The Best European Movies at VIFF
Top Euro Films at this Year’s Vancouver International Film Festival
Oct 1, 2007
The Vancouver International Film Festival brings the best European movies to Vancouver each September. The top Euro films this year come from France, Spain and Italy at VIFF.
Ballerina
A refreshing look at the ballet, this magnificent documentary follows a handful of promising ballerinas on their quest for achievement. Bertrand Normand goes inside the institution that is the Moscow Mariinski Theatre and showcases performances of the top dancers. Although it does miss the extremes of a dance career, like striving for the perfect body and the bloody mess common in wearing pointe shoes, it does flesh out the aspirations of these young women who know their careers are intense and short lived.
- Fri Sept. 28 @ 8:00pm, Sat Sept. 29 @ 11:00am, Sun Oct. 7 @ 10:00am
The Girl Cut in Two
Add another one to the collection of mischievous Claude Chabrol films. Stereotypically French in all the right ways and full of fun, Girl Cut in Two is an absolute treat. It’s a fine mix of the younger women/older man conundrum, romance, sex, careers and sinister incidents. Ludivine Sagnier, relishing in her charm, plays the young woman cut in two, both figuratively and physically. François Berléand, Benoît Magimel, Mathilda May and Caroline Sihol make up the rest of the cast who delight in every scene.
- Thurs Sept. 27 @ 2:00pm, Sun Sept. 30 @ 1:00pm, Tues Oct. 2 @ 6:20pm
7 Years
Jean-Pascal Hattu’s subtle story of Maïté (played by Valérie Donzelli) as she deals with the seven year jail sentence of her husband, takes the audience on a restrained journey. When one of the prison guards starts coming onto Maïté, she resists until the loneliness is too much to bear. But the discovery of his tape recorder begins a ride she never imagined. Valérie is wonderful every moment on screen and won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.
- Fri Sept. 28 @ 12:15pm, Thurs Oct. 4 @ 4:15pm, Sat Oct. 6 @ 9:45pm
Goya’s Ghosts
19th century Spain and the Inquisition is in full swing. When the daughter of a wealthy merchant is arrested for practicing Judaism, her father tortures a clergyman to get her back. The results span 15 years of the Spanish Inquisition, Napoleon’s invasion, the defeat by the British and an introduction to the painter Goya. Miles Forman is in fine form, bringing out a complex role for Natalie Portman as the merchant’s daughter, an always-mesmerizing Javier Bardem as a dishonourable clergyman, and a solid Stellan Skårsgard as Goya himself.
- Sat Sept. 29 @ 7:00pm, Tues Oct. 2 @ 3:30pm, Thurs Oct. 4 @ 9:00am
The Man from London
Settle into this one comfortably as it’s a long, slow ride. A seaside railway switchman is witness to a murder that leads him to a case full of money. He keeps it, to his own misfortune, as the story unfolds in noir-ish darkness. The camera moves like a ghost wandering gently through his life, catching every twitch and eye movement. The actor’s faces seem to be made for the black and white style used as the light hypnotically sinks into every crevice. Definitely a movie for cinema lovers.
- Mon Oct. 1 @ 11:00am, Fri Oct. 5 @ 9:00pm
