Documenting Civilization’s Demise on the Big Screen

Right now at the Cinematheque in Downtown, is the Vancouver premier of Detropia.

I really enjoyed this film on so many levels.

Rare is the artist that can stand back and document the demise of one’s own culture.  More could be done here but the devastation that has hit the formerly fastest growing city in the world is truly overwhelming.  It ain’t pretty but it sure is informative.

The visuals are also worth seeing.  Contrasting the glitz of capitalism with its underside, it may be the most powerful punch this film throws.

What struck me most was the level of denial and hope for a return to an age that obviously couldn’t be sustained.  It’s a message from one locality that clearly applies to the globalism that civilization has unleashed on the planet.

If never-ending media reports of extreme weather and related devastation isn’t enough to motivate us to change (and it appears not to), then maybe Detropia will be the wake up call we all need.

Check it out and see for yourself.

Detropia plays with Crazy Horse (see below for a brief review) on:
Friday, February 22 – 6:30pm
Saturday, February 23 – 9:00pm
Sunday, February 24 – 6:30pm
Monday, February 25 – 9:00pm

I thought Crazy Horse would be about the indigenous warrior but this film couldn’t be farther from that world.  It documents the world of erotic art and dance in Paris’ Crazy Horse Show Bar.

They definitely make a film that goes well beyond simply showing women’s bodies but I must be getting old.  The dance is fabulous, both male and female, but only the women’s bodies are exploited sensually.

The artists involved seem truly passionate about their work and like all art, show the struggles to maintain it.

But the bottom line is this is a show for richer folks to get off on.  It’s unashamedly erotic and if it’s for you, you’ll be amazed at the level of artistic creation that can be done with women’s bodies.

But if you’re a woman, I can’t see how this film is empowering.  Just call me old-fashioned…

Crazy Horse plays with Detropia (see above) on:
Friday, February 22 – 8:15pm
Saturday, February 23 – 6:30pm
Sunday, February 24 – 8:15pm
Monday, February 25 – 6:30pm

Not sure who Margaret is but the film is fabulous!

Margaret, the film by Kenneth Lonegan, is bursting at the seams and seems like half of its 150 minute running time.  This is a full film that is emotional, complex, and complete.

Anna Paquin is the lead (pictured at left), a teenager, and she’s simply sensational.  She shows at least 4 authentic – but different – selves throughout the film and she convinced me every time.  Wow.

Kenneth Lonegan is clearly on a mission.  Make that missionS.  The too-many-to-name subplots all add wonderfully to the flow of the film and each has its own compelling raison d’être.

Can you imagine a film that, albeit briefly, exposes the Israeli genocide but doesn’t take sides?

Don’t let that throw you off.  The heart of this film is the emotion it shows and evokes, while portraying the heart of civilization for what it is: devoid of feeling and proudly so.

Every adult is shown to be living a lie and I’m not sure that was planned.  Meanwhile, adolescence is sympathetically portrayed as a time of exploration (at least for the civilized) and despite a few male-centred slips by Lonegan, the women – both young and old – shine through it all.

This is a BIG production which makes this film all the more remarkable.

Parents in particular will benefit hugely.  Not so much for any lessons it lends, but simply because there are two who seem stereotypical.  There’s the permissive mother who is so well acted; she explodes when pushed but with her career flourishing readily gives up the role she signed up for before birth.  Then the absent father who diligently goes through the list of cerebral items to discuss each phonecall but is devoid and deathly afraid of emotional depth.  To whom does a teenager turn?

And then there’s the raging volcano in almost every character: Alice Miller must have consulted from her grave.  They are all likeable and lovable and have childhoods that haven’t healed.  And their socialization has trained them to change positions the instant someone else agrees with them.  A brilliant portrayal…no wonder Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with this film!

The overt sleaze comes in the form of exposing the legal world for what it is; the less overt surrounds the cops.  The only marketing sleaze I’m aware of is the title of the film; not that it’s sleazy, just that it may get a few folks to view it repeatedly to get it.

There’s still more, it’s that full.  Margaret will ring in the New Year at the Vancity Theatre from January 1 to 5, and if you want a resolution to improve your life, see this film and let it inspire you to:

• become an even more committed parent,
• heal your childhood wounds,
• treat the teenagers in your life with more respect and admiration, and/or
• move beyond the confines of civilization.

