Posts Tagged: VQFF

Different From Whom? / Diverso da Chi? is a wonderful Italian gay comedy, expertly mixing laughs with drama. With well-developed characters, beautiful scenery and an uplifting message, it is a fine conclusion to this year’s film festival.

I had to cancel going to a barbecue for this, but fortunately The Coast Is Queer did not disappoint!

Not a whole lot to say about this movie, really. It was goofy, silly, sexy fun. I’m only surprised nobody’s come up with a Twilight-themed gay porn before!

Casper Andreas’ critique of the Hollywood culture has a higher drama-to-comedy ratio than last year’s Violet Tendencies; it’s far more ambitious, with a more complex plot and message and stabs at character arcs. As a comedy, Going Down is excellent, with the same snappy lines and silly situations I’ve come to expect from Andreas. As a drama, though… not so much.

Madame X is hilarious fun, shamelessly hitting or subverting all sorts action-adventure, martial arts, superhero, and Magical Girl clichés in a delightful campy way.

Oh hey, there’s the angst I’ve missed so much!

This is not going to be an easy review to write. First, let me say that Grown Up Movie Star is brilliantly written, acted, and directed. Every detail is impeccably done and feels so authentic (I guess. I mean, what do I know about small-town Newfoundland?)

This retrospective showcase of Vancouver-made shorts had some good moments, but on the whole they kind of left me cold. Now that I think about it, I think all the rough and low-budget films might have suffered in comparison to Jamie Travis’ highly stylized and polished pieces. Not fair, I know, but there you go. Plus, if I’m being honest, it was late and I was dead tired. This whole festival marathon thing worked a lot better last year when I was unemployed.

Well, that was different! In this show 5 short films were each paired with one piece of performance art (spoken word, dance, song, music) right there in the theatre. Short films + performance art + artist Q&A = Awesome!

It’s no secret I’m a sucker for a good twisty mind-fuck. Hell, I’m the only one of my friends who really liked Pornography: A Thriller, let alone thought it was the best film of the festival last year. I also have fond memories of Half-Life from the year before, which similarly left a lot of people scratching their heads.

Strapped wasn’t quite up to the level of these two films. The mind-fuck wasn’t that twisty, the writing itself took itself a little too seriously, and the symbolism was too heavy-handed. Not that it stopped me from enjoying the movie.

A few short films on the theme of love and rejection.

I didn’t originally plan to go see this movie, since it looked a little too grim and gritty for my taste. But then I ended up winning tickets at the Summer Fling grass tournament last week so hey, I guess I was going to see it after all!

And we’re off! The VQFF started with… well, not a bang, exactly, but a nice low-key burn. To Faro is a subtitled German film (original title: Mein Freund Aus Faro, or My Friend From Faro) about a young butch lesbian who falls in love with a teenage girl (who thinks she’s a guy named Miguel) while her oblivious family thinks she’s dating a guy. Also named Miguel.

This is the story of Lala, the teenaged daughter of a rich Buenos Aires judge, and her lover Ailin, a maid in her family’s house. The pair plans to to run away together to Ailin’s family home in Paraguay near Lago Ypoa, but when Lala’s father is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Ailin takes the blame to protect her lover. What will happen to them now? Can they escape the law and live out their dreams?

Well, that was pretty good: an odd little love triangle out of Argentina, with some very cute moments, excellent acting, and nice cinematography.