Carancho

I believe I watched this movie in one long sigh, probably with my mouth open all the time. I suppose is not an easy-to-watch film for many as so realistically shows what is truth in so many countries in the world. It was hard-to-watch for me because I know that I just have to go to other side of the city I’m currently living to watch live many of the things portrayed here even if insurance payouts does not really exist here as a flourishing industry. Maybe because of the last comment the film make me feel similar emotions as when I watched Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.

I was absolutely overcome by the story but this could not have been  possible if the movie was not almost flawless. Pablo Trapero’s movie is a very complete cinematic experience that successfully travels many film genres and with a film noir (strict term definition) style tells about the sleazy lawyer business that takes advantage of people misfortunes. Set in a Buenos Aires bleak suburb film slowly introduces characters, so slowly that you start to get anxious for the drama to explode and when it does you find no relief as tension only goes up. Very painful to watch but also very gratifying if you appreciate good world cinema. Yes this Trapero’s movie belongs to world cinema as absolutely goes far beyond the Latin American current cinema jungle.

As I said before, I’ll watch everything with Ricardo Darin, he’s such a multifaceted actor that since the first film I saw with him, a very long time ago, has blown my mind as he always so-well creates intense complex characters no matter the role he plays. Sleazy lawyer Sosa is no exception, as with sights, body language and facial expressions makes a non-likable character totally human in every sense of the word. Amazing. But here we also have Pablo Trapero’s real-life wife in another mesmerizing-to-watch role. My first experience with Martina Gusman was in Trapero’s Leonera (Lion’s Den), have seen some of her TV work but definitively is one actress that I’ll follow especially after watching how good she created Luján the complex young doctor that recently arrived to Buenos Aires from the provinces. Superb actors and great cast.

As a movie has a technical quality equal… no, above great world cinema. I know that many will inevitably make comparisons between this movie and the one that won the Oscar last year for Best foreign language film as both star Ricardo Darin, but not only Darin has two very different roles but also films are very different. Is precisely in the technical quality where both Darin’s stellar films have the most difference as Trapero’s film is superior to The Secret of Their Eyes. That’s how good tech specs are in this movie as absolutely are essential part of everything that happens in the narrative.

Definitively not an easy-to-watch movie but one that everyone that loves great world cinema should watch and as such I strongly recommend it; absolutely must be seen to those that chose to follow Ricardo Darin and Martina Gusman performances and most of all, to realize how Pablo Trapero is becoming a master filmmaker.

My fourth 2010 Cannes film and it’s official, I’m slowly changing my perception of the festival film quality from the so-so to the great! Hope the trend continues as I go on further exploring the films.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

35th Toronto International Film Festival

Some of you maybe recall that I'm not really a fan of this festival as find it's too commercial for my taste, has the North American premiere of many films that come from prestigious festivals, and most of the films are simply not interesting to me. But I do recognize that's an important fest in North America and maybe it's the largest. This year will screen 246 films in many sections and programs; will run from September 9 to 19 and here are sections that the fest has.

Canada First - First time Canadian directors
Canadian Open Vault - Special presentations of recently restored, iconic, Canadian films
City to City - An Exploration of the urban experience through film. Each year a city is spotlighted
Contemporary World Cinema - Best films from every corner of the earth. (Maybe the most interesting program)
Discovery - Showcase for innovative new filmmakers
Future Projections - Cinema meets visual arts with moving-image projects throughout the city of Toronto
Galas Presentations
Masters - Films made by the most influential directors living today
Mavericks - Unforgettable dialogues with some of the most compelling figures of working in cinema today
Midnight Madness - Weird and wonderful films from misfit directors for those audiences who appreciate the wild side of cinema
Reel to Reel - Candid and unscripted, the best documentaries of the year
Short Cuts Canada -Canadian shorts
Special Presentations - Crowd pleasing films
Sprockets Family Zone - Films for children and adults alike
TIFF for Free - Free public screenings showcasing gems from festivals past
Vanguard - Films that defy convention (another sometimes interesting section)
Visions - Poetic films that take radical and innovative approach to filmmaking and the art of storytelling (ditto above)
Wavelengths - Film is art. Vibrant and aesthetically stunning works from the world's leading and emerging film and video artists.