Oh, and Mathew Broderick nails the school system to the wall in one brief but beautiful scene…and still there’s more!

Brava Margaret!

Ring in the New Year at any of these showtimes at the Vancity Theatre in Downtown Vancouver:

January 1st @ 6:30pm

January 2nd, 4th, and 5th @ 8pm

This “Weekend” continues Wed and Thursday…

Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend continues to play tomorrow and Thursday at the Pacific Cinematheque in Downtown Vancouver.

Although the content is hilarious and a serious critique on civilization, be warned that Godard’s film are incredibly intellectual; this ain’t Hollywood folks!

Weekend in particular was made to make the film experience difficult to simply sit back and get lost in the story. Part of its hilarity (at least to me) was the how Godard constantly interrupts his own film!

But as advertised, the traffic jam is incredible and full of irony and allegory.

Impressively to me, especially given when it was made (1967), Godard goes to great lengths to undermine the burgeoning sexual exploitation of women in film and civilization. It wasn’t obvious to me at first, but the fact that the lead actress was used in sexualized commercials and other films may help understand this aspect of his work. Clearly he failed, but that there was an attempt at all is inspiring to me.

Perhaps the greatest irony of all to me is that Godard tried to use film to undermine film. Sound familiar? Surely, technology will save us from climate change/pollution/tyranny/etc, n’est-ce pas?

If you’re up for an evening with your thinking cap firmly on, check out Godard’s film to end all film Wednesday (Dec 14) at 9:05pm and Thursday (Dec 15) at 9:15pm.

Finnish Fun Film Dec First

The European Union Film Fest continues until Dec 8 at the Pacific Cinematheque in Downtown Vancouver.

The next film I’ve seen and can recommend is called Lapland Odyssey, a funny film from Finland.  It plays on Thursday, Dec 1 @ 6:30pm.

I got the sense that the filmmakers wanted to do more than just have a laugh in their portrayal of a young man who is charged with the mission of getting a digital tv converter for his partner…or ex-partner if he fails!

Behind the goof-ball antics and silly humour, I saw some rare on-screen love between friends.  Some real, I support-you-because-I-know-how-easy-it-is-to-lose-it love (aka unconditional), which likely is due to the opening sequence which informs us of the long history of suicide in another land that successfully shuns civilization (don’t worry, you’ll likely laugh at that, too).

Intentionally or not, I saw some uninspired young men initially fail at a consumption mission, but then transform when life got real.  I also enjoyed the nuances: small town hellos, exposing the lack of confidence behind sexist behaviour and a root of immature behaviour.

It’ll be tough not to laugh your way through this one…it’s perfect for anyone needing to beat the winter blues!

Following Lapland Odyssey on Thursday at 8:20pm is the Danish film The Red Chapel, which looks like another hoot!  Hope to see you at that one…

Wiebo’s War wages on…

Wiebo’s War is an NFB funded documentary that tries to give a “fair shake” to Wiebo Ludwig and his family.  I think it succeeds.

If you’re not aware of the war the oil and gas industry has brought unto Wiebo, then you won’t know about the water coming out of his kitchen faucet that caught on fire and you certainly won’t know about the miscarriages and aborted fetuses of humans and other animals on his family’s farm.

Labelled as a wingnut partly for his religious fundamentalism (despite having lots of company in that realm in Alberta) and partly because he simply won’t stop resisting the destruction and death that oil and gas has brought to his family, he has been relentlessly pursued by the corporate’s, no wait, the government’s, police for decades for a series of bombings of pipelines and wells.

One time, for 9 days just before the Olympics descended on Vancouver, 250 of CSIS’s SWAT members invaded their Trickle Creek Farm and held the family hostage while they went through everything they owned.

Wiebo’s War – without intending to, it seems – clearly documents how the state’s role is to support the owners of private capital at all costs.  If Wiebo isn’t a wingnut after more than two decades of this invasive intensity, I’d be amazed.  If he is, he deserves all the more support for continuing to resist the real madness that runs Alberta and the whole world.

