The 2014 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival features more than 350 films from 70 countries over 16 days, plus post-screening Q&A sessions with actors, directors and writers. Each weekday and on the weekend, we'll provide highlights of the day ahead and One to Watch: a review of a film we recommend highly.
One to Watch: Alleluia (4/4 stars)
- Directed by: Fabrice Du Welz
- Starring: Laurent Lucas, Lola Duenas
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2014
- Country: France/Belgium
- Language: French
- Showtime: 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Rio Theatre
Petty con man Michel runs a quick romantic scam on Gloria, who hunts him down in a bar and claims him as her own. But her plan to be his helpmate is founded on a fatal self-delusion that fits neatly with the confident huckster’s vulnerabilities. Alleluia is based on a true story of lovers gone very bad, but Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz and co-writer Vincent Tavier go beyond the tabloid crime narrative to create a gripping and poetic study of toxic co-dependency. Tough to watch sometimes, but well worth it. – Robert Everett-Green
Guardians of the Galaxy writer takes spotlight
Nicole Perlman may have some explaining to do Saturday as the co-writer of the summer box-office hit Guardians of the Galaxy appears at an industry forum at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Some observers have faulted Marvel Studios, producers of Guardians, for not releasing a movie starring a female character – one from their deep bench of female characters in the comic books. The Hulk, Captain America and Thor have had their movies. But where’s the movie featuring, say, the Black Widow who is currently played as a supporting character in various Mavel movies by Scarlett Johansson. Ms. Johansson has proved a bankable star with her latest film, Lucy.
It will be interesting to see if the topic comes up as Ms. Perlman participates in the Genre Smash! panel, given her prominent role in one of Hollywood’s most successful operations and as the first female writer of a Marvel Studios film.
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, has said he hopes to produce such a film “sooner than later,” but that Marvel is busy juggling its various franchises.
Others on the Saturday panel at 2:45 p.m. include Simon Barry, creator of the TV series Continuum; Dennis Heaton, executive producer of the TV series Motive, and Hart Hanson, creator and showrunner of the TV series Bones as well as the upcoming series Backstrom.
On the screening front, one of Saturday’s key items is the North American premiere of Life of Riley, the final film of the noted filmmaker Alain Resnais, whose movies included such classics as Hiroshima mon amour. The former film editor, who began making his own movies in the 1950s, died earlier this year, aged 91.
Riley is an adaptation of a play of the same name by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn about three couples dealing with the terminal illness afflicting a mutual friend.
Sunday Preview
Screenings include the VIFF debut of Boychoir, starring Dustin Hoffman as a tough choir master. The film was directed by Francois Girard, the Canadian filmmaker whose credits include the 1993 movie Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould and 1998’s The Red Violin.
There’s also the international premiere of Hope and Wire, which may be very unsettling viewing in B.C. given expectations of an eventual massive earthquake. The docudrama covers the experiences of New Zealanders recovering after that country’s 2010 earthquake.