It’s the most avant-garde film festival in Montreal,
and as the longest running film festival in Canada, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma pumps into 11days a galaxy of genres in its cinematic fare. Its enormous apex of screenings boasts 340
films, including 138 features and 170 short films (there are animations)from 62 countries. There are 43 world premieres, 13 international biggies and 30 North American
premieres including 57 from Canada. A series of timeless animation films are also offered free to the public at Agora, including a "Wallace and Gromit" double feature. We love them. You can enjoy this hilarious master/dog series along with a gamut of such animation films in FNC's Petit Loup series. All this film fun stunningly
reflects the vast inclusiveness and uniqueness of this innovative festival - “innovative” being the catch-all word here.
This year, FNC is offering a total virtual reality film experience which
seems to put you right inside the film. This new section, called FNC eXPlore
comprises virtual reality works along with installations downtown as one
strolls into the various spectator-friendly exhibitions. Phrases that
thematically describe unique films include: A sensory experience of the other’s
body (Be Boy Be Girl); your chance to become a magician (Break A Leg);
and with Late Shift, the audience chooses the plot. No more
passive viewing with these 20 unique immersive films. This fun journey is
marked in Zones A to D; all are all within walking distance, and free.
The festival runs from October
5th to the 16th.
opening film
TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR*****
(Directed by Kim Nguyen)
Like the lonely woman standing in the beautiful but starkly barren snow white northern landscape – a painting by Québécois artist Jean Paul Lemieux, this riveting film captures the inescapable solitude and mystery that has shattered the lives of the two protagonists, Luc (Tatina Maslany from the TV series, Orphan Black), and Roman ( (Dane DeHaan).
They are living amidst 200 people in Iqualuit, an Arctic
village. Both are fragile beings – haunted by their past; and the present and
future look equally dismal. The magnificent tone spectacularly captured by the
filmmaker is dark and ominous.
The relentless freezing temperatures are bearing
down on these two young people –
right to their bones that seem to be crumbling
in this environment from which they can’t escape their individual imprints.
Their intimacy inevitably becomes an obsessive retreat for one another – from the cold, their aloneness and their own childhood memories marked bitterly by their abusive fathers.
In the opening scene, we notice that large coffins whose contents are
marked as human remains are being loaded onto trucks. This single foreshadows
the doom that awaits both Lucy and Roman. As Lucy is determined to pursue her
university acceptance into the biology department, Roman roars about staying
on; he won’t leave; but he is beside himself with despair. His life spirals so
far down that he ends up in a hospital bed after an attempt to end his misery. Lucy keeps hallucinating about her father, and
the mirage beomes a macro vision of colliding elements. Even a polar bear keeps
muttering words of wisdom to Roman. Is this the father he always wanted, or his
own conscience?
Finally, the pair of North-Star crossed lovers unites as they set out on
a snowmobile to return home. Unfortunately, they lack the funds to fly out.
They go into fast gear as their will to survive becomes their prime modus
operandi. The film becomes surreal, and as the bear mutter philosophical phrases,
we realize that raw reality is as profoundly frightening as any nightmare conjured
during sleep.
Kim Nguyen has created an indelible work of rare substance .
__________________________________________ LE PEUPLE INTERDIT **
(Directed by Alexandre Chartrand)
Catalonia has a case to make, and no matter what the Spanish president says, the fierce people of Catalonia - known as los trabjadores de Espana: very hard workers), are determined to have their own country - so much so that they even have their own de facto elected President Artur Mas i Gavarro.
This documentary vividly captures the resolute strategies used to carry out the people's own referendum - led by key organizer, such as
Victor Curcuruli i Mirallesto.
The striking sea of colours of the flag worn now as T-shirts on over 2 million people snaking their way like a never-ending flag along the two streets of Barcelona that fork off into a V - the letter that symbolizes vote, peace and victory. What an amazing sight, filmed from the heights of a helicopter.On September 11th, 2014, almost 3 million people voted "yes" to separate, but Spain not only called the leaders terrorists, but completely refused to have any dialogue with the Catalan leaders who clearly had proven that the majority of the people wish for their own country. But first, they wished for Spain to allow and recognize a referendum of the matter.
