The Epoch Times: Montreal New Cinema Film Festival (part 1)

1. GOING HOME: Director Atom Egoyan and his wife
actress Arsinee Khanjian at the Toronto International
Film Festival gala screening of the film 'Where the
Truth Lies'' in 2005. His latest film, "Citadel," marks a
bittersweet travelogue cum homecoming of his native
Lebanon. (Donald Weber/Getty Images)
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Stories Silly and Serious: Montreal Film Festival
Film Reviews from the Montreal Festival of New Cinema
By Frederic Eger
Special to The Epoch Times
Nov 03, 2006
[ Editors' Note: ] According to its publicity
material, the Montreal Festival of New Cinema
held in October each year presents a distinctly
avant-garde focus. Viewers will watch film and
video, installations, websites and performances
with special emphasis on digital work. The
festival has four main sections�Feature Length
Film and Video, Short and Medium Length Film
and Video, New Media, and Digital Cinema.
Reviewer Frederic Eger has selected his top
picks to critique.
Linda Linda Linda
Drummer Kyoto (Aki Maeda), guitarist Kei (Yu
Kashii) and bassist Nozumi (Shiori Sekine) must
recruit a new lead singer on short notice for the
high-school rock festival. A Korean exchange
student, Son (Doona Bae), is a last-minute pick
even though her Japanese is not perfect. They
rehearse, and rehearse, and rehearse night and
day until the singer starts singing correctly in
Japanese.
Almost oversleeping in the rehearsal room
before the concert, the exhausted/burnt-out
quartet nearly misses its fifteen minutes of
fame at this "so-important-end-of-term-rock-
festival." In a pouring rain, they make it to the
concert at the last minute�everything is last
minute in this film!�and the crowd goes wildly
hysterical to the title song�one could assume some inspirational song of the director's teenage years. The
one good thing about Linda Linda Linda is the cinematography. But besides that... Um...
According to some sources, Nobuhiro Yamashita made his reputation directing comedies. This film was an
attempt at mainstream Japanese film but ends up as a time-consuming exercise about uninteresting
characters. Why producers spent their money on a film with no story... write to me if you have the
answer. With effort, this reviewer stayed until the end. I noted that some in the Asian audience laughed
during scenes. Must have been a private joke because I didn't get it.
Linda Linda Linda
Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita
With Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii, Shiori Sekine & Doona Bae
Runtime: 114 min
******
The Citadel
Atom Egoyan selected the Montreal New Cinema Festival to present what could have just been some home
video footage taken from his private library. He calls it a documentary, "a journal, an essay." No matter
what it is, Atom Egoyan and his wife, Arsinee Khanjian, were there to introduce their film and host a Q&A
with an audience of festival attendees.
After 28 years of living in Canada, Mr. Egoyan and his wife travelled to Lebanon's West Beirut where he
and his wife, both Armenian Christians, grew up. Mr. Egoyan declares the resulting video
footage/chronicle to be a gift to his son about the war-torn country he emigrated from.
With a tremendous sense of humor and irony, Mr. Egoyan plays tour guide as if he were reporting on the
Tour de France. We discover a modest family house where spirituality and Christian symbols are part of
everyday life.
When driving from East Beirut populated by mostly Christians to West Beirut populated by Muslims, Mr.
Egoyan reflects on the "cult" of suicide bombers whose photographs hang on pillars throughout a city
whose residents consider themselves direct descendants of the Phoenicians.
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2. By producing such a documentary, Atom Egoyan could have easily fallen into the pitfall of producing a
film that declares "Look how bad these Israelis are!" On the contrary, he explains the why and the how his
and his wife's family�like any family�have suffered from the absurdity of war. A beautiful film.
The Citadel
Written, Directed & Produced by Atom Egoyan
With Atom Egoyan (Himself), Arsin�e Khanjian (Herself)
Runtime: 93 min
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The Epoch Times | Stories Silly and Serious: Montreal Film Festival http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-11-3/47745.html
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