Movie Reviews: 2016 – Page 3 – Jon The Blogcentric

VIFF 2016 Review: All Of A Sudden (Auf Einmal)

1 November 201610 November 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

All Of A Sudden is a story of a crime mystery that leaves you wondering what the truth is.

The film begins with a party with many adults. A man named Karsten sees a woman named Anna at his home. He gives her a cupcake with a candle and sings her Happy Birthday. Then she gets sick. Karsten runs to the town clinic to seek help but it’s closed. Upon returning home, it’s too late. She’s dead.

His parents offer him relief at their home along with his girlfriend Laura. Unfortunately more information unfolds. Anna’s widower has Karsten charged with wrongful death. A video from a smartphone of Judith–one of the friends of Laura and Karsten–shows Karsten talking to Anna at the party just shortly before her death. Karsten is constantly questioned about why he left to run to a medical clinic instead of calling emergency. Because of the turn of events and sudden findings, Karsten is demoted at his job and Laura leaves him feeling she’s betrayed. Karsten’s relationship with his parents even becomes heated.

One day Karsten just leaves for a hike just to get away from it all only to be found by his best friend with the news. Anna’s husband has dropped the charges. Karsten is shocked and wonders why. He confronts her husband Andrej to find out why. Only Karsten knows why, much to Andrej’s disappointment. Karsten goes back to his job and demands he be returned to his original position or else he will sue. Karsten meets with Judith ‘intimately’ only to set the record straight with her and the video. Finally it looks like Karsten has his life back together.

The most unique thing about this film is how it tells the story. It presents the events as they unfold and it tosses the opinions from others around Karsten. It’s almost as if you’re a part of the situation yourself and you’re led to draw your own conclusions. I’ll admit that when I first saw this, I was ready to draw my conclusion that he was responsible for this. He appeared criminally negligent. Like why did he run to the clinic when he could have called 911 instead? Did he do it to hide from Laura that he was with another woman at the time? They’ll leave you questioning. Even that video Judith took of Anna during the night with Karsten will leave you guessing.

Just as unique about it is how it took that one break, when Andrej decides to drop the charges, that Karsten becomes a changed person. He first comes across as a man who’s all together at the beginning. Then he comes across as a victim, like the world is against him. Then after this sudden reversal, Karsten soon becomes a man who settles the score with those who did him wrong. It’s like a complete change of character and traits I didn’t see in Karsten before. In order to make such a major change of character, the actor had to make this work. I feel Karsten’s change of character came off well. It was drawn out longer than I feel it should have but it worked.

In retrospect I think this story of Karsten and Anna can come across as any crime story. Any situation can lead one to believe certain things. Any set of facts you know and facts you don’t know can cause you to draw your own conclusions. Anyone in the same situation like Karsten can easily be preyed upon by others. No surprisingly the victim in all this can easy ask themselves: “Why is the whole world against me?” However it just takes that one change of fortune for a person to become a changed person the same way it happened to Karsten. I guess that’s the trick of the film. It takes Karsten’s story and shows how it’s so much like many situations before it.

Turkish-German director Asli Ozge writes, directs and edits a very good thought-provoking film. Without a doubt, the film belonged to Sebastian Hulk. This was Karsten’s story and the whole film rested on Hulk delivering the performance of Sebastian in the right manner. Hulk did a very good job of acting without having to be overdramatic. There were also excellent performances by Julia Jentsch as the girlfriend struggling with the situation and Luise Heyer as two-faced Judith.

All Of A Sudden is a unique story. It presents a before-and- after story that will lead one to draw their own conclusion. It really makes you think.

VIFF 2016 Review: To Keep The Light

1 November 20169 November 2016Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Here at the VIFF, you’ll see many films directed by female directors. One is To Keep The Light, directed by Erica Fae. It’s a very impressive work.

Abbie is the wife of Thomas, a lighthouse keeper in Maine in 1876. However Thomas has recently fallen ill and has become bedridden with a complete loss of appetite. That means Abbie will have to tend to the lighthouse while he is sick. She does everything Thomas does and keeps record of everything although she does commit one error.

One morning she sees a body of a man has washed ashore. The following day, she sees the man has not awaken so she assumes he’s dead. However just as she’s about to cast the body to sea, the man awakens. She gives him shelter and food as he’s about to recover. He tells her the story of how he ended up in the sea. As he’s recovering, she tells Thomas of this man: a Swede named Johan. It’s only a matter of days that Johan gets better. He’s even able to help Abbie with the lighthouse.

Abbie’s even able to go to town with Johan but the townpeople do not look fondly towards Abbie or Johan. Some are suspicious of the two considering Thomas is still bedridden. Even the postal lady Mrs. Williams has a suspicion towards Swedes as do many of the townfolks. It’s difficult enough since one family, the Eaton family, feels they should have owned the lighthouse only to have been outbid by Abbie and Thomas.

One day Abbie sees the breakfast eaten, assuming Thomas is starting recover and lies next to him, only to discover it’s Johan. Abbie soon learns the horrific news. Thomas is dead; he drowned himself. As if Thomas’ death isn’t hard enough, she knows she could lose the lighthouse to the Eatons. Troubles turn worse as the Chief Inspector conducts an inspection and gives it a scathing review, mostly because of his male chauvinism. Soon Johan reveals her love towards Abbie just around the time the Eatons are trying to claim her lighthouse. Abbie would have to make an important decision. She does, but not the decision most would expect.

Listening to the first five minutes of the Q&A with Erica Fae, I learned a lot more about women who looked after lighthouses in place of their ailing or deceased husbands. It’s documented but the times whitewashed their contributions those many years ago. Erica Fae is able to bring their achievements to full view and for us to finally see. Even though Abbie is a fictional character, it’s enlightening to see what they did during the time. I’m glad Erica has the chance through this film to finally tell us their story and finally commend their accomplishments.

