam Giambrone is by far the most responsive of the elected representatives in the area. And because he’s the most accessible he is the one that gets bitched at the most. Silva and Ruprecht basically hide for 4 years and no one in the area cares — worse still they elect them again. And people are surprised nothing changes?
You can learn more about the Interventionists and Street Health Stories at the NFB.
[3] Movies | Bloor and Lansdowne
12 May 2008, early morning
I watched Ironman over the weekend with a few of my friends. The film was brilliant, easily one of the best comic book films done to date. (In my mind it ranks up there with X-Men 2 and Batman Begins.) The film goes through the origin story of Ironman, changing the story somewhat to make it more contemporary: instead of being injured in Vietnam, Stark is injured in Afghanistan; he is saved by an Afghan scientist instead of a Vietnamese one; instead of fighting the commies he is fighting Islamic Jihadists. (I think there are a few other differences between the comic and the movie, but nothing too drastic.) Robert Downy Jr. is a perfect Tony Stark. I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part now. Ironman is a fun comic book film; it doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. It is at times very funny. Ironman is well worth seeing.
The official Ironman website.
[3] Movies
8 May 2008, terribly early in the morning
Shima and I watched Leon (known in the US as The Professional) last night. The movie is about the relationship between a very young Natalie Portman, whose family is killed by in a drug dispute, and Jean Reno, who plays a hitman. Reno ends up taking care of Portman after her parents are killed. This is the second time I’ve seen the film, and it was just as good as I remember it. The gun fights are crazy. The stars all are wonderful playing their respective parts. I think it’s one of Luc Besson’s best movies. (It is certainly a cult classic.) If you watch the film, be sure to watch the international version. The original version cuts out 22 minutes of the film. Apparently some of the sexual tension between Portman and Reno was a bit too much for viewers. The film also stars Gary Oldman. Who doesn’t like Gary Oldman? I love the film.
Read reviews of the The Professional at Rotten Tomatoes.
Movies
3 May 2008, mid-afternoon
The last film I watched at Hotdocs (last week!) was S&M: Short and Male. The movie is a humorous look at the adversity short people face. Basically, there are countless studies that show if you are short you are destined to make less money and be ignored by women and all other sorts of great stuff. The movie is actually pretty informative, and covers a lot of interesting ground. The problem with the film is that a lot of the characters are kind of annoying. And, as far as I can tell, everyone they profiled is actually really successful. The film is sending conflicting messages. It’s an OK documentary.
S&M: Short and Male was the last film I saw at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
30 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
After Betrayal I went for a drink with the rest of my movie watching compatriots. We walked over to the Green Room, which was close to Bloor Cinema, where the next screening was taking place. Movie #2 of the day was Football Undercover, a German/Iranian film about the difficulties in setting up an exhibition match between the Iranian women’s football team and a football team from Germany. It is trickier than you would imagine. The more interesting portions of the film are those shot in Tehran, showing you the lives of the football players living there. The actual match is fun to watch as well, as the women fans get a bit too rowdy for the morality police. I thought it was an entertaining enough film, though a little bit light overall.
Football Undercover was the 8th film I watched at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
29 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
The best film I saw at Hotdocs this year was, by far, Betrayal (Nerakhoon), by Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath. The film is narrated by Thavisouk, and the focus of the movie is primarily on him and his mother. The entire film is beautifully shot. Kuras is a cinematographer by trade, so this is probably to be expected. This film is her directorial debut. There is so much going on in this film, it was incredible.
During the U.S. military’s covert operations in Laos in the early 1970s, Thavisouk Phrasavath’s father was recruited to help the CIA. But when the Americans withdrew and the communist regime gained power, Phrasavath’s father and thousands of others were declared enemies of the state and imprisoned. At the age of 12, Phrasavath made a harrowing escape from Laos to Thailand and eventually to New York City, where the hardships of an immigrant’s life forced him, his eight siblings and his resilient mother to face an entirely different kind of war.
On one level the film is really about just how big an impact the bombs the US dropped on Laos have had on the Laotian people. The first portion of the film will most certainly fill you with some ‘Fuck America’ rage. The footage of the bombs being dropped over Laos is both amazing and beautiful, and horrible and disgusting, all at the same time.
