Full Love

From Jean-Claude Van Damme
Monday, September 8, 2008 at 2:52pmJean-Claude Van Damme sends you his hello from Thailand. He turns his next film "Full Love" as actor and director. Everything goes well, he promised us beautiful scenes of actions, many twists and maybe even... a love story?

Twists! Beautiful actions! A love story! Could we ask for anything more?

Anyone in attendance at last night's screening of Sexykiller was privy to, in my opinon, the most unbelievably fun movie (with the possible exception of last Friday's Detroit Metal City) of this year's Midnight Madness programme. In true Midnight Madness fashion, the beach balls were busted out and there was no shortage of zombies on hand to liven up the red carpet!

Sexykiller was truly an overture of love from director Miguel Marti to his favourite horror films. Macarena Gomez's Barbara rips through an unsuspecting campus while extolling her love for The Silence of The Lambs, Evil Dead, Friday the 13^th, and several others.

In this way (and really, in only this way), Sexykiller reminded me a lot of Martyrs, which also contained references ? albeit subtle ones ? to many other classic horror films. Martyrs' last scenes were quite reminiscent of both Hellraiser and Rosemary's Baby. Visually, it would be difficult not to think of Saw during some of the 'dungeon' sequences as well. Similarly, the chase sequences during the first half of the film were somewhat evocative of Japanese horror films like The Grudge or Ringu.

Last night was nothing less than a celebration of the genre and, for me, was one of the highlights of this year's festival. Don't miss the second screening of Sexykiller at 1:30pm today at the Varsity!

I have been lucky enough to see quite a few film that have emerged from Quebec this year at TIFF - Charlebois resignates with me deepest. Why? She takes the bull by the horns. There is no hesitation, no fear and no fluffing of Kiki Labrèche's tale of woe - it is in your face.

When you open up the chest of this film, you find it is filled with a bleeding heart  that echoes meloncholy. The complexity of the film never once looses your attention, and you in fact can't help but empathize with Kiki's destain and what seems as pre-destined, unfortunate fate.

Charlebois explained to the audience at the Q & A following the film, Borderline this was very much a labour of love. She shares the story is fiction and non-fiction, based 50% on a pair of novels, 25% based on her life and 25% of pure fiction. A viewer asked her, "why this film?" Charlebois laughed and answered, "we thought we have something to say." Did they ever have something to say.

There is such a sensitivity this film places around the topics of childhood isolation, mental illness in the family, substance abuse and the quest to find true love. The performace by Isabelle Blais is nothing short of phenominal. Each angle, each shoot, the attention to detailing, makes this film alive in texture and message.

What sits with me is Charlebois words. "This movie is about the most important love...the love of yourself."

Borderline screens next on Friday, September 12th at 6:30pm, and again on Saturday, September 13th at 12 noon.

Dating used to be an art, an exploration of the heart and soul, now it's an exercise in fear, awkwardness and desperation.  We've outsourced our emotions and better judgement to Lava Life, E-Harmony and anything else that clicks.  Human contact has been co-opted by computers.

LINK: Genre Down Under: An Email Roundtable

In this blogger?s opinion, both NQH and Acolytes were fun films, but not the top-crop of this year?s festival. NQH had a plethora of source material to work with, but moved through this material at a clip-show?s pace with little time for exposition. Acolytes was at times tremendously thrilling and frightening. The film was brilliantly pieced together and the soundtrack (both background and musical scores) was the highlight of the film. However, the ?jumps? in the film became tiresome and almost comical at times and there were some plot points remaining foggy (to me at least) at the film?s end.
Aside from the content of the films, I was particularly interested in learning about film production in Australia, and in particular the trajectory of Australian genre film that has evolved over the past 40+ years. The so called ?Ozploitation? film that arose in the ?60?s was Australia?s attempt to create a national cinema, one that could stand its own against the influx of European and American film coming into the country. The attempt was a success as Australian feature production went from zero in the early 60?s, to 50-plus a year by the 1970?s.
All this led me to consider the sad-state of Canadian feature film. In the Q&A after NQH (featuring Acolytes director Jon Hewitt (left), NQH director Mark Hartley (centre) and Producer Anthony Ginnane (right)) Ginnane praised Canada for the support the government gives to Canadian filmmakers. Unfortunately (outside of Quebec), the praise is not so well deserved. Government support for Canadian film has gone through ups and downs over the past half century, with funds typically swelling or decreasing depending on the ideological nature of the government of the day. This is compared to the Australians who created the ?Australian Film Development Corporation Bill in 1970? and had film development enshrined as a parliamentary act.

Given that this week is TIFF (and the same week that an election has been called no less) what better time to ask ourselves why there has never been a ?Canadian New Wave? of cinema, and why financial support for filmmakers is always on the top of the list when it comes to government spending cuts.

