Movie Roundup: VIFF Edition
The wife and I are just back from the Vancouver International Film Festival, where we saw eleven films in four and a half days. It was my first festival ever, I believe she’d seen some films at the Seattle one before, but this was the first outside of our hometown. It was a lot of fun, I only wish I’d bought an umbrella.
Waltz With Bashir – Good, but I expected better from all the buzz around it. The animation is quite nice, not particularly smooth or realistic, but it works for the story. The music is great. At times, the movie feels like it’s trying to absolve Israelis of the atrocities in Lebanon by telling them it wasn’t their fault, that it was the Christians, that the Israelis were just young and didn’t know any better. There’s a fine line between coping with guilt over your actions and making excuses to yourself for yourself. I don’t know that the film is entirely successful at walking that line.
Sparrow – A tremendous amount of fun from director Johnnie To. It takes the style of the modern HK action film and makes a goofy, lighthearted near-musical out of a gang of pickpockets trying to rescue a pretty girl. The humor isn’t over the top in the way a lot of HK comedies I’ve seen from the 90s are, instead it feels closer to The Young Girls Of Rochefort (without the singing and dancing) than I’ve seen in a Chinese film. The wife liked it a lot too, its our favorite of the festival so far.
Of Time And The City – Terence Davies documentary about his hometown of Liverpool, feels like his attempt at a My Winnipeg (which I’ve yet to see). Over mostly archival footage he rectites poetry, muses on the passage of time, makes fun of the Queen and The Beatles and talks a bit about growing up gay and Catholic. The historical shots are fascinating, slice of life images of Liverpudlians going about their rather dull days surrounded by hideously ugly buildings. The narration is alright when Davies is musing, obnoxious when he’s being bitchy. The film breaks down near the end, where it had been chronicling the urban decay he grew up with, as soon as he comes out and declares atheism, his personal stoyr ends (sometime in the mid60s) and all of a sudden we’re transported from the rundown town of that era to the shiny new metropolis from the present. No explanation, no more personal history. It feels slapped together in the end. The wife disliked it a lot more than I did. At least I enjoyed the reallife documentary images. She just thought it was all pretty pointless.
Happy Go Lucky – I’m with what i think the consensus is: Hawkins is terrific, the film is a lot of fun. It’s an interesting study the MPDG character. She starts off as the annoying cliche, but as the film goes along, she becomes more and more an actual character as we see the stereotype deal with actual human problems (and not just movie problems). With this and Topsy-Turvy, I like Mike leigh a lot when he’s not trying to be depressing (ahem, Secrets & Lies).
The Rest Is Silence – Entertaining Romanian film about the making of that countries first silent feature. Very mainstream in style (and far away, I imagine, from those Romanian films getting raves at Cannes). There’s a twist at the end I didn’t like at all.
Sita Sings The Blues – Irreverent animated telling of the Ramayana, interspersed with some great songs of the 20s. Hilarious, the animation (in at least four different styles) is really cool, and a nice message the ways we use narrative to explain and cope with issues in our own lives, at how little this aspect of human nature has changed over the centuries. My wife’s favorite of the whole festival, it might be mine too.
Equation Of Love And Death – A well-made Chinese thriller with comic and romantic elements about a taxi driver kidnapped by inept drug runners while almost finding her long lost boyfriend. Zhou Xun is really terrific as the cab driver. It feels more Hong Kong than Chinese, but maybe I’ve only seen a lot of slow-paced, esoteric Chinese films. The wife liked this one a lot too.
Let The Right One In – Swedish adolescent vampire movie. A 12 year old outcast boy makes friends with the unnaturally pale girl next door. Some nice moments, but all-in-all, a rather depressing film. It’s alright, but I was never particularly excited about it.
Wonderful Town – Thai movie about an architect helping to rebuild a coastal resort post-tsunami. He has an affair with the local hotel owner, scandalizing her brother and leading to some small town outrage. It occupies a kind of middle ground between Pen-Ek and Apichatpong, plot-wise. A beautiful film, but I’m a sucker for images of Thai beaches, especially with the weird grey-brown overcast light they seem to have. The wife thought it was pretty dull.
