22 ~ Sunday, October 9, 1994 — North Shore News A fairy-tale film festival ALAS. LIKE Cinderella, many of the 250 films at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival have made their appearance and yanished, leaving only a glitter- ing reputation. By Kate Zimmerman News Reporter * With luck, they will come back to one of the city’s repertory cinemas. Keep your cyes peeled, and don’t miss the chance to stumble ‘upon some treasures yourself between now und Oct. 16, when the festival wraps. 1994 might weil be the year of The Year of the Dog. This unpre- dictable, moving Russian film took the Berlin Festival's Silver Bear award for its riveting performances and perceptive depiction of the rela- tionship between an ex-con (Igor Sklyar) and the older woman (inna Churikova) he seduces. A crime forces them to flee the city for a deceptively idyllic farm in the recently evacuated are a of Chernobyl, where their curious brand of love struggles to express itself in an atmosphere of gathering doom. The double bill of works by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki was one of the more quirky festival Selections. Kaurismaki’s Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana is a deliberately plod- ding, darkly humorous black-and- white road movie with four dour protagonists, set in the mid-"60s. A pair of loser Finns — one addicted to coffee, ane to vodka — set out to test the repairs on their stationwag- on. When a couple of Russian women ask them for a lift to the ferry so they can go home, the men can’t refuse despite the fact that the trip will take several days. Though the Finns and the Russians have litte language in common, strange affini- ties spring up between them. The director's Total Balalaika Show is an cddball live concert film featuring Russia’s squarer-than- square Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble sharing a stage in Helsinki with The Leningrad Cowboys, a band of rock musicians with torpe- do-shaped pompadours and ridicu- lously pointy boots. Though Kaurismaki’s is a unique and intriguing artistic sensibility, we get the joke too early in Total Balalaika and possibly a little too late in Take Care of Your Scar}. Together, the films have a somewhat draining effect; they are probably best seen separately. The Israeli film Dreams of Innocence (directed by Hasipor Shematchil Behalviya Shel Nachash) is an unusuaily crude entry in this festival. The subtitles are poorly written and at one point vanish com- pletely. Nevertheless, the story the movie tells is compelling. The film concerns itself with a rural Israeli family which h begins to — SCALLIND'S, Come experience our new dinner menu... pasta night Tuesday een : _ Seniors are special every day 15% off 4 157 Chadwick, North Van. (above seabus terminal) Reservations | Parking at Impark Across the Lane 987-4610 dissolve just as son Benjamin is turning 13. He and his sister Margalit are beginning to suspect that their father, a grandiose ne’er- do-well who likes to be called - Monsieur Robert, is not the heroic adventurer he pretends to be. His actions force them to come of age in a particularly painful fashion. Directed by Tsui Hark, Hong Kong’s Green Snake is an clegant- looking example of the sword-and- - sorcery action genre. Unfortunately, it suffers from a silly story and ludi- crous dialogue. Set in the Southern Sung Dynasty, this movie details the adventures Of a couple of snakes who have taken the form of beautiful sisters (Maggie Cheung and Joey Wang). While a pompous Buddhist monk tries to rid the world of such dangerous non-humans (“Now my charm will clean ail evil,” he says at one point), the pair rely on their: prodigious sexual powers to entice men. Definitely midnight fare for these who crave erotic dreams. Festival programs are available at the Ridge, the Caprice, the Holly- wood, the Vogue, Pacific Cinema- theque and Vancouver Centre. Come To A Performe jurgen Gothe li Rave About. | " on— C chanted Enjoy a delicious salmon dinner in the Aquariums galleries and dance to the music of the “Amazing Pocket Fishermen” at a fund-raising party to help the conservation efforts of your Vancouver Aquarium. jurg en Gothe And Disk Drive, Live, Monday October 17. Join the CBC’s most eclectic connoisseur for a delightful evening of music. - He'll introduce the VSO, conducted by it’s Resident Conductor, Clyde Mitcheil. And showcase an entrancing group of Canadian talent. It includes Talk of the Town soprano Liping Zhang, local tidd!er Daniel Lapp, and the VSO’s own percussion ‘wizard, John Rudolph. As always with Jurgen Gothe, the music will range from zany, to folksy, to full tilt opera. Be there, 8:00 pm at the Orpheum, to enjoy this thoroughly entertaining and unusual evening live. Just call for tickets today. VANCOUVER S¥ MPHONY Saturday, October 15, 1991-7p.m. to Midnight at the Vancouver Aquarium. Performing The Greatest Hits in iene for a years There will ales be “Water Aaytie™ entertain at with aedntes Lon and Linda Mandrake and tote of deval potses, You nuit helo ‘wetne af age or over te alten, S40 per peru ~ S70 per cnple. For tickets comact CBO Community Bos Oftice at 280-2801 earls Vancouver @ Aquarium & Ciavat hand, Circae prope: Salmon dinner sponsored by Earls Restaurants and bntercan Resources 15 Coffee by Starhucks Coffee Company. 7 fae He BTV RG Od AY