Alexandre Chartran from Radio Canada and the director of this film also made a cameo appearance during the subsequent Catalan elections for their Assembly. It was pointed out by Gavarro that at least Canada allowed for a Quebec referendum to be held on separation - that this is legal and democratic.The film was poorly edited, knitting together scenes that did not flow into political important dates that reflected the movement's growth and muscle. Still, the point was poignantly made if not over and over again, that Catalan's people would run a highly effective, common- sense country with passionate restraint - a sterling combination for democratic rule.
__________________________________________
LA
CHASSE AU COLLET ***+
(The squealing Game)
(Directed by Steve Kerr)
Montreal has a little
murderous maven running around snaring men who join a site for cheaters in their
marriage. Little do they know that when she beckons them with her own
dominatrix Internet name as Lolita, they are in for really rough ride that
doesn’t include sex.
Élie (Julianne Côté) is the lesbian/hygienist culprit who is mentally
ill; evidently hates men due to their adulterous ways - as witnessed when she
was a little girl; her mother experienced this first hand, but she held no
grudge.
Eventually, Éric (Paul Doucet) who started the secret sex website receives anonymous
letters warning him to shut it down or else he’ll pay dearly for his amoral
venture. He becomes extremely agitated and wants to stop, but he doesn’t. The
site gains over 50,000 users within a short time. Eric is turning into a nervous wreck.
The irony in this thriller Québécois thriller is diabolically delicious;
it favours the viewer, but even we can’t predict the shocking ending. The cast
is superb and the editing is second to none. The message inherent in the plot
is an important one that blames the Internet as an accomplice in facilitating
and
encouraging men to commit adultery.
______________________________________________________
MAQUINERIA PANAMERICA (Directed by Joaquin Del Paso) *
Completely absurd and not clever in its satire, this film relentlessly
shows factory workers at a machine plant whose boss dies suddenly and their
despair. They take over the building, drinking, cavorting, and dragging out
hundreds of files looking for nothing. If this is a statement on the sludge and
drudgery of working in Mexico
in a machine company on the verge of bankruptcy, then that may be the reason
why in Mexican most towns, every house and building is done by hand, and they
do a terrific job. I can’t say the same for this film.
encouraging men to commit adultery.
______________________________________________________
Completely absurd and not clever in its satire, this film relentlessly
shows factory workers at a machine plant whose boss dies suddenly and their
despair. They take over the building, drinking, cavorting, and dragging out
hundreds of files looking for nothing.
If this is a statement on the sludge and
drudgery of working in Mexico
in a machine company on the verge of bankruptcy, then that may be the reason
why in Mexican most towns, every house and building is done by hand, and they
do a terrific job. I can’t say the same for this film.
________________________________________
NERUDA (Directed by Pablo Larraín) **+
Lead actor Luis Gnecco who portrays the great Chilean poet and
communist, Pablo Neruda carries the entire film. An artistic
biopic that portrays Neruda in the midst of the Cold War being hunted down by his nemesis, Oscar
Peluchonneau, an upstart inspector who wants to be famous – known to be the one
known bringing the communist poet Neruda in.
His character seems to figure in
Neruda’s masterpiece, “Canto General”, and the film creates their relationship
in a unique manner. Unfortunately, too many scenes repeat the lifestyle of
salon erotica and poetic license (in every respect) that centered around Neruda
who loved this denizen of free-spirited artists.
Changes of dwellings in which
he took refuge also became the main focus of the film, rather than him.
Although artistically crafted, it bordered on pretension.
____________________________________________
LA PRUNELLE
DE MES YEUX ***
(The Apple of My Eye)
(Directed by Axelle Ropert)
A charming
French comedy with snappy dialogue of wit and sparkling repartee, this
light-hearted quirky creation offers an unusual plot. A lovely blind young
woman who tunes pianos meets up with a rather arrogant guy of Greek origin. He
and his brother play rebetiko music from Greece, but he’s pretty bad on his bouzouki.
The lady tries to improve his playing but ends up improving his will to catch
the strings of her heart.
He fakes blindness. After a series of hue hiccups, they end up falling blindly in love. Fun, wacky and wonderfully acted, the subplot of the two main characters is duplicated in another relationship of the other brother and the blind woman’s sister.
It’s a typically
terrific French film.
 |
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BELGICA (Directed by Felix Van Groeningen) *****
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TONI ERDMANN (Directed by Maren Ade) ****
Totally screwball Winfried Conradi lives in a small suburb in Germany. He’s a
divorced has-been music teacher whose only student quits on him. No matter,
because for this big, lovable man, life must be lived as a comedy.