Acolytes begins with John Ford-esque vistas of Australia, defining the landscape that forms the backdrop to this film. Both a character study of three teenagers as well as a thriller, once a terrible secret is unearthed. Acolytes will have you swept away in its vistas, jumping with the shocks, as well as the amazing sound design and great musical score. As a viewer you will be pulled in as the film takes a slow decent to the darkest places of the human condition.


However what does a director do after his film premieres at Midnight Madness?

He goes to get a slice of pizza.

After the screening I got the opportunity to talk to Jon Hewitt. Acolytes is his fourth film, but his first three features Bloodlust (1992), Redball (1999) and Darklovestory (2006) were all made in the underground of Australia's film industry. Acolytes has the distinction of being the first film Jon Hewitt was paid to direct and, recently turning 49, is an inspiration to a lot of struggling filmmakers.

The writer Eddie Bunker (Mr. Blue from Reservoir Dogs) speaking about becoming a published writer: "It took all the time in the world, it took six books that didn't get published. In fact it took over seventeen years. Perseverance is one thing. I believe in perseverance above all else, it overcomes intelligence, luck, it overcomes everything. Perseverance wins."

We began our conversation outside of the Ryerson Theater, under the awning, while the rain poured down in the early hours of September 9th (my birthday coincidentally enough).

Robert Mitchell: RM
Jon Hewitt: JH


RM: "Acolytes has the distinction of being your fourth film, but also the first paid gig for directing a film. You made three films prior to this."

JH: "Yeah, Bloodlust, Redball and Darklovestory were all made in the underground. Pure guerrilla style. I shot Redball on MiniDV for ten days out of six weekends and for about seven grand. That was the cost to buy tapes and feed the cast and crew. Then I raised about four hundred grand from the market place based on the rough cut of the film, to deliver it to 35mm and to pay out the cast and crew. The producers and directing fees were all deferred, but I paid out the cast and crew and it was a cool way to make a movie that was never going to get made. I have written many scripts but just never had much luck in Australia getting financing from the government. It's difficult to make anything political. My films are a bit too dark and was never a good fit."

It was at this time that we all decided to get out of the rain and walk down Gerrard and resume our conversation at a pizzeria. Amidst the people who comprise of the night life on Yonge street at three o'clock on a Tuesday morning we settled down over pizza and had a conversation about Mr. Hewitt's career in film thus far.



RM: "How did you raise the money for those first films?"

JH: "My first film was financed by a couple of gangsters. There was  a video industry in the late eighties. I was working in exhibition and distribution. These guys would buy films and bring them to our video company to release on video. They told me they paid a hundred grand (in U.S. dollars) For a Barry Bostwick film, he was like a kick boxer, universal soldier type dude in the mid-eighties and I was astonished. I told them, 'Fuck man! I will make you a film for fifty grand and it will have everything you need!' and they said, 'Alright we will give you fifty grand.' But they also said, '... if the film ain't any good and we don't make any money we are going to kill you.'"

RM: "Wow, they actually said that?"

JH: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think they meant it, but they meant they would fuck me up. They definitely would have done that because they were those type of guys."

RM: "So it was truly guerrilla film making."

JH: "Yeah I really wanted to make a film and I could not find any other way to do it. We shot that on betacam - those were the analog days - but it was just a kick ass, violent, crazy vampire film. Not very good, but what I really discovered making that film was, what I really loved was the actors performances. The performances in Bloodlust were pretty terrible because they were just friends and people who would do it. I had to make a film like this to really discover what I loved."

RM: "It was also your film school I would also assume?"

JH: "Oh fuck yeah! The most pleasurable shoot I ever had was Redball, which we shot on MiniDV. We shot it on the weekends: Ten days over six weekends. I thought it would be hard to maintain focus but in fact it was a godsend because we would shoot on the weekend and then just chill out all week and that would give me time to write stuff and think of stuff."

RM: "You were writing on the fly?"

JH: "No adapting. I had a screenplay but things happen. Scripts are crap! I like a script to transform. If you read the shooting script for Acolytes it is actually quite different from the finished film."

RM: "The screenplay is not set in stone for you?"

JH: "No, no, no. It's a blueprint for something else. Screenplays aren't films. Films are films. For me the necessary transformation that happens from script to screen is what happens between the actors and the lense. Actors transform the script. They breathe life in your film and they carry it for the rest of their lives. I mean they are up there (on the big screen) not me, I'm sitting in the chair directing."

RM: "They have to be brave and strong in their performance."

JH: "Look at that girl in Deadgirl. I mean what a fucking incredibly brave performance."

RM: "Your first film was made in 1992 and the last one Acolytes screened tonight (2008). In the seventeen odd years of making films sporadically what kind of jobs were you doing to pay the bills?"

