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: Mommy (3/4 stars)
- Directed by: Xavier Dolan
- Starring: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2014
- Country: Canada
- Language: French, English
- Showtime: Vancouver Playhouse, 9 p.m.
With Mommy, Xavier Dolan departs from the archness of Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways for a raw drama of three passionate misfits – a hyperactive teen (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), his working-class mother (Anne Dorval) and a stuttering neighbour (Suzanne Clément). All the love-it-or-hate-it Dolan elements are here – shouting matches, indulgent slo-mo montages, contempt for squares – but also intense empathy for people determined to live large in mean circumstances. – Liam Lacey
World premiere: The Vancouver Asahi
Film festivals like VIFF harvest movies from around the world – sometimes about uniquely Canadian subjects. Monday offers the world premiere of a Japanese film based on a notable B.C. story. That would be The Vancouver Asahi, which will screen at 6:30 p.m. at the Centre for the Performing Arts. The film was directed by Ishii Yuya, and it tells the story of a baseball team of Canadian-born players of Japanese descent who played in Vancouver between 1914 and 1941 when they faced something they could not beat on the baseball diamond – the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.
If you strike out at seeing Monday’s world premiere, there are two other opportunities to see the movie before VIFF ends – screenings on Oct. 4, also at the Centre, and Oct. 10 at the Vancouver Playhouse.
Another B.C. film getting its world premiere Monday is Martin’s Pink Pickle, directed by René Brar, and set in Vancouver and Hope, B.C.
Cronenberg's latest heralded feature
Monday also offers a first Vancouver opportunity to see the latest film from one of the giants of Canadian cinema. Maps to the Stars, from filmmaker David Cronenberg, screens at the Playhouse at 6:30 p.m. Cronenberg’s long roster of films over his 45-year career includes Scanners, The Fly and A Dangerous Method – movies that range from sci-fi to horror to thrillers to drama. Stars, which had its premiere at Cannes this year, is a satire of Hollywood starring Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska, among others. Moore won the best actress prize at Cannes for her work in the film.