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Notes from MontrealPosted 10 September 1999 Amidst some
rather pointless controversy surrounding the art-house nature of the programming
and whispers of change in the administration, the 23rd edition of the
Montreal World Film Festival got off to a fine start Friday evening (27 August)
with the opening night presentation of Patricia Rozema’s Mansfield Park.
While critics were tepid towards Rozema’s often uneasy mix of Jane Austen and
postmodern issues, it turned out to be the perfect movie for what needs to be
accomplished on an opening night: the film is engaging without being taxing,
pretty without being cluttered and edgy without being particularly adventurous. And therein lies the crisis of identity between what this
festival is and what critics want it to be. The roster of movies here numbers
307 from 68 countries, and over the nine days of screenings at a half-dozen
cinemas and multiplexes strung along the downtown’s Sainte-Catherine it is
possible to see fare as varied as politically-tinged chamber dramas from Romania
(Face to Face) and Denzel Washington movies from Hollywood
(The Bone Collector). Yet for better or for worse
Montreal’s lot in the life of high-profile festivals is that of art over
commerce. Naturally, some media types want more hype and seem dissatisfied that
the best the festival can offer in terms of personal appearances is Gerard
Depardieu (co-director, The Bridge), Carlos Saura (director, Goya
in Bordeaux), Ettore Scola (director, The Dinner)
and others. Yet one colleague summed it up a different way: “this is a perfect
festival,” he explained, for those who want to explore the byways of world
cinema.” Savvy programmers know this, so while long-time festival director
Serge Losique is the target of backbiting speculation about a shake-up in the
staff, the irony is that he’s providing the very kind of service that insiders
appreciate and armchair quarterbacks misunderstand. To do that the savvy patron must explore the 10 distinct
sections of the festival, ranging from the 19 features in the official
competition (down from 24 last year) to a sidebar of student work. World Greats
offers 25 new movies from established talents, while World Cinema: Reflections
of Our Time surveys global production as a whole. Cinema of Tomorrow: New Trends
is exactly that, and there are special sections devoted to movies from Latin
America and Ireland. The Panorama Canada section gathers local productions into
an exclusive showcase. There’s a separate sidebar devoted to Films for
Television, and the tributes include kudos to Richard Dreyfuss, Canadian
distribbery Cinepix and “The Disney Century.” Attendances in the first half of the opening weekend have
been strong, with audiences jamming the Complex Desjardins screens in the
shopping mall attached to the main fest headquarters Hotel Wyndham and the
Cinema Parisien multiplex downtown. For accredited guests the procedure is
simplicity itself, as waving an oversized laminated badge gets one in to any
venue at any time. And the cinemas themselves seem to be up to the challenge,
with clean sightlines, crisp sound and a lack of technical glitches and program
changes thus far. As this is written Philip Noyce’s adaptation of the popular American thriller The Bone Collector is about to be unveiled at one of the larger halls here. Yet this correspondent will spend the day at new movies from Germany, Croatia, Ireland and France. In the end, it is the ability of a festival to offer the moviegoer either course of action that is the true measure of such an event in these times of commercial pressures and artistic obligations.
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