Day 8: September 14

Spent hours today in rush lineups, as the weather has turned cold and wet and the press screenings have dried up. I did manage to spend some time ogling a giant shark that's being towed around in support of Sharkwater. They named it Martin, after the lawyer in their film.

The MM crowd tonight was especially receptive, and it seemed like a good core crowd (as opposed to those who show up as one-offs for the big name films). The director was genuine happy to be in town, and the crowd showed their appreciation for his (great) film.

Bonneville
Directed by: Christopher N. Rowley

Grade: D-

Pointless road movie with middle aged women. Predictable, banal, and has repeated scenes that reemphasize the negative stereotype that women can't drive (car, boat or other). This is Pablum masking as a tragi-comic chick flick, and should be avoided by all thinking people. A wasted cast, and a boring premise, I recommend you rent Thelma and Louise to get your "scarf-covering-hair, girls-driving-convertible" fix.

The Banquet
Directed by: Feng Xiaogang

Grade: C-

A beautiful, if incomprehensible and interminable film with fest-fav Zhang Zi-Yi. Typical wire work and sumptuous sets make for some nice eye candy, but this convoluted tale that echoes family dramas a la Hamlet makes for a long stay. The ridiculous ending did little to lift the film to anything more than Asian eye candy, treats that are far sweeter elsewhere.

Sharkwater
Directed by: Rob Stewart

Grade: B+

A pretty, if polemical look at Sharks, the illegal harvesting of fins, and one man's journey into radical activism. The shots of the fishies were very well accomplished, and the audience ecstatically embraced the (not-subtle) message of conservation. For those who've not seen the likes of the unparalleled Blue Planet series the shots of schooling hammerheads will be a revelation. The audience was extremely responsive (a standing ovation at the Varsity, no less) and it's told with enough charisma and conviction to override some of the more ambivalent elements of the shark hunting debate. Regardless, it's a good wakeup call for those who've not immersed themselves in the Shark's realm, and may even promote social change as the film is widely released.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Directed by: Sophie Fiennes

Grade: A-

TPG2C is a heady psychoanalytical lecture about cinema that is stylish and quite amusing, if lacking in analytical rigour. Slavoj Zizek is a noted philosopher who manifests his obsessions by clinically examining films and our reception of them. Director Fiennes places Zizek in the films literally, recreating famous scenes from films like The Birds and Blue Velvet, intercutting interview footage with scenes from the films. The schitck runs a little thin after a while, but it certainly is a lot of fun when it works. The same can be said for the whole film - it's pretentious, arch, and often times ridiculous (as well as being philosophically incoherent, trying to sound smarter than it actually is), but it's in the end a lot of fun.

Severance
Directed by: Christopher Smith

Grade: A+

Pure MM excellence - a slasher film with a brain, cleverly constructed with strong performances and storyline. The pitch, in Colin's words, is "The Office meets Deliverance", and that does a pretty nice job summing it all up.

Doctor Strangelove references abound (CRM-114 being my fav), and the film plays a bit more like Ridley's Alien than Friday the 13th. When people get shot they stay down, when they get hurt you feel the pain and the dread, yet there's enough humour running through the tale to keep it anything but somber. The finale is wonderful (chicks with guns!), and it all comes together in a very satisfying way.

This is a very well crafted work that speaks volumes about the filmmaker, here's hoping it will find the audience it deserves.