JH: "Graphic Design. I was working exhibition and distribution. I was working in the Palace Cinemas in Sydney. I was the manager of the Academy Twin. Any old shlepping job. I have written a few screenplays for producers, adapted a few books. Made a little money from that. My wife is also a successful actress."

RM: "Oh really, what is her name?"

JH: "Belinda McClory. She plays the deaf woman, (the wife) in Acolytes. She's also in the Matrix. She played Switch, the girl in white, and works mostly in theater. Belinda has a career as an actor so it helps. We don't have kids, I'm totally irresponsible. If I had any money I would blow it on making a movie."

RM: "Over this period of making your films was there a lot of resistance? People saying, 'You can't do it, give it up. Get a real job, settle down.'"

JH: "Yeah most people thought Bloodlust was just god awful. Most of the people who could help your career and certainly Hollywood didn't come knocking on my door. For me Redball was a really cool, ahead-of-its-time movie that is as good as Acolytes, in it's own way. It was made on a shoe string [budget] and unless something really radical happens it's never going to break out.  It will never be treated with the same amount of respect as Acolytes which was made for four million bucks. People just treat you differently when there is money involved. People are saying, 'Acolytes really tells me you can make a film, man.' But I'm thinking: Redball is a cool film!"

RM: "Since you're getting this attention on the world film festival level, will we ever see releases of your previous films?"

JH: "No. They've been released. I'm sure they are uploaded and bootlegged at this point. I would love to be pirated ... it means people want to see your films."

RM: "And that's what you make a film for, to have people see it."

JH: "Yeah, yeah. But don't tell that to Antony (the distributor sitting across the table) he won't make any money from it."

RM: "In the Midnight Madness audience there are a lot of aspiring film makers, do you have any advice for them?"

JH: "Don't let people tell you what to fucking do. Don't let people step on your dreams. It is easier now then it has ever been to make a movie. There is nothing stopping you. Just do it!"

RM: "What do you think of the Midnight Madness audience?"

JH: "They are fucking awesome! They are incredibly adventurous and incredibly lucky to be living Toronto and have a guy like Colin Geddes that casts such an interesting net and focuses it on ten movies, beautifully presented. You are so lucky living in Toronto."

Stayed tuned for the full interview from the Big Slice on our YouTube page.
 
At the time of this writing Acolytes has two more screenings.

Robert Mitchell

TIFF 08 is serious about business.  In it's 33rd year TIFF is asserting it's fortified power and maturity.  Moving into the future with a fresh face at the top, a new home on the horizon, and a clear sense of purpose. I came to this conclusion on Friday (Day 2 of the festival) at the Bravo!Fact brunch, hosted by Bravo!Fact Executive Director Judy Gladstone, at the decadent Wish restaurant.  Judy is all about connecting dots, her charming smile and appetite for collaboration make her the one to watch.  There's an intensity driving the festival like never before. The energy is contageous, everyone is enthusiastic about making films that speak clearly in an increasingly complicated world. It's becoming more apparent that TIFF is the International Film festival to watch. Some might say that Cannes is about film and TIFF is about people in film. 

While engaged in a delicious conversation (the bacon was very good) with the CFC's World Wide Short Film Festival Director, Eileen Arandiga, it dawned on me that this year's festival seems more inclusive. Regular movie goers are front and centre in the action at lively venues like Yonge-Dundas Square, where you can see a film out in the open. The barely one year old AMC theatre is another venue that helps ground the festival in the nature of the everyday film enthusiast.  Eileen suggested TIFF continue to inspire more people to take a leap into the thrill of the hunt. Embracing the line ups, rush lines and inevitable disappointment. The experience of obtaining tickets for the movie you want can easily become a risky proposition. My early years of TIFF were spent in long line ups days before the festival just to get a ticket , I guess I did it for the love of film.  That experience drove me to discover new avenues of TIFF pleasure, exploring the nuances of doing TIFF to the point of precision.  Every year is another adventure and opportunity to sharpen your ticket purchasing prowess and technique.   

While seeking out more brunch to munch I met Susan Coyne and Martha Burns.  They're excited about staring behind the camera for their first short film. How are You is a short film about the comedy of grief.  I wondered out loud about what the tradgedy was in this film, specific elements of the human condition is Susan's interpretation of  tradgedy.  Susan goes on to say "people ask you how you're doing then tell you how they are".  Only in Canada would we see comedy and grief hanging out in the same movie. 

Canadian film is business unusual.

Mehta spoke when introducing the film, "Toronto has the best audiences," and for that you could see she was thankful. One of my favourite things about this film is that takes place in Toronto and in shoot in the Greater-Toronto-Area. You could easily identify landmarks such as Square One and the Lakeshore. This made seeing this film feel just a little bit more like home for its audience.