To check films in each section/program go here.

These are some of the films I find interesting and are new to the blog.

All About Love, Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 2010 (lesbian interest)
Inside America, Barbara Eder, Austria, 2010
Jucy, Louise Alston, Australia, 2010 (is a womatic comedy!)
Last Night, Massy Tadjedin, France and USA, 2009 (Intriguing cast, but hope is not too American)
The Piano in a Factory, Zhang Meng, China, 2010

2010 Montreal World Film Festival

With none other than Gérard Depardieu giving a master class the fest will open on August 26 and will run until September 6.

Here is the Official Selection for the World Competition

Adem (Oxygen), Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium and Netherlands, 2010
Akunin, Lee Sang-il, Japan, 2010
Box: Hakamada jiken - innochi towa, Banmei Takahashi, Japan, 2010
Dalla Vita in Poi, Gianfrancesco Lazotti, Italy, 2010
De La Infancia (On Childhood), Carlos Carrera, Mexico, 2009
L'Heritage, Christian Lara, Guadeloupe and Gabon, 2009
Hisshiken Torisashi, Hideyuki Hirayama, Japan, 2010
The Land of the Astronauts, Carl Colpaert, USA, 2010
Das Lied in Mir, Florian Cossen, Germany, 2010 (interesting story)
Limbo, Maria Sødahl, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Trinidad and Tobago, 2010
Le Mariage à Trois, Jacques Doillon, France, 2010 (will watch)
Nannerl, La Soeur de Mozart, René Féret, France, 2010 (I'm curious)
Peremiriye, Svetlana Proskurina, Russia, 2010
Rendez-vous Avec Un Ange, Sophie de Daruvar and Yves Thomas, France, 2010 (will watch)
Route 132, Louis Bélanger, Canada, 2010
Tannod, Bettina Oberli, Germany and Switzerland, 2009
Tête de Turc (Turk's Head), Pascal Elbé, France, 2009 (with Ronit Elkabetz, will watch)
Tromper Le Silence (Silencie Lies), Julie Hivon, Canada, 2010
Twelve Thirty, Jeff Lipsky, USA, 2010
Wenecja (Venice), Jan Jakub Kolski, Poland, 2010

To check information about each film and also to check the shorts in competition, please go here. Also the fest has the First Films World Competition with some very interesting movies that you can check here.

Chloe

I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this film, so I delayed as much as possible but finally I succumbed as is an Atom Egoyan film and had to watch. The good news is that visually the film has many good moments with excellent cinematography and some outstanding outdoor compositions. The bad news is that the original story was changed to make it the most awful story you can image, chemistry between main leads (Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried) was non-existent and after watching I was mad!

Remakes are most of the time awful as many times the story is changed to accommodate the morality codes of the target audience. If something I was really curious about this movie was how they were going to adapt Nathalie's very peculiar story that for me totally reflects France's morality values that are SO different to values in English speaking countries. Well, just let me tell you that the main character becomes a stalker of the worst kind, which in the original story is very-very far from it.

Yes this film is the very bad remake of Anne Fontaine's Natalie. Bad because so many things that include the awful story changes but also -for example- Nathalie was all about voices and was really erotic, Chloe tries too hard to be erotic and becomes vulgar.

If you haven't seen Nathalie I urge you to go and buy/rent the DVD so you can see the abysmal difference from Chloe. Would I have liked the movie if I haven't seen Fointaine's film? Visually yes; the story, no.

Definitively Atom Egoyan should avoid doing mainstream films, he's an excellent director that wasted his time with a terrible screenplay.

If you saw and loved Nathalie as much as I did, I suggest you stay away from this movie as I'm sure you will get upset with the old-fashion portrait of lesbianism in this film.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

30th Genie Awards Winners

Winners are in *RED.

Recently the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced the nominations for the current year awards and here they are.

