VIFF | DAY TWO

By only

Friday September 28, 2007

ONLY PICKS: Control
Michael Winterbottom’s film 24 Hour Party People about the Manchester music scene as conducted by the late Tony Wilson was a real treat. Wilson was a BBC correspondent who was almost single handedly responsible in the 1970s for the signing of bands like The Happy Mondays and of course Joy Division on his own Factory Records label. But 24 hour Party People wasn’t about one single man, or even a single band. It was about a scene and even more particularly a city… Manchester. In Control, director Anton Corbijn narrows his focus and uses Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis’ wife Deborah’s biography as the basis for the story. Wilson helped fill in the details, and the surviving members of Joy Division – who went on to become New Order after Curtis’ suicide at the age of 23 – provide the incidental music for the film. Shot in black and white, the film manages to capture the almost depressing mood of the time, and of the band. Actor Sam Riley’s performance as Curtis is thoroughly convincing, perfectly complete with the idiosyncratic angular movements Curtis was known for. It’s a sad story that ended too soon, but there is no denying the power or legacy that Curtis and Joy Division left behind. With songs like Love Will Tear us Apart and Transmission the sense of impending tragedy and the emotional space of the music is overwhelming. However, it’s also a testament to the entrancing power of their songs that they still find themselves on grade nine mix-tapes all around the world. –AOT

Manda Bala
Director Jason Kohn’s blistering film is more than a documentary. It is a powerful poetic political thesis that offers a searing look at the destructive influence corruption is having on the Brazilian people. Far away from the serene jungles and white sand beaches exists a country fraught by poverty and violence. If City of God opened your eyes to the chaos in Brazil, this movie will tear your eye lids right off. Using connective and symbolic imagery and gripping real life footage, Kohn charts a high speed course to the heart of madness, exposing kidnappings, political fraud and widespread corruption as the root of an illness affecting an entire country. –AOT


10:00 am GR4 – My Kid Could Paint That or p.187
04:15 pm GR6 – Two Embraces or p.135
04:30 pm PCP – Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe or p.187
09:00 pm GR4 – Control or p.141
09:30 pm GR1 – Manda Bala or p.175
09:30 pm RID – Mad Detective or p.64


_{Location Guide: GR1,2,3,4,5,6,7=Granville 7 | VCT=Vancity Theatre | PCP=Pacific Cinematheque | RID=Ridge}