If there’s one glitch about this film, it’s that it doesn’t appear like it’s solid in its intention as a film. It becomes obvious it’s about one woman’s struggle to keep the lighthouse she should rightfully own being the widow of the previous owner. However the story of Abbie’s struggle has the distraction of her romance with Johan. I’ll admit while watching this, I was left wondering if the film was intended to be a romance: a story about the man Abbie truly loved. I don’t have a problem at all with films conveying a message of women fighting for their rights but I think the romance from Abbie and Johan took away from the story’s message and would leave confused about what the main intention of the film is to be.

SPOILER ALERT – Do Not Read This Paragraph IF You Don‘t Want To Know The Ending: Even the ending had me confused. It’s obvious Abbie loved Johan but it couldn’t be that she was thinking of marrying him to keep her lighthouse. Even if it was right after the death of Thomas, Abbie didn’t come across as that type of woman. If she were to marry Johan, it would be because she loved him. I admit I had different expectations in the film. I thought Johan would follow his heart and come back to her. I think that’s why the ending of her writing the letter to set her ownership of the lighthouse in stone left me confused.

I give a lot of respect to Erica Fae for this film. Fae is best known as an actress in the film Synecdoche, New York and a recurring character in Boardwalk Empire. She wrote, directed, researched and played the lead in the film. She does an excellent job in all the duties she takes on in the film but there are some noticeable flaws. I know I made mention of a story of a love mixed with a woman’s fight for her right as coming off as uneven. As far as Fae’s acting, she does an excellent job of playing the character but she doesn’t come across as too believable as a woman from the 1870’s in New England. She comes across as too 21st century in her movement and her speaking. Antti Reini did a good job of playing Johan. The other cast members also did very well in their parts. The cinematography by Wes Cardino was excellent and gives a great feel for the East Coast. The score by Caroline Shaw was also very fitting for the film.

To Keep The Light has its noticeable flaws. Nevertheless it is a good story about what certain women had to fight for that often goes overlooked. I thank Erica Fae for giving us this story.

VIFF 2016 Review: Quit Staring At My Plate (Ne gledaj mi u pijat)

27 October 2016Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

quit_staring_at_my_plate-h_2016 — *Quit Staring At My Plate* is the story of Marijana: a young Croatian woman who knows she deserves better.

Being a young adult may be loaded with fun but it also has its difficulties. Quit Staring At My Plate tells the story of a young Croatian woman with a difficult life and the choices she needs to make.

Marijana Petkovic is a 24 year-old with a difficult life in Sibenik. She lives in a cramped apartment with her parents and her older brother Zoran. She works at a hospital testing specimens. She is however the breadwinner of the family as she’s the only one with a job. Her family life is rough as her parents are known for slam-talking her and her brother. Her father is very controlling. Also her brother is either too irresponsible or too disheartened to find a job. Because of the family’s low income, most of the food they have is either cheap or old. Her job at the lab doesn’t look too promising as the staff are threatened by the potential of layoffs.

Then it happens. Her father has a stroke, leaving him in a bedridden catatonic state. Marijana now has to be a nurse to her father. She also has to be a parent-figure to her brother. It doesn’t leave much room for fun or even dating in her life. Things change as Marijana goes on a bus trip to the beach with Zoran and her mother. She meets Andjela: old classmate from medical school and learns she works as a maid for a rich American family. Her mother is forbidding of her to become a maid, preferring she stick to her job in the labs. However things change in Marijana’s life as she no longer has the control her father had on her. She starts going places she never went before, she starts seeing more men and even sleeping with them, she even meets up with Andjela and learns of her job. She accepts the job as she learns she can make more money that way, but secretly so her mother doesn’t know. She’s even part of Andjela’s clique of friends.

Once Marijana accepts the job and starts working with Andjela, she’s able to make life easier for the family as she’s able to afford more. One day, Marijana takes Zoran and her mother out for ice cream. Andjela is also at the ice cream bar. It’s after her mother hurls insults at Andjela that she learns the truth about Marijana. This leads to her mother berating her like never before. It’s after spending the night away from the family and staying with two men she never met before that she learns of opportunity in Zagreb: a city she’s never been to before. It’s right after learning one of her colleagues was fired that she makes it a goal to take off to Zagreb despite her mother begging her to stay. It leads to an ending that may be surprising to some but very personal too.

No doubt this story is focused on Marijana: 24 year-old Sibenik woman with an uncertain future. She goes from living in a cramped apartment with an unpromising job and no love life to being head of the household. Her mother disapproves of a job with better pay. You’d think she would explode any minute. She gets more freedom now that her father is bedridden and no longer browbeating her and her brother. However the freedoms come at a price as her mother smacks the heck out of her when she learns the news. You can easily see why she’d want to run away from it all and pursue better in Zagreb. She is a medical school grad; she deserves better than this.

The thing about this story is that it’s a very common story. I can remember when I was in my 20’s living in Winnipeg, I had just graduated from University but I was still living with my parents and I was working lousy jobs that didn’t give me enough hours. Yeah, that was Winnipeg in the 90’s for you. It was even more frustrating when others I knew had their independence. Eventually I did get better jobs, I did get more freedom in my life, I did establish my independence and I did move to Vancouver in 2000. I saw Marijana’s struggle similar to the struggle I faced when I was her age. I can easily see why she would want to leave it all behind especially after experiencing her new freedoms. Doors appear to open. Why stay in the same place?

One thing about the film is that I don’t think it did the city of Sibenik much justice. If you saw the film, you’d think Sibenik was a city where nothing happens, everything stays the same and that there’s not much promise in sight. I’ve never been to Sibenik so I can’t say. However the film may leave you thinking that. Even that scene of the rich wife who disses every woman she walks by makes you wonder about this town.

