OK, so there aren’t any snakes on any planes, but this year’s Toronto International Film Festival is loaded with its fair share of stars, hype, and controversy. Here’s a sneak preview of what the world renowned festival has in store.
SHORTBUS
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, a tale of disparate New York residents who explore and then cross their sexual boundaries, isn’t so much a risqué art house flick as it is a glorified porno with a plot. As a selection in the Festival’s new Vanguard programme-where cultural, sexual, and cinematic freedom reigns supreme-the grounds for Shortbus’ inclusion seem to be that it is the first mainstream film to feature unsimulated sex-straight, gay, and everything in between. However, this edgy breakthrough is hardly credible considering that ubiquitous sex is the film’s only compelling contribution. The characters merely provide a mildly bemusing laundry list of sexual deficiencies-including a sex therapist that can’t come (played by CBC’s Sook-Yin Lee) and a gay man who will only play pitcher, never catcher. Meanwhile, the narrative is bent on exploring extraneous sexual positions-most worthy of Cirque du Soleil-more than the emotions that drive the lead actors to such extremes. So while Shortbus sports rare and fragmented moments of witty social commentary and comic relief (to stifle the extreme awkwardness of watching a man blow himself), it only succeeds in alienating an audience who would rather have real sex in private. -RS
Rating: VVVVV
VOLVER
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Volver, Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, stars Penelope Cruz as a young mother who is forced to deal with the sudden death of her dead beat husband. The film’s title translates as coming back, and this theme is reinforced throughout the piece. Whether it’s regarding close friends, family, or dead loved ones, characters in this film re-form strong bonds in unlikely circumstances. If you’re familiar with Almodovar’s other films, don’t expect anything new. Murder, drugs, sex, camp, and bad television all play recurring roles in his work.
That’s not to say that they don’t succeed in this new dramatic comedy from one of Spain’s leading directors. Here Almodovar tones his style down and makes a touchingly quiet film about a small working-class town where everyone seems to be mourning losses and harbouring secrets. While some parts may seem aimless, the film comes together quite beautifully in the end. Watch it for Almodovar’s trademark blend of comedy and tragedy and a wonderful scene involving a ghost and some farts. -SM
Rating: VVVvV
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Director: Michel Gondry
When Stéphane, a wannabe graphic artist who has trouble separating his dreams from reality, meets Stephanie, the young woman living across the hallway in his mother’s house, an odd and surreal courtship begins to unfold. True to form, Academy Award-winning writer/director Michel Gondry uses his visual genius to paint Stéphane’s dreams with his unique aesthetic and animation style. While the film features strong performances full of genuinely funny and touching moments, Gondry, as the sole writer, tends to indulge himself too much. Following in the footsteps of his last film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this film revolves around a quirky love story about two people who are perfect for each other, but too fucked up to actually make it work. In that film, realistic characters work well because they act to balance the absurd scenarios, but in The Science of Sleep there’s nothing of the sort to provide a point of reference. Stéphane’s character seems to go from being sweet and misunderstood to clinically insane, and then back again, while most of the situations that ultimately keep Stéphane and Stephanie apart don’t really make sense. In the end The Science of Sleep ends up being both impressive and disappointing at the same time. Best to hit snooze on this one, and wait for the DVD. -LH
Rating: VVVVV
PAN’S LABYRINTH
Director: Guillermo del Toro
If David Cronenberg had adapted The Chronicles of Narnia, it might have been something like director Guillermo del Toro’s darkly imaginative and poetically rich fable, Pan’s Labyrinth. The fairy tale, which is set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, follows the starry-eyed Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a child who discovers that the world of the fantastical can be just as horrific as that of the fascist reality. Ofelia and her pregnant mother are relocated to a military outpost to join her stern and vile stepfather, Captain Vidal (played by a sinister Sergi Lopez). Vidal is in charge of exterminating any threats of rebellion posed by the working class-a task he is all too happy to perform with progressively more inventive (and toe curling) methods of bodily harm. As Ofelia attempts to avoid the attentions of her tyrannical stepfather, she discovers a magical subterranean world within the grounds of a garden labyrinth. However, this is a Narnia where the fauns have fangs and fairies grimace with nefarious motives.
