Up the Yangtze *
Yung Chang, 2008
Canada/China
@ Varsity Theater

The basic details of life depicted here are all impressive but the filmmaking is not so much. Maybe I'd feel differently a second time around, but the tone is kind of glib when focusing on the "characters," kind of like it's a reality show based around families and their children trying to win a decent life above the future level of the river. We get no facts beyond that of the ever-present 175m signs. It's weird that I've read so few comparisons to Still Life which contrasts this film in so many intresting ways.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

The Tracey Fragments *
Bruce McDonald, 2008
Canada
@ Northwest Film Forum

Solid, and the fragmentation of the screen pretty much worked for me, although not quite like it did for Dan Sallitt. Another viewing might reveal more.

See also: IMDb | Dan Sallitt review

Continental, or A Film without Guns **
Stephane Lafleur, 2008
Canada
@ Pacific Place

A more wistful, slightly less fanciful, French-Canadian version of Me and You and Everyone We Know.

See also: IMDb

Eastern Promises ***
David Cronenberg, 2007
UK/Canada/US
@ Lincoln Square

Having seen this immediately after Great World of Sound, I arrived during the first trailer and the place was utterly packed. I thought I was going to have to sit directly underneath the screen, but realized even standing at the back would be better. I eventually headed up to the balcony to sit pretty far to the right.

At least on first viewing, this was my favorite Cronenberg movie. I suppose some knowledge of what to expect helped during the gruesome violence, which was not out of place for a director so focused on the body--and its deformation. Appropriate then that the story centers around the infant child (viewed at a very early, gooey stage) of a dead mother and a graphically bloody birth.

I like how Cronenberg leaves so much unfinished here; it's makes for a very rich experience to walk away with so many mysteries unsolved, still running around in your head.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic