The
Montreal World Film Festival
From our reporter, Giantweed, cinema expert: The Montreal World Film Festival is getting underway with the usual media bitch-up about the lack of big name stars and major studio films. The hacks are just in knots because now they don't have any easy-oven Hollywood Press Kits to stuff the entertainment sections and now, heaven-forbid, when they're schmoozing at the hotel suite booze-ups they might be forced to interview actual commoners.
It's the end of August and we are burnt out from dancing in the streets at the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Franco-Folies and our ears are ringing from the Grand Prix and we're feeling really out of shape after watching the Tennis Tournament and probably couldn't stomach one more whiff of the Patchouli Oil blowing at the Sunday Tam Tam. To top it all off the city is crawling with tourists crowding us locals off of the cobblestones at the Old Port while they weave their way into the bars on St Catherines street looking for escorts and lap dances!The safest place to escape and find air-conditioning and a cool mood is the World Film Festival. Sitting back in the Imperial Theater's comfy new seats and go on a trip around the world with the other well dressed cine-maniacs flipping through notebooks and redlining on caffeine! Plus it's so much fun telling the usher you are "the Director" and getting one of the reserved seats!
As usual, I decided to ignore any and all media hype about what were the "must see" films at the festival and tried a completely random approach In fact I decided to just spend my coffee and croissant money on the Official Catalogue and fifteen tickets and go see the pictures that had sexy titles and cool promo shots...sometimes it worked but a couple of times I got treated to some totally pathetic droovel! I'm a gambler...a real Kenny Rogers risk taker!
This was strictly a "sandwich in the knapsack" affair, there were no limos, or dangling gold visa media passes, or midnight parties. I raced my three speed bicycle to and from the cinemas, refueling along the way with potent high test espresso, and wrote the reviews on my 34 year-old typewriter with the torn ribbon.
Below you will find my film reviews of the movies I saw. The reviews are from memory and my rambling scrawled "journalistic" notes, which were tough to read under the Dijon and licorice juice! My dream is that someday I'll have full media accreditation and proper elbow room at the buffet table! Official montreal world film festival website
Film
synopsis: Anne, fresh out of the police academy, is assigned to
a port city in eastern Germany. She is posted to a neighborhood of drab
high-rise apartment buildings, shopping malls and gray streets. Single,
27, no beauty but not unattractive, Anne has no ties; it's a new town
and she's hoping to make a fresh start. It doesn't take her long to
learn that the life of a police officer is a daily struggle with bureaucracy,
not to mention criminals of all varieties and degrees of seriousness.
Anne finds herself affected by her encounters with people struggling
to survive and she doesn't find it easy to keep the emotional distance
that her profession might require. THE POLICEWOMAN is a portrait of
police work that eschews car chases and sensational murders in favor
of grit and realism, the true heart of inner city law enforcement. Review:
The grainy film stock and handheld camera give it a real documentary
feel which suits this drama perfectly. The lead actress delivered a
stellar portrayal of a strong yet vulnerable character. A simple "story"
but nonetheless gripping due mostly to our heroine's big heart, clumsiness,
and her humanity with others. Recommended: 7 Stars! 
Film
synopsis: Charlotte has waited almost a whole
lifetime for the man she always knew was the right one for her: Hugo,
her sister's husband. In the meantime she has lived her own life, survived
the war, a husband and a lover, given birth to three children, and all
the while kept a skeleton in her closet. Now, over 80 and her days clearly
diminishing, she meets the love of her life again. This obsessive passion
is fulfilled when Hugo confirms that he has also realized that there
was only one true love in his life. Charlotte has no regrets: "It
may take a whole lifetime to have just five minutes of happiness."
Narrated in a series of flashbacks, the film is a love story and a family
drama. The basic theme — the impossibility of having the love of
one's life and yet be united a whole life long — is profoundly
romantic and universal.
Film
synopsis: Michel and Claire are facing a tough
vacation. They're in a heatwave and their three small girls are cranky
and always in their hair. The work on the rickety farmhouse they've
been restoring for the past three years is still unfinished and they're
stressed out all day. Enter Harry. At a highway rest stop, while washing
his hands, Michel encounters an ofd classmate he really doesn't remember.
