Hey folks, Harry here with a great report on the Atlantic Film Festival which is under the ever watchful gaze of the Avuncular Mack... This first film, POSSIBLE WORLDS is especially of interest.... Take a look... you'll see...

Hi Harry:

My first time writing you, I do believe, and I've got a little report from the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia (semi-famous as the "fourth largest film festival in Canada" behind Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver).

POSSIBLE WORLDS

A stark, melancholy, Cronenberg-esque take on the _Matrix_ question "what if you were just a brain in a vat, and you did't know it?", this film's take is that your (disembodied) life would like a series of dream episodes segueing into one another, keeping you convinced that you have lived billions of parallel lives, and that you are omniscient in your multi-verse. It's based on a play by John Mighton who is a mathematician and a philosopher, apparently, but not necessarily, it seems, capable of rendering well-rounded characters. If ever a movie needed just one more script draft by an outside writer, this was it.

But this movie still has lots going for it... more icy cool from porcelain goddess Tilda Swinton, a nice gruff police-lieutenant turn by Sean McCann, and a fine performance by Tom McCamus (_The Sweet Hereafter_) in the Billy-Pilgrim-like role of "George Barber." It's set in that currently popular (e.g. _Existenz_, _The Cell_) world: the fuzzily defined near-future where a few things are just a little more advanced (i.e. brain research) but the buildings, clothes, etc. are all "every period but no period" (thank you Old Montreal).

This is the latest film from the director who is still probably best known as the choreographer of Peter Gabriel _Secret World_ tour. His movies (esp. _Le Confessional_) are just drenched with visual style and this new one is no exception. Thumb up, with script reservations--but probably will mostly appeal to the sci-fi hardcore.

Tidbits: _Stardom_ hot hottie Jessica Paré is in there as "Party Guest #1." Movie producer Sandra Cunningham introduced the film and said this was the third public screening after Venice and Toronto.

BREAD AND ROSES

The latest from UK working-class champion Ken Loach, his first on American soil, is about Mexican janitors working in posh LA skyscrapers and trying to unionize. It is a message movie, and there are definitely preachy bits. But there's a pretty nice performance by Adrian Brody as a union organizer, and a stunning debut, I would say, by Pilar Padilla in the lead role of "Maya."

Don't go to this film for the cameos by Tim Roth, Benicio del Toro, et. al.--they don't have any lines. They're just standing in the background at a reception.

As this is a UK production, the English subtitles of the Spanish dialogue contain funny (for a North American viewer) Britishisms, e.g. "maths homework."

Tidbits: My God, it was nice to see such a *fresh print* of a movie in a theatre way the hell out here in Halifax, 2966 miles from Los Angeles. The colours were just bursting. There's a buried "second unit camera" credit for... Haskell Wexler?!?!? Crazy.

CHUNGKING EXPRESS & NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (ORIGINAL)

These special screenings were MC'd by Don McKellar as a "Canadian Directors Series"--François Girard presented _Chungking Express_ and Bruce MacDonald presented a 16mm print of the real _Night Of The Living Dead_, on consecutive nights. McKellar interviewed each director about each film. On the first night, Girard talked about how those bootleg video CDs have totally killed Hong Kong cinema, reducing the number of HK-produced films by 90% in a period of just a few years. McKellar recalled Quentin Tarantino going on about _CKX_ ("best film ever") and Wong Kar Wai ("best director in the world") before he released it through Rolling Thunder. The next night, Bruce MacDonald (whose _Hard Core Logo_ was also, of course, a Rolling Thunder release) talked about how _NOTLD_ inspired him to make movies when he was still a kid--he and Don McKellar both made zombie movies in high school where they killed off their teachers!! The _NOTLD_ print was 16mm and basically intact, just the way it's meant to be shown. Funniest question of the night came when a kid asked "What's an allegory?" and stumped both Bruce and Don. After some verbal stumbling Don said "It's a big metaphor!" to loud laughs and applause.

Coming up tomorrow night: The much ballyhooed _George Washington_.

cheers,

"The Avuncular Mack"