And then the story moves forward and you find yourself watching a movie about the immigrant experience. I knew the film was going to be awesome when we are shown a scene of a younger Thavisouk showing off his long hair and tattoos. Text on the screen informs us we’re watching footage from Brooklyn, 1985. Kuras looks to have been following this family’s life for over 20 years! I can only imagine how much film they had to wade through to make the movie they ended up with. The narrative they’ve managed to put together works so well. The movie covers a lot of ground, but never feels disjoint. Thavisouk seems to find his bearings in the US, but his brothers and sisters end up rebelling quite hard. At my high school you saw this exact same thing play out with the Tamil kids who escaped the civil war in Sri Lanka. I think this is a very common experience. The fact that Kuras has all this footage of the family’s first years in the US is what really makes this portion of the film work so well.
I don’t think I’ve been at a film where you can hear so many people crying. It’s a bit unsettling when you can hear grown-ass men sniffling behind you. Betrayal was a brilliant film.
Betrayal was the 7th film I watched at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
28 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
My Hotdocs posse and I watched a series of short films on Friday. The screening began with Lovely Andrea, and was followed by Je Suis Une Bombe, Cock Fight Song, Time Flies, and Perfect / Growing Older (Dis)gracefully. Lovely Andrea was about a woman searching for a photograph she posed for in 1987 for a bondage magazine in Tokyo. I enjoyed the film, it’s a strange peak into the porno world. Je Suis Une Bombe was probably the coolest film of the lot. A woman in a Panda suit dances like a stripper, then takes of her head and says a poem. (I suppose its something you need to watch.) Perfect / Growing Older (Dis)gracefully looks at widow living in Liverpool who gets a makeover in order to look more trendy. It was very enjoyable. All the films were a bit more quirky then your typical Hotdoc film I suppose. None were an exhaustive look at any subject.
Hotdocs is over. I still need to write about Betrayal (easily the best film I’ve seen at the festival), Football Undercover, and Short and Male.
Lovely Andrea, Je Suis Une Bombe, Cock Fight Song, Time Flies and Perfect / Growing Older (Dis)gracefully were the 6th set of films I saw at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
24 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
Following The Red Card I saw Where Do We Belong, a film about the life of Afghan refugees and their Iranian brides. The movie consists primarily of interviews with Afghan men and their Persian brides, sitting in their homes with their families. The first half of the film takes place in Iran, and examines how the Afghans are treated by the Iranians. None of the Afghans are considered proper Iranian citizens, even if they were born their. Their children are also without rights. (If an Afghan women marries a Persian man, then their children are proper Iranian citizens.) Basically, life in Iran if you are an Afghan kind of sucks. (I have a hunch that life in Iran sucks in general, but I haven’t lived there myself.) The later half of the film looks at the lives of Afghans who have been deported back to Afghanistan. I’m not sure what this part of the film was supposed to convey. There are dog fights, polygamy, child marriage, and lots of ignorance and abject poverty. So, life in Afghanistan seemingly sucks more than life in Iran. The second half of the film seemed like a showcase of the ways in which Afghanis are so provincial — if Iranians held a low opinion of Afghanis before, I don’t think the film does anything to change that. Where Do We Belong was shot quite well. The director has a good eye. Like many Iranian films I’ve seen, its pace is very slow. Where Do We Belong was an interesting movie.
Where Do I Belong was the 5th film I watched at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
24 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched two Iranian films last night, the first of which was The Red Card. A strange film about the murder/sex scandal involving Iranian soccer star Nasser Khani, whose wife was murdered, presumably by his mistress, the outspoken “Shahla” Jahed. This looks to be the OJ Simpson trial of Iran. It’s a very bizarre film, mixing court room footage, interviews with Khani, and video Shahla took of her and Khani in private. The film is worth watching if only to hear Shahla’s testimony. There is lots of wailing, which is something Persians like to do. Red Card was a cool film.
