Vancouver International Film Festival 2007

Review by Zandro Salvo.

The latest offering from director Gus Van Sant is a cinematic marvel. Based on a book by Blake Nelson, Paranoid Park captures the quintessential teenage experience. Told through the point of view of a teenager trying to fit into the Portland skate scene, the film articulates the modern socializing process as well as the paranoia that results. Van Sant weaves in and out of the main story sequence with gorgeous yet gritty slow motion skate boarding footage. These sequences look like they’re personally shot by the teenage skate culture of Paranoid Park. The non-linear story structure and melodic pace are perfectly orchestrated to capture the perspective of the story's teenage protagonist. While the main character must deal with his parents’ divorce, losing his virginity, and an unimaginable accidental murder, Van Sant masterfully brings the viewer back to the simplicity of youth and the serenity of skate boarding. It is through the protagonist's eyes that one realizes the hidden beauty ignored by adults yet adored by youth. The result is an ethereal look at teenage angst and identity formation. Quite possibly the bench mark for its genre.

Paranoid Park
Gus Van Sant | USA | 2007 | 84min

Fri. Oct. 12 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Zandro Salvo.

Written and directed by legend Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) , The Walker falls slightly short of Schrader’s legendary offerings but does capture his superior talent for dialogue and overall storytelling. The cast sparkles with Woody Harrelson playing protagonist Carter Page III with welcomed support from Lauren Bacall, Kristen Scott Thomson, and Lilly Tomlin. Harrelson simply inhabits his role as a gay escort to the wives of political powerhouses in Washington. Page begins to examine the façade of his ‘walker’ lifestyle when he gets caught up in a political scandal with one of the women he escorts. Going above and beyond his usual requisites as a companion, Page wrongfully takes the place of the guilty woman. He soon realizes that friends are few and far between in Washington and those with integrity are almost non existent. Schrader chooses the perfect setting and protagonist to deliver a scathing and overly-smart commentary on contemporary American society. Page’s charm and wit keep the movie’s political agenda below radar and sometimes all together inaccessible but, in doing so, one can’t help but feel part of the falsity of high society. Harrelson indeed proves the perfect escort - if only in the shallow waters of American politics.

The Walker
Paul Schrader | USA | 2007 | 107min

Sun. Oct. 7 | 9:30pm | Ridge Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 2:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Zandro Salvo.

Strange Culture stays true to its title as it explores the climate of fear in today’s America. Using actors, animation, stock footage, and testimonials from key figures, this film depicts the unfortunate events surrounding the death of Hope Kurtz. The wife of activist and art professor Steve Kurtz, Hope was organizing an art exhibit about genetically modified food when she died suddenly. Test tubes and petri dishes are found strewn around the couple’s apartment when medics respond to Steve’s 911 call. The medics grow suspicious and report their findings to the FBI. With scientific paraphernalia scattered around the house and a woman dead before her time, the temperature of America's political climate is taken. With paranoia and fear running rampant, suspicions are raised about Steve Kurtz’s potential involvement in bio terrorism. While Steve is likeable, his charisma alone isn't able to carry the weight of his proclaimed innocence.

The filmmaker's choice to release the film while Kurtz is still awaiting the trial certainly does not help the viewer form a well informed judgment of the accused. For legal reasons, many facts are not allowed to be talked about and, more importantly, the side of the prosecution, the U.S. government, is understandably absent. This story does, however, take a clear snap shot of our time, as his story is presented in a logical manner with the actors, both as themselves and as their characters, discussing America’s political agenda. In doing so, one cannot help but side with Steve Kurtz - and with common sense. On that level, the film definitely succeeds.

Strange Culture
Lynn Hershman Leeson | USA | 2007 | 76min

Wed. Oct. 3 | 8:45pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Sat. Oct. 6 | 1:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 6:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Zandro Salvo.

