VTIFF Program-Guide 2023 - Flipbook - Page 23
FILMS A TO Z
SCREAM OF MY BLOOD:
A GOGOL BORDELLO STORY
Directed by Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib
USA | 2023 | Documentary | 99 min | English
Film Source: Filmmakers
Sponsored by: Todd Lockwood
SHOWTIMES
SUNDAY, OCT 29 | 6 PM | FH
Humming with the over-the-top energy of its loquacious
frontman, Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story tells
the dizzying, picaresque tale of Eugene Hütz, a Ukrainian
raconteur turned globe-trotting rock star (friends like Steve
Albini and Iggy Pop show up to say good things). It’s an
immigrant story, and Hütz and other band members speak
in depth about the cultural roots of their music. The doc
wisely mixes live-music footage with Hutz’s astonishing
biography, which touches on the Chernobyl disaster, the
fall of the Soviet empire, emigration to America, teenage
years on the punk scene in Burlington, and the building of
his band, Gogol Bordello, on the Lower East Side of New
York City. Speaking of Burlington, Hutz recalls being taken
aback by the small-town vibe at first, but cites it as crucial
to his development. Vermont audiences will enjoy the
(brief) bits of archival footage of the 242 Main punk-rock
scene that thrived in Burlington in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But
the concert footage explains Hutz and the band’s appeal
more than words ever could – raucous, barely in control,
on the razor’s edge between euphoria and disaster…it’s
thrilling stuff. ~SM
SILVER HAZE
SLEEP
Directed by Sacha Polak
Netherland | 2023 | Fiction | 102 min | English
Directed by Jason Yu
Korea | 2023 | Fiction | 95 min |Korean w/subtitles
Film Source: Dark Star
Film Source: Magnolia
SHOWTIMES
SUNDAY, OCT 29 | 12:45 PM | FH
SHOWTIMES
THURSDAY, OCT 26 | 7:15 PM | BB
Nurse Franky (Vicky Knight) isn’t happy. A nurse who lives
with her large, working-class family, Franky is obsessed
with wreaking revenge on whoever set the fire that left her
scarred when she was a child. Now 23, she’s incapable of a
healthy relationship (as the one she shares with her
loser-boyfriend makes clear) and frustrated by her
dead-end life. Then she meets Florence (Esmé CreedMiles), a suicide survivor, and something clicks. The two of
them give it a shot, but they’re fighting their own demons
(as is every character in the film), so it isn’t a Hollywood
romance. This searing drama of damaged souls seeking
shelter marks the second collaboration between writer/
director Sasha Polak and non-actress Knight, on whose life
much of the story is based. ~SM
Jason Yu’s Sleep takes the familiar somnambulism motif
from multiple horror movies and slowly builds something
wholly original from it. Starting as a comedy, morphing into
a marital drama, then going somewhere else altogether,
Sleep is one wild ride. A husband (Lee Sun-kyun, the
wealthy young father in Parasite) and his pregnant wife
(Jung Yu-mi) live in their tiny apartment – you’ll become
very familiar with it – and things are fine until he starts
sleepwalking. And sleep eating. And doing ever-crazier
things in his sleep. The baby is born…then things get
weird. Yu, who worked as assistant director under Bong
Joon-Ho, loves to build tension and shift tones. Though
deeply frightening, this is one of the funnier horror movies
in recent years, and Yu is fearless, placing puppies, babies
and pregnant women directly in harm’s way. ~SM
***After the film: a performance by Eugene Hutz and
members of Gogol Bordello***
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