Top marks for the film go to writer/director Hana Jusic. This is the 32 year-old’s first feature-length film and it’s very impressive. It’s not that often you see a film from Croatia featured from a woman’s point of view. Hana does a very good job in capturing the silent frustrations and confusions of Marijana and created a story that is a reflection of many women just like her. Also top marks go to Mia Petricevic playing Marijana. What surprised me about the role is how much emotional control this role needed. I’ll admit I was expecting Marijana to explode or break down any minute. Mia had to make Marijana into a woman who was hurting and frustrated on the inside silently but still holding her head high. She did an excellent job especially with her moments of silence. You could tell what she was feeling. There were also good supporting performances from Niksa Butijer and Arijana Culina. The techno score also fit the film well. Techno scores have been more common in films lately.

Quit Staring At My Plate is a silent but honest look at the struggles of a young Croatian woman. You can easily see Marijana reflect many other young women of today.

VIFF 2016 Review: Under The Shadow (زیر سایه‎‎)

11 October 201627 October 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

One of the objectives of the VIFF is to show films each year that take us to another dimension or the supernatural. That’s shown in their Altered States film category/ The first Altered States film I saw was Under The Shadow which showcases a supernatural occurrence during a moment in world history.

This takes place in Tehran during the later 1980’s during the Iran/Iraq war. The war has been going on since 1980 with lots of lives lost, everyone in Iran threatened, and no end in sight. Shideh, just recently expelled from her law school for participating in a protest, has returned to her apartment as a housewife. Only she learns her husband has been drafted in the War. She’s left to tend to her daughter Dorsa alone. Her workout tape to Jane Fonda– forbidden under her country’s religious law along with the VCR hidden in a locked box– becomes her one escape from the stresses in her life.

One night, an Iraqi missile hits the apartment but doesn’t explode. There’s only one fatality but he dies of a heart attack. Mysteriously Dorsa won’t stop crying for her doll until she has it despite the wreckage to the apartment building.

Shideh decides to stay with Dorsa despite other tenant leaving the building for a safer place to live one by one. Dorsa mentions of a mysterious man, or djinn, and that’s what keeps her there. It’s not easy for Shideh to deal with this as she’s constantly being left behind by the tenants, worrying about her husband constantly, looking after Dorsa all alone and dealing with authorities in a country under strict religious law. Things take a turn for the worse as this djinn causes things to move out of place. It even rips up her Jane Fonda tape.

Soon the last of the other tenants– the daughter of the man who died in the missile hit– leaves the apartment with Shideh and Dorsa on their own. Nevertheless Shideh is determined to face the djinn before she leaves and despite the threat of a collapsing roof. Shideh does have her moment to finally confront the djinn and deal with it.

There are a lot of stories about the supernatural in the past. The unique thing about this film is that it features a supernatural character traditional to Arabic literature: the Djinn. The djinn are common in ancient Arabic mythology and are even mentioned in the Qu’ran. The most common form of the djinn in entertainment is the ‘genie in a bottle’ or the ‘genie in a lamp’ that’s common in the most popular Arabic stories. Yes, the genie we all commonly know originates from the djinn myth. However the djinn goes beyond the genie most of us commonly know. The djinn can be either good, evil or neutrally benevolent possessing the same free will of humans. In fact the word djinn comes from the primary meaning ‘to hide.’ It’s the ‘shaytan djinn’ that are the most demonic.

Here the djinn Shideh is dealing with is far from a genie that will grant you three wishes. It’s obvious that this djinn has something to do with Shideh’s personal issues. And she has a lot of them as seen in her life. Her education was cut short because she participated in something that’s a right in most other countries. Her husband has to fight in the war. She’s now on her own looking after her daughter. The only place she appears to find relief in is in her Jane Fonda workout tape which is banned by the government along with her VCR. However this is a djinn that goes beyond just appearing to Shideh. It also carries a sense that it’s present in Dorsa’s doll, too. It’s apparent Shideh has to deal with this djinn to the point she refuses to vacate the apartment with her daughter like all the others until she’s finished.

It’s interesting how this story intertwines with both the supernatural and both a moment in world history. You can notice how there are so many things mixed in with this story that tells of the times in Iran during the war. There’s the forbidden Jane Fonda tape, there’s Shideh punished for being in a demonstration, there’s the police threatening to arrest Shideh for not being in a hijab. You even hear it echoed by the police there: “This is not the same country. We now have our values back. We have men fighting for those values.” Sometimes you wonder if the times of Iran have a lot of influence in the djinn Shideh has to deal with. I often feel that’s what the filmmaker is trying to do here.

I will say one of the top things of the film is that it often succeeds at adding horror elements to the film. The djinn is a mysterious spirit but it does a good job at scaring Shideh in her dreams. It also does a good job in scaring the crowds. I know the film succeeded in scaring me a few times.

It may seem odd for the United Kingdom to submit a film in the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Oscars but it can be done since Iranian-born director Babak Anvari lives in London. Anvari was actually born during the Iran/Iraq war so this is an incident in history that really touches upon him and has a lot to do with why he prefers to live in the UK. This is his first feature-length film and it’s an impressive work as it does a good job in capturing a moment in history and incorporating the supernatural into it. It was also successful in scaring me too at times. Narges Rashidi did a very good job of playing Shideh: a woman who’s both scared and angry. Rashidi herself was born in Iran and is familiar with the Iran/ Iraq war she had to endure with before escaping to Turkey. Young actress Avin Manshadi was also very good as Dorsa.

Under The Shadow is an intriguing story of a mysterious spirit that comes to a woman during wartime. It also makes for a fitting scary movie too.

VIFF 2016 Review: Barakah Meets Barakah (بركة يقابل بركة)

8 October 20168 October 2016Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

barakahmeetsbarakah_04 — *Barakah Meets Barakah* is a Saudi film of a man and a woman from separate societies who fall in love.

On opening night of this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, I had the good fortune to see Barakah Meets Barakah. It is Saudi Arabia’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Oscars and proved to be an enjoyable film.