Going into this movie I expected the worst. I thought that the only thing that would be more tedious and self-absorbed than an opera about creating the atomic bomb would be a movie about the making of an opera about creating the atomic bomb. To my surprise, Wonders are Many is a captivating film. Director Jon Else captures the fifth collaboration between composer John Adams and artistic director Peter Sellars as they interpret J. Robert Oppenheimer’s creation of the atomic bomb. The combination of Adams’ meticulous musical arrangements and Sellars’ passionate interpretations scores the momentous discovery perfectly. The juxtaposition between science and art provides the perfect path to unravel the ethical and scientific dilemmas faced by Oppenheimer and his crew of scientists. Oppenheimer himself was an enigmatic character, with an equal passion for poetry and physics; an opera strictly dedicated to Oppenheimer the man would have sufficed. However, the grand scope of his character is well summarized in the 48 hours before the testing of the first bomb. Moreover, the concept of an opera to unravel the humanity behind the science provides the emotional context needed to understand the magnitude of Oppenheimer’s work. I must confess that I’ve never found opera to be engaging but the hardship and dedication needed to pull off the grand artistic feet provides a parallel to the labours of Oppenheimer and his crew. Like notes on a page, Oppenheimer and his scientists were forced to harmonize their efforts and every step of the way poured everything into their opus. Set against Adams’ musical arrangements and Sellars’ scientific and poetic texts, one truly gets a sense of the poetry and the power of this historical discovery.

Wonders Are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic
Jon Else | USA | 2007 | 94min

Fri. Oct. 5 | 10:30am | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 9:30pm | Vancity Theatre

Review by John Packman.

Exactly how severely can you torture someone and still get away with not calling it torture? That's the question looming over Alex Gibney's (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) impressive documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, an investigation of the questionable-at-best methods used by the U.S. to extract information from alleged prisoners of the 'War on Terror'. Gibney has amassed an intimidating amount of data on the interrogation techniques used by officers of such notorious prisons as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Additionally, Gibney is given a surprising amount of access to the offending officers themselves, who are astonishingly candid about their complicity in the deaths of prisoners. The resulting picture is not a pretty one: America arrests 'suspected' terrorists who are more often than not turned over by third parties for a bounty, tortures these suspects routinely, and holds them indefinitely without trial.

This clear violation of Geneva Conventions and the's country's own Constitution is exacerbated by the cover that the nebulously-defined term 'national security' provides: essentially, knowing the truth about the government's conduct damages their ability to govern. This laughable irony is reinforced pretty much every time Donald Rumsfeld appears onscreen in file footage, which is to say 'a lot'. Gibney is remarkably even-handed compared to most political documentarians these days, focusing on redacted documents and undisputed statistics rather than anecdotal evidence and rhetoric to make his case. The film occasionally retreads its own ground - it could have been at least fifteen minutes shorter - and relies on distracting interstitials and spooky music, but stylistic quibbles are relatively unimportant when a documentary asks this many pertinent questions and asks them well.

Taxi to the Dark Side
Alex Gibney | USA | 2007 | 105min

Thur. Oct. 4 | 12:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 7:00pm | Ridge Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 3:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Kiefer Doerksen.

Salud! draws comparisons between Cuba's free universal health care system and the privatized health care prevalent in both developing and developed nations. It criticizes the exporting of educated doctors from countries such as South Africa where their services are needed locally. Cuban doctors are portrayed as great humanitarians, traveling around the world to where they are needed to help set up clinics, hospitals and medical schools at low pay and in harsh conditions. They are taught to be at the service of the community, sometimes before looking after their families. Special programs are in place to make sure that impoverished people from areas less desirable to other doctors are trained and sent back to their hometowns to look after health care locally.

Overall director Connie Field tends to paint Cuba in an overly-rosey manner with no mention of the political situation and little reference to the poverty experienced by most Cubans. While the Cuban health care system is shown as a gold standard for medical systems there is no exploration into why so much of the rest of the world works on a different system. Salud! is an enjoyable and informative film but it would have benefited from a little more balance.

Salud!
Connie Field | USA | 2006 | 90min

Wed. Oct. 10 | 7:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Fri. Oct. 12 | 1:15pm | Vancity Theatre

Review by Cameron Maitland.

