Doppelgängers, doubles, and evil twins. Such notions have been a feint of storytelling for centuries. Shakespeare explored it in “The Comedy of Errors”, as did Alexandre Dumas in “The Man in the Iron Mask”, and both Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and Poe’s “William Wilson” exploited the idea just ahead of Dostoevsky’s famed and […]
Month: September 2015
Aaaaaaaah! – VIFF 2015 Review
Aaaaaaaah! is adventurous and bombastic postmodern cinema, full stop. Puritans, the easily offended, the mild-mannered and the populist filmgoer need not apply. And this, trust me, is a very good thing. Steve Oram, best known as the co-writer/co-star of Ben Wheatley’s unruly serial killer comedy Sightseers as well as a string of lacerating comedic shorts, […]
Ninth Floor – VIFF 2015 Review
Previously held in celebrated esteem as an indie filmmaker of fiction, Mina Shum (Double Happiness) makes a fearless ascent into non-fiction with the tender and deep-toned Ninth Floor. Shum’s sentient gaze makes for tout de suite intelligence as she smoothly sweeps up the viewer from the outset, revisiting a scandalous episode of institutionalized racism, the […]
Le Dep – VIFF 2015 Review
Quebec filmmaker Sonia Bonspille Boileau’s debut, Le Dep, is an intentionally intimate and small-scale affair with worry on its mind and an upset heart that, sadly, strains to get the necessary birr to really resonate with the audience. That’s not to say it’s a lacklustre affair, it’s got more than a few stirring minutes and […]
My Life With a King – VIFF 2015 Review
Filipino filmmaker Carlo Enciso Catu makes a lovely low-pitched directorial debut with My Life With a King. It’s a light touch with a lanky formalism that recalls early Hal Hartley and Aki Kaurismäki that makes much of Catu’s tranquil comedy of manners so engaging. That the film is rooted in Pampangan culture is something of […]
Monty Python: The Meaning of Live – VIFF 2015 Review
Roger Graef and James Rogan’s documentary relating the reunion of the surviving members of the cherished comedy troupe Monty Python, as they are ready to perform a series of live shows, their first in over 20 years, is highest quality cubic zirconia for fans, for everyone else it’s still bound to entertain, provided they aren’t […]