Calgary International Film Festival: Comedy Shorts (2012)

I scored some tickets last minute for the 2012 Calgary Film Festival and saw a collection comedy shorts: 

•  BEAR (dir. Nash Edgerton, Australia, 2011) Easily the best and greatest film of the collection. Too bad it was first since the rest had a hard time measuring up. A man goes through great effort to surprise his girlfriend with a gift on her birthday, but the sheer horror of his good intentions and their consequences are blindingly hilarious.
•  BOYS NIGHT IN (dir. Brian McElhany and Nick Kocher, USA, 2012) Multiple episodes of the same joke: a guy's friend comes over and it gets increasingly gay.
•  GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (dir. Two Trick Pony, USA, 2012) A very dull and clichéd story with board game themes. Too bad. I like board games.
•  GROOVE YOUR LIFE (dir. Vincent Burgevin and Frank Lebon, France, 2011) A dark comedy about a music group you can call to follow you around and jazz up, oops, groove up your life. A suicidal man gets a second chance.
•  BUYER'S MARKET (dir. Nathan Fielder, Canada, 2012) I really enjoyed this tale of a squatter foiling a real estate agents sale. A really gross moment makes this epic.
•  SPECIAL DELIVERY (dir. Graham Lester George, Spain, 2012) This was close to the best I saw in this set. Some great comic moments when a postman accidentally drops a lit cigarette through the mail slot.
•  DAD DRIVES: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER (dir. Daniel Beirne, Canada, 2012) A father gives his mature son the sex talk - pretty funny and uncomfortable.
•  BLITZEN TRAPPER MASSACRE (dir. Joshua Homnick and Rainn Wilson, USA, 2011) Rainn Wilson of The Office fame goes on a killing spree. Not funny, not even once.
•  LAST WORDS (dir. Tony Yacenda, USA, 2011) This was just crass and irreverent without being funny at all.
•  PARACHUTE (dir. Martin Thibaudeau, France, 2012) Skydiving hustle which leads to awkward decision making - fun enough.
•  CANOEJACKED (dir. Jonathan Williams, Canada, 2012) I don't remember much about this except that it was some dark humour about escaped convicts and I laughed.
•  TALKING DOG FOR SALE: TEN EUROS (dir. Lewis-Martin Soucy, France, 2012) An old joke gets the film treatment, so if you've heard the joke, you know the punchline. I had heard the joke before.
•  THE PROCESSION (dir. Robert Festinger, USA, 2012) A funeral procession is interrupted, a great set up for comedy, but it just falls flat with boring dialogue and cliché.

Saint Ralph (2004)

Not a great movie - I wanted to see it since it was about a marathoner (albeit fictional) and it's Canadian - how bad could it be? It is quite contrived, poorly acted, but not without some charms.

Ralph is in high school and his mother is dying. He wants a miracle, so he prays to the saints, decides he needs to work on his faith and decides he'll win the Boston Marathon... And there are a few laughs too.

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Lovers in a Dangerous Time (2009)

I really enjoyed this Canadian indie romantic comedy drama - a lot of qualifiers, but the more something resembles real-life, the more it's going to reflect all of these. The film stars the same pair who wrote and directed the feature and according to DVD extras, it took three years to complete the project - which is set over a summer and fall in the small mountain town of Creston, BC.

A young woman returns to her hometown for a class reunion, but more to see her old best friend from high school. The two buddies spend time resolving personal struggles and awkward mutual attractions.

The realism in the movie (the actors aren't super gorgeous, the situations appear natural, the tension is not overdone and complex) brings a certain humility to the characters, reflecting the Canadian trait of being self-effacing. I hope the filmmakers get another shot at making another great film.

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For What it's Worth, Milk a Goat (2012)

I really shouldn't be reviewing my own film, so instead I'll share my sentiments on my little production. It took four years to complete from the filming in 2007-8 in Guatemala and the segments filmed in New Brunswick in summer 2009 to the logging of footage in 2010 and the final edits of spring 2011. Justin Jeffery contributed some wonderful piano music to accompany the film. Angus McLean gave me a hand with recording the narration. Danny Bourque and my father helped with the translation into French.

