Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night! Welcome to the UBC Film Society’s brand new blog, The B-roll! My name is Gen, your writer, and I am stoked to be supplying you with a bi-monthly dose of posts and updates.
Here are the main sections that will be included in the blog:
Reviews: Posts where I will write a casual review of a film of my choosing and share some thoughts and reflections as a regular viewer.
Recs from the Execs: A curation of films presented by the rest of our executive team. Through these posts, you will get an inside look into our exec team’s taste in movies and get a few movie recommendations.
To give all the readers at home a taste of what’s to come, we’ll begin the first post with a few of the executive members’ favorite films. A sister post introducing Recs from the Execs for new film fans will be uploaded later on in the month.
Juliette Leach is our Co-chairperson. She iterated the struggles of picking just one favorite film but her current pick is Mina Shum’s Double Happiness (1994). When asked why, she said, “I think the film tells an important story but is still very fun to watch, which is what I hope to achieve with the films I make. I love that the film’s about dreams and identity and family and finding happiness, I love its camera angles and its colors, I love that it’s the 90s, I love that it’s punk and I love that it’s set in Vancouver!”
Treasurer Simon Lam said that his favorite movie is A Ghost Story (2017) because of the costuming and music.
Michael Dang, our Film Liason, had a lot of movies on his list. He shared that “Anyone who has talked to me for more than 15 minutes knows that Oscar Isaac is my guy so Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) I'd say must be up there. Edward Yang's film Yi Yi (2000) was the quickest, most enjoyable, and beautiful three-hour experience. Grey Gardens (1975) always feels like home.”
Our Bookings Manager, Aaron Penner, summarized his choice film as “an existential horror movie about a guy named Caden Cotard creating a play that is literally larger than his life.” His pick, Synecdoche, New York (2008), “explores life as a performance, true identity, and ignorance of death. There are so many layers, double meanings, and reincorporation, it becomes impossible to distinguish what’s in the film from what’s in your head, just as Caden’s play becomes harder to differentiate from his life.”
Social Coordinator Taylor Speyer added onto Juliette’s struggle of narrowing a favorite but after contemplating she named Annie Hall (1977). She states that “the way Woody Allen balances humor with deeper themes is unbeatable.”
Saniya Joshi, our Promotions Manager, mentioned that while she did not have an all-time favorite, a film she really enjoyed was Knives Out (2019). She “loved how the movie balanced mystery and comedy” and the shocking plot twists. Saniya also mentioned that she’s a fan of rewatching iconic rom-coms from the 2000s like many others.
Jin Lee, our tech wiz handling Computer Operations said that Minari (2020) instantly became one of her favorites. As a Korean immigrant, she expressed that “getting to see so much of [her] experiences on screen made Minari so much more special. She commented on “the subtle yet specific ways in which the family communicated with one another, like always being told to walk not run, and forced to drink muddy-looking herbal medicine” and how that “all really added up to love.”
I hope that some of you can find a new favorite from the execs’ recommendations and in case you’d like to come back to this post in the future, here’s a shortlist of all the movies named!
Double Happiness (1994)
A Ghost Story (2017)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Yi Yi (2000)
Grey Gardens (1975)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Annie Hall (1977)
Knives Out (2019)
Minari (2020)
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you in the next cut of The B-roll.
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