Best Motion Picture
3 Saisons, Jim Donovan
Le jour avant le lendemain (Before Tomorrow), Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
Fifty Dead Men Walking, Kari Skogland
Nurse.Fighter.Boy, Charles Officer
*Polytechnique, Denis Villeneuve

Achievement in Direction
Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu for Le jour avant le lendemain (Before Tomorrow),
Kari Skogland for Fifty Dead Men Walking
Charles Officer for Nurse.Fighter.Boy
*Denis Villeneuve for Polytechnique
Bruce McDonald for Pontypool

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Carinne Leduc in 3 Saisons
Madelline Piujuq Ivalu in Le jour avant le lendemain (Before Tomorrow),
Gabrielle Rose in Mothers&Daughters, Carl Besssai
Karen LeBlanc in Nurse.Fighter.Boy
*Karine Vanasse in Polytechnique

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jean-Carl Boucher in 1981, Ricardo Trogi
Paul Dylan Ivalu in Le jour avant le lendemain (Before Tomorrow),
Clark Johnson in Nurse.Figther.Boy
*Joshua Jackson in One Week, Michael McGowan
Stephen McHattie in Pontypool

To read the nominees in all the categories please go here. The awards ceremony will take place Monday, April 12, 2010 in Toronto and will be broadcast live but no news about the channel yet.

It's a true surprise that the official Canadian submission to the Oscar's got NO nominations! Strange. Still the Claude Jutra Award for First Film is given to the film. Stranger. I'm talking about J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother) by Xavier Dolan. The film with most (11) nominations is Polytechnique and from all nominated in the major categories is the only one I have seen and yes still have it in my head with the spectacular black and white images.

During 2009 I didn't watch that many Canadian films and perhaps I should try one or two from the nominees to best film.

The big winner is the only movie I have seen and gee, it was a great cinema experience even when the story was hard to swallow. To check winners in all categories go here.

J'ai tué ma mere (I Killed My Mother)

Very exhausting and emotional film that I believe will touch hard many whiled others will not stand it. No idea what will happen to you, but me touched me deep like if I was watching my own life even when nothing shown is similar to my experiences, except the dysfunctional love/hate relationship with mother and the wide differences between each generation and education. The film is full with angst, loud screaming fights, strong words, sweetness, mother/child love expressions, and great humor. Xavier Dolan’s oeuvre (wrote the script when he was 16-years-old, directed, plays the lead role, and produced) is quite impressive for his young age (20 years-old) but the story inspired in his own life is one that only a young person could write with so much realism and accuracy that transcends age and nationality frontiers to become universal, if you’re a single child living with a single parent.

The story tells about the love/hate relationship between 17’ish-years-old Hubert Minel (Xavier Dolan), and his mother Chantale (Anne Dorval) with Hubert keeping silent about his personal life, disliking everything his mother does or says which represents the opposite of what he has become. He tries to remember when they were best friends and does his best to make amends. But it’s impossible, they have become incompatible.

Hubert is gay, but to me that’s secondary in the story and is not the reason for them being not compatible. Still, there are enough scenes to make this film of gay interest. But this film is and should be totally mainstream as his homosexuality is inconsequential to how the story evolves and I even believe that is the source to facilitate humor in the film.

As a film is impressive for a first timer. It’s not perfect and you can see the imperfections, but you can also see how attention to details is paid, very nice framing in many scenes, great use of black/white close-ups, writing in the screen and performances tempo are worth mentioning. Sometimes visuals are so great that totally distracts you from the intense narrative but also recreation of lower-middle class Quebec lifestyle is so realistic that visuals blew my mind.

As most of us recall the film is Canada’s submission to the Oscar’s, won three awards at 2009 Cannes plus has been collecting many more honors . I believe that this film is too strong for Academy members, but I would not be surprised if it makes it to the short list.

I really liked this movie but have to admit that is a hard to watch movie because is an intense drama. Still I do believe that is so mainstream that many will enjoy it and here we have another 2009 Cannes winner that is more mainstream than what they usually showcase.

I do recommend this movie as a must be seen film with a budget under US$1 million and a first time filmmaker that suggests will be around to continue making great films after being a child actor.

Enjoy!!!

Watch Trailer @ Movie On Companion

2012

Yeah, I’m still in my entertainment mood and decided to give a try to the Roland Emmerich film that from trailer I was expecting great special effects more than anything else. My expectations were met. The film has outstanding special effects that you start to LIVE after the too long first 30 minutes with terrible, boring and annoying main character introductions. But as I mention I wasn’t expecting great dialogues, great actors performances or great cinematography. Still I was surprised by the so many known actors in the film that include old timers like George Segal and the likes of Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, and Thandie Newton; I knew about John Cussack and yes, I’ll watch everything with him.