The Red Card was the 4 film I watched at Hotdocs 2008.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
22 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched My Mother’s Garden last night. The film, by director
Cynthia Lester, is all about her mother’s compulsive need to hoard things. Their family home is literally buried under piles and piles of garbage. Her mother sleeps outdoors. Cynthia describes loosing her room to junk when she was a girl, and eventually leaving home at 13. Her brothers were also effected by her moms illness, one joining a gang, the other turning to booze. Now adults, the family reunites to try and save their family home, which the city has threatened to take away from the mother. Lester has managed to capture both the humane and charming side of her mother, and the neurotic and irrational side. Her mother is an an endearing character, and I suspect part of the reason the film works so well is that her mother — despite all the crazy — is so very charming. You see all the ups and downs as the family tries to deal with a very stressful situation. It is at times quite intense. The film was excellent; you should watch it.
My Mother’s Garden was the 3rd film I saw at Hotdocs 2008. It was shown with the short Ground Floor Right There is a brief Q&A with Lester on the Hotdocs web site.
[1] Movies | Hotdocs 2008
21 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
La Carona was followed by Searching 4 Sandeep, an Australian film written, directed, and starring Poppy Stockell. The film follows Poppy as she begins a long distance relationship with a closeted British Punjabi girl Sandeep. The movie starts with Poppy waiting for Sandeep for their first meeting in Bangkok. It then jumps back 4 months to give you the story that lead up this meeting, and then moves on from there. As the movie began, I thought to myself, “what a lame choice to follow up La Carona.” It starts off quite light-hearted and cheesy. The movie is certainly funny throughout, but as the relationship becomes more and more serious things become a lot more interesting and heavy. The film touches on a lot of subjects, but perhaps most interesting is the relationship between Sandeep and her family as she comes out to them. Sandeep was given a camera early into the film, and some of the stuff she filmed is quite intense. Searching 4 Sandeep turned out to be a very good film.
Searching 4 Sandeep was the 2nd film I saw at Hotdocs 2008. This film screened with La Carona.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
21 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
Saturday afternoon I watched a double bill at Hotdocs The first of the two films featured was La Carona (The Crown), which was about a beauty pageant taking place in a medium/high security prison in Bogotá, Colombia. The directors followed four of the girls who are competing in the competition, showing you how they are preparing for the event, and giving you some of their back stories. It’s a strange film: it is at times very happy and upbeat, but there is always this very bleak undercurrent that runs through the whole film. All the women have clearly had very hard lives. I enjoyed the film very much. It’s certainly worth checking out.
La Carona was the 1st film I saw at Hotdocs 2008. The film screened with Searching 4 Sandeep.
Movies | Hotdocs 2008
16 April 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched Through a Blue Lens at DIGIN to DOCS this past Monday. This is the second film in the series being shown at Bloor Collegiate. The film was shot by a group of police officers working in Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside. The cops and the addicts have a very good rapport with one another, which makes for an interesting movie. The addicts let the officers shoot them in some pretty rough shape, and they are very frank about their addiction, their prior lives, etc. It’s a very gritty look at addiction. One lady explains how she ended up with this huge open sore on her arm: basically she picked away at it so much when she got high because she thought bugs were crawling all over her. And once it was all open she started shooting up in it. It was like a nastier larger version of the sore in Requiem for a Dream. And she had more scars like that all over her body. It scared me straight. (Also, the cops were at her place because her boyfriend had just shot himself in the head in front of her.) This was 10 minutes into the film, tops. And the movie just keeps going from there. Through a Blue Lens is a great documentary, well worth watching.
I couldn’t stay for the discussion that followed, which kind of sucked. They had a good line-up of people.
The official Through a Blue Lens web site. Michael has a writen about the film as well.
Movies
10 March 2008, early morning
Despite a warning from Mezan I decided to watch the Protector: it’s a really bad movie. Shima and I started off watching the US release, but switched to the original Thai version once I realized there were two versions on the DVD we rented. We should have stuck with the US version I think: the original movie is 20 minutes longer, and features some horrible English dialog — really, really bad stuff. The film’s plot is stupid and the acting is really atrocious. All of that said, it’s probably worth watching the film in fast forward just for the fights. There are some really good action sequences in the film, in particular the single-take fight in the illegal restaurant. It’s also great watching Tony Ja enter a scene by taking two dudes out with his flying knees of fury. The Protector is clearly a big budget film, I just wish they spent the money better.
