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Around the World in 10 days
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Our critics pick and pan the Fest
by MATTHEW HAYS, JOANNE LATIMER, SIOBHAN O'CONNOR and MARK SLUTSKY
Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brulantes is a truly bizarre and wonderful gender-bender about sexual love by French director François Ozon, inspired by an unfinished work by German writer/director/playwright Fassbinder. Set in Germany in the '70s, the film's split into five acts, four of which tell the story of Franz (Malik Zidi), a gorgeous pretty-boy, who's fallen in love with the 50-something Léopold. What begins as a mutually respectful relationship quickly spirals into a Pygmalion/Daddy-complex one, with Léo trying to squeeze the impetuous Franz into his mould. All goes to shit in the final act when the luscious Véra, (a transsexual who says she had the op for Léo) and Anna (Franz's perky-breasted fiancée), show up at the door. What ensues is an orgiastic romp infused with jealousy and tragedy. Ozon has put together an honest and beautiful story about manipulation in sex and love. A must-see, if ever there was one. (SO)
Tokyo Girls So, are they hookers, or what? Western hostesses who work in Japanese nightclubs don't have sex with their clients--unless they want to, at which point they're free to accept money and gifts. It's a slippery slope in Tokyo's world of paid hostesses. Penelope Buitenhuis' NFB documentary, Tokyo Girls, follows the lives of several girls, some from Canada, who answered the call. Money, drugs, jewellery and power are just a few of the things that can make the girls "lose the plot," as they call it, and forget to save money to pay off their student loans and credit card debts back home. Bonus: Nancy, the Montrealer in the film, is the most engaging because of her mixed emotions about her job and her Japanese boyfriend. (JL)
Slippery Blisses Despite a creepy opening sequence about the glands and nerve endings involved in kissing, Slippery Blisses is the ultimate first-date film. Interviews include college kids, a professor who teaches kissing skills, sex therapists and common practitioners. The latter provide the best material. Too bad director Jeannette Loakman used so many interviews with specialists who say things like "odour stimulation" or "sebum," but I guess it's part of the learning process. Don't miss the fun archival footage of innocent kisses from days gone by. (JL)
Spirits of Havana After a 20-year love affair with Cuban music, modern jazz whiz Jane Bunnett and trumpeter Larry Cramer finally tour all the island's provinces to perform with their idols outside Havana. Good thing directors Bay Weyman and Luis O. Garcia had the good sense to capture it all on film. Spirits of Havana is a concert documentary cum travelogue that remains true to an editing style that suits the subject matter. It's in a hurry for no one. Starting in Havana's Egrem Studios, and branching out to Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Camaguey, the film showcases legendary Cuban performers and their local haunts, to great effect. (JL)
First Light of Dawn Set in present-day Sicily, First Light of Dawn is the story of two brothers who come to terms with each other after their parents' murder by the Mafia. This isn't a Mafia movie at all, but a quiet character piece, meaning the brothers mostly sulk around and argue a lot. It's a "well-made" movie in the worst sense of the term: nicely shot (but painfully dull). It's understandable that the director, Lucio Gaudino, would want to avoid getting too into the Mafia details, as that isn't what the film is about, but it might have made First Light of Dawn a little more interesting. As such, it's just mediocre. (MS)
Felicidades is fast and fun--it's slight, but it works. It's Christmas Eve in and around Buenos Aires, and various characters try, mostly unsuccessfully, to go about their appointed tasks--one wants to buy a specific toy for his son while one wants to catch a plane. Plenty of comical misadventures ensue. It's colourful and frequently quite funny. What's more, the film has a few little surprises--such as a scene at an Argentinean Bar Mitzvah--that give it a distinct flavour. The actors are mostly quite talented, and what it all adds up to is an entertaining comedy with the occasional poignant moment. One complaint--what's with the obligatory "I Will Survive" scene? Is that the only song they teach movie characters these days? (MS)