I’m not particularly fond of disaster movies but have to admit that I always succumb to watch them, even the TV ones! There is always something weird that attracts me to the “end of the world”, earthquakes (I have lived real ones), sinking vessels (who didn’t watch Titanic?), tornados, hurricanes, etc. So a story inspired by Mayan predictions that set 2012 to relive something similar to what caused the disappearance of dinosaurs, had to appeal me more that just whatever disaster movie. Unfortunately according to what I read around the net, the theatrical cut doesn’t include the Mayan references and reduced them to a news broadcast. I believe that instead of boring characters introductions the Mayan references could have given the story more credibility.

Anyway the film has its very good thrilling, tense and awesome effects moments; but also has too silly, cheesy and boring moments that made me wish to have a remote control to fast forward to the next exciting moment with the special effects that definitively set a new standard and will make older disaster movies look pale in comparison.

I do recommend the movie to movie lovers as I believe is a must be seen for the special effects, but please don’t expect much more. For entertaining purposes the 158 minutes film will definitively entertain you for about two hours, so it’s not that bad, isn’t?

Enjoy! (Many Awesome special effects!!!)

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Adoration

From 2008 Cannes and in competition Atom Egoyan’s film is a true think-piece about all sorts of post-9/11 questions that include, ethics of terrorism, deceptiveness of appearances, technology facilitating dialogue while hiding truth, etc.; so, it’s a somehow dense movie but gives you the choice of just following the story of Simon and his family which superficially is what the movie clearly tells.

The problem is that if you follow the obvious superficial story there are huge chances that you will not find it much interesting and will see a movie about lies, lies and lies.

As a movie has Egoyan’s peculiar narrative style written allover plus extraordinary cinematography with Canadian autumn looking almost perfect and great violin music speared along the entire movie; also there are some excellent visual compositions and some specific takes that are really superb cinematic moments. Performances are acceptable for me, but I don’t enjoy Scott Speedman performances in any of his movies and here is not the exception. Still other actors performances didn’t excel for me too.

I loved watching the spectacular Canadian autumn that made me recall the beauty of Maple leaves and trees and liked the few visually outstanding moments; but I didn’t really enjoyed performances (bad casting) and the story. So, for me is a so-so film worth watching only for the “art” elements.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

2009 Toronto International Film Festival Award Winners

Surely some of you noticed the lowest possible coverage of this fest that I did and perhaps some are wondering why. When I saw the fest site I got strongly disappointed as it was REALLY not user friendly and totally oriented to sales.

As we have been noticing year after year Internet is a great sales and advertising medium that’s growing exponentially. But we that follow festivals have also noticed that Festivals web sites have been doing a lot more than just promoting sales, they have been making the festival REALLY accessible to the World for the pleasure of us cinephiles. Just see what Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian and this year even London fests are doing in their web sites. TIFF, being perhaps the largest fest in North America, did not do it last year and did not do it this year. Let’s hope that next year they will consider opening and sharing the festival with US that have to enjoy from afar one of our greatest passions: films.

Anyway, here are the award winners.

Best Canadian Feature Film: Cairo Time, Ruba Nadda
Special Jury Citation: La Donation (The Legacy), Bernard Émond

Best Canadian First Feature Film: The Wild Hunt, Alexandre Franchi

FIPRESCI Prize: Paltadacho munis (The Man Beyond the Bridge), Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, India
FIPRESCI Prize for Special Presentations: Hadewijch, Bruno Dumont, France

People’s Choice Award: Push by Sapphire, Lee Daniels, USA (lesbian interest)
First Runner-up: Mao’s Last Dancer, Bruce Beresford, Australia (seems interesting!)
Second Runner-up: Micmacs à tire-larigot (Micmacs), Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France

People’s Choice Award Documentary: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, Leanne Pooley, New Zealand (lesbian interest)
Runner-up: Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore, USA
People’s Choice Award Midnight Madness: The Loved Ones, Sean Byrne, Australia

Best Short Film: Danse Macabre, Pedro Pires, Canada
The jury remarked: "There was one film that had such devastating beauty, that watching it was having fireworks shattering your heart. A prayer for the dying, a love song to the living, everyone must see this beautiful work." (From clips I can assure that it’s true! Amazing visuals!)
Honorable Mention: The Armoire, Jamie Travis, Canada

To read the press release go here.