Documentaries that try to dissect concepts of truth in the media face a catch-22 in their production by existing in just the form they are trying to deconstruct and War Made Easy is no exception. Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp seek through this film to convey the ideas of journalist Norman Solomon regarding the use of propaganda both by the government and media in times of war, especially in Vietnam and in the current war in Iraq, by making a documentary, a piece of biased media in and of itself.

The film starts with interesting and noble intentions in revealing the kind of ideological machinations that surround war through old records and footage, but quickly slides from exposing them to becoming their laughable opposite. So much of the film rests on the credibility of Norman Solomon and his ideas yet the film takes less than a minute to explain who the man is or why we should believe anything he says. Add to that the fact that he speaks in sweeping generalizations regarding the media and government in war but tends to focus on two conflicts and barely gives lip service to any but biggest hot button presidential administrations. Cinematically the film also falters as it stands firm in its assertion of media distortion for ideological purposes but then proceeds to present its facts and records un-cited and in heavily, quickly edited sequences.

I don’t doubt this film is built on strong ideas and much of what it has to say is true but the emotional chomping at the bit to expose the fallacy of the current administration comes across just as pathetic as the indoctrination tactics the film discusses. If the filmmakers wanted War Made Easy’s messages about truth, lack of bias and trust in the general populace to understand and process information to be taken seriously they should have stepped back and allowed the film to follow those same ideals it promotes.

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
Loretta Alper/Jeremy Earp | USA | 2007 | 73min

Sat. Sept. 29 | 7:30pm | VanCity Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 10:45am | VanCity Theatre

Review by John Packman.

The 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle attracted a considerable amount of media attention for both the high turnout of the demonstrations and the controversially violent response by Seattle police; protesters managed to shut down a large section of the downtown area and authories responded with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and the imprisonment of over 600 people. Who better to tackle such a weighty and relevant subject than actor-turned-auteur Stuart Townsend, best known for his roles in such vital films as Queen of the Damned and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? All snark aside, his film Battle in Seattle admirably attempts to locate compelling human drama within a chaotic real-life event. Townsend shows promise as a director; he exhibits a keen eye for composition and rhythm, particularly in the riot scenes, where a careful balance is maintained between cacophony and clarity.

Ultimately, however, Battle in Seattle remains an intriguing failure, primarily due to Townsend's insistence on shoehorning such a sprawling and complex event into the tidy framework of an ensemble drama. The script employs the recently popular tactic of assembling a few dozen actors and assigning them exactly one character trait each, as seen in other multi-character films of late like Crash and Cannonball Run (sorry, I'm being snarky again). Consequently, talented actors ranging from Charlize Theron to Isaach de Bankolé are essentially wasted. Townsend's dialogue further hampers his film and his actors, alternating between clumsy exposition and clichéd don't-turn-your-back-on-us-now entreaties. The whole thing just comes off as pandering and obvious, a would-be primer on globalization that manages to avoid actually saying anything substantial about globalization in favour of shaky-cam shots of cop-on-hippie violence. Interestingly, the most compelling segments of the film are the two sequences that bookend it; newsreel clips and stock footage are overlaid with facts and figures regarding the WTO and the effects of free trade. Maybe the entire film should have been a documentary. I'd watch that.

Battle in Seattle
Stuart Townsend | USA | 2007 | 91min

Wed. Oct. 3 | 7:00pm | Ridge Theatre
Sat. Oct. 6 | 11:00am | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Gorrman Lee.

Tricia Regan’s documentary Autism: The Musical, isn’t really about autism in the objective, scientific documentary sense, nor is it about a musical. Instead, Autism: The Musical is about five children with varying degrees of autism/Asperger’s Syndrome and how their relationship with their parents, and with each other, changes upon enrollment in a musical-theatre program for kids with autism, dubbed The Miracle Project.

The film follows five kids - Neal, Henry, Lexy, Adam, and Wyatt - who are all fairly high functioning autistics. Though we see their development over the span of a year while they are rehearsing for a musical production, we almost never see their rehearsal process. Instead there are interviews, candid sequences, and old home videos. If you are at all worried about whether or not the film has any tones of exploitation, rest assured that this film is very uplifting, and enlightening. Which leads me to my next point. The film is, at times, too uplifting. While I certainly would never want to see a film that exploits autistic children, or puts them in a bad light, this film tends to manipulate the viewer into sympathy. From the choices in music, use of old home videos, focus on certain romantic subplots (between some parents and between two of the children), and even the choice of which five children to follow (they chose the most high functioning, and most personable), the documentary often feels heavy handed.

I don’t think anyone would pay to see a film that did the opposite. And even though I felt manipulated while watching the film, when the lights came on, I didn’t really care that I had been manipulated. Autism still introduces us to amazingly talented children with heartwarming stories. Despite the heavy handedness, I still left with a smile on my face.

Autism: The Musical
Tricia Regan | USA | 2007 | 94min

Tue. Oct. 2 | 4:30pm | Pacific Cinematheque
Fri. Oct. 5 | 7:00pm | VanCity Theatre
Sun. Oct. 7 | 6:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Kiefer Doerksen.

Shotgun Stories stands, in many ways, as the anti-Trailer Park Boys. While most of that show’s humour stems from poking fun at its characters’ “trailer-trash” tendencies, Shotgun Stories celebrates those tendencies. It’s sympathy for the simpleton brothers Son, Boy and Kid that keeps Shotgun Stories from becoming a comedy, allowing the film to work as a serious dissection of violence and revenge.

After his wife takes their son and moves in with her mother, Son invites his brothers to stay with him until she returns – after all, there is extra space. Boy lives in his van and powers his blender through the car battery (which occasionally turns on the stereo instead). Third brother Kit has been living in a tent in the front yard. The brothers’ easy-going lifestyle is interrupted by the death of their estranged father. Son's less-than-forgiving speech at the funeral upsets his father’s new family, especially his half brothers, starting a feud between the two families that quickly escalates to violence.

The film lingers on the vast fields and slow lifestyle of the American South. The camera captures this world as plainly as possible with no visual flourishes or sweeping movement. Director Jeff Nichols is patient with his leads, who often express their feelings in short sentences and physical gestures. Even when tension escalates between the two warring families, the pacing stays deliberately calm; with their backs are against the wall, the characters still take their time taking action. Michael Shannon (Son) gives a slow-burning performance as someone who doesn’t want to start trouble but impulsively feels the need to get what he feels is just. Douglas Ligon is a stand-out as Boy, Son’s pacifist brother who, while being the ‘deadbeat’ of the family, finds time to coach a children’s basketball team. An unusually sincere portrayal of the rural South.

Shotgun Stories
Jeff Nichols | USA | 2007 | 92min

Thur. Sept. 27 | 7:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Mon. Oct. 1 | 2:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Thur. Oct. 4 | 9:45pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by gloria wong.

Jon and Wendy Savage are middle-aged siblings who have drifted from their elderly father Lenny. Jon is a professor of literature and Wendy temps while trying to win grants to support her play-writing (it's not going well). One day, they hear second-hand that their father has started smearing words on the walls of his home in his own shit. They fly from New York to Arizona and learn that their father has recently entered dementia - he also has no where to live. Though they fight, they quickly decide that the only pratical decision is to place their father in a nursing home closer to their New York homes... Believe it or not, The Savages is a very, very funny movie.

For such a common situation, something that so many of us have to face at some point, I can't say that I've seen many depictions of this subject on film. And (almost unfortunately) it hits the topic so precisely, people might continue to steer clear of it for a while for fear of comparisons. Made by Tamara Jenkins (who also wrote and directed the not quite as excellent but still very good Slums of Beverly Hills), The Savages earns its laughs through sharply-observed humour that cuts more directly to the tragedy of this situation than ten Terms of Endearments ever could. Jenkins builds the story with moments that are simulataneously funny and uncomfortable in their honesty. The always enjoyable Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the perfect mix of obnoxious and caring. And Laura Linney creates another believably flawed, anxious but earthy character (flawed but decent being one of the things she does better than anyone). Both wonderfully cast, as is Phillip Bosco as the eldest Savage. One of the most rewarding American films I've since in years.

The Savages
Tamara Jenkins | USA | 2006 | 113min

Sat. Sept. 29 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Sun. Sept. 30 | 1:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Sunny Oh.