1 screening remains for Wiebo’s War:

• Wed, Oct 5th 12:30pm @ Empire Granville 7 Th 5

 

Cities on Speed

There are two films for this Ecologies of Mind Series screening, each distinct from the other.  I really enjoyed both, as you can read below…

Bogotá Change

Despite the talking heads, this doc surprised me by focusing on morality and education; transportation was almost an afterthought.

Antanas Mockus turned politics on its head when he was elected as an independent Mayor and stayed independent throughout his 3 year term.  The team he assembled to overhaul City Hall and the citizenry were mostly academics who were not susceptible to the bribe culture that had previously permeated the City.  You’ll love the mimes and “vaccines” they used to replace the police!

Interestingly, the rule used to give their municipal democracy a veneer of integrity ended Mockus’ honest and ingenuous reign; Mayors can’t seek election in consecutive terms.

Enrique Peñalosa narrowly succeeded Mockus and assembled a completely new team, so-called “do-ers” of mostly business people.  Not surprising to me, they ran roughshod over the city, destroying shanty-towns and slums.  What made them unusual is that they eventually replaced these squalid living conditions with buildings that had running water, sanitation sewers, and electricity and beautified the City in the process.

Three years was not enough time for these folks, however, so Mockus stepped back into the ring and pledged to continue the work started.  The compromises he made to get reelected could have been highlighted more: he recently lost in the country’s Presidential elections and I’m guessing these two issues are related.

The Transmilenio’s stats are astounding as are the cycling stats achieved in a City that was grid-locked just 9 years before…truly an inspiration and hopefully a lesson for virtually every other City in the world!

Mumbai Disconnected

Loved this film.  All about transportation and with rare narration to simply tie the pieces together, it lets reality do all the talking.

Mumbai is projected to be the world’s largest city in 2020 (of course, that and every projection assumes that the earth can continue to be consumed by humans at the current pace).  Astoundingly, 88% of commuters in this, one of the world’s largest financial centres, travel by public transit (rail or bus).  So what do we see?  A road building project funded by the largest loan ever made by the World Bank!  Of course, there are many environmental aspects to the project: every tree that is in the way, gets moved…but then, where are those trees again and how many have survived?  And the numbers show that improving the speed of cars reduces air pollution, right?!  Seems like a page taken from the City of Vancouver Engineering Department!

A beautiful tie-in to all this is the launch of the world’s cheapest car: the $2,000 Nano.  20 million are projected to be made and on the roads very soon; hmm, is that why this road project is going ahead when public transit hasn’t been improved in decades?

The human touches are devine: a family man explains his workout routine and is talked into buying a new car by his family because the motorbike suddenly is just too uncomfortable.  Meanwhile, the president of the neighbourhood association for a rich neighbourhood soon to be affected by the building of a flyover (highway in the sky) rarely goes anywhere without her teddy bear.

The filmmakers don’t comment more than the soundtrack may imply…and it works beautifully!  If you have any concerns about the sanity of civilization, see this film, it shows us for what we are!  Then go out and do something about it: http://www.dig4justice.org/ or just create your own sane world!

Two screenings left: Wed, Oct 6th @ 1:00pm and Fri, Oct 8th @ 9:30pm.

VIFF ‘07: Canadian Images: Normal

I loved this film! Easily my favourite fiction flick of this year’s festival…

This is a multi-layered look at how families and relationships can be affected by an automobile “accident” in the white, western world. I’m sure it spoke to me because of the portrayal of so many men, but the lead, Carrie-Anne Moss is fabulous to the end.

Ironically, it is set in Oak Bay, home of the recent murder-suicide of rich folks and this film offers some insight into how things can get so messed up in that world. Carl Bessai and Travis McDonald (and let’s be fair, all their female assistants!) go so much deeper than the shallow portrayals of loneliness and dysfunction; the drunken driving death of a teenage basketball star is the vehicle and the actors really make it real. Although redemption is near, the ending is brutally honest and definitely not from Hollywood!

If I were making the decisions, this film would be mandatory viewing for all drivers…imagine an enjoyable experience that could educate on an emotional level! Let’s hope that after the theatrical release here, it ends up in every new driver’s package and anyone renewing gets a free ticket to a theatre near us…

No Remaining Screenings