VIFF: Everything's Gone Green

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Filed in VIFF 2006
October 7, 2006

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People have been calling this "Douglas Coupland's love letter to Vancouver" and going on and on about how this quirky film represents Vancouver in all ways. Well, that's what I was hearing from Toronto residents in the aftermath of the Toronto International Film Festival. As someone who has lived in Vancouver for the past decade, I'm not sure "love letter" is really appropriate.

The film as a whole is well photographed, well written, and generally well put together. The cast is decent, with leads Paulo Costanzo (TV sitcom Joey) and Steph Song (Godiva's) performing very well together.

I found the movie to be enjoyable and amusing, but rather shallow. Not unlike the pop culture that Coupland is obsessed with, this movie is very much pop culture; shiny, glossy, sweet, and not very nutritious. I'm not sure how this film will play to people from outside Vancouver; once the Vancouver real estate and pot jokes are stripped away, is there anything left?

Regardless, I'd watch it again.

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Ok, finally saw this. While i was stoked to finally see a movie ive always envisioned with our scenery and backdrop, i agree that it was "enjoyable and amusing, but rather shallow." Maybe not that shallow but i guess the disappointing part may be that all the ramblings and jaded comments about vancity life dont really lead anywhere - the ending seems like too easy an ending. But, not too many complaints, im so glad that this movie is on the map and i so enjoyed seeing the dude bike to work with the seawall and everything in the backdrop.

as an asian though, i have a few issues (questions, not rages) about the asian aspects of the flick. i do realize not every element of a movie deems to represent every reality of life but still wondering why coupland chose the yakuza to be involved with the golf courses (are they in real life?), why song's character's name was "ming" (how many chinese people - immigrants or canadian born have you met that go by their chinese names?) and her comment about dating a white dude to escape the grips of her overbearing chinese dad (in my experience, asian girls do start dating white dudes from their mid to late 20s but its more for a change from the asian scene in general, ive never ever heard a girl say it was to get away from their dad).

i know that stuff isnt really the heart of the movie and again, i know it doesnt have to represent the general ethnic vibe of the city, it could be just coupland's personal story or whatever but as such a big movie about vancouver, i think he missed the mark somewhat on that or perhaps missed the opportunity to be a little sharper since the white guy/asian girl thing is quite common and talked about quite a bit (for us, anyhow).

i thought costanzo and song did have good chemistry together but their lines seemed kinda hokey or something about it seemed too forced or something. both had pretty good individual charisma on their own too. song's boyfriend was pretty funny/good.

surprised there hasnt been another blog on this since it came out? would love to hear more thoughts on the flick.

(and not sure why this wont appear in paragraphs, oh, well..)

Posted by: BOON at May 8, 2007 11:14 AM | Quote Comment