I submitted the 72 minute feature documentary to six festivals, but it wasn't accepted into any of them, so I premiered it myself on March 3, 2012 with friends and family. I've just released it online here.

My favourite aspect of the film is that it is very sensitive in its treatment of birth, death, and the remarkable attachment that I had with keeping goats. Several people have told me how moved they were by the burial scene because it was so raw.

I also love the one liners my 2-yr-old son delivers throughout the film, unprovoked and unrehearsed.

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Barney's Version (2010)

Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical book is performed by Paul Giamatti and some lovely ladies. The story tells of Barney, a TV producer in Montreal, the women of his life and how he loses them. He is riddled with faults and still draws a lot of empathy because of his fierce love and honest confessions.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, mostly due to the emphasis on character, but also for the rich dialogues throughout.

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Maelström (2000)

Part Norweigian myth, part generational commentary, and part romance, Québec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve recounts the downward spiral of a woman's life and what it takes to bring her back to life. The luminous resurrection of a woman who has lost all hope is inspiring. As a film, it is life affirming.

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Finding Farley (2009)

This is a National Film Board produced documentary about a family retracing famed novelist Farley Mowat's journey's through much of Canada. A couple and their toddler leave Canmore Alberta in a canoe and head east switching up their modes of transportation several times to end up at Farley Mowat's home in Nova Scotia. Along the way they visit several remote settings for Mowat's books.

Finding Farley is a lovely and intimate look at Canada.

Official Site | IMDB

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

I can't imagine how long it took to edit this film. Originally intended as a memoir film for a child about his dead father consisting of dozens and dozens of interview with the deceased's friends and family, it becomes a film about a grave injustice and gut wrenching tragedy.

An independent documentarian travels the U.S. and Britain to tape interviews and ends up in Newfoundland where Zachary, the orphaned baby of his murdered best friend is living jointly with his grandparents and mother, is living. Zachary's mother is also accused of murdering the boy's father and is fighting extradition to the U.S.

The emotional impact of the film is huge and you can not end the film without a palpable sense of rage.

Official Site | IMDB

Congorama (2006)

I was really pleased with this funny collaboration between Belgium and Canada. A Belgian man discovers that he was adopted from Québec and as he faces joblessness and irrelevance, he seeks out his origin in the farmlands of eastern Canada. Belgian Congo works its way into the story too.

While taking a break from pitching an invention, Michel has a providential encounter with people in a town where he was apparently given up to some nuns and then given away at Expo '67 in Montreal. He is given the key to success, but not without compromise.

One scene in the film impressed me in particular because I had lower expectations for a Canadian film.

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One Week (2008)

Without taking any firm positions, One Week crosses dying, relationship, and purpose with a journey to the west coast of Canada. And despite the real possibility that the movie is going to be corny (and it is a little), I was pleased with its genuine sentiment.

Joshua Jackson plays a man diagnosed with cancer who decides to leave his job, his fiancée and treatment for a while to discover why he is alive. His conclusion does seem rather selfish, but he comes by it honestly.

Official Site | IMDB

Heaven on Earth (2008)

This Canadian film explores the dark side of long distance arranged marriage.

Chand leaves her family in India to join her new future husband in a suburb of Toronto. She is quickly resented by her mother-in-law and is viewed as a liability in her new family. Chand copes with the abuse she suffers through fantasy and finds the strength to rise against her oppressors.

Official Site | IMDB

Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)

The Necessities of Life is a gorgeous film, deeply rooted in goodness. It tells the story of Tivii, an Inuit man who is taken from his family on Baffin Island to have his tuberculosis treated in Quebec City. His language and absent knowledge of this new world isolate him from everyone else in the sanitarium, but the kindness and attention from a nurse give him hope.

The depiction of aboriginal people is not overly romanticized. Instead they are treated as humans with dignity and gifts. Also of note is how the Quebecois are depicted: not perfect, but not as native hating villains either. A wonderfully balanced film making the story that much more beautiful and telling of the human condition.

