Last night I went to the Port Moody Canadian Film Festival. I saw two features ("Meditation Park" directed by Mina Shum, and "Spice It Up" directed by Lev and Yonah Lewis and Calvin Harris) and two shorts ("Gong Ju" directed by Jerome Yoo {who lives in Port Moody} and "La Cartographe" directed by Nathan Douglas). The two short film directors were present and talked about their process. Some of you might be interested in how Jerome Yoo got his film produced. He went on a website called "StoryHive" and pitched his idea for a film about a Korean girl who is sent to Canada to school and how hard it is for her to manage her way when she doesn't speak much English and doesn't know anyone. StoryHive doesn't care about your experience in film -- if your pitch is selected, they grant you $10,000 to make your film. Very egalitarian. I really enjoyed his film -- it was edited in a really terrific sharp way and the way he filmed the girl and her posse in Korea was so powerful and I liked the story and it was just really energetic and compelling.
"Meditation Park" was also great. It was about an older Chinese woman living in the Renfrew area of Vancouver and her life with her uncompromising husband and the way she figures out how to live her life and make friends and become independent. It starred Cheng Pei Pei ("Jade Fox" in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- but looking very different here), Tzi Ma (as the husband), Sandra Oh as her daughter, and Don McKellar as a neighbour. All the performances were terrific and it was funny and touching and highly entertaining.
I didn't love "La Cartographe" -- it was repetitive both visually and aurally with the same landscapes and music on some kind of a loop. It felt like the filmmaker had fallen in love with the rhythm of the scenery and the sounds and I think it could have been judiciously cut to make a better film. But when the director spoke about what he wanted to do, I kind of saw what he was talking about and then I didn't mind the movie as much and appreciated more what he was trying to do rather than how it turned out. I think that is often the case. Once the artist explains it, you think, "well, that's an interesting concept. Maybe not completely successful, but good try."
The last movie -- "Spice It Up" -- reminded me a bit of Tommy Wiseau. It's about a film student making a film about seven friends who are trying to get into the army. She gets feedback from all sorts of people who tell her that the film doesn't work and she keeps trying to fix it and she gets further and further from her original idea and yet she doesn't give up. It was funny in spots and the woman who plays the filmmaker, Rene, (Jennifer Hardy CK) was quite good, I thought (and it seems like the character is very much like her, because both she and the character had debilitating strokes and studied filmmaking). But the film cuts between Rene's attempts to finish the film and the film itself and the seven friends and their backstories and their interest in the army just didn't feel believable on any level.
It was fun to go. Friday night is not the best time of the week for me. I'm tired after a long week and mostly what I want is to come home and go straight to bed, but I am trying to get out more and do things -- I never regret it when I do. I am quite pleased to report that I have been able to keep my two New Year's resolutions so far -- to eat one vegan meal a week and to see a play every month. In January, I saw WROL ("Without Rule of Law") and in February, "Yoga Play". This month, I'm going to see "The Orchard" which is a modern Canadian retelling of the beautiful Chekov play, "The Cherry Orchard".) I am also going to see a reading of alumnus Alyssa Hirose's play, "Waiting for Beckett" at the Brave New Playwrites Festival and "Chimerica" at the Jericho Arts Centre starring alumnus Angus Yam. Great to see our graduates slogging it out there in the theatre world. I'm really looking forward to seeing their work.
I am going to Mr. Mathieu's memorial service this afternoon at South Arm United Church. Mr. Mathieu taught art at Steveston and then Steveston-London for over 25 years and shared his love for art with thousands of young people. We will all miss him and want to get together to think about how he touched our lives and remember his enthusiasm and devotion to his students. The ceremony is at 2 p.m.
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