Netflix Vacation

I'm one of the few people in the world who has almost no experience with Netflix. Since I have a collection of over 1500 films on blu-ray alone, i don't usually feel the need to spend a monthly fee to have access to more films. It's hard enough to find time to watch the ones i own. I'm also not a huge fan of streaming. I like to own a physical copy of something. Some of the physical copies of films in my collection are gorgeous works if art, even before you put the disc in the player. I also don't want my film collection to change based on the whims of a company and it's licensing rights. Not to mention if i was going to go down the streaming road, I'd be a Hulu guy, since they have over 800 films streaming from The Criterion Collection.

So I'm not a Netflix guy.

But I'm on vacation, and our Air B&B on the lake here in Ithaca doesn't have cable, but *does* have usable Netflix. I'm still not a fan, especially of it's choices or search functionality. Actually maybe it's choices are excellent, but i just can't tell because i can't find any of the good stuff. We did find a few things to watch however.

First up was the documentary The Search For General Tso. We spend most of our vacations seeking out good food, so it makes sense that when it came time to watch a documentary, it was one about food. The Search For General Tso is just what it sounds like, a quest to find out the roots of America's most popular Chinese Restaurant menu item. A fun journey if you like food and ever wondered if General Tso was a real person, and if so, how much did he like chicken.

Next up was Hector and The Search For Happiness, the film adaptation of the book above. It's a generally feel good movie about a psychiatrist's journey to try and find out what makes people (and himself) happy. I enjoyed it, and was glad that it was a R-rated film. It would have felt a little too hokey and feel good for my tastes without the slight edge the rating provided. It also stars Simon Pegg, who's a bit of a guilty pleasure actor for me.

I still won't be getting Netflix anytime soon, even if it *is* currently offering Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows to stream.

Koreeda!

I felt lucky enough that I was getting a chance to see the North American premiere of Hirokazu Koreeda's latest film Our Little Sister. I didn't know that he'd be there as well to introduce the film and give a small Q&A session afterwards. As you can see, i even got to snag a quick photo op with him afterwards.

The movie was tremendous, reminding me a bit of his Excellent Stll Walking. While his style of filmmaking is much different, if there is any director that kids able to continue the spirit of Yasujiro Ozu's Japanese family dramas, It's Koreeda. There are a few of his films that have yet to find their way into my collection, but I'll be rectifying that soon!

TIFF!

One of the perks of living where i do is being able to make my way each year to The Toronto International Film Festival. It's a great way to see movies that i might otherwise not get to see for a long time (if ever). In the past I've gotten to see such great films as The Drop, Still The Water, The World of Kanako, and even the North American premiere of Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. Sometimes you see things like The Drop, which was in theatres locally barely a month after TIFF. Other films like Still the Water, still haven't been released anywhere in the world with English subtitles, so I feel super lucky that i got to see it.

This year I got tickets to 4 films, and hopefully I'll be able to make all the showings. First up is tomorrow where i have a ticket to see Hirokazu Koreeda's latest film Our Little Sister. Koreeda's films have sadly not found their way to North America often enough, or with enough care. The Criterion Collection released the excellent Still Walking, but films like Like Father, Like Son just end up getting a bare bones DVD only release in states. A lot of his other films can only be acquired as DVD only releases from other territories. Hopefully this trend reverses sooner rather than later.

On Monday night i hope to see a double feature, including Sion Sono's Whispering Star. This might be the film I'm most excited about as Sono is the type of director who can pull off almost any genre of film, and is always able to surprise you. Some of his films I love, and others I'm much cooler on, but I'm always glad I've watched another of his films. There can never be too many Sion Sono films in my collection (and considering he's already directed 7 films in 2015, it will be a long time before i have them all).

Rounding out my Monday night is a super interesting looking film called Imbisibol about undocumented Filipino workers in Japan working jobs under the table.

My final film of the festival will be next Sunday as i start my vacation. Naomi Kawase's latest, An. Every time i read a review of a Kawase film at a film festival it always gets ripped about, but I've enjoyed both films (Still The Water, and The Mourning Forest) that I've seen by her. I guess no likes her films except me and the festival programmers?