The protagonist is extraordinarily played by Natar Ungalaaq of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner fame.

Official Site | IMDB

The Trotsky (2009)

An upperclass Jewish Montreal high school student believes he is the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky, a Russian revolutionary, and that his life's calling is to bring revolution to Canada. He leaves private school to attend public school for his final semester where he immediately begins to challenge the established authority garnering attention from the press and the woman he believes must be his future wife.

The film is fun and the actors perform well, and while I did enjoy it, it bears a clear taste of Canadian cinema which Canadian films can't seem to escape - a neediness to be different.

Official Site | IMDB

Reel Injun (2009)

This survey of Native Americans as depicted on film and television is both enraging and inspiring which makes it a very useful documentary, Canadian made no less!

The film's opening line is delivered by the host who grew up on a northern Canadian reservation. He describes going to watch movies, usually westerns, in the church basement and cheering for the cowboys as they shot the indians not realizing that they themselves were indians.

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Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause (2003)

This is a low-budget doc on the famed outspoken activist Noam Chomsky. It is a collection of clips from about five different talks/discussions Chomsky delivered in and around 2003 in Canada with some interview footage from a dozen people who have interacted with him.

The purpose of the film is to show what he has to say about a variety of current event topics as well as to show what his impact has been as a living legend (the seventh most cited source in research papers).

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Awesome flick about relationships from an insecure guy's perspective. Michael Cera plays himself, but the lines he delivers, the special effects, and throbbing soundtrack make this introspective film come alive.

Official Site | IMDB

Frozen River (2008)

This indy film takes a look at poverty in the United States and the inevitable desperation that many people reach. Contributing factors of addiction, high costs and low wages, the high demand for unlawful work make the country a breeding place for crime and broken families.

When a white woman is abandoned by her husband, she resorts to trafficking people from Canada to the U.S. with a young local Mohawk woman.

The acting is quite good and the actions of the characters truly reflect what people would do in those circumstances, but it also depicts the depravity of our society.

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Everything's Gone Green (2006)

I'm a big fan of Vancouver author Douglas Coupland and so I was tickled when Amber brought this film home. Coupland debuts his screenwriting abilities in Everything's Gone Green.

In an age when everything is commoditized, protagonist Ryan discovers that everyone around him can be bought too - worse! even he can be bought. Money rules in his family, friends, relationships, and even in his job as a lottery winners newsletter photographer. He must make difficult moral choices in the end, just to be true to himself.

I really enjoyed the film. Coupland bejewels this tale of caution with quirky characters, Canadian flavour, and super value.

Official Site | IMDB

Jésus de Montréal (1989)

This is an early film of Québecois film icon Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions). Arcand offers a modern take on who contemporary, secular culture says that Jesus is.

A brilliant actor is offered a role as Jesus Christ in a yearly passion drama at a Catholic diocese and as a producer of the play. He is given license to modernize it's wooden lines and so he begins to fill the cast with derelicts and sidelined actors. He also spends time researching facts about Jesus, crucifixion, and the beginnings of the Christian church. While his play, infused with doubt, is a hit among the viewers, it is not well received by the hypocritical supervising priest.

Some Christians could easily take offence to this take on Jesus, but I was refreshed by the message of the film: Jesus was compassionate and just.

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L'âge des ténèbres (2007)

This is another brilliant film from Québec's pre-eminent director Denys Arcand. This time he explores fantasy life as opposed to how we pursue career and materialism.

Jean-Marc is a provincial employee in a semi-futuristic and very humdrum, big brotherish Montreal. He pushes paper while his wife cheats on him and his daughters ignore him. Fortunately for him, he fantasizes most of the day of sexual interludes with imaginary women. When his life continues to disintegrate, he starts to take steps towards real fulfillment.

The first real quality of this film is the very clever writing. Arcand doesn't leave a viewer in a very serious mood for long, though some very somber matters surface frequently. The depth of the story and Jean-Marc's character do affect you and cause for reflection.

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