With ticket sales already open and the full line-up revealed, VIFF is looming ever closer. As has become tradition, we’ve gone through the program and picked a few titles to help you get started with your roster of what to see. You won’t find any of the big names here, no Alejandro González Iñárritu or Stephen Frears instead, find below our 11 recommendations (in alphabetical order) of films that are not to be missed.
Happy scheduling!
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| Title: | 13 Assassins |
| Director: | Takashi Miike |
| Section: | Dragons and Tigers |
| Reason to See: | Takashi Miike. What? You want another reason to see this one? Samurai and assassins. |
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| Title: | City of Life |
| Director: | Ali F. Mostafa |
| Section: | Cinema of Our time |
| Reason to See: | One of the first features to be written, directed and produced in the United Arab Emirates. As someone who loves seeing new places, this is a great opportunity to get acquainted with a city I know little about. |
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| Title: | Curling |
| Director: | Denis Côté |
| Section: | Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: | A father/daughter relationship drama which partially takes place in a bowling alley. Something about that combination and the delicacy of Côté’s previous works suggests that this one’s not one to miss. |
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More recommendations tucked under the seat!
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| Title: | End of Animal |
| Director: | Jo Sung-Hee |
| Section: | Dragons and Tigers |
| Reason to See: | BFI called this a “pocket size apocalypse” film. Sold. |
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| Title: | Fathers&Sons |
| Director: | Carl Bessai |
| Section: | Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: | Bessai’s 2008 feature Mothers&Daughters (review) was one of my favourite films of the year and also won the Canadian Images People’s Choice award. I’m hoping this sequel delivers some of the same great laughs and emotion. |
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| Title: | Incendies |
| Director: | Denis Villeneuve |
| Section: | Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: | From one of the best Canadian undiscovered talents. Anything Villeneuve attaches his name to is a must see. |
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| Title: | MODRA |
| Director: | Ingrid Veninger |
| Section: | Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: | Coming of age story which takes place in Slovakia. From a Canadian director. The trailer is beautiful. |
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| Title: | Mysteries of Lisbon |
| Director: | Raúl Ruiz |
| Section: | Special Event |
| Reason to See: | The largest production ever to be made in Portugal from a much loved novel which has never been translated into English. At 4.5 hours, it’s a sprawling period epic. |
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| Title: | Repeaters |
| Director: | Carl Bessai |
| Section: | Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: | Bessai fangirl mode. Add in Bessai working in a genre film and this particular fangirl is full of glee! |
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| Title: | Transfer |
| Director: | Damir Lukacevic |
| Section: | Cinema of Our Time |
| Reason to See: | Lukacevic’s film takes place in a future where, those who can afford it, have the option of transferring their consciousness to rental bodies. Sounds like an art house version of Gamer (review). |
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| Title: | The Ugly Duckling |
| Director: | Garri Bardin |
| Section: | Special Presentations |
| Reason to See: | Real puppets in stop-motion animation. |
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Wow, I read about all of those and bought a 10-ticket package (wishing I bought a 20 pack one now), and did not choose one of those films.
Interesting how we choose the films we do, based on our own interests and reviews, etc.
Saw your tweet about that. Would love to see your list! Be sure to share it here!
A friend of mine caught 13 Assassins at Venice, he recommended it – in his words: “an hour of slow-burning storyline, not spectacularly interesting and then an hour of Samurai carnage. Worth a look” Not the greatest write-up in the world, but enough to get me interested
Hey, I just picked up my 2 tickets today and noticed that you recommended one of them, 13 Assassins.
If you’re into action, I think Man From Nowhere will also be good. It’s billed as the korean Bourne Identity.
Happy filmgoing everyone.
I have heard a lot of good things about Curling and Incendies… Incendies is going to play after TIFF so I might catch it then. Lots of great Canadian films this year, my next film is Bruce McDonald’s Trigger which is getting a lot of buzz, everybody keeps saying the script is amazing, thats something I like to hear.
@Holly – thanks for the NO WHERE MAN recommendation. I added it to my schedule on the strength of the write up alone.
@Rot – *really* want to see CURLING badly but the only two screenings are on the weekend I’m out of town so unless there’s a press screening beforehand, I’m going to miss it (BOO!!). As for INCENDIES, I’m sure it’ll open here if only for a week. Hope to see it but won’t be heartbroken if I miss it.
Damn it. Sunday night I spent 3 hours drawing up a calendar for all of the films I planned on attending, now I’m going to have to completely reshuffle it based on these recommendations as I seem to have completely missed them the first time through.
Thank you very much for this, it’s great!
Ahh, now I know why I missed 13 Assassins, it’s at the Park, which would throw my whole night out of whack. Annoying it’s only playing there as I love Miike; I’ll have to “settle” for Biutiful instead.
“I’ll have to “settle” for Biutiful instead.”
awww. pobrecito!
Haha, indeed Senor James!
@Keith – Yeah, The Park is a pain to get to but I’ll take it over The Ridge any day of the week. Now THAT was a stupid festival commute.
Ahh yes, The Ridge. Great for one off shows, but going there during a festival would really put a crimp in your schedule. I guess the Canada Line would make The Park even more attractive now.
Being a lazy slob I try to keep everything within the VanCity, G7, and Pac Cinematheque triumvirate.
Looks like there’s a ton of interesting stuff at VIFF this year. I’ve seen around 12 of the VIFF 2010 films so far and have some notes on each I’ve seen online (http://seattlefilmfest.blogspot.com/search/label/viff10)
A short list from things I’ve caught previously that I’d really recommend includes: Cold Weather, Garbo the Spy, The Reverse, A Somewhat Gentle Man, and Cell 211.
I’m really hoping several of these VIFF and TIFF films hit the AFI Fest in November. So much good stuff!
Rich, I saw Cold Weather earlier this year, and found it a bit uneven. That said, it’s worth the admission just to catch Trieste Kelly Dunn’s performance.
COLD WEATHER is on my list but damned it, A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN won’t fit anywhere on my schedule. I’m so sad about that too – looks great.
Marina, if Trieste is there for Cold Weather, say hi to her for me.
Nice list Rich, I have all of those except Garbo on my calendar.
I’m a little concerned about this Visa pass, I sure hope I can still get into everything I want. Seems like it’s safer to stick with ticket packs.
KeithTalent – in my experience having done both tickets and passes there are pros/cons. As you mentioned tickets guarantee you a spot which is nice. But not so much flexibility. They seem to change to process for getting show tickets slightly each year – but in general if you can be in line to get the day’s entry slips with your pass it’s usually not too hard to get what you want. And with a pass your seats are likely better. I only was able to go last year for 2 days so went the ticket route. Best balance I found for that duration is tickets (guaranteed entry) and making friends with passholders (good seats).
If you’ve never done a pass it is a really different experience though in terms of spontaneity. Either way – have fun!
@Jandy – yep, I would say Cold Weather isn’t necessarily for everyone.
But I saw it at SXSW under not the most ideal conditions (1st row) and really was totally sucked in the whole way. In addition to the performance you mentioned I think that waterfall shot is especially memorable – which I didn’t expect at all in this sort of film.
Oh, there were a lot of things I liked a lot about Cold Weather. But the balance between relationship drama and comic mystery was not good for me, and I kept wishing he’d choose one and stick with it. I did appreciate the focus on the sibling relationship, and like I said, every moment Dunn’s onscreen is great. It just didn’t all add up to a whole for me. I am curious to see the director’s other work – Quiet City plays on Sundance fairly often but I keep forgetting to DVR it. Have you seen it?
Jandy – nope, haven’t seen the earlier work. Though also now curious to.
Thanks for the tips Rich, hopefully it all works out for me. It’s kind of odd that the various friends I have that are only attending one or two of the films have guaranteed seats, while I have to keep my fingers crossed on the day of! Anyway, it will be fun regardless, I just have nothing else to do but whinge until the 30th arrives.
On my way back home after 4 days at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. Have two more recommendations of things to catch at VIFF – Rubber, and Gallants. More details here: http://j.mp/bJaG65
Yes! Rubber was the first thing I marked on my calendar when I saw it was playing here. I remember Kermode talking about it from his Cannes report and have been interested in seeing it ever since. Sounds like a blast!
@keith – a bunch of us are catching the midnight screening of Rubber. You should join us – we’ll likely end up somewhere drinking after that one.
@Rich – Gallants wasn’t on my radar until right this second. Checking it out.
Thanks for the invite! I’ll see if I can make it to the midnight show. Thankfully it’s not on a school night!
Open invite. Likely tweet location though we always sit near the back. Look for the unruly bunch making lots of noise pre-show.
I wanted to see gallants, but wasn’t workable (sadness).
Part of me covets the platinum pass. No Lines, no waits, and garrenteed seats you want. Swoon.
I have a sneaky suspicion that Toronto Folks may get a shot at seeing Gallants just after Halloween.
…BTW, I caught it at Fantasia, It’s really good, and Bruce Leung (the frog-man villain in Kung Fu Hustle, who is more or less the heart of the Gallants) is a class act sweetheart in person. Very generous with the fans considering he is into his 60s and has been doing this for so long.
Is anyone planning on seeing the Red Chapel? I saw it last night and thought it was pretty phenomenal, but I’d be interested to hear what others with more intelligence than me think about it. There was rapturous applause at the end and I was one of them; hilarious and fascinating stuff.
I had planned on seeing it pre-festival because it looked interesting but never got to it and now it won’t fit in my schedule. It’s a back-up for another screening so we’ll see.
Happy to hear it’s good though – definitely looked the part!
Yeah I saw they added another showing, which is great; hopefully more people will get to see it.
I always wonder about the ones that get cancelled; I noticed Feathered Cocaine was cancelled across the board for some reason, which is really odd since it was showing as Rush Only the first day tickets went on sale.
I guess I should volunteer one year to see how this all works.