But Michel obviously made a major impact on Harry, he can not only recite
poetry Michel wrote for the school newspaper, he also used to date his
ex-girlfriends. Before Michel has a chance to object, Harry manages
to invite himself and his voluptuous, dimwitted girlfriend Plum over
to their vacation home. Harry is troubled that Michel, overwhelmed by
the tasks of daily life, has stopped writing. He decides to help. But
Harry's notion of help is a bit peculiar.
Film
synopsis: France, 1954. The Earl of Marshwood
romances beautiful Hollywood star Miranda Frayle, unaware of the consternation
their impending marriage is causing both his mother, Felicity, the Countess
of Marshwood, and Don Lucas, one of Hollywood's most attractive but
highly-strung stars and Miranda's former love — both on screen
and off. Back at the family's stately pile, it turns out that Felicity's
maid Moxie is actually the long-lost sister of Miranda. The family sets
about concocting a story to remake Moxie's image. But Moxie is distraught
when her sister fails to recognize her, and tells terrible lies about
her childhood. Adding fuel to the fire, Don has pursued Miranda and
arrives at Marshwood desperate to reclaim his "gal", who is
both flattered and mortified to see him. Felicity realizes that Don
fits perfectly into her own little plan...
Film
synopsis: Renato Sapienza drives an armoured
truck for the postal service, every day collecting valuables from the
regional branches and transporting them to the main post office. He
makes his rounds accompanied by his good friend Walter Taranto and an
escort of two police cars. One day eight billion lire disappear. Inspector
Lucidi, an honest, hardworking cop, is determined to find the guilty
party. All clues point to Sapienza, who has disappeared into thin air.
We flashback into the memories of the main protagonists; Renato Sapienza,
luckless, a dreamer who sees himself as a vagabond poet; Claudia, a
young waitress who falls in love with him; Walter , Sapienza's best
friend, who would never say no to him, even at the risk of going to
jail. The plan is set. Nothing can derail it...but the truth is sometimes
not what we think it is, and reality not what we dream.
Film
synopsis: When a film production company invades
a quaint New Hampshire town to make a film , the town's inhabitants
are all too ready to jettison its pastoral grace for a taste of showbiz
glitz. Part Hollywood satire, part comedy, STATE AND MAIN follows screenwriter
Joe White whose values are put to task when he witnesses a heartthrob
movie star's indiscretion with a local teenage girl. The movie's smooth-talking
director and aggressive producer pressure Joe to put aside his convictions
for the sake of the film and his future writing career. Meanwhile, Joe
falls for a local bookseller who challenges him to stand up for the
truth. Adding to the writer's troubles are the hard-to-resist temptations
posed by the sexiest member of the cast and constant hassling from the
town's starstruck mayor and his wife.
Film
synopsis: Wanda is a call girl living in Berlin.
Though she doesn't know it, her shy neighbour Waller is constantly watching
her through the viewfinder of his video camera. Waller uses the tapes
to blackmail her customers, and regularly slips part of the proceeds
into Wanda's mailbox. One day Wanda and Waller meet, by chance, in the
hallway. When Waller tries to pry into her life, Wanda turns him away.
She has enough problems of her own. Her husband is blackmailing her,
using their son as a hostage to force her to turn tricks for him. But
Waller persists, and when he finds out her story, he proclaims himself
her guardian angel. He promises her a new, better life. The first thing
he does is break her out other life as a prostitute — against her
own will. Then he takes her on one final trip...
Film
synopsis: Fifty-one-year-old Frank has created
a safe, secure, somewhat bizarre, world for herself — and it's
boring her to death. She's an eccentric, dry-witted, overprotective
mother with a bad memory, living her life through her grown-up children.
Everyone thinks Frank should get a life — from her friend Jean
who wants her to open a dress shop, to her mentors/tormentors, two 80-year-old
nuns. Her son David tries to get her to enroll in a course somewhere.
After initial resistance, Frank decides to go the same university that
David attends. Soon the two separate worlds of mother and son collide.
When Frank is temporarily ejected from the university for inadvertently
cheating, it seems things can't get any worse. And then they do.
