Six films you might have missed, but need to see
VIFF ends, and movies move out into the world
The curtain closes on another Vancouver International Film Festival on Friday.
For the past two-plus weeks, more than 330 films — feature length and shorts — from 70 countries around the globe have hit Vancouver screens. During that time, film fans filled their tanks with foreign fare, fascinating documentaries and even some Hollywood award season bait.
But even the most diligent of moviegoers knows they may have missed one or two — or 20 — films on their must-see list.
The good news, though, is that thanks to good, old-fashioned movie theatres, specialty TV channels and streaming services, these films can live on long after the festival has wrapped up. So, instead of beating yourself up over what you missed, why not start a whole new list of films to keep a keen eye out for? With that in mind here are six VIFF films that arts writers Dana Gee and Stuart Derdeyn still want to see, and think you should keep a watch out for, too:
PAIN AND GLORY
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, complete with shaggy saltand-pepper hair, once again has brought to life director Pedro Almodovar’s cinematic alter ego. In this new film, Banderas plays a gay film director who is trying to get his mojo back. Depressed and reflective, the filmmaker struggles to understand and survive past choices while also trying to navigate the world that is crashing in around him. Think: aging man in a creative slump. Think: Federico Fellini’s 8½. For his work, Banderas has been applauded loudly, including the best-actor prize at Cannes this year. Almodovar’s other favourite film regular, Penelope Cruz, also shows up in this one.
WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL
A legendary film critic and New Yorker (among others) writer, the late Pauline Kael was a love-her-or-hate-her-but-never-ignore-her kind of writer. This Rob Garver documentary makes use of tons of archival footage and interviews with many filmmakers who were actually affected by Kael’s take-no-prisoners film reviews. As someone who loves films and who has to talk about film all the time, this look at the person many people considered the greatest film critic seems like a savoury side dish to the movies we’ve all dined on over the years.
THE TWO POPES
Hidden away in the Vatican, the very big C-conservative Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) and liberal Pope Francis-to-be Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) put their heads and hats together to try to find a common ground that will help them and a billion other people move forward on a new path for the Catholic Church. While this monolith still holds a lot of sway, it seems interesting to see how that sway is massaged and packaged for the parishioners. Also, Hopkins and Pryce going head to head is an acting title bout for sure. The film is directed by Fernando Meirelles, the guy behind the remarkable 2002 movie City of God.
ASSHOLES: A THEORY
Taking its inspiration from University of California philosophy Prof. Aaron James’ New York Times bestseller of the same name, Canadian documentary filmmaker John Walker digs into the burgeoning global rise of the a--hole in daily doings, business, arts and culture and — obviously — politics. From the privileged toxic Ivy League frat clubs to the gated communities of Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Facebook, Walker tries to understand why and when it became OK to be someone who really isn’t concerned with what anyone else thinks. The ramifications of rampant a--holedom are easy to see everywhere, every day, and interviews with everyone from John Cleese to RCMP whistleblower Sherry Lee Benson-Podolchuk will doubtless expand our understanding of the contemporary reality. As a former editor of The Economist so succinctly puts it in the trailer: “When you elect an a--hole to run your country, what you get is someone who frames everything around their own needs.” Could be required viewing.
VAI
Nine female Pacific filmmakers filmed in seven different countries — Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Samoa, Niue and Aotearoa (New Zealand) — to craft this omnibus tale of eight separate moments in the life of one woman named Vai. In each of the nations involved, Vai is the word for water, and the title characters’ journey of empowerment through culture flows together across each vignette. Said to be something like watching a memory-highlight reel from a single lifetime, Vai has been a hit at film festivals all over the Pacific and will most likely make a splash wherever it goes. Bringing in so many women’s voices across such a vast expanse of ocean to tell a story is all pretty amazing.
LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM
“Shot on location at the world’s most remote school,” director Pawo Choying Dorji’s story is set in the mountain highlands of Bhutan. That alone makes this film of interest as the nation with the Gross National Happiness index doesn’t crank out that many movies that get global distribution. Follow a teacher named Ugyen, who would rather be singing in Australia than finishing out his government teaching service in a remote village located at 5,000 metres, where yaks outnumber humans. Along the way, this educated urbanite apparently learns about life and his culture. Although the story is hardly one that hasn’t been written many times before, the landscapes are breathtaking, and who doesn’t like a look at somewhere most will probably never venture?