Movies watched: Calgary International Film Festival

We only managed to get out to 5 CIFF programs this year. Some of the usual organizational issues but it wasn't too bad. I would have liked to see more but there were a lot of conflicts. Each year, when the guide comes out, we go through and mark everything that looks good. Then we plot them all out and where two or three play at the same time - or too close to make it between venues - we pick the best of the lot. Usually we get to about 10 programs but this year I missed a few days due to business travel. The loss of The Uptown as a venue hurt a lot too - not only because it's one of our favourite cinemas but also because you used to be able to cross the road to/from The Globe for double features. Please come back next year, Uptown.

What we saw:

The Mirror - a documentary feature made by Calgary's own David Christensen, about the small town in Italy that does not get any direct sunlight for 85 days each winter. The upstart mayor convinced the citizens that building a large mirror on yonder mountain to direct sunlight onto their small town square would chase away the gloom. Zany hijinks ensue.

International Animated Shorts - for the most part a very strong animation program. For me the lone standout was Skhizein, which also happened to win Best Animated Short. From France, it's about a guy who - after witnessing a meteor strike - finds himself parted from his physical being by exactly 91 cms.

I Killed My Mother - the debut from Xavier Dolan (who wrote the script over two years starting when was 17). This film won three awards at Cannes and was recently chosen as Canada's official entry to the Foreign Language Oscar Category. Strange that it didn't win Best Canadian Feature. Anne Dorval was outstanding as Hubert's mother.

Be Good - I really wanted to love this French film (enough said!) but it was missing something (I mean besides dialogue). Anaïs Demoustier was very good and I hope to see her again. There were many great things about this but it really was a short film thinly stretched into a feature.

Cooking With Stella - disappointing effort from Deepa Mehta's brother, Dilip (they co-wrote the script), starring Don McKellar, Seema Biswas and Lisa Ray. It was all over the place. Highlight: living in the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, there was two kinds of beer on the pantry shelf: Canadian and Trad (Big Rock) but they actually just drank the Trad. Hooray!