The journey of Chand comments that so many come from afar and unwillingly loose so much of themselves along the way. However, the hardest but most gratifying endeavor is to take your power back and take control of your destiny as you wish to see it unfold.

Being raised in the Indian culture and exposed to many films, I have not seen a director with a more formidable, realistic and genuine hope to spark social change than Mehta. I have always appreciated her work because she takes risk and deals beyond Bollywood, with the real issues at hand. Respect.

I think I am with the majority of the audience in attendance at JCVD last night in saying that I was shocked. Not in your normal Midnight Madness sense, of course, where you may be shocked at the sheer amount of corn syrup being sprayed around or the number of fingers severed from someone's hand before you have to look away, but by an actual emotional performance. An emotional  performance by Jean-Claude Van Damme, no less.

What we saw last night was probably one of the most honest performances we're likely to see at this Festival. Van Damme leaves every bit of himself onscreen. His entire life - every problem, every breakdown. You are privy to his confessional, and it all feels very surreal. Director   Mabrouk El Mechri described Van Damme's input into the film as having "his own music". Almost poetic, huh?

See, JCVD isn't a documentary and it isn't fiction. It's somewhere in between. People are comparing it to Being John Malkovitch, but I think it's much closer to Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation than anything else. Here, Van Damme plays - and is very aware of ? himself. He is placed in a highly surreal (and fictional) situation that hinges on his own celebrity. During all of this, we are privy to Van Damme's scenes that depict his innermost thoughts on his real life ? drug abuse, his custody battle, and the culture of celebrity and the way it can build you up only to tear you down.

Now on the surface, the oh-so-hard world of being a celebrity isn't exactly treading new ground - what with the Britneys, Lindsays, and Sarah Palins of the world harping on it at every opportunity. But unlike these (especially the latter), Van Damme is a sympathetic character. Easily the most striking moment of the film comes when these thoughts are communicated directly to the camera in a powerful soliloquy. This speech rocked me to my foundations. and I can already tell that it will earn a place in my top Midnight Madness moments of all time.  Who knew that the star of Lionheart and The Quest could actually ACT? Is it because it is easier to emote in one's native tongue? Is it genuine catharsis?  Seeing the man who jumpkicked Chong Li square in the face in Bloodsport reduced to tears is, in a way, like watching your father cry. This person that you thought to be invincible shows a vulnerability that makes you question your own strength.

What doubles the impact (pun COMPLETELY intended) of this and his other scenes is the fact that many of Van Damme's lines (including the soliloquy),  according to El Mechri, are ad-libbed. This is Van Damme speaking from the heart, as though he has been waiting for years to get these thoughts out (kinda hard to do in Universal Soldier 12). It was made very clear during the Q&A that Van Damme is completely genuine here, and the El Mechri allows him to go where he wants to. This is the mark of a great director. To allow one's actors to hear, and play, their own music.

photos by Ian Goring

You're gonna have to talk about it. People will light their cigarettes, look you in the eye and say, "What's it about?"

 

Oh. Well. Ahem. It's about loneliness in the information age. Sort of. Or what happens to someone when they try to suppress their inner pervert. How it seeps through the pores, smelling a lot worse than it would if you'd let it out in the first place.

 

Gross. Don't put them off their crantinis.

 

Okay, it's about love. How two people can be perfect for each other, but if one of them hates himself, it's not gonna work. And, of course, fear. Fear of revealing your unattractive parts. Or fear of what faulty programming is gonna cause you're entire infrastructure to collapse. Thus the Y2K thing...

 

Dude. It's supposed to be funny. Remember to mention that it's a COMEDY. Sounds like a grad thesis the way you talk about it. The guy sticks his dick in a computer for fuck's sake. It's absurd.

 

That's true. And people like that word. They like to pronounce it like it's spelled with a Z, "abzurd".

 

Maybe you don't KNOW what it's about. Ever think of that?

 

Yes, thank-you very much, I certainly have, but I can't very well go around saying that. I mean, maybe Harmony Korine can and he's just eccentric, but not me. Not at the Toronto International Film Festival. People are gonna want to know WHY. Why would I make my brother take off his clothes and "compulate" with a Dell? And commit it to film. And show people the film. And say, watch carefully, this MEANS something...

 

What if people think that you fuck computers?

 

That?s ridiculous. Did people think Lynne was into dead guys after she made Kissed? Okay, probably. But that's good publicity, right? Kinda punk rock. Balls out, so to speak. Maybe I should start a rumor that I?m a compuphile. I won't get laid, but I might get some Japanese press.

 

You know, it's possible that you're flipping out. Control Alt Delete is about a lot of things, and that's cool. Relax. Be yourself. Talk to them like you would someone at a bar, which is where you'll probably be. Let people into your young filmmaker neurosis. Hell, write the blog Jesse asked you to in that style. It'll be endearing.

 

Good idea.