VIFF overload!

Okay so Dex and I planned out our schedule of Viff shows to go to. From the span of Friday night to Sunday, we watched 4 shows: The Bridesmaid (France), Heart Beating in the Dark (Japan), The District! (Hungary), Lie With Me (Canada). With a lot of these there are hits and misses. You can read about these in the links, but here's my take on them:

The Bridesmaid: I would say this is on the extreme side of eternal love...needing to prove your love by murdering someone. But hey, what isn't extreme in these indie flicks?! Overall I think they had a cohesive story but I just didn't like what happened to each of the characters. I would rather them have a Romeo and Juliet ending and it would have been more satisfying. (3 chips)

Heart Beating in the Dark (1982 version): Granted I missed the first few minutes...okay maybe an hour of this film, I can't give an accurate depiction of what this is about. It's about a couple, who after getting married and having a child, kill their baby and need to deal with the consequences of their actions. I can see how most of this story can be believable, Japanese men are notorious for being deceitful and abandoning the family for greater, younger pleasures. It's interesting how they take it from the man's point of view, a sort of tell-all without being ashamed. He basically forces the woman to give up her body at his beck and call. Why were the women so submissive (back then) ? This was quite disturbing to me but yes, this part of the movie left you hanging as to what their lives became of after the killing. (3 chips)

Heart Beating in the Dark (2005 version): So I managed to see the entire film for this (not late!). This is like a documentary (almost mockumentary) of the 1982 version where they would intersperse scenes of the original film, with scenes of the actors in "meetings" as how to approach filming this. There wasn't too much commentary on the thoughts of the actors themselves, more just about portraying the story that was already written. I would have liked it more that way. It was unique cinema because of the way they cut the scenes. You would see what happened in the old film (and most of these scenes I really did see in the 20 minutes of the old version!) and then they would cut to a modern couple who were reinacting the exact same scene in a similar setting (a ryokan in the suburbs of Japan). Then it would cut to the documentary part of film (what I find the most interesting and hilarious parts) where they discuss possible actions to the scene. As if there weren't enough parallels, they then jump to the actual couple in the original film reuniting 23 years later. Their exchanges are somewhat forced but I still enjoyed it. Recommended! (4 chips)

The District!: This wasn't as I anticipated. I think I am too spoiled with the wonderful animations of Pixar, Warner and Disney that I didn't really enjoy this made-for-adult cartoon from Hungary. My first complaint is that they need to do something about their subtitles. They put them in white for the entire film, when in certain scenes the background is white and you have a super difficult time reading what they are saying. Then you have to watch their actions on screen at the same time. Just very busy and made my eyes very tired. I liked how they tried to incorporate that hip hop gangsta theme with the rap songs in Hungarian but the characters aren't very impressive. It's about fueding brothers who find out their district is built on top of an oil mine. Of course they fight over the money and who gets all the returns from this. (1 chip)

Lie With Me: Raw emotion, I tell you, raw emotion. This film was done very well but at the beginning I thought it was something out of a porno movie. I mean the girl was watching porno, so it led me to believe that it was this type. However, it starts off with a minor infatuation between the lovers and then it was a type of obsessive "I can't have anyone else but you" love. I loved it and it was a sold out show...Dex and I had to sit separately because there were no seats left for us AND we managed to get there 10 minutes early. The main actor, actress and the director were all there for the Q&A session afterwards. I mean really, how DO you prepare for this role to bare all (lots of nudity in here)...how DO you prepare your significant other that you would be in such a film...how DO you rehearse for such intimate scenes. Watch this if you can! (5 chips)