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Live from Mont Tremblant: Dispatch 1
Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Met up with Pierre-Alexandre Despatis (IONCINEMA’s resident Festival reporter who’s had some time to recover since his trek in Tribeca) and rode up to Mont Tremblant via shuttle van with the folks who run the Goethe-Institute in Montréal (visit site here) who’ve convinced me that I was missing out on the many quality retrospectives that they offer throughout the year. If you are into upcoming quality German films, then this place is worth the detour.
An early afternoon arrival and I started my day with the Shorts Program 2 at the cozy little The Pine theatre nestled in the heart of mini village they created her on the slope/base of the mountain. It’s a mini maze of cobble stone streets and various businesses – gift shops and restaurants and colors – note: the place might irk you if you happen to be a fanatic of the Patrick McGoohan 60’s show The Prisoner. Anyhow, in between screenings I shall make it more my comfort zone.
The inaugural Mont Tremblant Film Festival
commenced yesterday with their opening film, and today is officially day 1 – three screens and plenty of great programming. While attendance sees only a sprinkling of people, the weekend should bring the curious and the hardcore cinephiles.
From the Shorts Program #2
Book-ended with docu scenes from Russia’s participation in WWII, Vitaly Urusevsky’s short at times touches upon issues of existentialism and bereavement, but for the most part Nikita and the Old Iron Woman is about the generation of children who lose their fathers to war. The protagonist – a young boy half a dozen years old digs around the treasure troves that surround the family farm. Here he finds himself conversing with the insects and just about anything else that may or may not be living but in some sense, feels alive. This digital film is offered in a decoupage style, offering an auditory experience that replicates a child’s imaginer.
The following film comes to us from the AFI school of film production (where our very own Justin Ambrosino is headed off to). While viewers may be used to traditional images of a boy and his four-legged friend the dog, this Mexican-tale is about a boy and his…goat. Taking place half a century ago, My Backyard was a Mountain relives the tale of the painful separation between a boy and his upbringing and his best friend Chivo (the one that eats his mother’s flower beds). While today ebay would take care of such a dilemma with a quick sale, this boy goes through all the emotions of giving up on his best bud. Perhaps Adam Schlachter short discusses with a subtleness the current separation anxieties of Mexico/U.S border situation, but the final embrace and reunion that the film’s end brings back the metaphor of what it means to find familiarity and roots. Shot in digital, the film uses parts of the Californian valley to its fullest potential thus embarking viewers in a time and space that was as simple as a game of hide and go seek.
An unfinished painting is a sad thing. Beyrouth après-rasage (After Shave) explores the reasons as to why this happens to be the case and equally explores the reasons as to why the finishing strokes do finally get put on. Following a stumpy little town barber whose looking for a bit more revenue in his pocket, has the one chance to make some green by bringing his trade to the home delivery circuit. His client is a hermit of sorts – resting on his richness while sulking on the subject matter of his painting: his deceased wife. Think Howard Hughes meeting a Tony Robbins of barbers. Not about grief but “moving on”, filmmaker Hany Tamba’s tale uses humor and the perfect approach to detail how this man feels after a clean cut and shave. The camera morphs the space of this room, the presence in conversation of a deceased wife adds more than a third voice to a two party conversation and the superb camera movement, make this a finely edited quality short about hope after death.
Tomorrow: Reviews for Don’t Tell and Requiem for Billy the Kid.