Film
synopsis: A
man crawls out of a hole near a London expressway wearing clothes from
another century. His name is Tomas Katz. He hails a taxi and after a
brief conversation with the driver, something odd happens — Tomas
Katz is now wearing the driver's clothes and is driving the cab. The
taxi driver is now dressed as Tomas Katz and is standing on the shoulder
of the highway. Katz-as-taxi driver heads into London and picks up the
Minister of Fisheries and takes him to a press conference. By the time
they arrive at their destination, the Minister has been transformed
into the taxi driver and Katz has become the Minister. On it goes, a
sequence of character exchanges in which the Tomas Katz takes on the
appearances of the people he encounters. A gradually increasing chain
of anarchy and chaos begins to engulf the city.
Film
synopsis: Romano
and Alba are traveling across Europe headed for Amsterdam. Once a literature
teacher, Romano is now an alcoholic and a desperate man, living off
his girlfriend Arianna. Driven by pride he accepted a Job smuggling
a large quantity of hashish from Amsterdam to Rome by car. Arianna refused
to accompany him so, needing a convincing cover, he recruited his former
girlfriend Alba,who knows nothing about the real reason for his invitation.
She believes he has recovered from his personal problems and this is
their chance to start over. At last they leave; France, Germany, Austria,
Holland. It doesn't take long for Alba to realize that this isn't going
to be a second honeymoon...
Film
synopsis: A theatre-of-the-absurd portrait
of a Mexican family at the end of the millennium. The father, back home
after a long stay in the United States, remains locked in his room while
his meek wife is subject to anxiety attacks and would like nothing better
than to drop everything and move away. No wonder. Their daughter is
suffering from some secret pain, their oldest son is a transsexual who
dreams of beating his father, the middle son suffers bouts of paranoia
and the youngest and most normal is still stuck with childish dreams
of dragons. Then there's the girl next door, the taxi driver who travels
nowhere, a would-be suicide and a breakfast that isn't ready...
Film
synopsis: Beautiful Isabella possesses extraordinary
culinary talents that melt the palates and hearts of men wherever she
goes. When she meets the handsome Tonino, Isabella puts aside her dreams
of becoming a famous chef abroad, to cook at his Brazilian restaurant.
But Isabella has a physical handicap. Since birth she has been plagued
by motion sickness and she can only manage its symptoms by being in
control of her motion. This proves too much for her macho husband and
Isabella decides to join her childhood friend in San Francisco. Before
long, through a series of miraculous events she becomes an overnight
sensation as the sexy host of a television cooking show. But Tonino
hasn't given up on Isabella...
Film
synopsis: Oriane's marriage with Hadrien had
gotten off on the wrong foot when she chose him over her previous boyfriend,
who just happened to be Hadrien's best friend. The jilted boyfriend
didn't take it well and jumped out of a window. Now the marriage is
on the rocks and Oriane is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. At wit's
end after the latest argument with Hadrien, she consults a fortune teller,
hoping to hear that all's not lost between them. But the only things
the crystal ball can see is infidelity and separation. Oriane won't
hear any of it. She wants a happy ending. The soothsayer consults his
ball again and the same prediction shows up. Oriane rejects this vision
of the future as well. Destiny, shmestiny; she's going to shape her
own future the way she wants to.
Film
synopsis: El Gallo, is a street singer. He
has a dream, and he pursues it across Cuba. This is the land of musical
legends: salsa stars, rappers from the poor urban districts, extravagant
old-time orchestras, bolero singers, jamming jazzmen, mystical drummers,
village merrymakers. On the road, in trains, backyards and bustling
streets, music blends with his errant life as El Gallo translates these
moments into songs he knows by heart. In the course of his wandering
through Cuba, Santiago, Guantanamo, Camaguey and Trinidad, the singer
meets a musical people who welcome him as a brother and play with him
at the drop of a hat. When his trip is over, the dream ends and El Gallo
finds himself back where he started, with a cigarette in his mouth,
watching the freighters come and go in the port of Havana.
Film
synopsis: Early one morning in the summer
of 1999, a week before her wedding, Joao realizes that she doesn't want
to get married after all. The preparations are well under way, the invitations
have been sent out long ago and to top it all Joao thinks she's pregnant.
Faced with this dilemma, she does what she always does when she needs
time to think — she drinks. In all other respects, Joao is a good
girl, despite having been neglected. Her mother died years ago and her
two brothers have left home. The father is a vet with political ambitions,
who has little time for his daughter. When Joao drinks, things tend
to happen quickly, and not always for the best. So she does what she
always does when things are going badly: she runs to Gabriel, the "family
friend", who finds it hard to say no.