Del Toro’s multi-layered film shifts between wartime drama and a child’s fantasy as a method to explore the ideology of make-believe-how the innocent must foster illusion for a glint of hope in disturbing times. As Ofelia’s dreams become increasingly nightmareish, it becomes apparent that even a child’s imagination isn’t safe under the shadows of a fascist regime. -RS
Rating: VVVVv
INDIGÈNES (DAYS OF GLORY)
Director: Rachib Bouchareb
Indigènes begins like Glory but ends like Saving Private Ryan, and sadly can’t make up its mind as to what it wants to be in between. The story of a group of North African soldiers who battled Nazis in World War Two on the behalf of their colonial motherland, France, director Rachib Bouchareb’s new film never achieves its ambitious goals due to its chaotic and incoherent plot. While examining how four indistinct soldiers confront their “indigenous” status among the colonial French troops, the film takes a scattershot approach by rushing into battle after minimal character exposition, leaving the disoriented audience to figure out who’s who in the interim. The plot points-all built on ground already occupied by previous war flicks-occur seemingly at random, while the characters within are neither distinguishable nor of any substance. When the film finally pulls itself together, it’s too late, which is a shame because there are moments in the film that show shards of a truly heart felt story. Perhaps the greatest injustice in Indigènes is that such strong subject matter has been dealt with so weakly. -RS
Rating: VVVVV
CITIZEN DUANE
Director: Michael Mabbott
Last year, in an interview with The Varsity, director Michael Mabbott expressed some concern over a CityTV Award he received at TIFF for his first feature The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico. The inscription on the prize contained a quote from former CityTV chief Moses Znaimer, “Sooner or later we’re all working for television.” Znaimer might have been a prophet, for Mabbott’s follow-up, Citizen Duane, plays like a bunch of episodes from a family sitcom smashed together into one 90-minute stretch. Duane is the story of an idealistic but pig-headed teenager, Duane Balfour, who runs for mayor in the small town of Ridgeburg as a last stand against a high school bully whose grandmother has held the position for years. An underdog comedy with moments of animated silliness that are hit-and-miss, and an admirable turn for young Canadian actor Douglas Smith, Citizen Duane offers mild chuckles that may only satisfy an audience that has lackadaisically tuned in, but is ultimately a waste of precious festival time. Mabbott’s fears of television damnation have been affirmed. -RS
Rating: VVVVV
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer best known for extracting beautiful artwork from unlikely quarries. Under Burtynsky’s lens, materials like the recycled “E-waste” of computer parts and the inner sanctum of a construction site become multicolored confections of saturated wires and brightly-lit cables. Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary never gets personal (Burtynsky avoids speaking to the camera), remaining coolly distant from its subject to focus in on the examination of landscapes in transformation. Filming in fluid pans and zooms across these revamped areas, the stunning Super 16 cinematography almost looks like a moving Burtynsky photograph itself. Industrial Shanghai is the focus, as Burtynsky captures the geography of a Third World country with First World desires. Instead of a conventional examination of an artist, we see the excavated topography of the world’s largest dam, the supersonic yellows and blues of a factory line, and the azure liquid inside a hollowed out mine. Baichwal’s documentary never tells you what to think, but lets you view the landscapes of a new industrial age and wonder how something so artificial can look so beautiful. – CL
Rating: VVVvV
AWAY FROM HER
Director: Sarah Polley
Canadian indie film darling Sarah Polley makes her feature directorial debut in her adaptation of the Alice Monro story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”. Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent star as Fiona and Grant, a happening couple married for 40 years quietly cohabitating in a modern ski lodge. But when Fiona starts to exhibit signs of early onset Alzheimer’s, Grant has to make a choice to send her to the retirement home Meadowlake and slowly come to terms with a past his wife can no longer recollect. Polley’s film does Monro proud, remaining incredibly truthful both to the sensibilities and feelings that the story provokes, filmed in snowy landscapes and fluorescent retirement home hallways. And veteran Julie Christie delivers a watershed performance as Fiona, slowly losing her mind with grace, humor and honest human emotion. Sarah Polley has always been an influential player in the Canadian film scene, and this one sets the stage for her to save it. It’s a mature and clever piece of work, without all the usual Canuck self-consciousness. – CL
Rating: VVVVV
The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday at cinemas across the city. Be sure to check out more festival coverage in our next issue.