Good Cats – Ultra-low budget Chinese film (video) about a chauffeur for a petty gangster/real-estate developer. His boss’ deal with a local village is going badly, the his mentor is really depressed due to debt, his wife hates him for not being more successful, and their apartment appears to be trying to kill him. If that wasn’t enough, every 20 minutes or so, a Chinese metal band walks out of the scenery and sings/growls bizarre lyrics somewhat related to the story, Greek Chorus-style. Filmed in the single long motionless take style of Asian minimalism, but with an quite interesting use of depth. Not quite as ornate as Hou’s compositions, but still pretty cool. The wife really didn’t like this one. It was the rock band that put it over the top for her.
Rachel Getting Married – Anne Hathaway is good. I’m not good with acting, but she created what seemed like a real character for me, although it never really felt spontaneous. The whole film feels kind of planned out like that, if that makes any sense at all. It’s often funny, Rosemarie deWitt (from Mad Men is great as Rachel, there’s a weird guy who couldn’t look (and act) more like George Clooney if he tried (seriously, for while I thought Clooney might have dyed his hair and appeared unbilled, its creepy), I totally failed to spot Roger Corman, despite looking for him the whole movie. I liked it better than Margot as it was less sensationalistic (but still too much so for me), the wife prefers Margot (the message of which, she says and agrees with, is that “some people just shouldn’t have children”. She believes this is the message of Squid as well). The music is terrific.
All in all, I’d say:
1. Sita Sings The Blues
2. Sparrow
3. Wonderful Town
4. Rachel Getting Married
5. Happy Go Lucky
6. Equation Of Love And Death
7. Good Cats
8. Waltz With Bashir
9. The Rest Is Silence
10. Of Time And The City
11. Let the Right One In
Metro Classics Returns!
We’re back with another repertory series starting next Wednesday, October 8th and continuing every Wednesday night at Seattle’s charming Metro Cinemas until December 3rd. The theme this time around is film families, with movies from three sets of father, mother and daughter. Here’s the schedule:
Rossellini-Bergmans
Oct. 08 – Rome, Open City
Oct. 15 – Notorious
Oct. 22 – Blue Velvet
Leigh-Curtises:
Oct. 29 – A Fish Called Wanda
Nov. 05 – The Manchurian Candidate
Nov. 12 – Some Like It Hot
Minnelli-Garlands:
Nov. 19 – The Band Wagon
Nov. 26 – The Wizard Of Oz
Dec. 03 – Cabaret
Meanwhile, I’m going on vacation for a week. But I’ll be back next Wednesday for the return of Metro Classics. Family fun for the whole family!
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2007
Best Picture:
The End: I’m Not There
Oscar: No Country For Old Men
Best Director:
The End: Todd Haynes, I’m Not There
Oscar: Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Actor:
The End: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Oscar: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Actress:
The End: Tang Wei, Lust, Caution
Oscar: Marion Cotillard, La vie en rose
Supporting Actor:
The End: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Oscar: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Supporting Actress:
The End: Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Oscar: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Original Screenplay:
The End: Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman, I’m Not There
Oscar: Diablo Cody, Juno
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Oscar: Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Foreign Language Film:
The End: The Flight Of The Red Balloon
Oscar: The Counterfeiters
Documentary Feature:
The End: Helvetica
Oscar: Taxi To The Dark Side
Animated Feature:
The End: Ratatouille
Oscar: Ratatouille
Film Editing:
The End: Jay Rabinowitz, I’m Not There
Oscar: Christopher Rouse, The Bourne Ultimatum
Cinematography:
The End: Roger Deakins, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford and No Country For Old Men
Oscar: Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood
Art Direction:
The End: The Darjeeling Limited
Oscar: Sweeney Todd
Costume Design:
The End: I’m Not There
Oscar: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Make-Up:
The End: Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End