He lives
this way with absurd in-your-face clown-like humour. No matter, who he’s with,
he puts on a wig, false ugly buck teeth and pretends to be someone else lurking
in his imagination that would fit perfectly into the social present context at hand.
Even with his daughter Ines upon whom he springs a surprise visit while she is working in Bucharest, Romania. Arriving one week before her birthday, he wears his silly disguises (the final one being the most outrageous) and stalks her no matter what important business meeting she has going on. He even joins her colleagues and clients; and to Ines’s anger and frustration endears himself to those who reluctantly but amusingly swallow up his stories about being connected to the right people.
Ines is trying to snag a major player of an oil company’s German CEO whom she must bring on board if she is to make the petroleum project she heads in Bucharest successful.
View "Mademoiselle " review here:
http://sntravelandartswithoutborders.blogspot.ca/2016/10/mademoiselle-agassi-directed-by-park.html#.WA6WJfQ0WSo
LA TORTUE ROUGE (Directed by Michael Dudok De Wit)*****
(The Red Turtle)
An astounding film whose animation is so beguilingly beautiful. The soft
hues and the grey tones capture the sublime feeling of loneliness and the wild
wonder of a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Colour infuses scenes at
the right moments when lush jungle overrides brown humongous boulders that
figure in the setting. The plot is serious yet magical. A man is swallowed up
by enormous waves, but ends up being catapulted to the shoreline of a dessert
island, he is completely alone. Using bamboo, he struggles to build a makeshift
boat, but a huge thump from underneath once he is in the ocean, destroys it and
his chances for landing in civilization.
He builds another raft, and then
another and then another – only to have the same thing happen to him. Suddenly
a big red turtle appears on the beach, and he turns it on his back so he has no
threat of the thump happening again, he knows it was a tortoise that had
destroyed his boats, as he saw it once he dove down. The tortoise however turns
into something else on that beach, and love comes his way. The touching story
of love moves us all, but the ending is even more moving and tragic. Michael
Dudok de Wit combined his animation brilliance with the incomparable Ghibli
Studios to create a masterpiece that is both delightful and profound. This
remarkable film is a timeless classic.
_______________________________________________________
AUTRE PART (Directed by Ouananiche A.K.A Cedric)*****
(Elsewhere)
A universal
voyage into the benefits of travel, done with authentic voice-over testimonies
by remarkable individuals who expose the bare bones of their own personal need
to travel.
Each has his/her own reasons as they analyze what pushed them into
moving into the beyond .Shot in black and white with electronic music mixed
into images that reference trains, planes, clouds, landscapes, city streets and
more, this 4-year project presents a
theme rarely addressed.
We discover people travel when they feel lonely;
people travel to obtain the trance of the present; people travel to depart from
hurts built into our DNA. Time is what we make of ourselves in the vast unknown
that transports the mind and body into perhaps who we really are, unencumbered
by society and those who think they know us.
This is a
brilliant film that resonates with anyone afflicted with the desire to move, to
change, to tread into the unknown space of that which lies ahead without
knowing what to expect.
A visual collage of great importance, I rank this film a 21st-century innovative masterpiece that quintessentially uses film for what it is meant to do – to move us, to make us reflect and to make it seem that we are in fact a part of what we are watching.
Each has his/her own reasons as they analyze what pushed them into
moving into the beyond .Shot in black and white with electronic music mixed
into images that reference trains, planes, clouds, landscapes, city streets and
more, this 4-year project presents a
theme rarely addressed. 
This is a
brilliant film that resonates with anyone afflicted with the desire to move, to
change, to tread into the unknown space of that which lies ahead without
knowing what to expect. A visual collage of great importance, I rank this film a 21st-century innovative masterpiece that quintessentially uses film for what it is meant to do – to move us, to make us reflect and to make it seem that we are in fact a part of what we are watching.
_______________________________
BELGICA (Directed by Felix Van Groeningen) *****
Two brothers - one stable, the other into sex, lies and drugs open up a club open to all. Soon things spiral out of control, due to the popularity of the Belgian club, and the irresponsible older druggie brother.