The area surrounding Barton Springs near Austin, Texas is stunning: bubbling aquifers, unspoiled greenery. Developers want to pave over this idyll to build a subdivision.

The Unforeseen (produced by Robert Redford) shows the environmental devastation caused by suburban sprawl and unchecked development. However, this documentary is not just liberal propaganda. Director Laura Dunn presents interviews with a wide variety of people, including the developer responsible for numerous subdivisions around Austin. We also hear comments from families who buy into the subdivisions, from large corporations and economists. Their voices, along with the thoughts of grassroots activists, farmers, and environmental scientists, create a multi-faceted look at the conflict between development and the environment. Laura Dunn also presents Barton Springs from many visual viewpoints: aerial photography, gorgeous pastoral shots, maps, developers’ schematic diagrams.

Like the proverbial grain of sand, the conflict at Barton Springs exemplifies a greater crisis. Anyone interested in the viral nature of our economic system, the disregard it holds for clean water and public amenities, should watch this documentary.

The Unforeseen
Laura Dunn | USA | 2007 | 93min

Sun. Sept. 30 | 10:45am | VanCity Theatre
Sun. Oct. 7 | 7:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 3:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by gloria wong.

Ondi Timoner’s newest film documents four families who have all left the tight-knit Rock Mountain Church for the Wellspring Retreat & Resource Centre. Rock Mountain, they’ve realized to different degrees, is a cult, and Wellspring is a place people go to begin the process of cult deprogramming.

It’s a complex process. In group therapy, the families talk about their shame in allowing their identities to be subsumed by Rock Mountain, and especially, for allowing their children to be vulnerable to the church’s horrific philosophy of child-rearing (it involves an actual rod). Sometimes in what looks like the same session, someone will also share how much they miss Pastor Raimund and “his love”.

After leaving Wellspring, the frustrating process of trying to bring Rock Mountain down begins. Unfortunately, the law is not on their side. In a country that prides itself on the principal of religious freedom, cults that operate as churches (particularly ‘Christian’ churches in the bible belt) are subject to little scrutiny.

At the centre of this controversy is ‘Pastor’ Raimund Melz – the all-in-one father-figure, saviour and tormentor. Timoner is granted a series of interviews at this time with Melz and his wife that reveal a mess of contradictions and hypocrises – while doling out manipulation and extolling the virtues of humility with one hand, he describes himself as “as close (to) perfect as you can get.”

Though the word cult brings to the mind images of Moonies and Hare Krishnas or, more tragically, of Heaven’s Gate and Waco’s Branch Davidians, the film argues that many cults today operate on a subtle level, populated by people who appear to function normally in society. According to experts interviewed in the film, there are 3000-5000 cults with millions in total membership operating in the United States alone. One of the strongest elements of the film is its characterization of its subjects as ordinary people, challenging viewers to question their own ideas about who is vulnerable to brain-washing and the ‘type of person’ (i.e. not us) who joins a cult. Join Us is a fascinating, if somewhat depressing look at this little-talked-about phenomenon.

Join Us
Ondi Timoner | USA | 2007 | 93 min

Thurs. Sept. 27 | 10:30am | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 8:45pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 1:40pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Gorrman Lee.

Great World of Sound marks the directorial debut of Craig Zobel, who is an associate of David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls). When I saw Green’s name in the credits as a producer I instantly became excited, as Green is known for beautifully crafted stories about smalltown-America, brilliant and at times improvised acting, and wonderful cinematography. Great World of Sound hints at these elements of Green’s work, but doesn’t fully flourish in the same way.

Great World of Sound follows Martin, a radio technician who gets a new job at smalltime music label called The Great World of Sound. Martin’s job is to scout musical talent from across smalltown America and sign them to the label, but he soon discovers that the company is mostly a pyramid scam.

Martin is mostly a likeable, witty character, and because the viewer wants to see him do the right thing, the plot mostly works. But the film itself is also inconsistent. The film doesn’t know if it is a dark dramedy (about Martin realizing his position and wanting to do the right thing), or a slapstick comedy about talentless Americans auditioning for potential producers as in American Idol reject episodes. Both are funny, but both aspects of the film feel jammed into Great World of Sound, and they don’t really work together all that cohesively. Unfortunately, Martin’s growth as a character which was the compelling story element takes a backseat during the audition sequences that were too many in number and lasted far too long.

