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: Heaven Knows What (3.5/4 stars)
- Directed by: Josh and Benny Safdie
- Starring: Arielle Holmes, Caleb Landry Jones
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2014
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- Showtime: IN09, 3:30 p.m.
A thoroughly unromantic depiction of drug abuse that’s also thrillingly, frighteningly romantic in the presentation of its core relationship, Heaven Knows What is the most bracing American indie in recent memory. Homeless teenager Harley (non-pro Arielle Holmes, whose experiences inspired the script) is addicted to heroin and also to the abusive, self-destructive Ilya (Caleb Landry Jones); the film takes its furious rhythm from her pursuit of her fixes. Directors Josh and Benny Safdie are walking a tightrope between exploitation and alienation, and while the film wobbles all over the place, it never deliberately stoops one way or the other. – Adam Nayman
Immerse yourself in six iconic buildings
It’s a showstopper of a cinematic idea, one that compels attention. Tuesday will see the North American premiere of Cathedrals of Culture, in which six filmmakers take their cameras into iconic buildings they cherish for a cinematic exploration. In 3-D.
Noted German filmmaker Wim Wenders came up with the idea and recruited five associates to call the shots in approximately half-hour segments that add up to a 165-minute film. Among the team: Robert Redford, who trained his lens on the Salk Institute in California.
Other buildings covered are National Library of Russia, the Oslo Opera House, the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall tackled by Mr. Wenders himself, the cutting-edge Halden Prison in Norway and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
“We’re giving architecture centre stage,” Mr. Wenders told The Guardian newspaper last week, when asked what Cathedrals was trying to do, given that architecture is usually just a backdrop in films. “Our films each deal with a particular building, and we even let those buildings ‘speak for themselves’ by giving them their own voice.”
Cathedrals of Culture screens at the Cineplex Odeon International Village. It also screens Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Centre for the Performing Arts.
Artistic synergy in Vancouver drummer's first film
Also screening Tuesday: the Canadian premiere of Violent, the directorial debut of Andrew Huculiak, drummer for the Vancouver-based indie band We Are The City. The film, a drama about a young woman grappling with tragedy, was shot in the coastal Norwegian city of Bergen and is based on the band’s latest album, also called Violent. It’s a striking example of artistic synergy. Huculiak is expected to attend Tuesday’s screening at the Rio as well as an Oct. 2 screening at the same venue. Violent also screens Oct. 10 at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.
Movies at VIFF first
Other premieres Tuesday include: The Canadian premieres of the Irish drama Noble, the Mexican film Gueros, the Italian drama Human Capital and the international premieres of the Texas-set thriller Two Step, the U.S. film Une Vida: A Fable of Music and the Mind, and the U.S. documentary Regarding Susan Sontag, as well as the North American debut of the Philippine thriller Rekorder.