SNIFF notes 3: The films so far

Friday
“The Burial Society”: Nicholas Racz’s film tells the story of a little man (Rob LaBelle) who may (or may not) have stolen money from a front business for a money-laundering scheme. The perfect film festival experience - low-budget, largely no-name cast, non-Hollywood feel - it benefits from having an ending that is both satisfying and not at all predictable. And it’s strange, but LaBelle bears a strange resemblance to Roberto Benigni, though clearly a Benigni on Ritalin.

Today
“Celluloid Dreams”: Four directors with unique visions - Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the Brothers Quay, Guy Maddin and David Lynch - talk to Canadian filmmaker James Dunnison about what they do. It’s a fascinating look at the medium of film that, at 47 minutes, could easily have been twice as long.

“Pretty Boys”: This second Dunnison documentary gives a good look at the male side of the modeling industry. It centers on Kelly Kreye, a Canadian “skid” or street kid from Stony Plain, Alberta, who is just one of thousands of young men trying to break into international modeling. Though it feels choppy (Dunnison said it was cut down from two hours), it works whenever the refreshingly honest kid, Kelly, is on screen.

“Waydowntown”: Gary Burns’s film “Kitchen Party” played in the first SNIFF back in 1999. This film is easily the best made of the bunch so far, which shows what a talented director can do with a small ($700,000 Canadian) budget. It’s a dark comedy, which gets a bit far out at times, and its overall view of modern life as an exercise in frustration doesn’t go as nearly deep as it might. But it does play with your mind, and I mean that in a good way.