VIFF has come and gone, and I didn’t get much of a chance to do much coverage since I’m balancing other fields of work currently, and because there are 5 other writers on here. Okay, maybe only one is covering VIFF this year, so I got to add a little extra input of my own. Why not? I haven’t done a threeview or even writing in general lately so here’s my latest bit of content to show I’m not just another lazy boss who spends all day sitting on his lazy ass playing virtual golf. Here’s three titles I checked out at VIFF this year amongst the others.
Kokhuo – Taking plae in Japan, we get introduced to the ancient theatre act of Kabuki, which involved men dressing up as women because women were forbidden to do the act. A well-known Kabuki actor and instructor from Osaka known as Mr. Hanjiro comes to see a performance at an associate’s residence when all of a sudden a rival and his gang crash the party and said associate is killed. His son Kikuo intends to seek revenge, but fails at doing so and eventually ends up in the care of Mr. Hanjiro, where he learns to be a professional Kabuki actor alongside Hanjiro’s son, Shunsuke. Eventually the two boys become professional actors for a major theatre in Japan, but things soon start to go downhill. Mr. Hanjiro gets in a car accident, and there’s even some quarrels between the two boys, what with Shinsuke being jealous when Kikuo is shown to be more admired. Despite the quarrels they go through, the two manage well with each other, well mostly. But things can get ominous, especially when after seven years Kikuo has to take over Hunjiro’s place. It was an amazing and feeling-inducing film even with things getting dark. For some reason, it reminded me of a Christopher Nolan film I once saw.
Köln 75 – This is the story of Vera Brandes who helped promote Jazz musicainas all around Germany. Opening up at her birthday party, Vera is nervous about the big 50 but it especially gets worse when her father shows up to berate her. This leads to a flashback which consists of the entire film where Vera meets Ronny Bright whos sparks her interest in jazz and she makes plans to book a concert for him at a venue. Soon enough, she finds a way to make a living and books even more venues with the help of her friends, Iba, and Oliver, her boyfriend Yan, and her brother Fritz. However, they soon come up with one of the biggest challenges yet: Booking Keith Jarrett who won’t perform unless it’s with a piano of his particular lkiking. Meanwhile, Vera firghts with her Dentist father who disapproves of her lifestyle, and we get treated to constant appearances from a man named Matt who has quite a story to tell to his editor. Talk about a grand run for a grand piano, and piano problems mixed with Matt moments made for a funny and intense experience. This movie was GREAT.
Pillion – This one was NOT on my list or in any of the press releases I got in the inbox. There was a schedule rearrangement and I was already too exhausted to cancel anyway. So I went out to a rarely seen cinema (I say rarely because I’ve hardly been out there even for business) and went to be first in line 2 hours early. I just ended up taking a gamble like I do with a lot of things these days, except actual gambling. The story is about a young man named Colin who while one night partakes in a barbershop quartet at a Christmas party meets a biker guy named Ray who invites him out for a date of sorts during Christmas. The date they go on is back alley BJ’s, which even makes me wonder if I’m going to be Internet censored or blacklisted for mentioning. I bet I could fit an adult link in here somewhere. Well, Colin stays in touch with Ray, having an awkard sleepover for 1 night and soon they have some sort of arrangement, even Colin gets to spend his birthday with some other bikers Ray knows and even gets a new look, as per Ray’s orders of course. This was both funny and disturbing for me, with heartwarming moments. Afterwards, I asked the editor during a Q&A if he had ever worked on something remotely close to this, and he never did. He just went with it, just like how we all should with whatever life throws us.