It's a club run by all who work there, and no one wants their denizen of tremendous rock bands, bar drinkers and scantily clad girls. The younger sibling (Stef Aertz) keeps forgiving his bro (Tom Vermeir) until a climax can't be avoided. Belgica becomes a den of depravity and debt.
The music in this film is as superb as the cast. The ending left two plot loopholes though.
MOI, NOJOOM, 10 ANS, DIVORCÉE (Directed by Khadija Al-Salami)****
With Yeman’s tribal law, prepubescent girls are often married off. This
horrid practice is vividly demonstrated in this angst-ridden film. Nojoom is
the unfortunate victim here. Married off to a wicked man who rapes, beats and
enslaves her, the little-10-year-old girl endures Yeman’s primitive male
dominated dominion over the female sex, regardless of their tender age. In this
film her sister is also raped and to avoid shame, she must marry the man who
rapes her. It’s all about saving face in the village. How horrid that mothers
support the husband in saving the reputation of the family value that
inherently destroys the freedom of their own daughters. Fathers view their
daughters as profitable “burdens” that can be bargained off – selling them into
marriage regardless of age. In fact, Nojoom’s father became so destitute –
caused by having to move out of his village after his older daughter was raped.
No man would want her now that she is “soiled”, so the rapist became her
husband.
Nojoom is feisty and rebellious and flees to court to have her case
heard for divorce. She is actually taken in by the judge and his family for
protection. The ending offers satisfying retribution for Nojoom.
___________________________________
BIG TROUBLE
IN LITTLE CHINA (Directed by John Carpenter) ****
It’s mayhem, magic, martial arts and mythology that
constructs this completely ridiculously crafted plot that is a heck of s lot of
fun. An evil /2000-year-old man/entity and his 3 martial arts cohorts kidnap a green-eyed woman who
is set to marry Wang, one of the heroes whose American buddy is jack Burton
(Kurt Russell).
To rescue her along with another green-eyed chick who gets
involved in the rescue, Wang, Jack and magical men must endure a rip-roaring series
of near-death dangers. The special effects, creatures, sets and costumes make
Dream Works look like a copy-cat company imitating the supernatural elements
that fill this 1981 fantasy spoof cum James Bond exciting progressively
creative hilarious film, a cult classic.
Kim Catrall and Kurt Russell look like
fresh Hollywood newcomers. The gag lines and style of delivery that intercept
the non-stop action draw big laughs. Ahead
of its time, this riotous film and can match any recent martial arts/adventure
work in terms of entertainment value and innovative scenes.
___________________________________________
TONI ERDMANN (Directed by Maren Ade) ****
Even with his daughter Ines upon whom he springs a surprise visit while she is working in Bucharest, Romania. Arriving one week before her birthday, he wears his silly disguises (the final one being the most outrageous) and stalks her no matter what important business meeting she has going on. He even joins her colleagues and clients; and to Ines’s anger and frustration endears himself to those who reluctantly but amusingly swallow up his stories about being connected to the right people.
Ines is trying to snag a major player of an oil company’s German CEO whom she must bring on board if she is to make the petroleum project she heads in Bucharest successful.
When she learns Winfried’s dear dog, Willi has died, which has become
the catalyst for her father trying to reconnect with her, she feels for him.
Still, she can’t let go of her own inner stress, coldness and ambitious nature
that is clearly causes the dividing wall between father and daughter
personalities. But her father never gives up trying to make her see that life can be lived
with humour and joy. But his jokes can’t illicit even so much as a chuckle from
her.
The acting was superb. Peter Simonishcek as Winfried is outstanding.
Having to play a buffoon while showing profound love for a daughter mixes the
comedic with the serious, and he did just that with great mastery.
Sandra Hüller as Ines is a miracle. She portrayed with relentless taut
tension all-consuming corporate ambition that eats up those who cannot accept
any kind of failure
Having garnered overwhelming kudos at Cannes Festival, this movie –
despite its unique and quirky tone is centered on the modern malaise of
disconnection and awkward alienation affecting parents and children. The film vividly
demonstrates that family estrangement can be eradicated if one is willing to go
to any measure to accomplish that – even if it means making a fool of oneself.
View "Mademoiselle " review here:
http://sntravelandartswithoutborders.blogspot.ca/2016/10/mademoiselle-agassi-directed-by-park.html#.WA6WJfQ0WSo
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