33rd Montreal World Film Festival Award Winners

Last night the fest had the awards ceremony and even when they haven’t posted at their official site here are the winners from press sources.

World Competition

Grand Prix des Americas: Korkoro (Freedom), Tony Gatlif, France

Jury Special Grand Prix: Weaving Girl, Quan An Wang, China
Best Director: Kichitaro Negishi for Viyon No Tsuma (Villon’s Wife), Japan
Best Actress: Marie Leuenberger in Die Standesbeamtin (Will You Marry Us?), Micha Lewinsky, Switzerland
Best Actor: Cyron Melville in Vanvittig Forelsket (Love and Rage), Morton Giese, Denmark

FIPRESCI Award: Weaving Girl, Quan An Wang, China

Ecumenical Prize (tie)
Korkoro (Freedom), Tony Gatlif, France
Waffenstillstand (Ceasefire), Lancelot von Naso, Germany

First Films World Competition

Golden Zenith: Je te Mangerais (You Will Be Mine), Sophie Laloy, France (Bravo! Excellent film!)
Silver Zenith: Vaghti Limooha Zard Shodand… (When the Lemons Turned Yellow…), Mohammadreza Vatandoost, Iran
Bronze Zenith: Los Canallas (Riff Raff), Ana Cristina Franco, Jorge Alejandro Fegan, Nataly Valencia, and Diego Coral Lopez, Ecuador

Audience Awards
Best Canadian Film: Un Cargo Pour l’Afrique (A Cargo to Africa), Roger Cantin
Glauber Rocha Award for Latin American Film: Andres No Quiere Dormir La Siesta (Andres Doesn’t Want to Take a Siesta), Daniel Bustamante, Argentina

As soon as the fest site publishes the winners I will check the official press release and modify the post if applicable.

To check the awards winners in all the categories go Festival Official Site

2009 Toronto Film Festival

The TIFF this year will run from September 10 to 19 and will screen too many films in too many sections. Definitively those living in Toronto and nearby will have a great opportunity to watch fantastic films, especially those that come from Cannes 2009, in the big screen.

As most films are known to the blog, I’m listing the fest sections and each name has a link to the section in the fest site for those that want to check the movies and read movie information.

Canada First
City to City
Dialogues: Talking With Pictures
Future Projections
Masters
Reel To Reel
Short Cuts Canada
Sprockets Family Zone
Visions
Yonge and Dundas Square
Canadian Open Vault
Contemporary World Cinema
Discovery
Gala Presentations
Mavericks
Midnight Madness
Special Presentations
Vanguard
Wavelengths

To some of my known readers that live in Toronto I suggest to not miss Choi Voi (Adrift) in the Contemporary World Cinema section. If you haven’t seen the original Nathalie probably you will like Chloe; also Precious and The Private Lives of Pipa Lee in the Gala Presentations section. All are lesbian interest.

Sometimes too much is too much, as is the case with this fest that will screen 271 features in 18 sections (not counting the short section). You really get lost with so many sections.

Polytechnique

Very seldom I watch a movie in one long prolonged breath of air. I didn’t breathe the entire movie as I was totally fascinated and absolutely shocked at the same time. When was over I was exhausted after feeling too many contradictory feelings at the same time. I was able to expel one word: Intense!!!

Yes this is one of the most beautiful and poetic films with the most horrendous story you can imagine, especially if you’re a woman, a career woman.

First let’s talk about the movie. Shot in black and white with absolutely fantastic use of light, outstanding indoor and outdoor cinematography, very non-common camera angles that include many close-ups to details, unbelievable good upside down takes, fast and slow framing to intensify whatever is happening, amazing storytelling that moves back and forward in time as well as tells the story from each character point-of-view, and absolutely great performances by the two lead characters. Wow!

Special mention goes to the sets that with all the concrete, the windowless classrooms and the narrow corridors (that probably resemble the real Polytechnique) easily creates emotions and claustrophobic feelings; but is the use of the camera within these sets what makes you feel everything! Truly amazing!

Winter in Montreal and all Quebec is so special (for me) and with the white and black outdoor shots it never looked so real, so cold and so beautiful. Absolutely great winter photography!

Big Chapeau to Denis Villeneuve for creating such an amazing visual voyage and for doing a tasteful fictionalization of a violent real life tragedy that killed many young women. Yes the story is about a young man that hated women; but not all women, just his own definition of feminist women that basically is related to women doing and stealing work from men while getting all the advantages that women receive in developed societies. Women that stole his life and job opportunities. The story is told via telling the story of two Montreal’s Polytechnique students, Valérie (Karine Vanasse) and Jean-François (Sébastien Huberdeau), the only two characters that are well developed and I really thank Villeneuve for not developing the assassin character as in my opinion that would have made the movie unwatchable, no matter how great were the visuals.

The film was in competition in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs at 2009 Cannes and I imagine that due to the controversial theme the film didn’t get more honors that definitively deserved. The movie is intermittently nerve-wracking deploying some scenes largely for tension-relieving effect, so even if in a way at the beginning I thought it was going to be like Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, very soon I realized that this was quite different and highly superior.

I strongly recommend this movie to cinephiles and to those that like art films as is a truly amazing and visually outstanding film. I strongly suggest women, especially career women, to watch this film for the story; but be aware that is not an easy to watch story even if the filmmaker went to great lengths to ease the watching.

This is not a movie to love for the story, but this time I have to say that I loved this film that absolutely fascinated and shocked me at the same time.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

New in Town

A too predictable story in a romantic comedy that definitively didn’t seem too funny for me, but I did laugh at some darkish jokes that according to what I read, general audiences not necessarily will get unless you live in one of those frigid states of America. If not for the few darkish jokes this film would have upset me a lot as I didn’t liked the way they portrait a career oriented woman.

Tells about a Miami businesswoman (Renee Zellweger) that’s transferred to a tiny Minnesota town to oversee the restructuring of a blue collar food manufacturing plant and since her arrival she behaves really silly and “stupidly” (like her traveling clothes!) which make me remember about the cliché that attractive blondes have to be dumb. Anyway whatever it’s established in the first third of the movie changes in the second third to pave the way to the “happy” last third where she saves the town.

I do not enjoy Harry Connkick Jr. in the screen as he performs too stiff and always seems he's forcing his acting and here is not an exception playing Zellweger’s love interest. I’m saying this when I really love him as a singer as he absolutely is my kind of jazzy male singer. Renee Zellweger looks really thin and quite elegant when wearing the high-end couture but I believe that comedy is not her forte. Secondary characters have the funniest darkish lines that made me laugh and allowed me to watch the film until the end.

If you like romantic comedies maybe you will enjoy the very old fashion comedy style of the film, but I strongly suggest you lower your expectations.

Enjoy.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

2009 Montreal World Film Festival

With a record number of films from 78 countries the fest will run in this beautiful Canadian city from August 27 to September 7. The program includes 240 features (130 world and international premieres) 9 medium-length films and 208 short films. Just the World Competition will screen 23 (or 20?) features and 13 shorts and the First Films World Competition will feature 20 films by first-time directors. So, this year the fest seems to be a true cinema feast.

Most remarkable is the film that will close the festival as is the premiere of the official film of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by Gun Jun called The Everlasting Flame Beijing 2008 that definitively is must be seen for me.

Here are the films in only two sections of the festival and if you feel like reading the press announcement with all the films go here.

World Competition

09:06 (aka Ofsajd), Igor Sterk, Slovenia and Germany
Andres No Quiere Dormir La Siesta (Andres Doesn’t Want to Take a Siesta), Daniel Bustamante, Argentina
Atshkar (Fire Keeper), Mohsen Amiryoussefi, Iran
Coeur Animal (Animal Heart), Severine Cornamusaz, Switzerland and France
Dia Dokuta (Dear Doctor), Miwa Mishikawa, Japan
Die Standesbeamtin (Will You Marry Us?), Micha Lewinsky, Switzerland
Enen (Case Unknown), Feliks Falk, Poland
Hoy no se fia, Manana Si (Forever Waiting), Francisco Avizanda, Spain and France
Jestem Twoj (I’m Yours), Mariusz Grzegorzek, Poland
Je Suis Heureux que Ma Mere Soit Vivante (I’m Glad That My Mother is Alive), Claude and Nathan Miller, France
Korkoro (Freedom), Tony Gatlif, France
La Fisica dell’Acqua (The Physics of Water), Felice Farina, Italy
Redland, Asiel Norton, USA
Strayed, Akan Satayev, Kazakhstan
Sveti Georgije Ubiva Azdahu (St. George Shoots the Dragon), Srdjan Dragojevic, Serbia, Bulgaria and Bosnia Herzegovina
Un Cargo pour L’Afrique (A Cargo to Africa), Roger Cantin, Canada
Vanvittig Forelsket (Love and Rage), Morton Giese, Denmark
Viyon No Tsuma (Villon’s Wife), Kichitaro Negishi, Japan
Waffenstillstand (Ceasefire), Lancelot von Naso, Germany
Weaving Girl, Quan An Wang, China

First Films World Competition

Badereh el hahatulim (Mrs. Moscowitz & The Cats), Jorge Gurvich, Israel and France
Caja Negra (Black Box), Ariel Gordon, Mexico
Children of Invention, Tze Chun, USA
Draussen Am See (Losing Balance), Felix Fuchssteiner, Germany
Hitna Pomoc (The Ambulance), Goran Radovanovic, Serbia, Greece and Germany
Invisible Eyes, Olivier Cohen, UK and France
Je te Mangerais (You Will Be Mine), Sophie Laloy, France
L’Enfance d’Icare (The Childhood of Icarus), Alexandre Iordachescu, Switzerland, Romania and France
Los Canallas (Riff Raff), Ana Cristina Franco, Jorge Alejandro Fegan, Nataly Valencia, and Diego Coral Lopez, Ecuador
Mi Xiang (Death Dowry), Wang Hongfei, China and France
Nisesatsu (Counterfeit), Kimura Yuichi, Japan
Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!, Evgeny Afineevsky, USA
Ramirez, Albert Arizza, Spain
Schwerkraft (Gravity), Maximilian Erlenwein, Germany
Tayna Chingis Khaana (By The Will of Gengis Khan), Andrey Borisov, Russia, Mongolia and USA
The Jazzman, Josh Koffman, Canada
The Sunset Sky, Olivier Bernier, USA
Uyolso Idok (Lost Times), Aron Matyassy, Hungary
Vaghti Limooha Zard Shodand… (When the Lemons Turned Yellow…), Mohammadreza Vatandoost, Iran
Was Du Nicht Siehst (What You Don’t See), Wolfgang Fischer, Germany and Austria

There is one films you should not miss if you live in Montreal (or nearby): Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile), Stijn Coninx, Belgium and France

I will try to find info and trailers for the competition films and will post accordingly.

Watch some trailers @ Movie On Companion

Dim Sum Funeral

I know that the movie name suggests either a downer drama or a funny comedy, but since I needed an escape moment I decided to give it a try. Well, it’s not a comedy even if you can smile once or twice. This Anna Chi film is a drama about another dysfunctional American-Chinese family more similar to Red Doors than to Saving Face and as happens in Red Doors this family also has a lesbian daughter, which was a total surprise for me as I was unaware of the lesbian interest in this movie.

The film tells a rather complex story about the Xiao family and starts when the Jewish housekeeper (Talia Shire) informs the offspring’s about the passing of their mother. None of the children and their spouses have good memories of her and they dislike one another, but all come to the funeral to find that her mother requested a traditional Chinese ceremony for the departed that requires them to spend together 7 days. What you will see in this movie is four adult siblings that are more American than Chinese (three of them speak only English) coming to terms with their mother death and trying to mend their own life troubles, the relationships with their spouses and with each other.

There is a great twist that somehow you imagine soon enough, but I can say that as you get caught in all the difficult situations the siblings are living you dismiss it to the back of your head and well, the surprise is not so big when finally happens.