The Great World of Sound
Craig Zobel | USA | 2006 | 106min

Sat. Sept. 29 | 9:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 2 | 12:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Sat. Oct. 6 | 12:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Richard Toews.

In Daughters of Wisdom, filmmaker Bari Pearlman brings to the screen the story of the Kala Rongo Monastery where, for the first time in Tibet’s history, women are practicing Buddhist nuns.

Daughters of Wisdom is an expansive visual tapestry into which is woven the story of a specific group of women who are spearheading a type of liberation as Tibetan Buddhists. In this beautifully crafted account, Pearlman captures the intimacy that comes from living in a close community. This community offers a delicate freedom: it is in coming to the monastery that women can escape the hardship of a socio-economic system where it is still a hardship to be born a woman. However, the irony is that these women continue to live under a different kind of patrimony: they still live under the direction of a male abbot.

In a world where Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism pervades so much of western literature, it is indeed a blessing to participate as a viewer in Pearlman’s film. In Daughters of Wisdom, Pearlman has wisely brought forward the voices of the women who live in the monastery. As we learn from Pearlman, the nuns spoke freely when they realized that none of the crew was male. Here, they truly do have ownership of their own story.

Daughters of Wisdom
Bari Perlman | 2007 | 68min

Sat. Sept. 29 | 10:30am | Empire Granville Theatre
Thur. Oct. 4 | 6:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Sat. Oct. 6 | 3:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Cameron Maitland.

Recently, there seems to be a trend in documentaries – capturing the emotion and action in children’s competitions. While I admittedly tend to fall for that sort of thing, it can be cloying and obvious. Luckily, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine’s documentary War/Dance—ostensibly about a group of refugees in Uganda’s national elementary school music competition—deftly avoids this pitfall by focussing on character rather than competition.

The documentary’s main characters are three classmates from Northern Uganda’s Patongo refugee camp that are entering the competition with their school. Most of the 60,000 people in the camp are members of the Acholi tribe who face persecution from and possible execution by rebel forces every day and each of these children represents a different aspect of that struggle. Rose has lost both her parents and lives with a cruel aunt, Nancy has to take care of her siblings while her mother goes to work, and Dominic is an escaped child soldier. While the film begins focussed on each of their contributions to the singing, dance and music competition—used as therapy and relief by their school—by the end, it is their individual stories of survival that resonate. As much as their underdog story within the music competition thrills, nothing can match the emotional impact of seeing Dominic confront a leader of the rebels, or Rose visit her father’s grave.

War/Dance is shot in a vibrant and artistic style that aids the recollections and stories of the children without seeming over-the-top or forced. The Fines have created a work that not only celebrates the power of song to heal but also reveals the harrowing and deep pain that Ugandan child refugees face everyday.

War/Dance
Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine | USA | 2006 | 105min

Fri. Sept. 28 | 3:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 2 | 10:45am | VanCity Theatre
Thur. Oct. 4 | 9:00 | Pacific Cinematheque

Review by Kiefer Doerksen

My Kid Could Paint That is Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary about pre-schooler Marla Olmstead and her prodigal abilities as an abstract painter. The film captures Marla’s ‘career’ from its early days when her paintings first begin to get attention through to the period in which the paintings stop selling and her parents are receiving threatening e-mails – all the while, young Marla remains oblivious to the commotion surrounding her.

Central to the film are questions about the nature of art in our fame-obsessed culture. While Marla’s mother is weary of the increasing attention towards her daughter, she gives in to the pressure from her husband and their gallery agent who are portrayed as opportunists leeching onto the notoriety and money that Marla’s paintings have brought them. One hilarious scene shows a collector of Marla’s work giving his interpretation of one of her (highly abstract) paintings - describing a man in a doorway and the image of a sonogram. A sonogram? Are these the things that are really on the mind of a four-year-old?

