Yep, another week of SIFF here and gone.  All of us at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the films shown at the festival this week.

Tony saw Ahead of Time, a concise, solid doc on the achievements of Ruth Gruber–arctic explorer, World War II Correspondent, and chronicler of the 1947 Exodus. At age 94, Gruber’s more articulate and sharp than 99.9 percent of people a third her age; her restless streak, eloquence, and charm made her an enchanting documentary subject.

Josh had a shortish SIFF week: Waste Land, a meandering but discussion-provoking documentary about Vik Muniz and the garbage-pickers who inspired his portrait series. At times I couldn’t tell if this film wanted to be about the artist, the gleaners, or the way that large-scale portraits made from materials found at the world’s largest landfill could transform lives. It succeeds a little bit on each of those fronts, but could have used a stronger narrative focus and a critical voice stronger than the artist’s wife (who falls out of the picture midway, via an off-screen mid-project divorce). Quibbles aside, the artwork is astounding and Muniz found incredibly charismatic subjects. We left wondering not about how to “save” the pickers of Jardim Gramacho, but curious about whether similar poverty-driven recycling efforts happen here.

I really enjoyed I Killed My Mother, a très style-y collage chronicling the growing pains between a temperamental teen artiste and his single mother. The explosive tantrums and outlandish verbal spats felt true to the spirit of adolescent angst; the mix of hypersaturated fantasy sequences, off-center camera angles, quick cuts, and philosophical confessionals captured the spirit of a young auteur. Against likely temptation, Xavier Dolan doesn’t let himself off the hook too easily, revealing an awareness of his own childish behavior and rendering a sympathetic portrait of his mother. (June 6, 2010 7:00 PM @ the Egyptian)

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Audrey also had Quebecois fun at I Killed my Mother, but I wonder if writer-director-lead actor Dolan has another film in him; this one is so personal. Coincidentally, Bilal’s Stand is another intimately personal film, in which writer-director Sultan Sharrief has made his first feature, based on the story of how he, as a black Muslim teen, made it from an inner city Detroit taxi-stand to the University of Michigan, via an ice-carving college scholarship. It’s a solid first film (and the community involvement it took to make it is inspiring), though of course it’s not as OMG as I Killed My Mother.

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And finally, I caught the archival screening of documentary Henri-Georges Clouzet’s Inferno, on the greatest French psychedelic psychological thriller about the madness of jealousy never made. Worth seeing for all the experimental tests of funhouse mirror-like op art visuals and distorted sound techniques, not to mention footage of lovely Romy Schneider in to-die-for early ’60s European vacation-wear.

MVB: In Waste Land, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz enlists Rio de Janeiro’s biggest landfill’s gleaners to model for portraits made from trash, and embiggens everyone’s soul in the process. Fascinating exploration of poverty, environment, personal ambition, and the gift/Trojan horse of perspective.

The Spanish film Stigmata is a moody, black-and-white journey that draws on both Fellini and Cassavetes (especially once gentle giant Bruno gets entangled in the tempestuous passions of a traveling carnival). It’s never explained why Bruno develops his stigmata–he’s no saint. The film is about what Bruno makes of his “gift,” and what the people around him make of it. (June 3, 4:15 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

The Icelandic neo-noir thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam takes a bit to wind up, but finishes strong. A bootlegger on probation gets sucked back in for “one last run,” without realizing what’s in play. The Icelandic sense of humor delights in human foibles and sheer stupidity, and in that light, it’s a side-splitter. (June 3, 9:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; June 7, 7 p.m. @ Kirkland Performance Center)