Vancouver International Film Festival: September 26 – October 11, 2002 (1 Viewer)

[Jason Whyte]

Hey everyone,
Although I'm a little late to start a thread on the '02 Vancouver festival, my little weekend excursion into the city to get my helpings on a select few films is rapidly approaching, and oh boy am I excited!
Atom Egoyan's Ararat and David Cronenberg's Spider are on my confirmed agenda, but I will be seeing several other films, all to be discussed on this thread in the future.
If you're in the Vancouver area and would like to get together with our small group of people to see some movies, feel free to private message or email me for further details.
The full schedule and showtimes can be found on the main site @ viff.org.
Jason

 

[Rain]

WOOOOOOOO! Look at this thread taking off!
Nobody wants to be seen in public with us, Jason.
Well I'm still looking forward to the all-movie weekend!
BTW, I sent you an email about the tickets to the two films mentioned above.

 

[Mark McLeod]

I'm down for a couple..

I really want to check out Flower and Garnet at 12pm on Sunday.

I'll probably be at Spider as well.

 

[MikeF]

My take on my VIFF viewings thus far:
Hell House (USA, 2001, George Ratliff) *****
Spellbound (USA, 2002, Jeff Blitz) **** 1/2
Read My Lips (France, 2002, Jacques Audiard) ****
Intacto (Spain, 2002, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) *** 1/2
Something To Remind Me (Germany, 2001, Christian Petzold) *** 1/2
Nothing More (Cuba, 2002, Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti) ***
Madame Satã (Brazil, 2002, Karim Aïnouz) **
Boomerang (Yugoslavia, 2002, Dragan Marinkovic) * 1/2
Ken Park (USA, 2002, Larry Clark & Ed Lachman) *
The Rule Of The Game (Taiwan, 2002, Ho Ping) 1/2 *
There's no more showings of Hell House, but if it gets picked up for commercial theatrical release, I highly recommend it -- it's absolutely hilarious.
I still have Cronenberg's Spider (UK), View from the Summit (Canada), City of God (Brazil), and El Bonaerense (Argentina) to see this weekend alone.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I still have ... City of God (Brazil) ... to see this weekend alone.

You're in for a treat; along with Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, that was my favorite movie at Boston's festival.

 

[Rain]

Jason, Graeme Clark and myself will be at tonight's showing of Spider (9:30 I think it is), so if you see us, come over and say "hi."

 

[MikeF]

Spider was SHIT. Might have made a good 20 minute short film; absolutely ridiculous as a 100+ minute feature.

I heard from a friend that Standing In The Shadows of Motown is fabulous. Hopefully I'll catch it on DVD.

 

[Rain]

MikeF,
I totally agree with you about Spider. Longer than it needed to be and very predictable.
I was supposed to see Ararat this afternoon with Jason and Bill Harris, but I didn't feel like it. I'm sure they'll be posting later with some thoughts on the films they saw.

 

[MikeF]

City of God was fabulous -- my favorite non-documentary film of the festival, by far. View From The Summit was unspectacular -- would have been okay on TV, definitely not worth $8.50. I skipped out on El Bonaerense tonight as I'm movied-out!

 

[Jason Whyte]

Bill and I pretty much gave up on the festival, only seeing four films and seeing three others "out of competition", as they say. I quite underestimated just "doing a weekend" at the festival and needed to book more tickets well in advance. It was a madhouse getting into most screenings, and it wiped me out physically and emotionally. Next year, if I go, I'm getting a pass. You have the advantage that way.
I DID take about five pictures of us at the festival, and I'll post those whenever I get my film developed.
I DID see the following, and will be posting comments soon:
Ararat :star::star::star:1/2
Volcano High :star::star::star:
Me Without You :star::star::star:
Spider :star::star:
Jason

 

[MichaelPe]

Wow, I'm really surprised to read all these negative reviews about "Spider". Before reading this, it was my most anticipated film of the year. However, I trust all of your opinions a lot more than IMDB.
Jason,
It seems that you saw better movies "out of competition" than at the actual festival. As soon as I get a break from school, I'm going to run to see "Moonlight Mile". Just from the trailers, I had a feeling that it was going to be a great film. Well, at least you enjoyed "Ararat"... I'm hopefully going to be seeing it in 2 weeks at the FCMM. I'm dying to see Marie-Josée Croze again on screen.

 

[Bill Harris]

I do believe that some people might have a different view on Spider , so give it a try. Just dont say we didnt warn you . The story was my main problem , but i had NO problem with Ralph Fiennes perfomance. I didnt understand a thing he said , but damn if the performance isnt Oscar worthy.
Oh , Marie-Josee Croze is HOT

 

[Jason Whyte]

"As soon as I get a break from school, I'm going to run to see "Moonlight Mile". Just from the trailers, I had a feeling that it was going to be a great film."
Great, I hope you enjoy it! I think it's the best American film of the year to date, and that's shocking considering that the same guy who directed this, directed "City of Angels." Brad Siberling has certainly grown as a filmmaker, and has made his most mature film yet.
"Wow, I'm really surprised to read all these negative reviews about "Spider". Before reading this, it was my most anticipated film of the year."
As the end credits rolled on "Spider", I was first blown away by the film, but then it slowly dawned on me that I was ONLY responding to Ralph Fiennes' performance in the film. He is truly brilliant here as a completely confused and shattered man, and yet the film surrounding him is a waste of time.
You could feel the anger throughout the Vogue theater friday night, as 1100 people shuffled out of the theater. And I didn't know you were there Mike, you should have stopped by the front of the advance ticket line and snapped a picture with us.
Jason

 

[Rain]

Miranda Richardson also deserves kudos for her performance in Spider.
Depending on your perspective, she's either playing 3 different characters or just one.

You'll have to see the film to know what I mean.