Vancouver International Film Festival 2007

Review by Cameron Maitland.

Sonja Heiss’ first feature film Hotel Very Welcome is an interesting hybrid of comedy and drama. It follows four stories of European travellers in Asia—specifically India and Thailand—exploring their choices and misadventures.

The film starts off deceptively simply as a satire of European travellers in Asia. One woman can’t speak or understand any language and is relegated to a hotel room while another “finds herself” at a resort populated almost entirely by other Europeans. Each story makes light of the clichés involved in travelling in the East, specifically the kinds of spiritual awakenings people seem to seek there. While many chuckles are to be had at the expense of these travellers' self-centred and sometime racist ignorance of the world around them, the film manages to surprise, expanding its scope beyond that idea. Each of the comedic stories slowly unfolds to reveal real and emotional reasons these characters have become walking clichés and explores the many motivations one can have to just get away. In the end the characters become much more than people we laugh at but also people we cringe with and care for.

The film does feel a bit like on vacation itself - it goes on a bit too long, is a bit awkward and, once it's over, you are definitely ready to go home. Still, Heiss deserves praise for this piece for making a simple premise bloom into both a functioning comedy and dramatic social commentary.

Hotel Very Welcome
Sonja Heiss | Germany | 2007 | 90min

Sun. Oct. 7 | 9:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Mon. Oct. 8 | 2:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Fri. Oct. 12 | 11:30am | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Cameron Maitland.

The simple choice for Florian Opitz when making The Big Sellout—a film scrutinizing privatization all over the world—would have been to follow his multiple subjects and show the massive problems privatization has caused. In South Africa the elderly lose power; in the Philippines a boy is dying without dialysis; in Britain trains crash because nobody cares; and in Bolivia the government is trying to control rainwater. This would have made a compelling enough film in and of itself. Luckily for viewers though, Opitz crafts a film that not only involves the what’s of privatization but also includes both why it has come about and how we might successfully combat it.

Opitz employs not just the informed words and ideologies of those fighting privatization but also the words of Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who used to work for one of the bad-guys in the film, the World Bank. In fact, Opitz gives just as much time to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as he does to his other subjects, realizing that allowing both sides of the story will only help convince viewers that privatization is generally a bad idea for the developing world. What can be applauded most though is Opitz' focus on how people have overcome these problems through strikes, protests and guerrilla tactics. Most documentaries are willing to show problems but not take the time to give solutions. His choice to include one story with a happy ending could have ruined the tone of the film, but instead this story acts as a rallying call.

The Big Sellout is by no means a great artistic achievement and doesn’t introduce any new ideas to the documentary form, but, in doing so, the film proves that compelling subject matter is all one needs to make a good documentary. By utilizing interesting subjects, allowing all the perspectives to be heard, showing an informed opinion and including solutions, Opitz makes a solid documentary but even more importantly, a fantastic jumping off for his point of view on this issue.

The Big Sellout
Florian Opitz | Germany | 2006 | 94min

Sun. Oct. 7 | 10:45am | VanCity Theatre
Mon. Oct. 8 | 7:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 4:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Zandro Salvo.

The German documentary How to Cook Your Life from director Doris Dörrie tackles the unlikely pairing of Zen Buddhism and breadbaking. Chronicling the life of Zen-/Bread Baking-Master Espe Brown, the film follows him from Austria to California as he practices his culinary spiritualism. Brown is definitely charismatic. His frustration for cooking-inept newcomers contrasts his simple and peaceful spirituality providing many comedic moments. Still, Brown’s lovable quality is not strong enough to carry what the film is truly about (paraphrasing the film’s philosophy) “if you want to make the bread, make the bread”. After watching the film, one will truly knows whether they are a Bhuddist, a baker, or in need of the 93 minutes they just lost. With little exploration into Brown’s character other than the two most obvious facets, the gist of the movie is clear in its first five minutes. Perhaps that is the film’s intention, perhaps one must use their inner energy to truly focus on the task at hand, remove all other distractions from their mind, and just watch the film – I know I had to summon my spiritual energies to do just that. Judging from the very noticeable groups either leaving or sleeping, the film did provide peace and calm, but perhaps it could have at least provided a pillow and some warm bread to go with it.

How to Cook Your Life
Doris Dörrie | Germany | 2006 | 93min

Sat. Sept. 29 | 4:00pm | Ridge Theatre
Wed. Oct. 3 | 7:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 2:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Sunny Oh.

Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s narrative techniques in The Edge of Heaven won him the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. The way he unfolds his story causes the audience to watch more actively. Certain images are repeated so that meaning can be added in layers. Crimes are announced in advance so that the audience can search in suspense for the victims.

The Edge of Heaven follows the lives of four Turks and two Germans. A pensioner seeks companionship with a prostitute. A political activist is caught on the run. A mother reclaims her dead daughter’s body. Love, death, and politics compel all six characters to travel between Germany and Turkey, regardless of their citizenship or ethnicity.

In a time when large-scale immigration often prompts xenophobia, The Edge of Heaven shows us the intricate relationships between citizenship and home, love and borders.

The Edge of Heaven
Fatih Akin | Germany/Turkey | 2007 | 122min

Sat. Oct. 6 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 1:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 10:00am | Empire Granville Theatre