It's Only Make Believe (Norway 2013, Director Arild Østin Ommundsen) at Vancity Theatre tonight at 8:30 p.m. and Nov. 27 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Crime Fest series. For more information and a complete schedule of films visit viff.org/theatre/series/crime-fest. Rating: 8 (out of 10).
Arild Østin Ommundsen's It's Only Make Believe is an all too-real slice of Nordic noir.
His camera focuses on Jenny (played by Ommundsen's wife Silje Salomonsen) as she negotiates the good, the bad and the ugly in her life after spending a 10-year stint in prison for a burglary gone wrong.
Still a young woman, and with a 10-year-old daughter in tow, Jenny tries to start her life over again but the past keeps getting in the way.
Shot on location in Stavanger, Rogaland on the southwest coast of Norway, Ommundsen goes for a full-out Cape Fear vibe and in the process makes a superb thriller with a poetic touch.
It's Only Make Believe is screening tonight and Nov. 27 as part of Vancity Theatre's Crime Fest series featuring 16 films over the next week. Fourteen films on the schedule are Vancouver theatrical premieres. The other two are archival classics: Polanski's Chinatown (celebrating its 40th anniversary) and Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
Off the Cuff top 10 playlist: Crime Fest trailers
Over the next week Vancity Theatre hosts Crime Fest featuring 16 neo-noir films, 14 of which are Vancouver theatrical premieres (viff.org/theatre/series/crime-fest):
10. A Fuller Life (USA, 2013, Director: Samantha Fuller)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f41vkreGttc. Screening Saturday, Nov. 22 at 12:30 p.m. Samantha Fuller will be in attendance for a Q&A session after this screening.
9. A Hard Day (South Korea, 2014, Director: Kim Seong-hun)
Karmic retribution on a grand scale in this wickedly ingenious suspense thriller: https://www.youtube.com watch?v=pG8iJa4dYPc.
8. The Blue Room (La chambre bleu) (France, 2014, Director: Mathieu Amalric)
Adaptation of Georges Simenon novel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dla8N6vY93Q.
7. Bad Turn Worse (USA, 2014, Directors: Simon Hawkins, Zeke Hawkins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGIif7x2huI.
6. Child of God (USA, 2014, Director: James Franco)
Based on Cormac McCarthy’s third novel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSFEN87ZlQo.
5. Jackie Brown (USA, 1997, Director: Quentin Tarantino)
Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch — a sequel to The Switch (the basis for the new movie, Life of Crime, screening earlier the same evening at Vancity): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5pfU3Sd3Aw.
4. Life of Crime (USA, 2014, Director: Daniel Schechter)
An unofficial “pre-quel“ to Jackie Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnaI-w8h8Ls.
3. Cold in July (USA, 2014, Director: Jim Mickle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO63ccU6ce0.
2. It’s Only Make Believe (Norway, 2013, Director: Arild Østin Ommundsen)
A tour de force from Ommundsen. See review page 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LykTnCqBSag.
1. Chinatown (USA, 1974, Director: Roman Polanski)
40th anniversary screening of one of the most acclaimed Hollywood movies of the last half century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aifeXlnoqY.
