Pic-a-Flic Video
1519 Pandora Ave V8R 6P9 Victoria, BC, Canada

CINEMA & THE ANTHROPOCENE :: WALL-E (2008) The ninth feature film by Pixar features a quirky and lonely robot, left behind on Earth to clean up the remaining landscape of garbage, while humankind leaves our planet on luxury cruise ships, plugged into digital entertainment systems. It’s also beautifully animated and so fun for all ages, and received 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. A charming love story of two lonely robots surrounding a satire of consumer culture. Strong stuff. ...Boulder Weekly All Pixar's feature films and two collections of their short films are available at Pic-a-Flic. #yyjarts #scifi #movie #anthropocene

CINEMA & THE ANTHROPOCENE :: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) The Canadian director Denis Villeneuve made this sequel, released 35 years after Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner. There is a lot to appreciate in Blade Runner 2049, and I thought both the plot and the characters were a smart complement to the first film. But what impressed me the most was its setting. All the landscapes in the film are man-made, and take place after the end of wild nature. Los Angeles is raining and d...ark, with a huge sea wall protecting the dense and tall cityscape. Las Vegas is a desolate and radioactive ex-playland of vice, where a few bees make a cameo to suggest small and hopeful remnants of nature. San Diego is a giant landfill, where child labor extracts microchips from discarded electronics. Our protagonist turns to digital, commercialized, sexual company, in hopes to fight loneliness, always aware of the shortcomings, that it’s not authentic companionship. To me it’s all the details in this setting that are most interesting in this film, because however surreal, these details are all extensions of current issues. (Above notes are from our customer Emrys Miller.) Both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 are available to rent from Pic-a-Flic on DVD and Blu-ray, the latter of these also available on 3D Blu-ray. #yyjarts #scifi #movie #anthropocene

OUR NEWSLETTER :: Join us, as we enter the #Anthropocene! READ this issue, and SUBSCRIBE at https://mailchi.mp/5fd4bbf6f95f/anthropocene !

IGMAR BERGMAN :: "Over the holidays, I watched the five-hour television version of Fanny & Alexander, that last great film by Igmar Bergman. I watched it over seven nights, which made me feel like I’d spent a bunch of my holidays with this family, in their world, a century ago." (from our customer Emrys Miller) What is your favourite film by Bergman?

CHRISTMAS SELECTION :: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) "Like a nice snifter of the Christmas brandy, it warms the heart and makes you feel good. ABC Radio (Australia)... One of dozens of movies available to rent from Pic-a-Flic to deepen your Christmas spirit. #christmasmovies #christmas #xmas #movies #yyj

CINEMA & RENOIR :: The River (1951) Jean Renoir's entrancing first colour feature shot entirely on location in India eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the holy Bengal River. Martin Scorsese describes his love of this film in this personal interview. https://youtu.be/2w7H9pEby0M "The River, as celebratory of people as anything ever made, is a triumph. It is not a defense of colonialism. There are no heroes or villains. The...re is us." comment left at Mubi Available at Pic-a-Flic as a Criterion edition. #cinema #renoir #french #yyjarts

CINEMA & GIRLHOOD :: The Virgin Suicides (1999) Blonde hair, swapping secrets, smoking cigarettes on the roof, long white nightgowns, doodling hearts in notebooks, leaving mysterious clues for eager boys, playing Cat Stevens songs over the phone... enter The Virgin Suicides. Adapted from the whimsical novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, this film follows a group of suburban boys desperate to decode the mystery of the dazzling Lisbon sisters five dreamy, introspective, very unattain...able teenage girls who take over the boys' conversations and dreams. Kathleen Turner and Kirsten Dunst star in Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, delivering a semi-haunting, rose-coloured treasure. One of several movies by director Sofia Coppola that we have available to rent. (Thank you to our customer Margo Jones for this "pic"!) #yyjarts #cinema #movies #NotOnNetflix

FLEABAG :: The complete tv series is now at the shop, by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. This show, based on her play by the same name, has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and received multiple awards, including several Emmys and Golden Globes. We also carry another tv series she created, Killing Eve, seasons 1 and 2. #comedy #television #yyj

CINEMA & RENOIR :: Renoir (2012) The film Renoir depicts the relationship between the father, famous painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his son, filmmaker Jean Renoir and Catherine Hessling (aka Andrée Heuschling), who modelled for Pierre-Auguste in his later years, then married Jean, recently back from WWI. Catherine also starred in Jean's early films. "With its warm colors and sweet streams of light, its love of both the countryside and the human form, it makes you drea...m of painting. Or making movies. Or just luxuriating in the brilliance." Detroit News One of over 800 titles in Pic-a-Flic's French collection. https://pic-a-flic.video/catalogue/?genre=French #cinema #renoir #french #yyjarts

CINEMA & RENOIR :: The Rules of the Game (1939) A scathing critique of corrupt French society, cloaked in a comedy of manners. Originally banned by the wartime French government for "having an undesirable influence over the young". And regarded by many film critics and directors as one of the greatest films of all time. "Jean Renoir’s masterpiece remains the gold standard against which all ensemble dramas are measured. Renoir juggles a number of major characters and honors e...ach one’s perspective, resulting in a group portrait in which every character is sympathetic while remaining poignantly fallible." Cine-File Available at Pic-a-Flic as a Criterion edition. #cinema #renoir #french #yyjarts

OUR NEWSLETTER :: This week, we celebrate the work of Jean Renoir and his father, the Impressionist painter. Read this issue and subscribe at https://mailchi.mp/19ba987195a7/the-renoirs!

CINEMA & RENOIR :: French Cancan (1955) Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in this tale of the opening of the Moulin Rouge, by Jean Renoir. François Truffaut called it a milestone in the history of colour of cinema. "Every scene is a cartoon in movement Madame Guibole's dance class reminds us of a Degas sketch." The film received the Grand Prix de l'Academie du Cinéma, and Roger Ebert included it in his "Great Movies" list.... Available at Pic-a-Flic as a Criterion edition. #cinema #renoir #french #yyjarts

CINEMA & RENOIR :: A Day in the Country (1936) The great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "The Swing" in 1876. His son, the great filmmaker Jean Renoir, created the delightful "A Day in the Country" sixty years later which revisits some of the themes and landscape of his father's paintings. A sweet, short & simple feature, about summer and love, with trees in the wind, rain on the river, and a songbird. A historically abandoned film that was rescued. Ava...ilable at Pic-a-Flic as a Criterion edition. #painting #cinema #renoir #yyjarts See more

REMEMBRANCE & CINEMA :: Dunkirk (2017) Dunkirk uses cinema with an aim to capture and communicate the EXPERIENCE of the story. Very minimal digital effects. Very minimal dialogue. Just hugely immersive, motion photography and a stressful, gently contemplative plot. Written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan (Tenet, Inception, The Prestige), and shot on IMAX film. Pic-a-Flic carries Dunkirk (2017) on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as a 2004 BBC documentary about the event.... #remembrance #cinema #wwii

CINEMA & REMEMBRANCE :: In this week's newsletter, our customer Emrys turns to #movies as his way of observing #RemembranceDay: https://mailchi.mp/f9976276cca8/remembrance