Montreal Film Festival Wrap Up
By Briana Berg

The 25th Montreal World Film Festival wrapped up on September 3 with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie, one of 50+ French films screened here. French features were second only to Canadian productions at MFF. The festival’s jury was presided by none less than famed (read sexy) French star Emmanuelle Béart. One could have thought that France was being honored when in fact this year’s special focus was on German cinema. But for the most part, the 2001 Montreal World Film Festival strived to spotlight world cinema with 388 films from 66 countries. The jury’s nationalities mirrored the same diversity with Iranian, Mexican and Spanish directors and actors, to name a few. An award for Best Latin American film made its debut this year. New trends in filmmaking were covered and even films for television weren’t ignored. Yet despite all this, I couldn’t help but feel that the quality of the selections wasn’t always up to par. The screenings went from good to boring and back, not quite the ride I expected Montreal’s film festival to be.

The most interesting features were the 24 productions in the Official Competition. Two films shared this year’s Grand Prize of the Americas: the Iranian Baran, Majid Majidi’s unprecedented third victory at MFF, and Árpád Sopsits’ Torzók (Abandoned). Abandoned takes place in Hungary after the failed 1956 anti-Communist revolt. 9-year old Áron is left in a boy’s home by his father who wants to get rid of him. It’s hard to say what’s worse for the child: a hurtful, uncaring father or the orphanage, with its sadistic teachers and violent initiation rituals. Sopsits pulls off a moving rendering of this autobiographical story and avoids the trappings of excessive sentimentality. The children’s acting is remarkable, especially Tamás Mészáros’ striking performance as Áron. But while the elaborate cinematography and carefully crafted soundtrack enhance the story’s impact, they also add an aura of glamour at odds with this grim experience.

According to the general buzz and sold-out screenings, audience favorites were the German productions The Experiment and The Tunnel, and the French-Canadian co-production Betty Fischer and Other Stories. Awarded Best Director, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Experiment recounts the nightmarish story of an ex-journalist going undercover as a volunteer in a ‘psychological’ (think military) experiment. The Tunnel’s true escape story scored the Air Canada People’s Choice. Claude Miller’s adaptation of Ruth Rendell’s thriller “The Tree of Hands”, Betty Fischer and Other Stories, won the International Press Award. Godard’s long awaited In Praise of Love was also a popular event at the festival. Godard opposes the two expressions of film medium, a sharp black and white 35 mm and a pixelated, color saturated DV with past and present, that of the story but also that of History. There is much debate about life’s essential questions and countless quotations. Clear-cut narrative is set-aside in favor of abstract concepts such as History and memory, art and storytelling, requiring all the concentration I could muster.

Chingu (Friend) by Kwak Kyung-taek and the Chinese Fu Qin Ba Ba (Fathers) made going to Montreal worthwhile. An autobiographical story, Chingu recounts the friendship of four schoolboys in the 70es in Pusan, South Korea. The environment they live in combines harsh repression with impoverishment, a mix that allows violence to flourish. As they grow up, they have to take a stand for or against a life of crime, and these choices will taint their relationship forever. The movie delves into the limits and limitations of friendship, from its most brutal expression to its redemptory qualities. The film doesn’t slip into testosterone-laden action, even with an almost solely male set of characters. It centers on the characters’ emotions, and scenes of extreme violence alternate with contemplative moments. At the other extreme, Lou Jian’s debut feature Fathers was a purely poetical experience depicting the end of an old-world lifestyle. Its low pace and ‘slice-of-life’ narrative genre may seem boring to some; to me, Fathers felt more like experiencing a specific cultural era than watching a movie. The story centers on Qianwei, now in his 50es, living with his father in a modern Beijing where he feels he doesn’t belong. He remembers his friendship with Uncle Zhai, a sort of surrogate father, and a time when life seemed more meaningful. Fathers goes back and forth between past and present, and between a substitute father symbolizing relationships and a biological one representing the lack thereof. At a crossroad in his life, Qianwei has to let go of the past and explore what could still be –with his real father. More than a story, the movie conveys the bittersweet feeling of what could have been.

Films ineligible for competition (mainly those already nominated at other film festivals) made up the World Greats section. Billy Bob Thornton’s latest, Daddy and Them, a witty picture of Southern trailer trash, was part of this selection. This often-derisive family portrait steers clear of caricature by showing the characters’ humanity as well as their flaws. The world according to Billy Bob: don’t marry the pathologically jealous sister of your ex-girlfriend, try to know before hand if you’ve been arrested for armed-robbery or murder, don’t choose a couple of married lawyers with matrimonial issues to defend you in a criminal case, and most of all, don’t put all the aforementioned people under the same roof. In the same category, Christine Jeff’s Rain beautifully portrays a teenager’s sexual awakening in the wake of her mother’s forties crisis. This feature debut renders a variety of moods and life stages with an amazing accuracy only enhanced by the gorgeous cinematography and excellent cast.

But not everything at MFF was engaging. The World Cinema: Reflections of Our Time program was a disappointment. Amongst the films I randomly picked out in this selection, few were striking. Some qualified as good entertainment, like Xavier Ruiz’s subtly entitled, ironic look at the Swiss army, Neutral. Giving The Icelandic Dream a try almost bored me to death - this from someone who usually enjoys the Dogma 95 style. The movie might describe today’s Icelandic society accurately, but watching 2 hours of a soccer-addict-loser’s life, filmed in shaky camera and super bleak settings, was more than I could handle. As for Canadian productions, the more appealing ones seemed to be part of the Official Competition, like Catherine Martin’s Marriages, awarded for Best Screenplay. The Panorama Canada movies I saw were of the hit-or-miss variety. Robert Cuffley’s Turning Paige turned out to be an interesting teen movie, surprisingly devoid of sex scenes, while Now and Forever and More to Love were sappy productions reminiscent of daytime TV. Then again, I wasn’t aided in my selection by the festival schedule. For some unknown reason, the schedule only reviewed half of the programs, and the summaries were bland rundowns unappealing even to an avid filmgoer.

Luckily, Montreal didn’t lack atmosphere. There was always something going on. The Place des Arts, a smaller Lincoln Center Plaza, was filled with booths and stages for daily shows, concerts and theatrical performances (these even featured Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra from the filmmaker’s 1995 picture Underground). Montrealers filled up every indoor and outdoor seat. There was no lack of parties either –one every evening on a different theme. Free daily outdoor screenings were offered as well. Benjamin Bratt and Jackie Chan were in town, and let me reiterate the name ‘Emmanuelle Béart’ here for the male reader. Yet Montreal’s film festival wasn’t as thrilling as I had hoped. The chances of landing a flop were much higher than I expected from a festival stressing its will to showcase quality, independent movies. But with only a border to cross, there is no excuse to stay away. All you need to do is research the movies beforehand to make sure you only score the crème de la crème as they say here –and don’t forget to grab an English to French dictionary on your way.

Published on Guerilla Filmmaker's website, 7dazemedia