A Place Nearby is a grim little film from Denmark. A woman shopkeeper has dedicated her life to looking after her autistic son. One night he returns home late from his walk; the next day she discovers a woman has been mysteriously murdered in the park nearby. The mother, half in denial, flips her lid and frantically tries to cover up the evidence of her son's alleged crime as the police move in. This is a dark and depressing movie, and not a particularly interesting one. Certainly, it's well-acted, and somewhat well-written, but otherwise remarkably unremarkable. Nothing really happens. After the first half-hour, the viewer has seen all there is to see. The rest is just pathos. (MS)
An Affair of Love With a title like An Affair of Love, you know you're in for a good time. In this Italian movie, two college students meet, fall in love, break up, get back together again, break up again and so on, over the span of about 20 years, which is approximately the length of this aggravating snoozer. This is one of those terrible movies that ends with an interminable conversation between the leads, full of lines like "We've sure been through a lot together, haven't we?" You sure have, you unattractive, self-obsessed bores. And we've been forced to sit through every excruciating moment. Now get out of here, and take those fucking artsy painted chapter titles with you. (MS)
Les Autres filles, written and directed by Caroline Vignal, is the antithesis of the contemporary teen movie: no pop songs, no love triangle, no jock/cheerleader/nerd archetypes and certainly no happy ending. Instead, what Vignal has done is put together a sensitive, anecdotal portrait of the moody and complex Solange (newcomer Julie Leclercq), a 16-year-old virgin at hairdressing school in Toulouse. Les Autres filles is a bold look at teen sexuality, one that demystifies romantic notions (which are rampant in teen flicks) about "the first time": the girls aren't waiting to do it with the guy who says, "I love you"--they just want it out of the way, and fast. The perfectly cast Solange, the last virgin in her circle of girlfriends, is in the midst of a difficult sexual awakening and, terrified by it all, she resorts to radio phone-ins and magazines for her information. Vignal has made a near-perfect look at the bitchy, cruel world of teenagerdom with characters so real it hurts to watch. While the plot could've used a bit of tweaking, this is Vignal's first feature-length film and that minor pitfall feels entirely forgivable when the pace picks up in the final act. Required viewing for those who have lost faith in the '90s teen flick--this is the ideal. (SO)
Les Destinées sentimentales That French director Olivier Assayas--the clever mind behind Irma Vep, the hilarious indictment of the moviemaking business--made Les Destinées sentimentales, is totally beyond me. Not that Destinées is terrible--it's not. But it really coulda used a little more in the smarts department; it's heavy on sentimentality and short on substance. This is a three-hour sweeping epic about lovers in a dangerous time, set in provincial France at the turn of the last century. Sure it can boast extravagant production costs, lavish costumes, flawless editing and beautiful scenery, but Assayas does very little to make this anything more than a Hollywood sap fest. In terms of eye-candy, the film's a 10 outta 10, but the story just doesn't have what it takes to be a compelling epic. (SO)
Born in Absurdistan, the Turkish-Austrian co-production from director Houchang Allahyari, offers up a thoughtful but uneven variation on the babies-switched-at-birth plot. Due to overcrowding at a Vienna hospital, two women, one Turkish and one Austrian, give birth in the same room. The racist Austrian hubby gives the Turkish one a hard time and, amid the hubbub, the babies are accidentally exchanged. Once the baby swap comes to light, the Turkish couple, along with the wrong babe, have been deported. What ensues is a wild goose chase across national borders. Allahyari offers up an interesting treatment of the cultural chasm between the couples, and has chosen some stunning actors to get his points across. But just when it gets good, the film falls apart as the plot swirls into obvious hijinx and absurd to-swap-or-not-to-swap moments. (SO)
Violet Things aren't going so well for Violet, the namesake of director/writer Rosemary House's feature debut. Violet, as played by This Hour Has 22 Minutes' Mary Walsh, becomes obsessed with her own mortality after her brother dies in a drunken binge. He's dead at 55, the same age both her parents were when they died, and she's heading into her 55th year herself. Things get even worse when someone dumps a frozen fish on her doorstep (her father died while ice fishing), and Violet retreats into an existential fit. Surrounded by a bizarre group of family members, all of whom are trying to jolt her from her emotional state, Violet finds herself in a number of comic situations. It's quirky, in the best sense of the word, and when Violet drags, Walsh makes up for it with her affectionate, fresh and highly comic performance. (MH)
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