Vancouver International Film Festival 2008

U.S.A.

Afterschool

Review by Cameron Maitland

In a world wrapped up in new media prospects like Youtube and various other internet clip sources one can often wonder film's place in this new world. Antonio Campos' Afterschool makes quite a case for both the failures of these new mediums and the strengths of true film.

The film follows Rob, a grade 10 student at a New England prep school who is obsessed with Internet clips and how they might show something 'real'. In the wake of a tragedy he's involved in, he is invited to make a video memorial and from there he begins to dredge up emotions and memories as he examines his state of personal isolation.

Though the film does often smack of 'first feature' in a few ham handed metaphors it does ultimately succeed. It is unique in its attempt to show the reality behind the so-called 'real' clips on the Internet and the inclusion of many already famous clips makes it seem fresh as well as visually eclectic.

Perhaps more laudable though is its depiction of modern private schools in America and the pressures, falsehood and isolation that creeps around every corner. There are a lot of films that examine private schools in history and in other countries. Afterschool's contemporary American location is just as unique, dramatic and rife for storytelling in America.

Afterschool is not a film without stumbling or preaching but if you are looking for something unique both in execution and theme, it's a hard piece to beat.

Afterschool
Antonio Campos | USA | 2007 | 106min

Thur. Oct. 9 | 6:20pm | Empire Granville Theatre 4
Fri. Oct. 10 | 1:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre 2

U.S.A.

The Atom Smashers

Review by Cameron Maitland

Perhaps the hardest type of documentary to make is a scientific one. It must not only worry about being artistic and interesting, but also avoid the pitfalls of being incomprehensible or a glorified educational film. Thankfully, writer/directors Clayton Brown and Monica Long Ross’ film The Atom Smashers so masterfully balances these elements it could almost be the archetype against which all other science docs are measured.

The film documents a year and a half in the life of Fermilab, an Illinois lab containing (at the time) the world’s premiere particle accelerator, and the lab’s attempt to find the infamous Higgs Boson particle. With recent events in the scientific community, it’s easy to tell this story quickly turns into a race to find the particle with Fermilab becoming the underdog to the European Large Hadron Collider and the results becoming their chance to justify more funding from an imposing conservative U.S. Government.

The film’s real success though is not relying simply on the easy thrills of this end of the story. It instead focuses just as hard on the day-to-day lives of a few physicists involved and tries to understand the socio-cultural perception of science and how that shaped the past, present and future of Fermilab and its operation. The film deftly switches gears between these elements of the story often and suggests certain artistry in the link between the elements that tends to go missing from the general views of science.

The Atom Smashers succeeds because it’s not simply a film made for the Discovery Channel by scientists about science but instead a film made by real artists, passionate about science and trying to capture all the ideas, struggles and joys the process of scientific discovery can bring.

The Atom Smashers
Clayton Brown & Monica Long Ross | USA | 2008 | 81min

U.S.A.

Sugar

Review by Cameron Maitland

One of the most hotly anticipated films at this year’s film festival has to be the sophomore effort from the writing/directing team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Sugar. After their film Half Nelson managed to climb from an indie to the Oscars, there couldn’t be more of a spotlight on this seemingly out-of-leftfield drama about baseball.

Unlike most American baseball films, Sugar tells the story of a young Dominican player just beginning his career by entering the minor leagues in Iowa. This film is as much concerned with baseball as it is with the socio-economic truths of the game’s international presence and the effect they have has on the player. Much of the film focuses on Miguel “Sugar” Santos’ ability to cope with being thrust into a country where he doesn’t understand the language or the culture and the sadness and humour that brings.

Like Half Nelson, the strength of Sugar lies in its performances. Algenis Perez Soto’s portrayal of the titular character and his progression through America is both emotionally sound and shocking in its realism. Fleck and Boden say they started with the end of the film in writing and worked their way backwards but the forward momentum and slow progression of Soto’s character make the film smooth and seemless in its execution.

Unexpected and moving, Sugar is a film that can be enjoyed both by baseball fans and people who are simply interested in a human story about progressing towards your dreams.

Sugar
Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden | USA | 2008 | 114min

Fri. Sept. 26 | 9:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre 4
Sun. Sept. 28 | 1:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre 2
Thur. Sept. 30 | 10:00am | Empire Granville Theatre 7

U.S.A.

Momma's Man

Review by gloria wong.

Our story begins when Mikey, a thirty-something married man ostensibly on a business trip to his hometown of New York, half-explains to his elderly parents that his flight home was overbooked - he’d most likely return to his wife and infant daughter in Los Angeles the next morning. Only he doesn’t. He stays, and he appears to be totally disinterested in returning to his adult life for an alarming number of days. He slips easily into his childhood bedroom as well as his childhood habits – play guitar, reading comics and letting his mother care for him.

As one may well imagine, the film has many inspired comic moments, mostly featuring Mikey’s interactions with his increasingly concerned parents. What consistently surprises throughout the film is Jacob’s delicate take on Mikey which keeps the character from becoming irretrievably pathetic – a man-child cartoon character.

Jacobs is the son of legendary experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs and visual artist Flo Jacobs. Read into the decision what you will, but his casting of his artist parents as protagonist’s artist parents in this film is genius. Gorgeously shot in the Jacobs’ actual family home in New York (a loft crammed to the rafters with stuff, junk, art and doo-dads), Momma’s Man is an oddly touching, often funny, perfectly scaled family drama.

Momma's Man
Azazel Jacobs | USA | 2008 | 94min