Breathless (Ddongpari )

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the final day of the 10th annual Calgary International Film Festival. Today is the day to catch encores of some the fantastic films you have missed over the 10 days, and escape Calgary's early taste of what promises to be yet another cold and snowy winter. Last night I had the privilege of seeing a fantastic Koren film entitled Breathless, and I enjoyed it so much I had to blog about it. (I promise I'll refrain from any bad jokes about how it "took my breath away"...)

Never in my life can I say I had the opportunity to reach subtitles as "colorful" as I did throughout this film. I left the theater last night certain that I had mastered a number of Korean profanities after hearing them spoken so often onscreen. This being said, this was in no way a deterrent.. I mean come on, this was a movie about a gangster.

The colorful language was probably the only feature Breathless had in common with it's Western gangster movie counterparts, and this is largely why I enjoyed the film so much. Breathless is both multifaceted and cutting edge. It is raw, it is authentic, and there is nothing glamorized about it. The movie stars the incredibly talented Yang Ik-June (he also just so happens to be the film's director) as Sang-Hoon, a damaged man who is haunted by his violent past and turns to the gangster life as some form of release from his anger and self-loathing.

On his way home one day he meets a high school girl named Han Yeon-Heui, the first person he has met in a long time who will stand up to him and doesn't shy away from his hostile demeanor. The film follows the progression of their unusual,yet captivating relationship as Yeon-Heui helps Sang-Hoon let go of some of the anger that he has held onto for so long, and he helps her escape from her tumultuous and violent family life.



Breathless is a captivating look into the cycle of domestic violence juxtaposed against the breathtaking backdrop of the South Korean landscape, and is one of the most memorable films I've seen over the course of the festival.

If you missed the screening last night, there is an encore playing at the Globe at 6:45pm tonight. Trust me, you don't want to miss it.

Tonight: Mary and Max

"Mary Dinkle's eyes were the color of muddy puddles; her birthmark, the color of poo."

So begins the charming, delightful, altogether irresistible Australian claymation movie "Mary and Max". In a way, the movie is a spiritual cousin to CIFF's other great animated movie this year, "My Dog Tulip": both are about lonely souls who find friendship in unexpected places.

Mary Dinkle is a lonely Australian girl who becomes penpals with Max Horovitz, an obese middle-aged New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome. The movie follows their two-decade friendship, and explores, as the movie's website helpfully tells us, such themes as "friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual differences, trust, copulating dogs, religious differences, agoraphobia, and much more."

And the voice cast is terrific! Toni Collette is Mary (eight-year-old Bethany Whitmore provides Mary's voice as a child); the incomparable Philip Seymour Hoffman is Max. And the movie's narrator is Barry Humphries - unfortunately not in his Dame Edna persona.

"Mary and Max" screens Saturday at the Plaza, at 7 pm.

Tuesday World Cinema: "Miao Miao" and "Daytime Drinking"

My favourite films showing on Tuesday are a couple of Asian imports. “Miao Miao” is set in Taiwan. It’s a charming story of two young students in Taipan experiencing love for the first time. The film is very watchable and well executed. If you’re looking for good performances and production values and a generally lighter tone, this could be a good film for catch. It has played at several other festivals, including Hong Kong, Berlin, and Seattle. See “Miao Miao” on Tuesday night at 7:15pm at the Globe. An encore screening will occur on Sunday, October 4 at 12:15pm, also at the Globe.

“Daytime Drinking” is considered a breakthrough in independent filmmaking in South Korea. Shot on a miniscule budget, we get a chance to see parts of rural South Korea in winter that looks more like a location in Canada than in Asia. This film focuses on the concept of Korean drinking courtesies. These encounters result in our lead character being put into strange and often humourous situations. “Daytime Drinking” plays at the Globe on Tuesday at 9:15pm with an encore showing on Saturday, October 3 at 12:30 (Eau Claire Cineplex Odeon).

Strong Romanian films screened in Calgary

Each year, the Calgary International Film Festival features great films from around the world. Some years there is a specific focus on a country, such as last year when Icelandic movies were featured. But even without a specifically announced spotlight, a country or two usually jumps out as delivering a solid group of films. Perhaps it is because I was just in Romania a few months ago, but I did notice that this Eastern European nation had three solid films programmed this year: “Katalin Varga,” “The Happiest Girl in the World,” and “Police, Adjective.” I had the chance to see the first two and I found them to be among the best of this year’s slate. I blogged about “Varga” last weekend, but I didn’t get a chance to see “Happiest” until it screened tonight. From the location in downtown Bucharest, we see signature signs of the city such as the numerous stray dogs and the ever present Fornetti pastries (it would be the Romanian Tim Horton's). This film oozes modern Romania. In the remaining days of the festival, make sure to take the opportunity to sample the best of cinema from all over the world.

Sunday's Must-See: Police, Adjective

Disappointed that you couldn't get into the screening of Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces"? Don't be: I've got a recommendation for an even better movie!

Romania has produced some notable movies in the last few years: "12:08 East of Bucharest", "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu", and the terrific Palme d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" all achieved success internationally. And now, Corneliu Porumboiu (who also directed "12:08...") adds a terrific movie to this list: "Police, Adjective."

The title "Police, Adjective" is one of my favorite titles of the year: it manages to be both unusual and completely descriptive of the movie itself, since it's about a police investigation and the importance and precision of language. The plot of the movie follows a drug investigation; it's not, however, a typical police procedural. Shot in long, unbroken takes, the movie really gets you into the mindset of the policeman as he follows, watches, waits, gathers evidence.

The movie also features scenes of great conversation about language that are so precise they are practically Tarantinian. How does he take his observations and convert them into something that can be used to press charges? The movie is set in Romania, but it definitely has application to our legal system as well. The movie also raises - and doesn't necessarily answer - many questions about the nature of law (is it better to follow the letter of the law, or the spirit?) that should lead to many interesting conversations after the movie.

Side note: I also want to add my voice to the recommendations for "Revanche" (Adele comments here; Jason comments here), a stunner of a movie from Austria. Catch its encore screening this afternoon at 5:00 at the Globe.

"Police Adjective" screens tonight at 9:15, at the Globe. Don't miss it!

Saturday's Must-See: The White Ribbon

Five reasons to be excited about Saturday night's screening of "The White Ribbon":

1. It was directed by Michael Haneke. A new Haneke movie is always an event, whether the movie itself is great ("Caché") or not ("Funny Games U.S."). He is a truly talented director whose movies are impeccably made, never boring, and always provocative.

2. It won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, against an extraordinary field of movies including Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds", Campion's "Bright Star", Von Trier's "Antichrist", Resnais' "Les Herbes Folles", and many others.

3. It also got some great critical buzz out of Cannes. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian said "The White Ribbon has an absolute confidence and mastery of its own cinematic language, and the performances Haneke elicits from his first-rate cast, particularly the children, are eerily perfect."

4. It's shot in black and white. I'm not one of those purists who would say that "black and white is always better than color!", but I definitely love the texture of a black and white movie -- especially one that is shot as this one undoubtedly is.

5. It's set in a German village in the days leading up to World War I, and involves a group of school children and a series of "suspicious accidents". I'm intrigued.

"The White Ribbon" screens at Eau Claire, Saturday night at 6:30. I know I'll be there early!