The official The Protector web site.
[2] Movies
9 March 2008, early evening
Shima and I watched About a Boy last night. It’s a Hugh Grant film from a few years back. Grant plays a dude who pretends to have a son so he can lay the mack down on vulnerable single mothers — hilarity ensues. About a Boy is pretty funny. It’s a quirky romantic comedy. It reminded me of Love Actually a little bit, in that the film isn’t quite as clean cut as your typical romantic comedy. The film also stars Rachel Weisz: Meow.
The official About a Boy web site.
[1] Movies
9 March 2008, mid-afternoon
I finally saw Blade Runner with Matt. This involved trekking out in the Arctic weather we had yesterday, but was well worth the trip. The movie was good, and I got to hang out with Charlie, who both remembers me and enjoys my company: excellent. Blade Runner is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In the film, Harrison Ford plays a cop tasked with tracking down some rogue androids. The movie is filmed like a film noir: the music, dialog, and plot have a very 1950s crime film feel to them. The version I watched was the recently released directors re-cut: like Alien, it doesn’t look like Ridley Scott mucked around with too much. Matt said the film is fairly similar to what he remembers. I quite liked the movie; it’s definitely well worth watching.
The official Blade Runner web site.
[2] Movies
2 March 2008, early morning
I watched Darren Aronofsky’s third film, the Fountain, with Mezan and Carvill yesterday. There are three story lines in the film: in the present day, where a scientist is trying to save his dying wifes life by searching for a miracle cure to brain cancer; in the past, where a Spanish conquistador is searching for the tree of life for his Queen, and in the future, where a dude is traveling through space in a sphere with a tree. It’s basically a love story, with some science fiction mixed in. The dude is always played by Wolverine and the lady by the lovely Rachael Weisz. It’s an interesting film. I liked it a lot. Visually it’s quite stunning. I thought both Weisz and Jackman did good jobs playing their respective characters. The Fountain is well worth watching.
The official The Fountain web page.
Movies
28 February 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched the French film Kings and Queens last night. I watched the first hour or so with Shima: she couldn’t stand the film and stopped watching about half way through. Kings and Queens is a serious-ass art-house film. I enjoyed it, but if you don’t enjoy slow, disjoint, meandering movies I recommend you stay away. The movie is a little hard to describe, with basically two loosely intertwined stories. The movie begins with a woman telling the audience that she is to be married for the third time: her first husband died (before their son was born), her second husband and her weren’t compatible, and her husband to be is a wealthy kind man who she loves very much. As the movie moves forward, you realize that her description of things isn’t quite accurate. The other story involves a man, Ismaël, who has just been checked into a sanatorium, but is certain there is a misunderstanding. The movie is full of flashbacks. These flashbacks usually fill in the details of an event mentioned by the characters in the present: more often than not these flashbacks contradict what the audience has been led to believe up to that point. Kings and Queens is an interesting movie. It’s definitely a movie you need to watch twice I think to really appreciate. The movie stars the lovely Emmanuelle Devos, who was in Gentile. The more I think about the film, the more I like it: this is usually the sign of a good film.
Kings and Queens on Rotten Tomatoes.
[3] Movies
27 February 2008, terribly early in the morning
Mezan made Carvill and I watch Mountain Patrol over the weekend. It was something like the 11th time he had rented it, and he really wanted to watch it this time. His usual MO is to rent a film and then return it unwatched, thereby depriving someone else of the enjoyment of watching the movie, for one week at least. Mountain Patrol is a very cool film. It takes place in a remote corner of Tibet. (I get the feeling all the corners of Tibet are remote.) A reporter from Beijing arrives in a small town to interview a group of villagers who have set up a posse to hunt down poachers who are hunting antelopes. The captain of this group is a hard boiled dude, who leads his men and the reporter out into the wilderness in pursuit of a poacher he has been chasing for years. Howard — who showed up midway through the film to chat — commented that the film had a Moby Dick feel to it. It’s certainly a very bleak film. The cinematography is beautiful. There are lots of great landscapes to see. The actors all do a great job as well. All in all it’s a very enjoyable film.
The official Kekexili (Mountain Patrol) web site.
Movies
25 February 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe last night with Carvill and Limin. The movie is about a dad, Ryan Reynolds, explaining to his daughter, the little girl from Little Miss Sunshine, how he met his (soon to be ex) wife. The big gimmick in the movie is that he won’t tell his daughter which of the many women that appear in the story is her mother. The movie is basically a series of long flashbacks. The scenes that don’t work well in the film are those set in the present, between Reynolds and the little girl. I’m not quite sure how you could fix them though. Rachael Weisz was in the movie — meow. (There are actually several familiar faces in the film.) Definitely, Maybe was enjoyable enough, which is more than I can say for most romantic comedies I’ve seen.
It feels good to be watching so many films again.
The official Definitely, Maybe web site.
[2] Movies
22 February 2008, terribly early in the morning
Shima and I watched The Colour of Paradise last night, another film by Majid Majidi. This film also features children prominently. The Colour of Paradise examines the relationship of a blind boy and his (uncaring) father. The movie begins with the father arriving at the boys school for the blind (late) to pick him up for the summer, and goes on from there. Both the child and the father deliver very strong performances. There are two scenes of note that really stand out in my mind, but as is usually the case when I write about films, I don’t want to say what they are. The camera work is great. Majidi also does a great job of trying to get into the head of a blind boy, and as such the sound work in the film is also really well done. I liked Children of Heaven more, but The Colour of Paradise is certainly a good film. (One thing i’m not sure I like is the ending.)
The official The Colour of Paradise web site.
[1] Movies
19 February 2008, early morning
Shima and I watched I for India a few days back. The movie is about an Indian family living in England, who communicate with their family back home via 8mm film and reel-to-reel audio tapes. The movie begins with the family moving to England in the late 70s, and follows their life through to the present day. The film was shot by the families youngest daughter. It’s an interesting look at the life of an immigrant, and that “you can never go home again” feeling that seems common to everyone I’ve met that lives abroad. I like films about the immigrant experience, so I suppose my opinions on the film are biased.
The official I for India web site.
Movies
15 February 2008, early morning
I finally watched Children of Heaven last night. I have wanted to see it for ages. The Iranian film begins with a young boy loosing his sister’s shoes, which he had taken to be mended. The boys family is poor, and can’t buy another pair of shoes, so the boy and girl conspire to keep the loss a secret by sharing the boys sneakers. It’s a simple and sweet film. It’s basically a children’s movie, though I feel it has a lot more substance to it than that. I think the film is worth watching if only to see the last race sequence, which is surprisingly exciting. It ends on a strange note: a happy ending you don’t feel that good about. It’s hard to describe. Children of Heaven is well worth watching. It’s a great movie.
The official (maybe?) Children of Heaven web site.
Movies
14 February 2008, terribly early in the morning
I watched Persepolis with Limin, Vinnie and Shima. The movie is based on the graphic novels of the same name, which narrate the early life of their author, Marjane Satrapi. Almost the entire contents of the first two novels makes it into the movie. Clearly, due to time constraints and the nature of the medium, some elements aren’t as fleshed out as others; and of course, with animation, you can sometimes quickly express something that might have taken several panels to do in a comic. The only thing I noticed that was different in the film — though I need to confirm this — is the inclusion of a section where Satrapi discusses her depression and a suicide attempt. Shima thinks this was in the book, but I can’t recall it at all. I could see her going back and adding elements to the story she was too shy to write about initially. The movie — perhaps because of its pace — feels more like a documentary than an autobiography. I suppose the books in their own way are also a brief history of Iran. The art work is excellent.The movie captures the aesthetic of the book: the simple figures and high contrast blacks and whites. The movie uses what looks like watercolor or graphite shaded backgrounds in addition to the books simple black and white ink ones. The animation was amazing. The movie is great: if you have a chance to see this in the city you live in you really should. I had very high expectations for this film and it met them all. The movie’s ending made Shima cry — and Shima knows how the book ends!
The official Persepolis movie web site.
[1] Movies