At the beginning of the film, we meet Barakah: a young man from a section of Jeddah full of tradition and religious values. However Barakah does have a liking for the arts and especially drama as he agrees to perform in a community production of Hamlet. We also meet Bibi: a young woman who’s a local celebrity in the city due to her popularity both on television and in social media where she commonly posts videos of her speaking a message. In fact her mother who adopted her is one of the heads of the network. Both are opposite personalities as Barakah is a civil servant obedient to tradition while Bibi is very liberal both in what she wears on television and what she says in her Instagram videos which feature just her mouth talking. Both however live in a time where religious law is strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia.

The two meet for the first time by a bizarre circumstance. Bibi has a modeling shoot out by the coast where her face, arms and chest are very visible. Barakah is commissioned to stop it because the shoot hasn’t been licensed on the property. However he does eventually compromise. The two later meet again by accident. This time it becomes something despite his dating skills being non-existent.

Despite their feelings for each other, dating would be next to impossible. Barakah lives in area full of common people and Bibi is more the high society of the town. On top of that, there’s the religious police who are very suspicious of unmarried unchaperoned pairs out on a date. There are criminal penalties for that under religious law. Their dates have to be completely secret. Over time, they become a lot more even with the help of Barakah’s friends.

Dating does become difficult as Barakah keeps his love secret from others. Even Bibi faces difficulties as her mother is disapproving. However the mother finds something positive out of this when she visits the townswoman in Barakah’s neighborhood, who plays a mother figure to Barakah, to ‘cure’ her of her infertility. It works as it is announced she will have a baby. Instead of it bringing Barakah and Bibi closer together, it causes more friction.

Eventually it does come to a point when the two do call it quits. They can’t handle it anymore. It’s not until Bibi learns a truth about herself and how her mother appears to treat her as ‘disposable’ that there’s the turning point. The film ends convincing us that it was meant to be after all.

It’s very obvious in this film writer/director Mahmoud Sabbagh has something to say about imposed religious values in Saudi Arabia. It’s not just about it causing a detriment to people’s daily lives but also how it has robbed the people of progress and hope they were anticipating in decades past. As a Catholic, I can understand this belief. I’ve seen how the Church has influenced strict moral laws on the people in a lot of countries in the past and now most people in those countries are sick of the Church. Just ask Ireland. I believe morals and values work better on people when they adopt them themselves rather than have them forced upon them.

Although the film makes Islamic law look more like a problem than a help, he is able to make his statement in a comedic way in this film. Yes, religious law in these countries has resulted in a lot of deaths and unnecessary imprisonments and has even led to a lot of friction and civil unrest. Nevertheless Sabbagh is able to make light of the problem by creating a romance that is both critical of imposed religious law in his country but also able to satirize it too. He satirizes it in the scene where Bibi is taking an Instagram photo of the henna tattoo of her belly by blurring her belly for all of us. He also sends a message when Barakah takes the mini-Koran dangling from his rear-view mirror and replaces it with the thing given to him by Bibi.

The film not only focuses on religious influence in Saudi Arabia but also about the classism there. The separation of the upper class and the common or lower class are commonly shown in films but Sabbagh shows what the gap is like in Saudi Arabia. It’s a common thing in most developing countries for the gap to be that much bigger. No wonder something like that would cause friction in a romance between Barakah and Bibi. Even knowing how her mother calls her Bibi instead of her real name Barakah possibly to hide Bibi’s poor past is there to send the message.

Sabbagh succeeds in delivering a comedy that’s both smart and thought-provoking. He does have a message to deliver but he delivers it in an entertaining way with the right moves and without it being overly preachy. The film has already won a special prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Hisham Fageeh was very good as the common young man Barakah as was Fatima Al-Banawi as the progressive Bibi. There also good supporting performances from the actress playing the local townswoman and the actress playing Bibi’s mother.

Barakah Meets Barakah is a good comedy that will both make you laugh and get you thinking. Also in a time when ISIS has made a lot of bad news, it is welcome comic relief.

VIFF 2016 Review: Tales Of Two Who Dreamt

8 October 20169 October 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

tales-website — *Tales Of Two Who Dreamt* document the dreams of a Romani refugee family who dream of immigrating to Canada and hopefully doing a small film.

One thing about the VIFF is that it will show films done by Canadian directors or people close to home. In fact the VIFF credits itself as the film festival that shows the most Canadian films: shorts and feature-length. One example this year of a feature-length Canadian film shown at the VIFF was Tales Of Two Who Dreamt which was a unique documentary.

The film begins with a man, Sandor Laska, telling a story of a boy who turned into bird after a dream. Over time, we the director is planning to make a small film of this story. Even a makeup artists is seen putting a beak on the son Alexander.

What we get is something else. We hear the story of the father and the Laska family. They are refugees living in a tall apartment in Toronto specifically for refugees. They are Romani people from Hungary. They seek refuge in Canada because they are of an oppressed minority and often face discrimination.

As they live in the apartment awaiting approval of their status in Canada, we learn there are many Romani families also seeking refuge. Often they meet together and party together. The children play soccer on the apartment’s field together often with refugee kids from other countries.

Time passes as the family continues to pursue both dreams: the dream of doing the film and the dream of immigrating to Canada. In the end, neither happen. Their immigration case wasn’t approved and they have to return back to Hungary where they really have nothing to return to. The film that was to be made couldn’t be done. The family were deported back before it could be completed.

This film is a good eye opener to the Romani people that seek refuge. They are a people who number in the tens of millions spread across various countries of Europe. They are people whose lifestyle are considered questionable. They are a people who value their cultural roots in music and dance often to the point they neglect working a real job. They live their lives their own way; many of which are illiterate.

The Romanis are seen by the other people in the country as lazy, irresponsible or even the ‘scum of the earth.’ They are often referred to as ‘Bohemians’ or ‘gypsies’: the latter of which they consider to be a slur. They’ve had their discrimination over the decades and centuries. They were even one of the groups of people executed during the holocaust. Discrimination against them still continues today in various European countries. Some countries like Italy have passed anti-Romani laws. Some countries like Hungary let discrimination go freely. You can easily see why a family like the Laskas would try to seek refuge in Canada.

Sometimes when you see the struggle of the Laskas and other Romanis in the apartment as they seek their residency status, you sometimes think this film is about the refugee situation as a whole. What you see the Romanis struggling with is often what you see most refugees struggling with. That tall apartment with nets on the outside put on after the death of a six year-old boy who fell off his 19th floor balcony tells a lot about the place where refugees wait to hear their fates in Canada. At the end, you get thinking that the Laskas didn’t succeed in escaping what they attempted to escape. Sandor talks about how the interpreter didn’t state his case right to the judge and that had to be why his residency status was revoked. Sometimes it makes you sense could the interpreter have an anti-Romani attitude? Did he misinterpret purposefully so that the Laska did fail and then get sent back to Hungary to return to their discrimination? It does get you thinking.

Directors Nicolas Pareda and Andrea Bussmann turn the film into a docudrama. There are times when the film gets ready to film the ‘birdboy’ story, times when they focus on another family who are to be part of the skit, times when they focus on the apartment building as a whole, and times when they focus on the Laskas and their reality. It’s a mix of various shots from family struggles to kids playing to young adults holding a party. The two directors try to piece together the many stories. There are times when scenes are shown with a score of a Romani song sung a capella. There are even times when they include Timea’s scratchy violin-playing as score to a scene in the film. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses. There are times when the mixed organization appears to work and then there are times when the film feels disjointed. I think the film aimed to be creative in its documentation during times when it wasn’t supposed to be.

Despite the film’s noticeable imperfections, I would have to say the best thing about this film is that it gave a voice to a people. This was a chance for Romani refugees to tell their story of what they faced and why they came to Canada along with the hopes for their children. The adding in of the ‘birdboy’ story adds color to the film as it is a Romani tale. You can see why the film is called Tales Of Two Who Dreamt. The first dreamer was the ‘birdboy’ and the second dreamer was Sandor Laska. I’ll admit I was disappointed at the end to learn the ‘birdboy’ film was never finished. But it’s something that just happens and you saw why.

Tales Of Two Who Dreamt is a documentary that’s noticeably disjointed in a lot of areas. It is still very valuable as it gives an image of the refugee situation Canada is trying to deal with.

VIFF 2016 Shorts Segment: Teen Trouble

8 October 20168 October 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

Cinema

One thing about the VIFF is that you will have the opportunity to see shorts films whether it be a short shown before a feature or a segment of shorts assembled together. They pack a lot of entertainment value for something brief in length. The first shorts segment I was lucky to see was Teen Trouble. It consisted of seven different shorts situated in seven different countries all with a teen-related subject and boy were they entertaining:

-I Love Anna (Finland)- 12 year-old Finnish boy Santeri has always had a crush on Anna: the local farm girl. Anna likes Santeri too. One night Anna’s parents are away and she has to look after her little sister. This could be Santeri’s chance to take it to new levels.

The quality of this short is that it takes you into the excitement of the moment as it progresses without any added music score. It adds to the excitement of the moment. Another added quality is it will remind you of when you fell in love for the first time or even of your own sexual curiosities when you were that age.

-Fabrizio’s Initiation (Argentina)- Sexual feelings many years later. Only Fabrizio is now a 15 year-old Argentinian boy who has been in a relationship with Nadia for over a year. Their chances of doing it for the first time are constantly interrupted. However Fabrizio’s friends derive a plan to make it work by conniving the village elder into giving them his car and fixing it up for the moment. Will this finally be it? The film ends with a surprise in more ways than one.

This is a humorous short about the constant pressure of losing your virginity for the right moment and trying to make it right. Hey, it’s not always prom night! It also will remind you of your own teenage love and of all the stuff you tried to do behind your parents’ back.

-The Law Of Moments (UK)- The lessons of Isaac Newton younger sister Mal studies from physics class play into this drama. Mal and Lucy are teen sisters who lost their closeness as older sister Lucy got involved with partying. It’s been of concern to Mal as she sees Lucy and her mother constantly fighting. One night, Mal goes to the farm to see what kind of crowd she’s hanging with. It’s not pleasant at all. Mal goes to help Lucy only for things to end not as it should.

Here we go from comedy to drama. This is a good story that shows the end at the beginning and how it came to be. The addition of Mal’s physics lesson as well as her childhood memory of her and Lucy on the see saw add style to the story line. Very creative.

-Three Minute Warning (UK/Palestine)- This possibly the darkest short of the segment. Palestinian teen girl Miriam has to look after her mother who has a leg problem. It’s a daily thing which includes cooking for her mother and even assisting her to the bathroom and it robs her of the carefree life most teenage girls have. One night a warning bomb– a bomb sent three minutes before the real bomb is to hit its target– hits their apartment. Miriam has to help her mother make the escape while all the others leave them behind. It’s hopeless and it sets up for the heartbreaking ending.

No doubt Palestinian director Iqbal Mohammed has something to say in this short. It was very well-told and will leave you infuriated with the political situation in the Middle East today.

-On The Roof (Spain)- Five Barcelona teen boys love to go to the top of their apartment balcony to spy on sunbathing women during the summer. Bonus points if they’re topless. One day they go to check out a topless sunbather. One boy, Adrian, spots a naked man showering. He also learns something of himself he never knew. One of Adrian’s friends senses his attraction and reacts with hostility. He even senses it on the youngest of the friends and pressures the young boy to take a photo of the bather standing on the top ledge. Adrian stops and volunteers to do it. The end comes with a surprising result but nothing dreadful.

This short focuses on a teen boy’s discovery of his same-sex attraction which catches him by surprise and causes hostility among one of his friends. The short also focuses on teen male machismo which naturally approaches same-sex attraction with hostile discomfort. A reminder of some of the difficulties gay teens go through.

-Winds Of Furnace (Mexico)- A young Mexican teen boy faces a daily responsibility of looking after his grandmother. One day, two of his friends come to his house with a van they stole. The three go out to have fun in their neighborhood. However you know something will go wrong when they take a body found in the van and dispose of it. It’s the case as a van driven by a cartel crosses their paths and shoots one of the friends. This leads to a vicious chase where the boy fires a gun at the cartel. The ending ends with you thinking this is what’s meant to be.

This short didn’t have its subtitles on at the time so it was hard to make sense. However it was a good story of peer pressure taken to the extreme with the potential for dangerous consequences. The heat of the moment left you wondering if he would be killed by the end. I’m sure a lot of boys in Mexico have gone through this temptation. It’s good to see he was possibly the one who didn’t get killed.

-Aeris (Canada)- A young rising teen snowboarder is seen as a possible future great in the sport. However, the 19 year-old suffers a broken leg during competition requiring plates, screws and months of healing. Months later, she goes snowboarding with her friends to see if she still has it and to get her competitive drive back. This proves difficult as she encounters fans on the mountain and even the fear of her broken leg returning if she tries another jump.

This may be the least heavy short of the seven but it does feature a pressure: a personal pressure young rising phenoms in sport know all too well. It makes for a good snowboarding story. It even gets you fearing for her as well as she questions whether to make that big jump.

In summary, all seven shorts were very good and had a lot to say about teen life in the humorous moments, the tense moments and even tragic moments. All definitely gave an image of what it’s like to be young.

Teen Trouble was an impressive selection of shorts. Anyone can be entertained by something in the selection.

VIFF 2016 Shorts Segment: Space And Time

8 October 20168 October 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

Cinema Shorts, shorts, shorts. Lots of them worth seeing at the VIFF. The next segment I saw this year Space And Time which consisted of nine shorts filmed by Canadian directors. They were all different but all shared something in common:

-24:24:24 dir. Daniel Dietzel- This is a film shot on a Montreal street corner facing the CCSE Maisonneuve over a 24-hour time period. What makes it amusing is that it shows the same corner with images of various hours at once. Sometimes all 24 simultaneously. The splitting of the various footage images in its sections along with the sounds mixed in will definitely make you curious during the whole thirteen minutes. The images of time and seeing the images of the Maisonneuve and the tower of the Olympic Stadium add to its charm. It’s surprisingly pleasant and enjoyable to watch. Quite the kaleidoscope.

-By The Pool dir. Karine Belanger- The film begins at an outdoor pool as a worker cleans the pool out in the spring just before it opens. He finds a small fish. Throughout the film, there are images of people doing aquarobics, swimming laps, swimming and playing, going off the diving board, late-night lifeguard parties and even a pool emergency. As summer ends, the diving board gets taken down and the pool gets drained. The man cleaning the drained pool finds a big fish! Funny how a film simply showing the summer of an outdoor pool can be amusing.

-Ranger dir. Sandra Ignagni- It’s a boat trip from a town in Labrador to an Arctic town. The long trip on the M. V. Norther Ranger is documented from boarding for deoarture to arrival. It focuses on everything from passengers to the captain directing to crewmen working to the waters it travels to passengers sleeping overnight to its arrival. It makes for a good simple unnarrated documentary film that tells a lot.

-Last Night dir. Joel Salaysay- Sarah is woken up by a phone call by her friend Jamie and tells her to come over. However the calls become more frightening over time as Jamie calls her back and doesn’t know where she is. Jamoe sounds like she’s lost or has lost her memory. As Sarah tries to get help, she tries to keep connection with Jamie. This is a good short as it keeps the audience intrigued not knowing what will happen next and hoping for the best for Jamie and Sarah.

-Late Night Drama dir. Patrice Laliberte- A young thug is in pursuit with a man he’s at odds with. He finds him at a night club and picks a fight with him. As he’s booted out, his girlfriend is angry at him and they get into a squabble in the car. After he throws a fit, she leaves him to drive off by himself.

This was all in French with the subtitles absent. Despite it, I could get a good sense of what’s happening. This is your typical night club drama you see all the time. What makes this film intriguing is its method of ‘follow-around’ cinrmatography. The audient follows the story wherever the young jerk goes keeping one in the thick of the drama

-Oh What A Wonderful Feeling dir. Francois Jaros- A woman deals with a truck-stop that’s normally a meeting place for those working their job, a spot for young people biking around and even a place of ill repute. She tries to make sense of the situation while also trying to solve a problem of her own. Even the paranormal comes into play. It doesn’t make for a lot of sense but it does tell the story well.

-Seven Stars dir. Sofia Banzhaf- A Vancouver woman visits Tokyo but struggles with her feelings of anxiety and alienation there. It’s a four-minute film that tells its situation. It’s more about the person in the place and their feelings rather than what happens.

-Stone Makers dir. Jean-Marc E. Roy- It’s just a four-minute film of a work day in a granite quarry but it’s more if you look close enough. The machines move around in almost a fluid motion like they’re dancing and the granite slabs look like works of art. It makes for an ‘oddly-satisfying’ film.

-Einst dir. Jessica Johnson- It starts with a view of a lone section of the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. Then a young woman comes to take off her clothes with nothing but a swimsuit on and swim in the Seymour River. As she goes under, she doesn’t re-emerge, leaving us to wonder. The quality of this short is its mix of natural beauty added with the mystery of the story. That’s what makes the film intriguing.

