Special newsletter: The films I saw at VIFF 2024
Trigger warning: movies!
Listen…we all know I’m tvscholar and not in fact filmscholar. I recognize my niche. Television is the hearth, the centre, the place I go. But movies are a social boon, to be enjoyed with someone by my side, as is usually the case during the Vancouver International Film Festival. Most cinephiles recognize the Toronto International Film Festival as one of the biggest film event/premiere destinations in the world, but VIFF is underrated in all of the best ways. They consistently bring in quality, buzzy films (I saw Anatomy of a Fall and Priscilla last year) before they’re released elsewhere, tickets are reasonably priced, and the festival has a relaxed, well-run, organized vibe that feels distinctly different compared to the more impersonal busyness of TIFF (which I’ve also been to, back in my student days). If you’re ever planning a trip to Vancouver, it’d be a great idea to have it coincide with the end of September to catch a few screenings.
I was thrilled to be approved for a VIFF press pass this year which unlocked the festival in new ways, selecting films for consideration in my Dorian Awards voting ballot and for potential near-future interview opportunities. I am, as always, constrained in my coverage by my full-time job — something I hope by this time next year will shift in my favour. I also unfortunately caught a violent flu halfway through the festival, preventing me from seeing as many films I had hoped. But there’s always next year. Here are a few words on what I did get to watch, for this one-off special newsletter.
Anora (Dir. Sean Baker)
My grade: A
I really feel like I raised Mikey Madison, but all I did was watch all 52 episodes of Better Things and witness her growth over five seasons. Anora, seemingly an Oscars frontrunner, is stunningly realized: a film about a sex worker and dancer who falls in love with a young, rich Russian client whose life is a non-stop party — until his parents find out what’s going on.
There are multiple points in the film where my body tensed up, my mind so conditioned to violent A24 twists. We’re primed to expect violence: in cliché stories about sex workers and/or mysteriously wealthy Russians. But Sean Baker is able to maintain an almost lighthearted, screwball-adjacent comedic tone through the film that was such a joy to watch (I highly recommend watching with a few giggly friends) — even more impressive, with no guns or gruesome violence. Madison absolutely shows up, Mark Eidelshtein is lots of fun. I would have survived if the word faggot wasn’t tossed around throughout the film though.
The Girl with the Needle (Dir. Magnus von Horn)
My grade: B+
I didn’t really know what this black-and-white Danish film was about going into it, and I highly recommend seeing it without looking up the plot (which is based on a real story). It’s ranked in the top 10 best spooky films of the year on Letterboxd, apparently. It follows a young woman (Vic Carmen Sonne) at the end of the first World War who reunites with her disfigured husband she presumed had died. While he was away, she was having an affair with her sewing factory’s boss, eventually leading to an unwanted pregnancy. She meets a mysterious woman (Trine Dyrholm) who takes care of it. I’ll leave it at that, but the twist in finding out what exactly is going on here did lead to quite a few gasps in the theatre. Dyrholm in particular is fantastic in a role that is definitely not straight-forward or easy to play. I believe this is Denmark’s submission to the Oscars this year.
Nightbitch (Dir. Marielle Heller)
My grade: B
Amy Adams, the mother that you are. This is absolutely her best role since Sharp Objects, although I can’t say the bar has been particularly high…I went to see Nightbitch with a friend who read the book and she said it’s a very accurate and successful adaptation to the novel. I felt less enthused about it. I didn’t mind the woman turning into a dog stuff but I found it kind of corny at times. But I’m also not a mother! Or a woman. So there’s likely lots here that will resonate for others that might not have landed for me, per se. Still quite enjoyable though and definitely pokes holes through heteronormative/nuclear family narratives in the era of the tradwife. Always a delight to see Halt and Catch Fire’s Scoot McNairy.
A Different Man (Dir. Aaron Schimberg)
My grade: B
Not unlike The Substance, A Different Man follows Edward (Sebastian Stan) who undergoes a new medical treatment that sheds the non-cancerous tumour condition (neurofibromatosis) on his face and giving him a new lease on life, but perhaps not the one he imagined. Not long after he fakes his own death to become a successful real estate agent lauded for his attractiveness, he finds out his old neighbour (Renate Reinsve), who had a kind of fetishistic obsession with him pre-procedure, is now creating an off-broadway play about their relationship. By reworking the first half of the movie into the second half, it loses a bit of steam — and I’m not sure its self-awareness made literal was always the most compelling to watch. As Alison Willmore writes in Vulture: “It’s hard to find a criticism of A Different Man that the film doesn’t articulate itself.”
Bird (dir. Andrea Arnold)
My grade: B-
Bird is a coming of age meets fairy tale story about a 12-year-old girl in the projects of North Kent. She’s handling way more a 12-year-old should: dodging her absent-minded father (Barry Keoghan), protecting her step siblings from an abusive stepfather, while also trying to join the neighbourhood youth gang. She ends up meeting a mystical…bird-like person (Franz Rogowski) who ends up being a kind, soft guide through these bleak days. The handheld camera of it all was a bit nauseating for a 9pm movie after I had seen Anora earlier that day and worked all afternoon, but the film has a lot of care and empathy for its hardened protagonist. Keoghan does a lot of…shirtless singing to a frog?
Films at VIFF 2024 I wanted to see but couldn’t due to illness and time but will try to watch at some point this Oscars season: Sex (dir. Dag Johan Haugerud), Conclave (dir. Edward Berger), No Other Land (dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor), Emilia Perez (dir. Jacques Audiard), Can I Get a Witness (dir. Ann Marie Fleming), The End (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer), Secret Mall Apartment (dir. Jeremy Workman), Presence (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Universal Language was my highlight at VIFF. Very surreal with extreme wacky characters, but somehow authentic portrayals of Canadians and immigrant communities.
Can't wait to see Anora.