Every year my movie loving dad, Streaming Sister and I go on a daddy daughter trip to a film festival. This idea was hatched over our collective love of movies, which for decades meant saving up certain blockbusters so that we could enjoy them together on the big screen when we saw each other at Christmas or other times throughout the year. The daddy daughter film festival trip started out innocently when my dad decided to check out Sundance Film Festival (long before I lived in Utah) and it has evolved from there.
Now we look forward to this time together each year by first selecting the film festival and then researching the films when the are announced and then preparing by getting to know the ins and outs of each festival, how they operate, the different venues, the tricks of the trade for getting to see the most films, listen to the best talks, have the most celebrity sightings and know where the best snacks are.
This year was officially our first film festival where we had to pull out the passports (after having to miss Toronto due to Covid), and we really loved the Vancouver International Film Festival. Great city and great film selection! Let's Babble about our experience.
We each selected 10 films to watch over three days, most of which were together, but Streaming Sister did veer out on her own to see a couple she was passionate about. Below is our real review of each. You can click on each title to visit the VIFF website which has excellent descriptions, film origin and actor information and more.
In a not so distant future, there is a reality where in order to save the planet, "death is everyone's job", with 50-year-olds taking the sacrifice, while teenage artists need to document it.
Our Post Film Notes:
Brooke and Tiffany gave 4 out of 5 stars.
Dad gave 3 stars and was accurate
Good movie, unique topic- needed more detail in areas and expanded in areas that could’ve been cut.
Both lead actors were here and Brooke asked Q&A about if perspective on death changed.
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Won the palm d’or at Cannes
Brooke and Tiffany gave 5 stars. Dad gave 4.
All were exhausted from traveling and worried about falling asleep, but no one did.
A strong combination of action, humor and drama that kept us enthralled.
One of the best film festival films we’ve watched
The day after we watched it, it was on IMDb for being highlighted at the NYC film festival.
While at this film festival this same film is be highlighted at the New York Film Festival.
Spoiler alert- this was Tiffany and Brooke's overall favorite movie at VIFF! Who knew we would love a cinderella story about a sex worker so much?!
After undergoing facial-reconstructive surgery, Edward becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
The music was very representative of the overall feeling with the film, unsettling, disturbing, uneasy, ill, etc.
Tiffany gave it a 3 out 5, dad gave it a 2 and Brooke didn’t decide and marked both a 2&3 so they could pick.
Brooke- I do not feel right after this movie. Between ripping off his face, the rat falling out of the ceiling, a cockroach in his coffee, lots of blood and goo and bouncy camera angles- I am not okay. I watched a good portion of the movie hiding in my scarf and leaning into Tiffany. It was an interesting concept.
Michael Shannon played a great minor character.
Main take away was the disfigured person who was comfortable with himself got everything the main character wanted who was uncomfortable in his skin.
A dedicated family man becomes obsessed with saving the lives of the car accident victims on the sharp corner in front of his house - an obsession that could cost him everything.
Tiffany gave it a 4 out of 5, although later thought maybe it should’ve been a 3.
Brooke gave a 4 and dad gave a 5!!
Dad asked a question about the ending and how it could be interpreted many different ways, and curious if the Director had a certain idea of where he wanted it to go. He ended up saying that there were other scenes that had been deleted that they showed in Toronto, but decided to take out to leave to our interpretation.
They had to build that house along the road and then tore it down and gave the lumber to someone to build a house along the ocean.
An insightful exploration of the groundbreaking Canadian band's rise, impact, and enduring influence, capturing their essence and cultural significance
Tiffany only, made it right in time from another film!
Tiffany gave it a 4 and will watch the final two episodes on Amazon Prime.
Q&A was all from their die hard fans with sobbing and thanking them for the gift of their stories!
People brought merch for them to sign.
Standing ovation before it even started
A desperate filmmaker is seized by inspiration when he and his girlfriend adopt a traumatized rescue dog.
Brooke gave it a 2 and Dad gave it a 3. Tiffany saw separately and also gave it a 3.
Self made film by current husband and wife, not married when they made it, but were at the film and have since gotten married.
Basically a reincarnation of what actually happens in their life about getting a dog.
Loved the dialogue and the two main actors
Julie is a star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club's players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet.
Brooke rates a 5, Papa rates a 4.
This was the most “real” film yet. Main actress was great. Very strong and very good tennis player. But also a realistic teenager that did not want to talk about what the tennis coach did to her.
We were enthralled in the story even with subtitles.
Really great cinematography.
In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha's routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.
Tiffany only, gave a 4 due to how much she learned
Made her never want to go to India or Mumbai
Three women facing different life changing moments
Anthony Pedone’s film documents an extraordinary response to an appalling American injustice. In 2004, up-and-coming music entrepreneur Weldon Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. His crime? Three marijuana sales, totalling $350, to an informer. Angelos’s case became a cause célèbre, attracting rare cross-partisan support: not only did the judge and prosecutor call for his release, but so did powerful conservatives such as Charles Koch. With help from his music industry associates, including Snoop Dogg, Angelos fought long and hard for his freedom, which was only granted after more than a decade.
Very good film. Papa gives a 4 and Brooke gives a 3. Tiffany gave it a 5
Very educational on the criminal justice system and the inequities within it.
Tiffany never thought a movie could make her appreciate Ivanka Trump, but it did!
So refreshing to see everyone work together for a horrible injustice.
Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences.
Brooke and Dad, both gave a 5!
We aren’t sure what to feel afterwards, but Brooke feels peace and love and hope and Papa also feels danger and unsettledness and change and and unawareness.
Absolutely amazing animation, especially the water and the rain and the sky.
Brooke and I asked several people what they thought of the film and what the message was; “We killed the planet, but the cat’s ok”, “Global climate change”, “I don’t know but it was beautiful”, etc.
When Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church.
Tiffany and Papa gave it a 5, Brooke gave it a 4 and almost did a 3!
Great twists, cast and cinematography. Music too loud.
Great cast and interesting story.
Copenhagen 1919: A young worker finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency. A strong connection grows but her world shatters when she stumbles on the shocking truth behind her work.
Disturbing.
Brooke and Papa gave a 1 and Tiffany gave a 2
Film was based on a true story following WW2, where a lady was a baby killer. She was “helping” women who gave birth but couldn’t take care of their babies.
Papa felt miserable afterwards. Ill. The characters were over done and the music was overly depressing.
It is a horrible story and it was a tough one to end the film festival on.
Brooke knew from the title alone she was not going to love this one.
Below is a look at our overall ranking for the 10 films we each watched during VIFF. As you can see #1 for both Tiffany and Brooke was Anora, while Papa's was Conclave. We were aligned on the three bottom films with Girl with the Needle coming in 10th, A Different Man coming in 9th, and Heirloom coming in at #8.
We hope you get a chance to enjoy some of these films as well as others that we could not fit into our schedules at VIFF!
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