The nine shorts shown in this segment were all impressive. It was good to see them. There were some with stories to tell while some were more about focusing in on the scenery and the area around them. There were a few that turned out to be just footage and filmage of as-is situations. They remind you a lot of these ‘oddly satisfying’ videos on YouTube of everyday things that are somehow picturesque to look at and even tell its own story. Now you know why these ‘oddly satisfying’ videos are a hit.

Space And Time was an impressive selection of Canadian films. It was an hour and a half well-spent and was very enjoyable.

Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

21 September 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

I was originally planning on saving my review for Star Trek Beyond for a summer movie summary on science fiction movies outside of superhero movies. That was not to be the case as most of the top sci-fi movies were superhero movies. Nevertheless Star Trek Beyond is a movie worth reviewing by itself.

For the third of four movies of the revamped Star Trek series, the writers and director Justin Lin had to deal with making a 2-hour movie that is a continuation of the series while leading to an ending setting up for the fourth and final movie, which currently has no set year of release right now. The trick is trying to make the right choices of what to include, whether it be pieces from the original television series of the 60’s or of movies of the past, and create the right third-movie.

One thing about this installment is that the focus is more about exploring new worlds which is what Star Trek is all about. However it’s also about friction as smaller ships ambush and wreck the USS Enterprise. Even the threat of an intergalactic race in another galaxy under a tyrannous villain adds to the drama this time. This is a case of a fresh story for the Star Trek franchise while trying to maintain the same spirit of the whole Star Trek series.

I mentioned back in my review of superhero movies that despite the action scenes, morals and values are essential for a superhero movie. Morals and values are also essential for a movie like Star Trek as well. The Starship voyage continues in its quest to discover new intergalactic worlds and develop ties between the life forms. The value of doing what’s right is present in this Star Trek movie as Kirk is about to go on a rescue mission that might endanger his life. He responds by saying; “I would rather die saving lives than live knowing that I took them.”

The movie sometimes seems like it wants to be a sweet farewell to Leonard Nimoy. It’s evident in the story as Spock receives news that Lieutenant Spock has died. Reminders pop up in the story line as Spock plans to leave the Starship to carry on the Lieutenant’s duties and even a sentimental scene near the end. I don’t think it did any wrong moves in doing so. Memorializing an actor, especially if they had such a memorable role in their lifetime, is never an easy thing. There are some times in retrospect I felt there were some wrong moves in memorializing Paul Walker in Furious 7 like the farewell image of his character played by his look-alike brother. However I feel they did it right here, including the toast ‘to absent friends.’ Even at the end the movie is dedicated ‘In Loving Memory’ of Nimoy.

Unexpected was the death of Anton Yelchin who played Chekov in the three revamped Star Trek films. He was a gifted actor capable of doing an excellent job in each role he played. In Star Trek, he delivered a Chekov that was half the age of the original Chekov but made it work on screen. He even added some charming humor to the movie series with lines like “Nine-Five-Wictor-Wictor-Two” or “I can do zat! I can do zat!” Unfortunately he was killed an a car accident one month before the film’s premiere. He was 27. The film didn’t make any major last-minute changes in editing or storyline upon news of his death but he is memorialized after Nimoy’s dedication with ‘For Anton.’

New to directing the Star Trek series is Justin Lin. He’s best known as the director of four Fast And The Furious movies. With his first attempt at directing Star Trek, he does a very good job in maintaining the spirit of the Star Trek franchise along with delivering the right storyline and right action to the movie. For the record, J. J. Abrams is producer this time. The script written by Simon Pegg who plays Scotty and Doug Jung who’s past work is mostly writing for television is consistent with the story and the spirit of Star Trek despite it being short on the expected action. All the returning actors still maintain their respective characters well. One thing noticeable is Chekov has more of a presence and he doesn’t deliver so many humorous lines this time. Another new addition is Idris Elba doing an excellent convincing role as the villain Krall. Visual effects were still good even if they weren’t the most spectacular. Also the addition of the Beastie Boys song ‘Sabotage’ got me thinking again to how Guardians Of The Galaxy and The Martian has made it a must to include musical moments in such movies.

The big surprise is the lack of box office success that came with this film. The film currently has a North American gross of over $157 million and a total worldwide gross of over $333 million. Since it cost $180 million to make, it’s labeled a ‘flop,’ especially knowing the first two revamped Star Trek movies starting back in 2009 both made over $200 million. People are wondering why? The film has an approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes of over 80% and there was expected to be big fare since this year is the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise starting all the way back with the TV series. Some are saying Yelchin’s sudden death may have a lot to do with it, like it ‘spoiled the fun.’ It’s wrong to make such an accusation. Nobody saw his death coming. Not even Anton himself, if you’ve bothered to read the news about it. Some are saying the story lacks excitement. Possibly but it still has a lot of ingredients win crowds and Star Trek fans alike. Hard to say exactly. My assumption is that simply this is the third movie, not the first and not the last. Plus it faced competition from a wide variety of other movies this summer. I feel that the final movie can achieve more at the box office because it will be the final movie of a revamped film series that worked rather than flopped.

Star Trek Beyond may not be as action-packed as most of the other summer fare out right now or even past Star Trek films but it is a movie that delivers on the Star Trek franchise and stays true to its spirit. It even paves way to the fourth and final Star Trek movie to come.

Summer Movie Summary: Superhero Movies

18 September 2016Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

If there is one genre of movie that stands out during the summer movie season, it’s the superhero movies. Every year they win crowds and give them their enjoyment for the most part. For this summary, I will review two such movies: Captain America: Civil War and The Suicide Squad. Both are two different types of superhero movies in the way the people try to be heroes and with the comic franchises: Marvel vs. DC once again.

Captain America: Civil War

captain-america While DC Comics has the two biggest superheroes, Marvel’s edge is its multitude of different superheroes: take your pick. This time around in Captain America: Civil War, the focus is on Captain America. Or is it?

