movie reviews

After a decade of covering documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival (29 September – 14 October), I've come to rely on certain staples. Each year, filmmakers tackle the issue of oil dependency with a sharp focus on the ecological and humanitarian travesty of the tar sands; wrestle with the vexed question of clean, green energy for all; fret about the downward spiral of biodiversity; and seek spiritual solace from the chaotic materialism of mainstream western lifestyles. All these are covered in one shape or other in the five films (one a drama) I've seen so far.

I just caught Ron Mann's Grass, his manifesto for legalising pot. Okay, so I'm a little late to the party. It originally came out in 1999. Drug laws in North America might have eased a little since then, and the hysteria surrounding “reefer madness” that informed early US drug policy looks even more hilarious through the telescope of time a decade on. But this cheeky, pop history of pot is still relevant, and entertaining as it cruises through significant cultural and political landmarks in stoner history from Cheech and Chong to George Bush Snr.

Screenwriter-director Sylvain Chomet chose to go the old-school route when he adapted French comedy legend Jacques Tati's previously unmade script into an animated feature.

The face of the financial crisis has taken many forms, from people lining up outside banks desperate to get at their savings, to the dilapidation of newly built suburban homes that have been foreclosed on. Inside Job, a punch-packing documentary by San Francisco based Charles Ferguson, the director who previously picked through the wreckage of US Iraq policy in No End In Sight, goes straight to the top.

It seems more like a decade than a year since VIFF (30 September-15 October) last came round. Make that two decades. With Copenhagen's failure fast becoming a dot in the rear view mirror, one filmmaker has returned to footage from the first “Earth Summit” in Rio for inspiration.