Vancouver International Film Festival: Hot Tickets
By Bruce James

12 September 2006


With the Vancouver International Film Festival just around the corner, and scheduling time getting tighter and tighter, I had to remind myself what would be luring me from the comforts of home to the cinema this year. Sure, there’s the highly talked about VOLVER opening the festival (Pedro Almadovar’s newest which scored a best actress win for all 5 leading ladies at Cannes) and a slew of other films that have received praise and acclaim; but aside from all that “critical” hoopla, here are a few picks you must make a point of seeing:


ACTS OF IMAGINATION: CANADA
A first feature effort by filmmaker Carolyn Coombs that is being toted as haunting, stunning and sensual: A young Ukrainian woman and her brother find residence on the bank of the Fraser River, but memories of home become an obsession for the woman, especially since they’re not hers. Aside from the talked-about and incredibly impressive acting from Stephanie Hayes and the charismatic Billy Marchenski (an acknowledged stage actor…okay, and personal friend) the film is also being praised for its impressive and vibrant cinematography.


CANDY: AUSTRALIA
Finally, a heroin-esque pick that claims not to be one of “those” heroin-esque picks. Love and scoring dope don’t always have to be cliché, and with a string of uniformly superb actors (Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush), Candy is staking claims as the closest thing to excellent this year.


EVERYTHING’S GONE GREEN: CANADA
Admittedly, I'm not a fan of Douglas Coupland’s work, but the premise of this sharp comedy has me intrigued enough to forget that fact: A good natured slacker is tempted into a money laundering scheme while working for a lottery magazine. The comedy is said to be capitalistic, which will no doubt have some commentary on greed and the times in which we live - you know, Coupland stuff. While I may not be the biggest fan of his books, I’m willing to give the screenplay a go.


HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY: (SHORT)
“It's funny, it's sad, and there's a rhinoceros.” That’s the pitch for this short that I am now unquestionably going to see.


SHORTBUS: USA
Sex aside, it’s been a while since John Cameron Mitchell’s uber enjoyable Hedwig and the Angry Inch debuted and made its cultish way into video, so his follow-up has me more than intrigued. It's like the '60s, except with less hope, or so I’ve heard. Here, dirty thoughts and dirty deeds are celebrated as the film is easily the most sexually graphic American film ever made. However, what’s more compelling than the dirty deeds are the people doing them, giving its audience a portrait of post 9/11 modern city-dwellers gone unseen. And there’s a certain former MuchMusic VJ in there somewhere.


WIDE AWAKE: USA
The love/hate documentary of serious artist/filmmaker Alan Berliner, who is also a suffering - dependent on it, even - insomniac, which will definitely make me feel better about staying up past 2am writing…How do you cure what doesn’t really ail you? Or does it ail you after all?


THE FOUNTAIN: USA
Darren Aronofsky’s much anticipated metaphysical epic spanning time from the 16th to the 26th century. Oh, and that fountain??? Something to do with the whole “youth” search everyone’s always talking about. With Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn starring, I’m interested enough after Requiem for a Dream to be a fan already.


COLOUR ME KUBRICK: BRITAIN
Colour Me is based on the real-life antics of British conman Alan Conway, who made his way around London in the '90s posing as the elusive director Stanley Kubrick. John Malcovich’s performance has been described as “delectable”…and I like that word.


These are my intentions at least, and any excuse to go to the movies is always a good one. Or you can go see Snakes on a Plane…no, really.