Innocence Conquers Montreal

The Montreal World Film Festival had its first revelation in competition on Wednesday: Innocence, by prolific Aussie-based auteur Paul Cox. A moving tale of rediscovered love by elderly people who meet again after forty years, the film instantly became the front runner for the competition's top award. At a time when pushing the cinematic envelope means more sex and violence (as in the lurid French exploitation film à scandale Baise-moi), Cox dares to break one of the real taboos of the film industry: making an intelligent film about old age, love, and death. Roger Ebert, who caught the flick at a private screening at the Cannes market in May, declared it the most impressive film of the whole event, and he was right.

The competition unveiled another gem on Thursday: The Policewoman, by young German director Andreas Dresen, a forceful and tender portrait of the life of a woman cop on the beat. The film, which had received a dismissive review by Variety veteran Derek Elley following its screening at the Munich Fest this summer, had the Montreal local French-language critics raving, which augurs well for its international career. With a German film shining, famed Teutonic director Volker Schlondorff could not have have chosen a better moment to visit the fest, for the North American preem of The Legends of Rita, his first German-language film in 19 years, as well as an homage to the revitalized Babelsberg studio, which has four recent productions screening in Montreal. Addressing a sold-out crowd in impeccable French and English, Schlondorff confessed a soft spot for the loyalty to his films displayed by Canadian audiences.

The other mid-week stunner, an international premiere in the World Cinema section, was Brat 2 (Brother, the sequel), from Russia. A hugely entertaining mafia yarn set in Moscow and Chicago, featuring a cameo by hockey star Darius Kasparaitis, this extremely witty film surprises above all with its unabashed nationalist spirit. Ten years after perestroika equated freedom and capitalism with a Western El Dorado, the film's characters, centered around Russia's current movie stud Sergei Bodrov Jr., sneer at America, ridicule the Ukrainians (who had the gall to declare independence from the Soviet Union, and thereby from Russia, when communism collapsed), and have unpolilitically correct things to say about African Americans. And yet, far from being primitive and propagandistic, the film, in a shoot-them-up genre, gives us a rather disturbing, yet authentic, insight into Russian youth perceptions. The soundtrack is chock-full of Russian rock hits and it is a blast.

Brat 2 may very well have caught the fancy of New York director James Gray, a son of Russian immigrants, whose first film, Little Odessa, was set in the bustling Brooklyn Russian neighbourhood Brighton Beach. Gray was among the mid-week guests of honor on hand to promote his latest, the Cannes competion film The Yards, shown as part of the Worlds Great section. Action actor Jamie Foxx, revealed by Any Given Sunday, also landed in fest territory for the world preem of Bait. Classy world cinema stars Gong Li, Daniel Auteuil, Liv Ullman and Emir Kusturica are expected over the weekend.

In competition, France's Sade and Iran's Smell of Camphor, both in great demand in September festivals following their Montreal debut, received okay, but not ecstatic kudos. Canada's L'invention de l'amour, Chili's Coronation, and Morocco's Ali Zaoua were disappointments. Among the premieres off competition, France's Stand by and the Netherlands' Total Loss have been generating strong buzz. Ditto for Japan's Hysteric and India's Protection. So many films to see, so little time to sleep!

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Dominique Arel