VIFF 2008 - Preview Guide
On the Sunday before the long weekend, the much anticipated VIFF Preview guide was released. I, like the trooper I am went to the local chapters and asked for a copy. The said they hadn’t received any. I asked…no pleaded for them to check in the back. What do ya know. Preview guides…hurray.
While reading the booklet from cover to cover, I noticed the prices have gone up slightly.
movies before 6pm are $8.00
movies after 6pm are $10.00
Still cheaper than the local Cineplex for the matinée shows.
With yellow highlighter of doom in hand, I attacked my preview guide with a vengeance, and have come up with a short list of 18 films I am interested in seeing. I am listing only 14 in this post, because I couldn’t find typed out notes on four of the films…and I am lazy! Keep in mind that there will be alot more films announced in the coming days, so The list WILL GROW!
Marina of Row Three fame is doing coverage of the festival too. We will be sharing Intel, and plotting out all things VIFF related. You should all go and check her coverage out!
In no particular order
AFTER SCHOOL (Uchida Kenji)
Uchida Kenji’s hit thriller has as many twists as The Usual Suspects but stays rooted in its likeable, fallible characters. A common-or-garden salaryman has gone missing, maybe with a woman, but as assorted yakuza, private eyes and schoolteachers discover, more is going on than meets the eye. With hot new stars Oizumi Yo and Sasaki Kuranosuke.
Japanese film compared to Usual Suspects….I’m In!
GOD’S PUZZLE (Miike Takashi) - International Premiere
Never shy of tackling the big issues, Miike Takashi here explains quantum physics - through the stories of an embittered woman genius and a laddish male idiot, the latter impersonating his twin brother while he’s away searching for spiritual truths in India. The mix of low comedy, high theory, sex, puddles and special effects will certainly make your particles accelerate.
Miike… Thats enough for me!
HANSEL AND GRETEL (Yim Phil-Sung) - International Premiere
A callow young man crashes his car on a forest road and finds sanctuary in the “House of Happy Children”–where his cellphone can’t connect, the housephone is down and there’s no apparent way out… Fresh from a cameo role in The Host, director Yim Phil-Sung uncovers the grown-up horrors implicit in fairy tales like no-one since Angela Carter. A dazzling, disturbing entertainment. Dragons & Tigers Award Gala screening.
I’m a Horror Whore
SELL OUT! (Yeo Joon Han) - North American Premiere
An idealistic engineer defies a faceless corporation, while a ruthlessly ambitious TV hostess devises a death-obsessed reality show. Yeo Joon Han’s contemporary Malaysian black comedy intersperses hilariously touching musical numbers throughout his savagely witty spoof of commerce, and true art.
Death Obsessed Reality Show….Shiny
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SPARROW (Johnnie To) - North American Premiere
A delightful jeu d’esprit combining yearning romance, gentle action (of the pickpocketing kind), and cinematic dazzle, Johnnie To’s non-action near-musical surprises and beguiles. French in inspiration: think Jacques Demy with a sprig of Melville. Champagne sparkle with a tender heart.
Johnnie To’s Mad Detective from last years festival was great…so…
THE WITCH OF THE WEST IS DEAD (Nagasaki Shunichi) - North American Premiere
Nagasaki Shunichi’s exquisite adaptation of a novel by Nashiki Kaho must be one of the most luminous feminine rite-of-passage films ever. A troubled teen is sent to stay with her English grandmother in the Japanese countryside; the old lady teaches her “witches’ lore” and the girl recovers her emotional equilibrium. But life is never as neat and tidy as you might wish… Stars Shirley MacLaine’s daughter, Sachi Parker.
THE GIRL BY THE LAKE - Andrea Molaioli (Italy) Canadian Premiere
A beautiful girl found dead and naked by the side of a lake sets off the serpentine twists in director Andrea Molaioli’s debut thriller. Multiple suspects, a hardened detective (the extraordinary Toni Servillo from Il Divo) with troubles of his own and a remote and austerely gorgeous setting add up to a riveting tale of corruption, murder and the gulf between parents and their children.