Have to say that I liked the story that allows viewers to get a glimpse of the struggle that some first generation children of immigrants have to overcome when they adapt to a new culture, live their lives as part of the new culture and know very little about their forefathers culture and their strong traditions. I believe this is the essence of the story and the true value of this film that has a very happy ending after following a lot of incidents that in the screen are not really dramatic as the story evolves with “regular” situations and the essence runs in the backdrop and is left to the viewer to understand.

Tech specs and acting are acceptable and do not bother much if you get caught with the story like I did. I didn’t particularly liked the lesbian interest content in the movie, but have to say that the only couple that since the very beginning until the end was a happy couple is exactly the lesbian couple. Meimei and Deedee really had no chemistry in the screen, but their story is quite positive as the youngest daughter and her partner living a regular happy life. Still, this is not a movie to watch only for the lesbian interest as surely you will be, if not disappointed, left questioning what was the point of having lesbian characters in the story.

Now that I’m writing about the movie I realized how complex the story is and had a little trouble telling you about the story without giving out too much. But the film is quite easy to watch (not a downer or depressing drama at all) and you always have the choice to watch the film with only what’s happening in the screen and not pay much attention to the essence told in the background.

I liked the movie a lot more than Red Doors and even if I can’t find a relationship I’ll mention that some viewers relate the film to the Joy Club; so if you liked any of these two films then surely you will enjoy this one.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life)

Canada’s official submission to the Oscars is a true beautiful to watch movie with a very compelling story that absolutely plays with your emotions not only because of the story but mainly because of an outstanding performance by Natar Ungalaaq that with his face expressions and body language will take you into a strong emotional roller coaster ride from loneliness, hopelessness, confusion, and desperation into the opposite emotions and feelings. This is a very intense emotional ride done with the most spectacular production values that contrast life up north with still very north Quebec City.

This Benoît Pilon film is set in the 1952 and is inspired by a tuberculosis epidemic that broke out in the Inuit population of Canada’s far north in the 40’s and 50’s. Tells about a stricken man, Tiivii (Natar Ungalaaq), that’s yanked from his isolated home to a Quebec City hospital, where he experiences profound culture shock and is unable to communicate with anyone. This is not a story about government policies, even do it does touch the subject; this is an extraordinary story that explores human behavior in a magic and very unexpected ways that will touch you genuinely with not much melodrama –even when the story could be melodramatic- thanks to the truly impressive performance by Ungalaaq and the magic of a director, cinematographer and a remarkable music score. While watching the movie I was truly in awe, totally mesmerized by the visuals and I was feeling all the emotions Tiivii was feeling in the story. Outstandingly Amazing!

Film’s tech specs and production values are really exceptional and you have no idea how extraordinary is Ungalaaq performance; perhaps if I share a viewers’ comment will help. The comment mentions that this is movie that could be silent cinema and you will totally understand everything that happens with Tiivii, as he outstandingly conveys to the audience everything that’s happening inside him with his amazing face and body language.

Definitively a movie that I highly recommend for an extraordinary cinematic experience and one that has a slow pace and many gorgeous moments with absence of words; but I’m sure that in this particular case many would appreciate the opportunity to enjoy in deep awe what’s going on the screen.

Absolutely must be seen.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

I highly enjoyed the first installment of this sequel and was hoping to enjoy, for entertainment purposes, the Smithsonian version; but unfortunately I found it uneven with some of the magic lost to lengthy very dumb sequences especially with the Kahmunrah character, but also with Napoleon and Ivan the Terrible. Still I believe that the transition from New York City to Washington was really well done, as well as Ben Stiller character success story that gave permission to a nice movie finale.

One of the good things the first Museum movie had was great characters performed by Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Patrick Gallagher. All of them are back but their roles are totally diminished to the smallest possible time to allow new characters that were not performed and developed as interesting as their counterparts in the first installment. Still here we have great special effects and one that particularly impressed me is when they go into the famous V–J day in Times Square photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt as is visually outstanding as the black and white change is spectacular… well, at least more than having the Capone era characters in b/w while the rest is in color.

As happens with sequels some like better the first installment, some like both and some like better the second one. Me, I enjoyed a lot more the first for the story, characters and total magic. But I know that you readers will fall into any of the three possibilities and well, is a movie that you can watch for the fun of watching pure family entertainment cinema. Still I’ll suggest you to watch it for the scenes with good visual effects.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion