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  • 23 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: The Documentary Blog Podcast

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    Jay Cheel of the Documentary Blog and some of his Film Junk cohorts (Sean and Frank) join our own Kurt Halfyard for a mondo wrap-up podcast of the recent Hot Docs film festival. As Jay states, the show is “designed specifically for those of you who like listening to four guys talk about documentaries for nearly three hours”, so fans of the Cinecast might enjoy it as a short warm-up to the next show…

    They lead off the chat with a long discussion of my personal favourite from the fest – the fantastic Tchoupitoulas – and proceed to tackle an additional 26 films. Listen to it here.

  • 16 May

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    Be careful John Woo…Don’t mess with Master Suzuki

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    One of the early announcements out of Cannes was that of a new picture on its way from director John Woo. Known for over the top action scenes, fine cheese and crates of doves, Woo will be looking to remake one of the classic films from Japanese movie studio Nikkatsu as part of its centenary celebration. Entitled Day Of The Beast, the film will be an English language take on Seijun Suzuki’s superb 1963 film Youth Of The Beast. Of its many great scenes, one of my favourites is when Jo Shishido’s main character survives being blown up in a house while he’s hanging upside down, manages to swing himself to a gun, fight off two remaining yakuza and then shoot himself free before finishing them both off. How can Woo top that?

    Of course, I’m kidding when I tell Woo to tread carefully. I’m not one to believe that the original film can be wrecked by any attempt to remake it. In fact, any attention a remake can bring to an earlier film is definitely welcomed – especially when it’s something by one of my favourite directors. Though he was a studio director – in other words, he had to film whatever script they gave him with whatever cast they gave him – Seijun Suzuki figured out early on how to keep things interesting even when the scripts were standard B-movie fare. Akin somewhat to Hitchcock in viewing the role of the director to be more technical in nature (where does the camera sit, when does it move, how do I frame things, etc.), Suzuki was able to play with storytelling conventions a great deal by adding subtext and context via his images and visual style while avoiding exposition like the plague. The classic story is that Nikkatsu fired him upon seeing his 1967 film Branded To Kill after having warned him to play by the rules (his previous film Tokyo Drifter wasn’t exactly a straight line narrative either). His methods of telling his story made generic plots into interesting ones and I’ve never seen a film of his that didn’t make me broadly smile at something totally unexpected, make me think “Whoa, that was cool…” and yet still convey relevant information about the story or character.

    So in anticipation of John Woo’s re-imagining of one of the classic yakuza films, here’s just a few examples of Suzuki’s work:

     

    Youth Of The Beast (1963)

     

    Gate Of Flesh (1964)

     

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 11 May

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    Trailer: 2012 Shinsedai Cinema Festival

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    Absolutely stellar work on the trailer for this year’s Shinsedai Cinema Festival:

     

     

    Yeah, I want to see each one of those right now too…The full lineup has now been announced and tickets go on sale June 21st, so go browse the titles and see if you can match up trailer clips to their movies. A preview post of the festival should be upcoming soon, but that trailer does a fabulous job of selling the festival on its own. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but moving pictures put together in a montage set to music speak about a thousand times more.

  • 10 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: Aida: A Natural-Born Artist Review

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    It’s hard to say if Aida Makoto will ever truly let himself be happy. As an artist, he’ll always be restless (as most really creative people are) and never completely satisfied with all his work, but he can’t seem to be content with life. “Life is miserable if you can’t be an artist”, he says, not quite convincing us that it’s much different if you are one. Aida says he has ADHD and you tend to believe him when he takes one of his countless smoke breaks and continues to have a hard time focusing on the details of his paintings. Strange when you consider just how very detailed they are, but then you remember how long he’s been working on them and that he may simply never finish them. His large painting of about 30 schoolgirls dressed in blue by a waterfall looks complete down to the last little leaf, but it’s been in the works for 3-4 years. It’s been shown at numerous art shows, but it’s never quite finished. In fact, as he is setting it up at a new gallery, he sees it under a different set of lights and starts to completely reconsider some old choices. He even tells the gallery owner that if the painting sells, he wants to make sure that he can still finish it afterwards.

    Another work in progress is the depiction of a mountain of businessmen’s bodies piled high and rising out of the mist. We see him just beginning the details of each individual body at the beginning of the film while he works in a large warehouse gallery in China. The paintings are too big to really work on full time in Japan, so he’s set up shop here over the summer and imported his wife and son as well. The film tracks his progress and as the summer comes and goes, his works are in various stages of not being completed. His family returns home and he stays behind. He returns for New Years festivities and then once again returns to buckle down since the businessman mountain painting is due for a showing. It shows, but it’s still not quite finished…

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 08 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: The Revisionaries Review

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    I left the Hot Docs screening of The Revisionaries angry. Not stomping mad yelling obscenities, but stewing over what I had just seen, frustrated over an inability to do anything about it IMMEDIATELY and trying in vain not to be cranky with the friends who exited the theatre with me. This wasn’t overly surprising since I went into the film – which covers the Texas State Board of Education’s systematic attempt to dismantle their education standards through politics, religion and ignorance – with the expectation of acquiring a certain sense of outrage. It’s not that I was looking forward to that, but I felt that I should see if the film covered any angles or viewpoints I hadn’t heard before. The attempts to dilute the teaching of evolution in certain regions of the U.S. are a huge bone of contention with me, so I wondered how the film would approach the situation in Texas. The first part of the film covers the period of 2009-2010 when the school board tried to leave a loophole in its curriculum standards to allow a “strengths and weaknesses” arguments clause and therefore let non-scientific “theories” into science classrooms.

    The film played it mostly as expected – an inherent bias that matched my own and a slight mocking tone of those who completely misunderstand the scientific method, but with an overall style and approach that was reasonably fair. Apparently most of the revisionists who saw the film were quite happy with it and thought their side came through well. Indeed their true colours and viewpoints do come through – mostly through board member and one-time chairman Don McLevoy who desperately tries to open the door for “intelligent design” to find its way into science classrooms in Texas by forcing debate and votes on how evolution should be taught. Considering McLevoy is a Young Earth Creationist (ie. someone who believes the Earth is less than 10000 years old, Noah’s ark really existed, dinosaurs walked with humans, etc.), it’s clear that he shouldn’t be anywhere near decision-making authority when it comes to science education standards. But that’s far from the most surprising thing in the film…First of all, McLevoy comes across as a mostly decent person even though his ideas have no foothold in reality. He’s completely deluded himself into thinking he understands how science works (he even claims to be a skeptic by nature), but genuinely believes in the things he’s trying to do. In what seems to be honest frustration, he admits that he just doesn’t understand his detractors. He’s a dangerous person to be in a position of major influence over one of the country’s major text book markets (to enter the Texas market, the manufacturers have to meet the Board of Education’s guidelines) since he simply doesn’t realize his limitations, but I expected a different kind of fanatic.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 07 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: Sexy Baby Review

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    I wasn’t very far into Sexy Baby when I thought it might be an excellent choice for my son to watch with me. He’s only a year younger than 12 year-old Winnifred (the first of the three main subjects we meet in the film) and she was being very sharp in her thoughts about how she has been exposed to sex via media, friends and our overall culture. She’s smart as a whip, but even though she has this perspective she still apes some of the styles and attitudes. And she totally needs some training on how NOT to use social media. It all seemed like perfect fodder for good conversation with The Boy as he winds down his last year of elementary school and preps for the trials and tribulations of middle school.

    As the other two storylines wove into the mix, thoughts of those father/son discussions quickly dissipated (“Nope, he won’t be seeing this anytime soon…”). To be clear – that’s not a reflection of the film’s quality. The addition of 22 year-old Laura’s story regarding her upcoming cosmetic surgery on her vagina (ie. labiaplasty) and 30-ish Nichole’s discussion of her career in stripping and porn (and her subsequent business ventures in those realms) provide further viewpoints and expand on a variety of points about the pervasiveness of messages about sex in society. As you might expect, though, these stories raised topics and contained footage far beyond what a pre-teen should be processing – even Winnifred. What we hear from both of them is that the very adult industry of porn has – in particular with the growth of the internet – become a strong influence on a wide variety of people. As Nichole states “Porn is for adults. It’s not made for teenagers.”

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 03 May

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    Hot Docs 2012: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

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    The full title of Stacy Peralta’s latest film is both inaccurate and spot on. Many people had the impression – especially if you know anything about the fact that the director also formed the mid-80s skateboard team that is the subject here – that perhaps Peralta was going to centre the documentary around himself and what he did for the sport. From my perspective though – and this was amplified by Peralta’s own comments after Tuesday night’s International premiere (complete with a packed house filled with “skater dudes”) – the title implies that it is the entire team that is telling the story of their rise through the 80s into role models for a distinct set of kids. Peralta was the guiding force behind the team, a part of the company that backed them (Powell-Peralta) and undoubtedly has the reins of the film, but the story is very much driven by the individual members. Each of the core 6 skaters of Peralta’s original team were recruited when they were quite young (10-13 years old) and showed promise. They also showed tendencies to be outcasts with a desperate need to belong. Not long after joining the team (by the time most were 15-16), they had become world class athletes.

    Though it is the story of the whole team, Peralta’s influence is everywhere. Most of the film happens in the 80s after his own professional riding career was over (with several older clips of Peralta in his prime skating era as seen in his earlier film Dogtown And Z-Boys), but he’s still in a great deal of the archive footage encouraging, coaching and managing the kids. He gets talking head time as well to discuss not only the team, but his business partnership in Powell-Peralta. And of course, he brings his sense of style to his directing duties by adding many cinematic touches to the look of the movie: the talking heads are rarely framed in consistent ways, on screen titles resemble those from old 80s VCR tapes playing in machines that had lost the ability to properly track the image, the music selection always fits the tone and pace of the story, and the content never lags. Like Dogtown and Riding Giants (his surfing movie), you do not have to have a single reference point in the history of events or have any nostalgic reverence for the people involved. The film provides an entertaining, oddly emotional and well laid out story with surprisingly interesting central characters.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 29 Apr

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    Hot Docs 2012: Tchoupitoulas Review

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    New Orleans is a city vibrant with colour, steeped in music and chock full of fantasy. The streets of the French Quarter are, on just about any given night, filled with feathered costumes, seductive dancers behind window shades and skeletons rattling about in every corner. I daresay, though, that the entire city might not have as many flights of fancy and dreams as 11-year old William does. After winning 6 Superbowls with the NY Giants, he plans to become a lawyer and then shift into architecture. He doesn’t think that seeing Michael Jackson live is terribly realistic at this stage, but still holds out hope that he could be the first person to actually fly. The ladies would really love him for that…

    William tells us all about these dreams in exuberant tones like only a young boy can. It’s refreshing to see the world through his eyes and listen to him still full of life. It’s easy to see why the Ross brothers (Turner and Bill) chose him as the central filter for their own dreamy excursion through Century City’s nighttime streets – their latest film Tchoupitoulas (following up their remarkable 45365). William and his two older brothers make the ferry journey over from Tchoupitoulas for an evening of walking through the French Quarter with the expectation to catch the last ferry home at midnight. When things don’t go quite to plan, they end up wandering the city for the entire night until the ferry gates reopen in the morning to take them back home. The Ross Brothers are along with them for the adventure and document what they see and how they feel.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 28 Apr

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    Hot Docs 2012: ¡Vivan las Antipodas! Review

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    Narration is a difficult device to use in filmmaking. The adage has always been to “show” not “tell”. That rule is usually given a bit more leeway when it comes to documentary filmmaking, though, due to specific needs to impart information or put across very specific views. This is even more likely when there’s not a talking head to be found. However, the makers of ¡Vivan las Antipodas! decided early on that they would forego all commentary over top of their footage. Instead, they simply do a great deal of showing. Anyone chattering over the gorgeous imagery of 4 different sets of the planet’s antipodes (ie. locations on Earth that are on the exact opposite sides of the planet from each other) would’ve been tuned out anyway. Not only is commentary not required during the languid comparisons of life and environment between the antipodes, but you probably wouldn’t even have noticed the narration due to being so enveloped by the scenic beauty and the unique presentation. Director and cinematographer Victor Kossakovsky has not only taken great care in choosing and framing his landscapes (Russia’s Lake Baikal is stunning to say the least), but has also taken delight in playing with transitions between scenes and locations – using tricks like rotating cameras upside down and visually rhyming his edits. It provides a joyful sense of connection between locations and, even while pointing out some great disparities, ties the entire planet together.

    Before defining in text the term antipode (and listing the eight locations), the film opens with a quote from “Alice In Wonderland”:

    “I wonder if I should fall right through the Earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The Antipathies, I think…

    …it didn’t sound at all the right word.”

    Initially, it seems that perhaps “anti” is indeed the proper prefix for these opposite locations. The first pair of antipodes are the massive city Shanghai, China and a remote spot in the province of Entre Rios in Argentina. The construction of a makeshift bridge by the two brothers who live next to it (and who collect tolls from those who wish to drive over it) is contrasted with the huge building projects in Shanghai. But as the film continues with its comparisons and contrasts – lambs being sheared in Chile versus running around the hillsides in Russia; a single car crossing that wobbly bridge in Argentina to the streams of traffic in Shanghai – you start seeing a whole lot more commonality. Sometimes it’s in the landscapes, but more often within the way people live and relate to each other.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 26 Apr

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    Hot Docs 2012 – Another Preview

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    Amidst the usual bevy of clips, images and detailed descriptions, the Press Conference for this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival (starting today and running until May 6th) had two other big announcements:

    • An experiment to simulcast several movies to different Canadian cinemas at the same time and have a live director Q&A as well.
    • Free coffee/espresso for people waiting in rush ticket lines.

    OK, that second one may not be quite as impressive (even if it did garner pretty enthusiastic response from the assembled crowd at the Bloor Cinema), but the two items together show why Hot Docs is one of the top film festivals in the world: they go after the big and even risky ideas while always taking into account the attendees and the little details that make an event memorable.

    The simulcast events (called Hot Docs Live) do indeed sound chancy for the organizers, but there was a genuine feeling of excitement from the festival staff that they are bringing the festival to the rest of the country. The screenings will be broadcast to close to 40 theatres in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and several other cities. Along with their DocIgnite program, Docs For Schools and their many other programs, Hot Docs has also now set up their base in the newly renovated Bloor Cinema. The press conference was my first visit there and it was suitably impressive – it’s smaller inside the theatre, but cozy, comfortable and beautifully put together. Can’t wait to see a film projected there.

    As for the actual films during the festival, the opening night selection will be Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry about the Chinese activist and artist. The film is a first time effort by Alison Klayman and plays twice on the opening night of April 26th. Charlotte Cook, the new director of programming for Hot Docs, calls it a “perfect story of art as a means for change” as Klayman had deep access to follow the artist who, over the last few years, has bridged from being an artistic consultant for the Beijing National Stadium (for the 2008 Olympics) to being arrested for two months by Chinese authorities.

    In total, the fest will be providing over 400 screenings of 189 films (chosen from 2085 submissions!) from 51 countries. There’s a small drop in the total number of individual films being shown, but an uptick in how many will receive three showings. I’ve barely skimmed the surface of the extensive list, but under the seat are some of the ones that standout for me:

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 21 Apr

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    M-SPIFF Review: Café de Flore

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    Director: Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.)
    Writer: Jean-Marc Vallée
    Producers: Pierre Even, Marie-Claude Poulin
    Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent, Hélène Florent, Evelyne Brochu, Marin Gerrier, Alice Dubois
    Country of Origin: France
    MPAA Rating: NR
    Running time: 120 min.

     

    (5/5)

     

    I was somewhat shaken walking out of Jean-Marc Vallee’s latest film and needed to actually catch my breath off to the side of the cell-phone checking hordes. It was partially due to several very personal reactions to a few moments and characters, but mostly because the film was absolutely magnificent in just about every respect. I’ve found my “I can’t imagine seeing a better film this year” film.

    Vallee’s Young Victoria didn’t exactly win any converts in major production house circles, but anyone who saw C.R.A.Z.Y. has probably already given him a lifetime pass. As great as that film was (and if you haven’t seen it, please track it down via any legal means possible and also give a listen to the Movie Club Podcast episode specifically on that film), Cafe de Flore has just surpassed any reasonable expectation of what this filmmaker could do. Possibly even all the unreasonable expectations too. It shows a command of thematic content across multiple stories, an inate feeling of putting music to images and an almost perfect sense of flow. He knows when to ask his actors to be subtle, to bring forward some emotion and when to go BIG. He knows when to keep a scene going, when to stay with a take and when to cut across stories and time periods. That’s what I’m left with as I consider my reaction to the film – everything seemed dead on perfect.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 26 Mar

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    My Love for Film in a Snapshot #15

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    It’s a moment that’s quite brief, very subtle and can easily be missed, but was one of my favourite little pieces of acting in 2010. The far-better-than-one-could-ever-have-expected Easy A provides charm, a good deal of humour and some top notch parenting tips, but it’s really all centered on Emma Stone. It goes without saying that she’s lovely and talented, but she also has an ease and immediate rapport with the audience and an ability to rattle off sharp lines with speed, clarity and a great sense of timing that was far more common in the Heyday of the studio system in the 30s-40s. The screenshot above doesn’t quite do her justice – this really should be held for “My Love for Film in a half-second Video Clip” – but it’s a high point for Stone in the film while capturing her character Olive Pendergrast’s low point: she thought she had finally found someone who might actually be decent only to realize that he was just like all the rest. She’s been holding her composure throughout the last few weeks of rumours and lies, but this is that final straw. It snaps and she can’t help showing the pain; that moment when all the air seems to get sucked out of your chest. Olive has pretty much lost all faith in general humanity at this point, but Stone doesn’t overplay it. It comes across as a genuine grimace at a crushing blow followed by the strong-willed determination to keep the tough exterior and get through this without letting “them” see that you care. It’s a truly fine performance and terrific moment by a great young actress.

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