The catalyst for Marla’s undoing in the public eye comes in the form of a “60 Minutes” piece questioning the authenticity of her work, and whether or not her father could have doctored - or outright made - her paintings. This controversy is further supported by the fact that no one is able to videotape Marla painting one of her great works. What’s most saddening is that, real artist or not, Marla becomes famous for (possibly) being a con artist before she’s even able to understand what that means. Bar-Lev wisely never draws conclusions about the ‘true’ identity of the artist. He allows himself to be an active participant within the film, often voicing his conflicted emotions and speaking directly about how they are changing the shape of the movie. While this film unfortunately contributes to the ethical badgering that this child has seen over the course of her young life, it is still thought provoking cinema that may make you question the worth of what is hanging on your walls.

My Kid Could Paint That
Amir Bar-Lev | USA | 2006 | 81min

Fri. Sept. 28 | 10:00am | Empire Granville Theatre
Fri. Oct. 5 | 6:20pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Thur. Oct. 11 | 3:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Cameron Maitland

John Helde made his documentary Made in China in an attempt to connect with his father, a white American who spent much of his childhood in China. Helde’s father died during production of the film, turning the process into both a document of Helde’s journey to his father’s birthplace and a way for him to understand and recapture his father.

Helde begins the film with footage of his father and numerous other Americans discussing their youth in China and their love for the country. One can’t help but be fascinated when bland-seeming white American senior citizens break out into Chinese song and lovingly describe sneaking away from the dinner table to go eat Chinese delicacies with the servants. Helde’s father loved China but, despite his son’s interest, never wanted to return because he felt too much had changed. The narration follows the filmmaker himself though and, after his father is diagnosed with cancer and dies, we follow Helde on his awkward journey through China as he attempts to find significant places from his father’s youth.

Made in China falls into many of the hazards which tend to plague personal documentary - bland narration, over-determined music and the extreme personal emotions all make it harder to connect with Helde on his quest. I came into the film interested, as I had a grandfather I never knew who grew up in nearly the same circumstance as Helde’s father, but I ultimately found myself disinterested in this journey. A small success comes in the revelations of the others who grew up in China and their feelings of foreignness and disengagement in any part of the world. At sixty-five minutes, Made In China is tolerable but too sentimental, and can only really be recommended to lovers of nostalgia and those seeking insight into human thought processes and social integration.

Made in China
John Helde | USA | 2007 | 70 min

Fri. Sept. 28 | 1:30pm | Pacific Cinematheque
Wed. Oct. 3 | 6:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre

Review by Cameron Maitland

With Hollywood Chinese, Arthur Dong sets out to document and understand the place of the Chinese in American feature films while also tracing a long history of Chinese-American involvement in the Hollywood industry. As in the similarly styled doc The Celluloid Closet, Hollywood Chinese utilizes film footage and interviews with film artists (including Wayne Wang, Nancy Kwan and Joan Chen) to picture of how Hollywood portrayed the Chinese and also how these Chinese-Americans were affected by and engaged with those images.
Dong based the film around his childhood love of the film Flower Drum Song and the feelings that arose when “his fondest memories in a movie theater became the targets of social and cultural critiques”. Hollywood Chinese gets credit for not shying away from the portrayals of Chinese in early film and its engagement with actors like Christopher Lee who made their careers in yellow-face. The discussions with these actors and their Chinese contemporaries reveal a film industry which exploites stereotypes for financial gain while employing actors who "need to eat" and will take any part. The most interesting revelations come from historian Stephen Gong, who discusses how Chinese-American filmmakers have been working independently since the silent era and shows footage of many actors and filmmakers being directly involved in the birth of Hollywood.
I couldn’t help but feel that Dong was a little too even-handed with the issues, frequently avoiding the brutal realities of Hollywood and praising duds like The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift just because of Chinese involvement in their production. He had interviews with outspoken actors like Tsai Chin, but only let their more pointed comments pepper his film. In the end Hollywood Chinese is an interesting, but artistically and socially unremarkable, doc that is worth a watch mostly for its sense of humour and historical revelations.

Hollywood Chinese
Arthur Dong | USA | 2007 | 89 min

Wed. Oct. 10 | 7:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre