Every week, Establishing Shots offers some further enlightenment on the films that will be screening in-cinema at the VIFF Centre and online through VIFF Connect.
Obayashi’s Tragedies of Youth trilogy: Casting Blossoms to the Sky, Seven Weeks and Hanagatami
“[Obayashi] will always be remembered first and foremost for House (Hausu), the 1977 cult favorite that Chuck Stephens has called ‘a modern masterpiece of le cinéma du WTF?!‘ But Obayashi made films throughout his long life…” “Beyond House” by Criterion’s David Hudson
“What matters is to be concerned about how long your will can continue to be felt even to a few people beyond your death.” Obayashi in an interview with MUBI Notebook’s Aiko Masubuchi
“Nobuhiko Obayashi was a director often dismissed as someone whose works are ‘ultimately less than meets the eye.’ The purpose of this piece is to argue otherwise. On the contrary, Obayashi’s experimental aesthetics often served to illuminate the recurring themes of his works… He directed roughly 43 features, 10 shorts, and, by his own estimate, 2000 television commercials. Despite such eclecticism, each of his works remains, in some form, distinctly an ‘Obayashi’ film.” Hal Young’s Great Directors profile for Senses of Cinema
Antigone
“Deraspe, acting as her own cinematographer, has an airy, fluid visual sense that lends dynamism even to sterile courtroom scenes, and that finds a riveting point of focus in Ricci’s light-eyed, steady gaze… It’s a testament to Deraspe’s intelligent writing and again to Ricci’s superb, pugnacious yet vulnerable performance that such an internalized, abstract tragedy can be as moving as it is.” Jessica Kiang, Variety
“Deraspe earns kudos for making a 2,500-year-old play feel vital, contemporary and cinematic.” Boyd Van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter
“To me, it’s still the story of a young woman negotiating with authority, because what she firmly believes in — her own personal laws — are not the laws written by man.” Montreal Gazette’s T’Cha Dunlevy interviews Sophie Deraspe
Our VIFF+ members are currently enjoying free access to more than 30 films and talks on VIFF Connect. Joining the collection this week are Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis’ White Lie and Aisling Chin-Yee’s The Rest of Us. Memberships start at only $12 a month.
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