Tag: viff

VIFF is love

The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off this week, running from September 30 – October 15. I haven’t given the VIFF Film Guide & Schedule my usual care this year, but I’ve managed to find a number of interesting films through word of mouth, with thanks especially to Andrew and Keith. If there’s anything you think I might fancy that I don’t have listed, please feel free to make suggestions.

Sat, Oct 2nd: Win/Win, 10:45 am, Empire Granville. The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, 10:45 am, Pacific Cinematheque. The Red Chapel, 12:30 pm, Empire Granville, (rush only). Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, 9:45 pm, Empire Granville.
Sun, Oct 3rd: The Red Chapel, 10:45 am, Pacific Cinematheque. The Sleeping Beauty, 6:40pm, Empire Granville.
Mon, Oct 4th: Ride, Rise, Roar, 9:30 pm, Empire Granville.
Tue, Oct 5th: Turn It Loose, 1:15 pm, Empire Granville. Into Eternity, 3 pm, Empire Granville.
Wed, Oct 6th: The Sleeping Beauty, 10:30am, Empire Granville. Transfer, 9:15 pm, Empire Granville.
Thu, Oct 7th: Transfer, 1:15 pm, Empire Granville. The Sleeping Beauty, 4:15pm, Empire Granville.
Fri, Oct 8th: Into Eternity, 1:50 pm, Empire Granville. Win/Win, 4:00 pm, Empire Granville.
Sat, Oct 9th: My Words, My Lies – My Love, 9:00 pm, Empire Granville. Into Eternity, 9:30 pm, Vancity Theatre.
Sun, Oct 10th: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, 11:00 am, Vancity Theater. Ride, Rise, Roar, 2:30 pm, Empire Granville.
Mon, Oct 11th: My Words, My Lies – My Love, 3:00 pm, Park Theater.
Tue, Oct 12th: Ride, Rise, Roar, 6:40 pm, Empire Granville.
Thu, Oct 14th: The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, 9:30 pm, Empire Granville.
Fri, Oct 15th: The 4th Revolution – Energy Autonomy, noon, Empire Granville. The Illusionist, 9:45, Empire Granville.

Of everything listed, the one I’m most invested in is The Illusionist, a film I’ve been enchanted with since the trailer leaked on-line last spring. “Based on an unfilmed screenplay by Jacques Tati, Sylvain Chomet’s animated follow-up to his worldwide triumph The Triplets of Belleville is a less manic and even more beautifully realized story of a down-on-his-luck magician in the 1950s and the young girl who is innocent enough to be spellbound by his talents. A true gem of whimsy and melancholy, graced by an extraordinary musical score.”

this weekend’s supposed schedule

If you’ve had the good fortune to see any of these, tell us how it was! We’ve got a lot of maybe’s on our list, and a few we’re deciding between, so information’s appreciated.

Friday

5:00 MEET THE FILMMAKERS: TRIMPIN + PETER ESMONDE in conversation with JEAN ROUTHIER Pacific Cinémathèque

9:30 pm Trimpin: The Sound of Invention (A documentary on one of my mother’s friends). "Peter Esmonde and Trimpin–with a sculpture for temporary exhibition in the Vancouver International Film Centre–will be in attendance for our Thanksgiving weekend screenings!" Vancity Theatre

Saturday

12:30 am Kimjongilia Empire Granville 7 Th 5

2:10 pm Splinters Empire Granville 7 Th 6

?? – Salt in Blood Alley

7 pm – Michael’s birthday dinner

9:15 pm Will Not Stop There Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)

?? – Frank’s birthday movie-night

Sunday

12:20 The Exploding Girl Empire Granville 7 Th 1 (tentative)

1:15 NFB 70th Anniversary Program Pacific Cinémathèque (tentative)

4:00 Canary Pacific Cinémathèque

6:10 Everyone Else Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)

9:15 Bluebeard Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)

9:15 Police, Adjective Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)

Monday

11:30 – Breakfast at Havana’s

1:20 Mother Visa Screening Room
@ Empire Granville Th7

4:20 Nora’s Will Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)

6:20 North Empire Granville 7 Th 4

8:45 Punching the Clown Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)

9:15 La Pivellina Empire Granville 7 Th 3 (tentative)

what it comes down to is I really need new reasons to get out of the house

R.I.P. Irving Penn.

–::–


Last Night:

HOME: Yann Arthus-Bertrand makes with the pretty. More appropriate for a younger audience, simplistic and at times heavy handed. If I was less involved with eco-activism, I might have found it educational, but instead the only new things I learned from the film are that Madagascar’s erosion wounds look exactly like gashes in raw meat and elephants look tremendously like bunny rabbits from very high up.

–::–

Boston’s Big Picture: France’s Royal de Luxe street theatre company in Germany, performing “The Berlin Reunion”, part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

–::–


I skipped Tuesday’s films, electing instead to stay in, chat with friends on-line and attempt a good soak in the bath. (More fool me, I’d forgotten that I don’t particularly fit in our bath, now even less than before. Having a desk job is turning me into a lump.) Also, just for fun, I administered more surreal panic-the-uninquisitive status updates into Tony‘s “possessed” Facebook account:

  • Tony Jackson (otherwise known as Le Dude) is not giving up kilts, he is giving up cheese. The two words are similar, hence the confusion.
  • Tony Jackson (otherwise known as Le Dude) is going to be a father.
  • Tony Jackson (otherwise known as Le Dude) feels electric, POSSESSED by the JOY of LUCIFER, oh my goodness such an amazing RUSH, now I can WRITE and WRITE and WRITE about HIS glory, HIS splendor, oh yess, I feel like I never have to sleep again yes yes yes yes yes… yes yes yes pills pills pills pills pills pills pills pills
  • Tony Jackson (otherwise known as le dude) wants to know if you’re Dave. Are you Dave? Are you my wife, dave?
  • Tony Jackson (otherwise known as le dude) is bathing in tangy rice pilaf before going to work. Got to wash all that blood off! Hi-Ho!

    • in regards to this weekend, to your head in my lap, there is nothing better

    So, films to date:

    The Great Contemporary Art Bubble: Outstanding. Fascinating to see who was willing to say what in regards to arts trading, arts speculation, and rigged auctions. Some of the art was atrocious, but that’s part of the point. Also, there’s great satisfaction in seeing someone stick it so adroitly to Damien Hirst.

    Soundtrack for a Revolution: Five stars. I’ve never seen a better film on the fight for African-American civil rights. I hope for all of our sakes this film gets picked up scholastically. Interesting, too, to watch it in Canada, rather than the US. Also, hot damn, that was a lot of really good music. Extra points to The Roots playing with TV On The Radio.

    Castaway on the Moon: Oh my stars and garters, this was cracking fun. Korea, you win. Forever.

    Forbidden Door: Do not go. Four, possibly five twist endings painfully wrestle across the last ten minutes of the film, awkwardly obliterating any of the good what came before. If you must see it, leave as he sits laughing at dinner and before he bothers with the bloody stupid door.

    Air Doll: Exactly as expected, minus some confusion as to what, precisely, is a sex scene. Korean films are excellent, (apparently Air Doll is Japanese, it’s only the lead who is Korean. My mistake.) the premise gives a certain shine to otherwise shopworn ideas about what is beautiful about living, and that’s about it. Cute, sweet, slightly odd. Rent it with a date. Or don’t.

    The Girl: Related somehow to Let The Right One In, it reminded me of short stories I read when thirteen. Calm, uncanny, yet utterly prosaic. My favourite film so far after Castaway On The Moon.

    Face: We walked out. It started off promising, with a truly excellent bit with singing fashion models in bunny suits and a reindeer trapped in a forest full of mirrors, but there wasn’t anything else worth mentioning, except that our lives were made better by leaving.

    Today

    6:45 – Kamui Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)

    9:30 – Breathless Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)

    Tuesday

    7:00 – The September Issue Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)

    9:30 – Mother Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7

    Wednesday

    6:30 – Home Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7

    Thursday

    6:30pm – Cow Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)

    6:40pm – Canary Empire Granville 7 Th 1 (tentative)

    9:30pm – Bong Joon-Ho & Co: A 25th-birthday Tribute to KAFA Vancity Theatre

    Please join us for any of these fine events!

    I’m not going to Seattle this weekend, surprise, because, gloriously, it is time to VIFF!

    The Vancouver International Film Festival kicked off yesterday, (Oct 1 – Oct 16), and I though I considered leaving town, it’s the most fun you can have in Vancouver whilst only sitting on your ass. I’d be a fool to miss out. This is the schedule Tony and I cobbled together for our weekend glued to chairs and the silver screen, mowing down endless tubs of candy and greasy popcorn, only occasionally blinking in the hateful light of this-thing-you-call-the-outside as we quest for more substantial food than the traditional yet truly terrible movie theater hot-dogs.

    More to come later in the week, as this thing runs until the 16th and I’ll be damned if I only go for three days.

    Friday, October 2

    9:15pm – The Great Contemporary Art Bubble
    Empire Granville 7 Th 1

    Saturday, October 3

    11:30 pm – Delicious breakfast
    Havana’s on Commercial Dr.

    1:30 pm – Soundtrack for a Revolution
    Empire Granville 7 Th 2

    4:15pm – Castaway on the Moon
    Visa Screening Room, @ Empire Granville Th7

    6:00-ish – Birthday dinner with Mishka
    place as yet to be determined

    ?? – Delicious meat & wine & cheese
    Blood Alley’s SALT.

    9:00 pm – Forbidden Door
    Empire Granville 7 Th 3

    Sunday, October 4

    10:30am – Will Not Stop There
    Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7

    1:00pm – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    Empire Granville Th7 (tickets are RUSH aka At The Door Only. We’ll have to line up eaarly)

    4:00pm – Air Doll
    Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7

    6:20pm – The Girl
    Empire Granville 7 Th 4

    9:15pm – Face
    Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7

    I get to sleep in tomorrow (the beast of a thousand young)

    Monday, (which, I suppose, strictly speaking. is today, though it feels more like a continuation of Friday for all I’ve been sleeping), there’s going to be two trips to the Van-International Film Fest.

    Renaissance at 4 o’clock and The King And The Clown at 9:30pm, both at Granville 7.

    The King and the Clown marks our last Korean Movie Monday. After this we’ll be picking up with a multi-genre media night at Andrew’s instead, (which I’m far more likely to regularly attend), also every Monday, as far as I know. I’ll pass on the news as I receive it.

    Two Discworld stories by Terry Pratchett, freely available online: “Death and What Comes Next” and “Theater Of Cruelty.” via rollick.

    jusst a quick not before I sleep: You Are Invited

    Tomorrow afternoon, (around 2-ish), Sara and I are going to go gleefully and reverently explore the BodyWorlds exhibit at Scienceworld.

    Also on my things-to-do: Pay more attention to the Vancouver International Film Festival.

    I heard tell that the promising looking sci-fi Rennasaince, the Michel Gondry film, The Science of Sleep, (director of Spotless Mind, among other things), and the new Mamoru Oshii, (Ghost in the Shell), Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters, will all be playing at the festival, unlikely to ever return.

    Sam’s arranging a group to go to Tachigui this Saturday afternoon, September 30, for 2:30pm at the Granville, (tickets are $7.50), and Kyle and I have October 11th tickets for The Fountain, which costs about $10, but I haven’t looked into the other shows yet. I’m too bloody tired at the moment. If anyone’s got any preferred times and dates, please, tell me and I’ll see about posting them. (As well, of course, as attending).