Film reviews: Brazilian surrealism, gleeful sadism, and a grannie who wanders through her own thrillers at VIFF 2022
Fogaréu is irresistibly disquieting; Sick of Myself recalls a classic of urban cultural psychosis; and Leonor Will Never Die proves surprisingly fun; Music Pictures: New Orleans pays tribute to the NOLA sound
Fogaréu.
Vancouver International Film Festival runs at various venues to October 9
Fogaréu (Brazil/France)
October 7 at 6 pm and October 9 at 1 pm at International Village, supported by Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre/Latin Expressions
Once Fernanda (Bárbara Colen) returns to her home state of Goiás in the Brazilian highlands to answer so many questions about who she is, she ends up going down a rabbit hole of discovery—and what a dark and disturbing journey it turns out to be. Staying with whom she believes to be her adoptive family, Fernanda gets to the heart of troubling secrets in the small town that has normalized incest and relationships of consanguinity and that is home to a decrepit, decades-old asylum. Privleged locals force those with developmental disabilities to work as their servants, while Fernanda learns that some of these indviduals have supernatural gifts that can help her solve her own mystery. Surrealism and symbolism seep through the story, which gets increasingly and equally distressing and enthralling as it unfolds. Fogaréu touches on everything from Indigenous sovereignty to 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, and Colen’s Fernanda is made of mettle and heart. With footage of vast dusty fields, intimate dimly lit rooms, and an especially arresting procession of torches, director Flavia Neves’s newest work is a masterfully disquieting narrative feature debut. GJ
Sick of Myself.
Sick of Myself (Norway)
October 5 at 9:30 pm at the Rio Theatre and October 9 at 9:15 pm at Vancity Theatre
This vicious black comedy is like a millennial King of Comedy, observing its characters with gleeful sadism as they mutilate and endanger themselves in the pursuit of attention. The premise brings to mind roughly a million TikTok and YouTube “celebrities”—not accidentally, one suspects—although Sick of Myself is situated in a relatively archaic art world where gallery openings and glossy magazine covers still matter. Thomas (Eirik Sæther) is an up-and-coming conceptual artist who steals furniture and then loudly advertises the “concept”. So he’s a pretentious dumbass and a danger to himself, clearly, but his mounting success prompts the seething envy of partner Signa (Kristine Kujath Thorp), who’s cute but apparently untroubled by any kind of talent or charm. And she works as a barista, meaning she has zero status with the couple’s cocktail-hour friends. What Signa does to get her face out there—emphasis on face—is really, really gross and really, really funny. A casual dig at Big Pharma completes the picture, ending on a note that recalls another classic of urban cultural psychosis: Todd Haynes’s Safe. The film, incidentally, benefits greatly from the work of cinematographer and Emily Carr University grad Benjamin Loeb. AM
Leonor Will Never Die.
Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines)
October 6 at 6:30 pm at the Rio Theatre
Leonor Will Never Die dashes instant boredom triggered these days by words like meta or more honest words like gimmicky, and instead ends up being super fun and uplifting. The Leonor who will never die is a portly senior who totters around in a somewhat distracted state until she’s bonked on the head by a falling TV. Now in a coma, the retired filmmaker enters one of her own action-thriller concoctions where she processes her grief over one lost son and resolves certain issues regarding another (who’s a dud). This kind of thing can be so turgid and bad, especially if you’re Christopher Nolan, but no, the idea of a grannie who writes hard-boiled Pinoy thrillers and then wanders through one in her nightie is already wonderful. The film inside Lenore’s head is lovingly shot like a vintage exploitation number where characters boast about and threaten each other with their hard-ons (which might be a dig at Filipino strongman Rodrigo Duterte, who also does that) or who otherwise break into dance while Leonor figures out the next scene. She’s my new favourite fake auteur de trash. AM
Music Pictures: New Orleans (U.S.)
October 5 at 1:15 pm at International Village
For those who have been going through New Orleans withdrawal since pandemic travel restrictions, this screen celebration of some of its music scene's most influential and authentic stars will give you the fix you need. Filmed in 2020, the documentary spotlights Irma Thomas, Benny Jones Sr., Little Freddie King, and Ellis Marsalis Jr., devoting a chapter to each, and celebrating their unique NOLA-born artistry. The film's main focus is the music, caught in extended scenes on stage, in recording studios, and, especially in the case of the sousaphone-pumped Treme Brass Band, on the colourful streets. In interviews, interwoven with memorabilia and archival photos, the musicians remember their start; in one clip, Thomas recalls being fired from her first restaurant job by a racist white owner for singing Black music. Music Pictures doesn't dig too deep into personal biography; then again, when the charismatic King says today's blues singers haven't lived the blues, he doesn't need to spell out what he's talking about. There are also some important insights into the effects Hurricane Katrina had on the cultural scene in the city; rebuilding the Treme neighbourhood meant gentrification, and the disappearance of the distinct gumbo filé that flavoured the music community there. The fact that jazz legend Marsalis died from COVID-related pneumonia after the filming of Music Pictures suggests another kind of disaster has probably taken a toll on this scene, too. With that in mind, this breezy celebration stands as an important document of musicians whose fans will probably find themselves looking into flights afterwards. JS
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