#    a    b    c    d    e    f    g    h    i    j    k    l    m    n    o    p    q    r    s    t    u    v    w    x    y    z see:v VAGABOND (aka SANS TOIT NI LOI). Agnes Varda, 1985. 105min. A girl wanders wantonly into a town, into people's lives, and then leaves them, ultimately, until she is found frozen to death in a ditch. While the film follows her throughout (intercutting interviews with the people she has passed) there is little information given about her past. Instead, she holds a mirror up to those around her as they reassess their lives and actions towards other people or duck the question, focusing their introspection outwards, registering disgust for the girl's erring ways. The film is adept, too, at bringing the characters together unexpectedly, as we learn their relationships not only to the girl but to each other, further displaying the intricate structure of the film, and eliciting futher nuance from what appears at first a simple premise. VIVE L'AMOUR [aka Aiqing Wansui]. Tsai Ming-liang, 1994. 118min. To some extent, Tsai Ming-liang's films are all about the same thing, and while this may not be his best work, it exemplifys the themes of longing and alienation so often described in his work. A real estate agent loses the key to an apartment she is showing and soon three people come to occupy it at various times unbeknownst to each other. Each attempts to connect, unsuccessfully, with each other, and in the end is left to confront their own inability to do so. While not the film I would recommend as an introduction to his work (I'd probably recommend either WHAT TIME IS IT THERE [2001], or THE HOLE [1998] before this one), to fans of his work, this is a film that further cements his reputation as a filmmaker. THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN. Anh Hung Tran, 2000. 112min. Tran was able to film this, his second feature, in Vietnam, but it exhibits a similar control to his first, which was shot entirely on sets built in Europe. Three sisters in the opening scene prepare to celebrate their mother's death. From there it follows their lives through to another celebration that closes the story. Exquisitely shot by Mark Lee, at a pace seemingly set by the downtempo Lou Reed and Velvet Underground songs on the soundtrack, The Vertical Ray of the Sun threatens to favor style over substance. And in truth the film is much too long to sustain the mood it captures successfully in the first half. However, for me, any excuse to look at frames shot by Lee is almost enough. Pity it's not in the service of meatier material (or that the editor didn't trim some of the fat). Still, it's worth a look. VIVE L'AMOUR [aka Aiqing Wansui]. Tsai Ming-liang, 1994. 118min. To some extent, Tsai Ming-liang's films are all about the same thing, and while this may not be his best work, it exemplifys the themes of longing and alienation so often described in his work. A real estate agent loses the key to an apartment she is showing and soon three people come to occupy it at various times unbeknownst to each other. Each attempts to connect, unsuccessfully, with each other, and in the end is left to confront their own inability to do so. While not the film I would recommend as an introduction to his work (I'd probably recommend either WHAT TIME IS IT THERE [2001], or THE HOLE [1998] before this one), to fans of his work, this is a film that further cements his reputation as a filmmaker. skip:v #    a    b    c    d    e    f    g    h    i    j    k    l    m    n    o    p    q    r    s    t    u    v    w    x    y    z