Watching the film, I was expecting it to be a story about Captain America. You can imagine my surprise to see all the other Avengers characters. I was cool with it at first. However things started getting uncomfortable for me when I saw them take up so much screen time. They all took up so much time, I even questioned whether Captain America was even the lead role in the film. I even thought if it was to have one hero as the lead role, it should probably be Iron Man.

Nevertheless the film does have a lot of excellent qualities. The first is a story that is thought-provoking. There’s a situation where international rules are imposed on the Avengers. Right when an incident happens, it causes friction within the team and even division. The question remains of what is the right thing to do? The movie attempts to give you the answer. Virtues and morals are an uncompromisable ingredient in superhero movies no matter how much action is involved. Even top directors will say that the values of humanity are necessary for a winning superhero movie. Here we have a movie that gets one questioning what is the right thing to do considering the situation. That adds to the film as it gets the audience thinking.

Of course high-tech special effects and action battles are a must in superhero movies. The crowds come to get blown away. Captain America: Civil War delivers on such action just like most of the Marvel comic movies before it. It has moments that will leave you on the edge of your seat. In addition, it adds some comedy too as it gives us a young Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, as a preview for the new upcoming Spider-Man installment. Here Peter comes across as your typical young idiotic yuts. Gives anticipation of what to expect when Spider-Man comes out.

The Russo brothers return to direct the movie. They directed the last Captain America movie. They did a very good job of delivering another great superhero movie. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely return with the Russos to write the latest installment. They did a good job despite the push of some actors to have more screen time. Of course, Robert Downey Jr. stole the movie and Chris Evans appeared to have a supporting role this time. The other actors did their parts well and didn’t appear to get into too much of the mix-up. The special effects delivered and Henry Jackson’s music added to the film.

For all intents and purposes, Captain America: Civil War is an Avengers movie in disguise. Don’t be fooled. However the quality of the story is maintained as it gives a thought-provoking story with the superhero action to deliver.

Suicide Squad

suicide-squad There’s something about the knack to do an anti-hero movie. We saw that with Marvel when they released Deadpool. Now we see DC Comics making the attempt with the Suicide Squad. Do they succeed?

You’d think after Sausage Party, I’d start again on how this movie of a bad-guy superhero squad is trying to ‘bring back the 90’s’ but you’re wrong. A story where it takes bad guys and makes heroes out of them is actually a very common theme. It’s even been done in film as far back as the 1930’s as I once saw 1939’s Stagecoach take the outcasts of society and turn them into heroes. It’s a theme that has been done decade after decade. We see it done here again with the Suicide Squad. The people recruited to be part of the Squad are criminals and crazies that look like they deserved to be shunned away from society but an intelligence operative sees them as the right people for the job. They even make clear that they’re bad, not evil.

The ‘bad vs. evil’ theme is what makes this movie unique among the superhero movies of this year. Even from Deadpool. While Marvel’s Deadpool is about a selfish man who’s disinterested in being the superhero bestowed upon him, Suicide Squad is about a conscience present in even the baddest of badasses. A reminder that bad and evil are two completely different things. Don’t forget we’re dealing with a world where Superman is deceased, as exhibited in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice months earlier.

Now the Suicide Squad is not a team of badass superheroes created in vain after Deadpool: an attempt at having ‘anti-Avengers.’ It’s a team that actually debuted in DC Comics in 1959 in their monthly Brave And The Bold series and made a return in 1987 in their Legends series back then. The comic would be a monthly series that would issue for some months, end temporarily for a year or two and then make a comeback from time to time. Now seems like the right time to bring them to the screen. I must say their craziness and eccentricities were big time scene-stealers. While Deadpool mostly relied on the idiotic actions and lines from its lead characters, the characters of the Suicide Squad were more about their crazy and even eccentric personalities. That was their edge and I’m sure that’s what won the crowds to them this year. It’s no wonder it’s the 4th highest grossing movie of the summer.

This is David Ayer’s first attempt at directing and writing a superhero movie. He has a resume for writing and directing a lot of good police dramas and action movies in the past. However his experience doesn’t completely translate the best. Imperfections are easy to notice and it seems the movie does get a bit disjointed at times. Even in terms of the characters, there’s not that much depth to their roles and it often appears like the actors are trying to play characters more than acting out roles. I’ve noticed that DC Comics movies this year are lacking in terms of writing. It’s noticeable in Batman vs. Superman too.

Nevertheless the actors do deliver on character acting and that’s one quality I feel made the movie. In addition the actors succeeded in making characters you want to hate at first and then surprise you as they become heroes and then return as bad guys. Margot Robbie was the standout as Harley Quinn. Her character was the one that knew how to grab your attention, even upstaging Will Smith. Others standouts include Jared Leto as the Joker, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. Visual effects were top notch and loaded with bright color that’s eye catching and very rare to see in most other movies, especially superhero movies. The mix of music was also an added quality. It seems like after Guardians Of The Galaxy, filmmakers are playing around and even experimenting with use of songs in the movies. Here they mix in music spanning five decades and it produces an entertainingly winning result.

Suicide Squad may be lacking in the script and in the editing but it’s the on-fire character acting, colorful visual effects and the eclectic music track that make the movie entertaining and a winner for the summer.

Sure, I only have two superhero movies in my summary of the genre but both do shed some light on the presence of the superhero movies of the summer and why they continue to win us over. They have spectacular action but they also test our conscience as well. I saw that in Batman vs. Superman earlier in the role of a superhero even after they cause destruction to do good. I see it again in Captain America as the Avengers question whether it’s right to break the law to do what’s right. I also see it in the Suicide Squad as outcasts get a shot at redemption and even remind themselves as well as others that they do possess a conscience and can even do what’s right despite their criminal minds.

Once again, the superhero genre remains one of the most winning movie genres of the summer. Even with the surprise success of Deadpool, families still come to the movies to see the good guys win. Some even like to get their ‘bad boy/bad girl’ kicks. All deliver in terms of action and a message.