The Calgary International Film Festival

By CH Smith

Lineups are agony for me. I fidget and squirm, I sigh and tap my feet, I stare at my watch and burn myself with cigarettes and in most cases, my impatience leaves a vacant spot for some other poor sucker. I avoid lineups like I avoid math.


With one exception…


Give me a queue in front of a run-down indie movie house and I’ll stand there all night, as long as there’s a film to watch at the end of it.


The 2003 Calgary International Film Festival is in its seventh day and I’ve seen seven features and a series of Canadian shorts. Not a bad record I suppose, but it’s still only a fraction of what I was hoping to attend. There have been some minor disappointments, but the screens have mostly been filled with shining moments.


The majority of my disappointment comes from the documentary Breakfast With Hunter, which I was greatly anticipating.


Director Wayne Ewing follows pop culture icon Hunter S. Thompson as Thompson’s most famous book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, becomes a feature film over the course of a few years. The eccentric and always unpredictable Thompson provides the audience with many humorous scenes, but the film as a whole falters in its inability to connect these scenes as a story or make a point–some of Thompson’s mystique is lost in this film.


It’s more enjoyable to read Thompson describe himself and his antics than to watch them unfold. His ability to exaggerate is what makes him a great writer and it’s difficult to exaggerate on camera. In a way, we’re confronted by a cultural icon who puts his little shorts on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us.


Despite the lack of a story, there are lessons to be learned in Breakfast With Hunter. One being that with a strong liver and a high tolerance for mind-altering substances, living one’s life with reckless abandon is the only way to go. But since no one can really do it like Thompson can, we have to live vicariously through his work.


Many shining moments came in the first night at the Canadian Shorts 1 showing. There wasn’t one disappointing film among the nine screened and all received great support from the audience. Standouts were the very dark comedy Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner and the hilarious autobiographical tale of growing up a Saskatchewanite by Brian Stockton simply titled Saskatchewan. Canadians are world famous for producing great short films and this new crop continues that legacy.


My favorite film to date is the romantic comedy/mob movie American Cousins. The Plaza was chock-a-block on Saturday night where the film received rave reviews.


American Cousins is the story of Roberto; a quiet, good natured character who runs the family Italian ice cream/fish & chip shop in Glasgow. It takes the introduction of distant cousins from America into Roberto’s quiet life to spur him into action regarding his love for waitress and best friend Alice.


Having trouble with local Glasgow "hard men," Roberto is in danger of losing the family shop when help comes in the strangest form. Roberto’s cousins, who are in fact hardened New Jersey mobsters with razor-sharp senses of humour, come to their cousin’s side while hiding from Russian mobsters and show him the importance of strong family ties.


Romantic comedies are usually predictable, not funny and cliched. They sometimes even include two actors casually merging their first names in real life to show the world just how in love they are, really. American Cousins is original, hilarious and yes, it will give you a warm feeling at the end.