Oscar: La vie en rose
Sound:
The End: I’m Not There
Oscar: The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: No Country For Old Men
Oscar: The Bourne Ultimatum
Visual Effects:
The End: Transformers
Oscar: The Golden Compass
Original Score:
The End: Jonny Greenwood, There Will Be Blood
Oscar: Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Original Song:
The End: Bob Dylan, “I’m Not There”, I’m Not There
Oscar: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, “Falling Slowly”, Once
Soundtrack:
The End: I’m Not There
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2006
Best Picture:
The End: The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: The Departed
Best Director:
The End: Ken Loach, The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Actor:
The End: Cillian Murphy, The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland
Actress:
The End: Markéta Irglová, Once
Oscar: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Supporting Actor:
The End: Irfan Kahn, The Namesake
Oscar: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Supporting Actress:
The End: Shiyang-chyi Chen, I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone
Oscar: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Original Screenplay:
The End: Paul Laverty, The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: William Monahan, The Departed
Oscar: William Monahan, The Departed
Foreign Language Film:
The End: Still Life
Oscar: The Lives Of Others
Animated Feature:
The End: A Scanner Darkly
Oscar: Happy Feet
Film Editing:
The End: Takeshi Seyama, Paprika
Oscar: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed
Cinematography:
The End: Dion Beebe, Miami Vice
Oscar: Guillermo Navarro, Pan’s Labyrinth
Art Direction:
The End: The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: Pan’s Labyrinth
Costume Design:
The End: The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Oscar: Marie Antoinette
Make-Up:
The End: Pan’s Labyrinth
Oscar: Pan’s Labyrinth
Sound:
The End: Miami Vice
Oscar: Dreamgirls
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Oscar: Letters From Iwo Jima
Visual Effects:
The End: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Oscar: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Original Score:
The End: Susumu Hirasawa, Paprika
Oscar: Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Original Song:
The End: Radiohead, “Arpeggi”, A Scanner Darkly
Oscar: Melissa Etheridge. “I Need To Wake Up”, An Inconvenient Truth
Soundtrack:
The End: Once
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2005
Best Picture:
The End: The New World
Oscar: Crash
Best Director:
The End: Terrence Malick, The New World
Oscar: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Actor:
The End: Eric Bana, Munich
Oscar: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Actress:
The End: Q’orianka Kilcher, The New World
Oscar: Reese Witherspoon, Walk The Line
Supporting Actor:
The End: Mickey Rourke, Sin City
Oscar: George Clooney, Syriana
Supporting Actress:
The End: Maria Bello, A History Of Violence
Oscar: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Original Screenplay:
The End: Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chu T’ien-wen, Three Times
Oscar: Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, Crash
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tristram Shandy
Oscar: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Foreign Language Film:
The End: Three Times
Oscar: Tsotsi
Documentary Feature:
The End: Grizzly Man
Oscar: March Of The Penguins
Live-Action Short Film:
The End: My Dad Is 100 Years Old
Oscar: Six Shooter
Film Editing:
The End: Michael Kahn, Munich
Oscar: Hughes Winborne, Crash
Cinematography:
The End: Emmanuel Lubezki, The New World
Oscar: Dion Beebe, Memoirs Of A Geisha
Art Direction:
The End: Princess Raccoon
Oscar: Memoirs Of A Geisha
Costume Design:
The End: Princess Raccoon
Oscar: Memoirs Of A Geisha
Make-Up:
The End: Sin City
Oscar: Chronicles Of Narnia
Sound:
The End: Munich
Oscar: King Kong
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: The War Of The Worlds
Oscar: King Kong
Visual Effects:
The End: King Kong
Oscar: King Kong
Original Score:
The End: Michiru Ôshima , Princess Raccoon
Oscar: Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain
Original Song:
The End: Tom Petty, “Square One”, Elizabethtown
Oscar: Three 6 Mafia, “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp”, Hustle & Flow
Soundtrack:
The End: No Direction Home
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2004
Best Picture:
The End: House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: Million Dollar Baby
Best Director:
The End: Wong Kar-wai, 2046
Oscar: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
Actor:
The End: Tony Leung, 2046
Oscar: Jamie Foxx, Ray
Actress:
The End: Zhang Ziyi, 2046 and House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Supporting Actor:
The End: Willem Dafoe, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Oscar: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
Supporting Actress:
The End: Cate Blanchett, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Aviator
Oscar: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Original Screenplay:
The End: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tropical Malady
Oscar: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle
Oscar: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Sideways
Foreign Language Film:
The End: House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: The Sea Inside
Documentary Feature:
The End: Henri Langlois: Phantom Of The Cinematheque
Oscar: Born Into Brothels
Animated Feature:
The End: The Incredibles
Oscar: The Incredibles
Film Editing:
The End: Long Cheng, House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Aviator
Cinematography:
The End: Zhao Xiaoding, House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: Robert Richardson, The Aviator
Art Direction:
The End: The World
Oscar: The Aviator
Costume Design:
The End: House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: The Aviator
Make-Up:
The End: Hellboy
Oscar: Lemony Snicket
Sound:
The End: The Aviator
Oscar: Ray
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: The Incredibles
Oscar: The Incredibles
Visual Effects:
The End: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow
Oscar: Spiderman 2
Original Score:
The End: Shigeru Umebayashi, 2046 and House Of Flying Daggers
Oscar: Jan Kaczmarek, Finding Neverland
Original Song:
The End: Mark Mothersbaugh, “Ping Island”, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Oscar: Jorge Drexler, “Al Otro Lado Del Río”, The Motorcycle Diaries
Soundtrack:
The End: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2003
Best Picture:
The End: Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Oscar: The Return Of The King
Best Director:
The End: Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill Vol. 1
Oscar: Peter Jackson, Return Of The King
Actor:
The End: Tadanobu Asano, Last Life In The Universe and Café Lumière
Oscar: Sean Penn, Mystic River
Actress:
The End: Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Vol. 1
Oscar: Charlize Theron, Monster
Supporting Actor:
The End: Johnny Depp, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Once Upon A Time In Mexico
Oscar: Tim Robbins, Mystic River
Supporting Actress:
The End: Sinitta Boonyasak, Last Life In The Universe
Oscar: Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain
Original Screenplay:
The End: Kim Ki-duk, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring
Oscar: Sofia Coppola, Lost In Translation
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: Peter Weir & John Collee, Master And Commander
Oscar: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, Return Of The King
Foreign Language Film:
The End: Last Life In The Universe
Oscar: The Barbarian Invasions
Documentary Feature:
The End: The Fog Of War
Oscar: The Fog Of War
Animated Feature:
The End: Finding Nemo
Oscar: Finding Nemo
Film Editing:
The End: Sally Menke, Kill Bill Vol. 1
Oscar: Jamie Selkirk, Return Of The King
Cinematography:
The End: Baek Dong-hyeon, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring
Oscar: Russell Boyd, Master And Commander
Art Direction:
The End: Master And Commander
Oscar: Return Of The King
Costume Design:
The End: Down With Love
Oscar: Return Of The King
Make-Up:
The End: Pirates Of The Caribbean
Oscar: Return Of The King
Sound:
The End: Return Of The King
Oscar: Return Of The King
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: Master And Commander
Oscar: Master And Commander
Visual Effects:
The End: Return Of The King
Oscar: Return Of The King
Original Score:
The End: Christopher Dedrick, The Saddest Music In The World
Oscar: Howard Shore, Return Of The King
Original Song:
The End: Dharini Divari, “Gravity”, Last Life In The Universe
Oscar: Annie Lennox, “Into The West”, Return Of The King
Soundtrack:
The End: Masked And Anonymous
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2002
Best Picture:
The End: Punch-Drunk Love
Oscar: Chicago
Best Director:
The End: Zhang Yimou, Hero
Oscar: Roman Polanski, The Pianist
Actor:
The End: Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People
Oscar: Adrien Brody, The Pianist
Actress:
The End: Gong Li, Zhou Yu’s Train
Oscar: Nicole Kidman, The Hours
Supporting Actor:
The End: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs Of New York
Oscar: Chris Cooper, Adaptation
Supporting Actress:
The End: Isabelle Huppert, 8 Women
Oscar: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
Original Screenplay:
The End: Alan Mak and Felix Chong, Infernal Affairs
Oscar: Pedro Almodóvar, Talk To Her
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: François Ozon and Marina de Van, 8 Women
Oscar: Ronald Harwood, The Pianist
Foreign Language Film:
The End: Hero
Oscar: Nowhere In Africa
Documentary Feature:
The End: Bowling For Columbine
Oscar: Bowling For Columbine
Animated Feature:
The End: Ice Age (Sorry, it’s the only one I’ve seen)
Oscar: Spirited Away
Film Editing:
The End: Angie Lam, Hero
Oscar: Martin Walsh, Chicago
Cinematography:
The End: Christopher Doyle, Hero
Oscar: Conrad Hall, Road To Perdition
Art Direction:
The End: Hero
Oscar: Chicago
Costume Design:
The End: The Two Towers
Oscar: Chicago
Make-Up:
The End: The Two Towers
Oscar: Frida
Sound:
The End: The Two Towers
Oscar: Chicago
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: The Two Towers
Oscar: The Two Towers
Visual Effects:
The End: The Two Towers
Oscar: The Two Towers
Original Score:
The End: Jon Brion, Punch-Drunk Love
Oscar: Elliot Goldenthal, Frida
Original Song:
The End: Eminem, “Lose Yourself”, 8 Mile
Oscar: Eminem, “Lose Yourself”, 8 Mile
Soundtrack:
The End: Punch-Drunk Love
Movies Of The Year Awards: 2001
Best Picture:
The End: Millennium Mambo
Oscar: A Beautiful Mind
Best Director:
The End: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Millennium Mambo
Oscar: Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
Actor:
The End: Billy Bob Thornton, The Man Who Wasn’t There
Oscar: Denzel Washington, Training Day
Actress:
The End: Shu Qi, Millennium Mambo
Oscar: Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball
Supporting Actor:
The End: Ian McKellen, The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: Jim Broadbent, Iris
Supporting Actress:
The End: Penelope Cruz, Vanilla Sky
Oscar: Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
Original Screenplay:
The End: Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums
Oscar: Julian Fellowes, Gosford Park
Adapted Screenplay:
The End: Steven Spielberg and Ian Watson, AI: Artificial Intelligence
Oscar: Akiva Goldsman, A Beautiful Mind
Foreign Language Film:
The End: Millennium Mambo
Oscar: No Man’s Land
Documentary Feature:
The End: If I Should Fall From Grace
Oscar: Murder On A Sunday Morning
Animated Feature:
The End: Waking Life
Oscar: Shrek
Film Editing:
The End: Jill Bilcock, Moulin Rouge!
Oscar: Pietro Scalia, Black Hawk Down
Cinematography:
The End: Mark Lee Ping-bin, Millennium Mambo
Oscar: Andrew Lesnie, The Fellowship Of The Ring
Art Direction:
The End: The Royal Tenenbaums
Oscar: Moulin Rouge!
Costume Design:
The End: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: Moulin Rouge!
Make-Up:
The End: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Sound:
The End: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: Black Hawk Down
Sound Effects Editing:
The End: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: Pearl Harbor
Visual Effects:
The End: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Oscar: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Original Score:
The End: Yoshihiro Hanno and Giong Lim, Millennium Mambo
Oscar: Howard Shore, The Fellowship Of The Ring
Original Song:
The End: Yoko Kanno, “Diggin”, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Oscar: Randy Newman, “If I Didn’t Have You”, Monsters, Inc
Soundtrack:
The End: The Royal Tenenbaums
The End of Cinema 