Detective… Thriller…
HELEN - Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor (UK / Ireland) Canadian Premiere
A deftly controlled and visually auspicious drama, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s debut zeros in on lonely 17-year-old Helen (newcomer Annie Townsend) who volunteers to stand in for a missing girl in a police re-enactment. Lacking an identity of her own, she throws herself into the role with eerie consequences.
Just sounds interesting
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN - Tomas Alfredson (Sweden)
When 12-year-old Oskar is befriended by the preternaturally pale and possessed girl next door, blood and snow begin to mix in his Stockholm neighbourhood. Director Tomas Alfredson (Four Shades of Brown, VIFF 04) does the seemingly impossible by reinventing the hoariest of horror genres - the vampire film - with sly wit and surprising sweetness.
Vampire film…
MOCK UP ON MU - Craig Baldwin (USA)
In 2019, L. Ron Hubbard has conquered and renamed the moon (Mu). Meanwhile on earth, Marjorie Cameron and Jack Parsons fight the power. With a combination of found footage, real-life heroes and weirdoes, and various other stuff, subversive shit-disturber Craig Baldwin (Spectres of the Spectrum, VIFF 99) has fashioned a “collage-narrative” that defies categorization.
<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–>Had me at the title
PARUTHIVEERAN - Ameer (India) North American Premiere
A caste-crossed tale of doomed love that mixes song and dance with passion and tragedy. The eponymous hero and the spirited woman who loves him are caught up in the coils of honour and revenge that can only end one way. “The story climaxes in a shock sequence that devastates us as cathartically as the climax to The Wild Bunch…”- Financial Times
<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–>Sounds Interesting
[REC] - Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza (Spain)
Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza are rapidly carving a name for themselves as Spain’s leading horrormeisters. Their propulsive new scarefest features a female TV presenter, a gaggle of cops and firefighters and the residents of a Barcelona apartment trying to stave off the flesh-eating victims of a virus… Smart and fast-paced, with moments of genuine shock and horror. This will be your only chance to see this on the big screen as it has been picked up for a big-budget Hollywood remake.
Zombies and Shaky Cam… Gravol OD upcoming!
SITA SINGS THE BLUES - Nina Paley, guest (USA) Canadian Premiere
Deliciously mixing the ancient Hindu epic The Ramayana with the breakup of her own marriage, animator Nina Paley single-handedly fashions an eye-popping phantasmagoria of sound and colour. “Both heartfelt and consistently witty… the type of low-fi animated musical that puts Disney to shame.”- Filmmaker
The poster looked interesting
THREE MONKEYS - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey) North American Premiere
The title of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s bruise-black noir is a reference to the evil that mutes, deafens and blinds. When a driver takes the fall for his boss (in return for a cash reward, of course) tragedy begins to mass on the horizon. Winner of Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
They just had to say Noir didn’t they…
As expected, there are a few crossovers on our lists but you’ve picked out quite the crop of Asia cinema! My list is already enormous and just keeps growing. I’m not sure what I’m going to do but this is NOT good. Still, most of my titles are fairly small films. Rather surprisingly considering last year’s crop of Hollywood friendly films. They may still be coming but at this point this year we already had word of “Atonement”. Should be interesting.
Wow, looks like a rockin’ line up! I’m so jealous that you are getting to see The Sparrow! It was at Fantasia too but haven’t seen it anywhere in Toronto.
Enjoy the festival! I’m looking forward to hearing your views!
Shannon the Movie Moxies last blog post..TIFF’08 Pre-Fest Vlog#3 - Tickets Picked Up/The Board/Offsale vs Rush
@Marina Ya, It was like that last year too. I find myself drawn to Japanese film, so the list ends up heavy on Asian film. Glad too hear there overlap, we’ll have to compare google calanders when the final list comes out.
@Shannon There is always VIFF ‘09 next year. I must lure all the film comunitee to Vancouver.