inephiles - the most socially acceptable philes of them all - exult: the 26th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) has arrived. With better-than-cable ticket pricing and plethoric selections, from surreal features to myriad documentaries, A.D.D.-placating shorts to international prestige pictures and everything in between, VIFF will draw nearly 200 000 viewers. From September 27th to October 12th the festival will lead to rampant truancy and cinematic debate. Throughout, Martiniboys.com will guide your flick picks, making sure you choose the right sticky floors for your eyeball pleasure.

YOU, THE LIVING
Thursday, Sep 27th 11:30am
Saturday, Sep 29th 6:20pm
Tuesday, Oct 2nd 3:00pm
Director: Roy Andersson
Director Roy Andersson (Songs from the Second Floor) wanted to make a film called You, the Dead, but James Joyce wrote a strongly worded posthumous letter. Sweden's occasional filmmaker and aging bed-headed flick fan hero has returned from a seven year hiatus with this humorous existential study. Using mostly non-actors to create a compelling contrast between his oft-surreal - and typically dark - world view and cinema verite acting, Andersson can be depressing but never boring. With Scandinavian obsession still going strong, a release from a provocative Swedish auteur can’t hurt Ikea sales. What? -S.T.



ATONEMENT
Thursday, September 27th - 7:00pm
Thursday, September 27th - 10:00pm
Saturday, September 29th - 10:00am
Director: Joe Wright
Prestige picture it-man, James McAvoy, and my favourite restraining order holder, Keira Knightley, play star-crossed lovers plagued not by ancient grudge but by a lying little sister. In this adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel, 13 year old Briony (Romola Garai) is an unintentional Damien, upper-class warrior, and would-be Andy Dufresne. Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) has a penchant for creating atmosphere with sylvan wide angles, so expect beauty in war and country estates. -S.T.



IMPORT/EXPORT
Thursday, September 27th - 9:30pm
Wednesday, October 3rd - 9:00pm
Thursday, October 4th - 11:30am
Director: Ulrich Seidl
The title of this film is misleading. Not once is there a single mention of Art Vandelay. There is some importing and exporting, although not of chips or diapers. Instead, the importing involves a nurse coming from the Ukraine to Vienna to start a new and better life. Meanwhile, a security guard from Vienna ‘exports’ to Ukraine for the very same reason. If you are familiar with Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s unflinching realism, you’ll know that neither character is likely to find a better life. Instead they find all sorts of obstacles and problems, many of which are nearly unbearable, even for the viewer. -R.T.



THE STONE ANGEL
Friday, September 28th - 7:00pm
Saturday, September 29th - 1:00pm
Tuesday, October 9th - 7:15pm
Director: Kari Skogland
I read The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence a few years ago and I’m quite intrigued to see how it will be handled as a film. The novel is told from the perspective of Hagar Shipley, a senior citizen who stubbornly resists moving out of her son’s house and into a nursing home. Simultaneously, through flashbacks a parallel narrative tells her life story. The film employs the same devices, altering them such as to make it more suitable as a motion picture. Ellen Burstyn stars as the struggling Hagar, a role that she is more than capable of playing to its full potential. If you’ve seen Requiem For a Dream, you’ll probably agree. That movie scared me straight. -R.T.