The TIFF sessions 1-10

Ok, so there were a few too many films at TIFF too close together to review each individually in great detail. Here’s what you get instead.

Blancanieves

This Spanish film updates the well worn (especially this year) Snow White fairy tale to 1920s Spain in the world of matadors and bullfight but shown in the style of a silent film from the same era.

It’s a cute gimmick and extremely cheesy but the film inherits a bonhomie that makes you sort of forgive it for that even if the pace is considerably slowed. It doesn’t hurt that both of the leads female role are extremely charismatic though Maribel Verdu does more with her role than Macarena Garcia is allowed to do with hers.

It contains less of the edge and commentary than Snow White and the Huntsman did earlier this year but that was never really the point. At least it’s unafraid to throw off the story elements that don’t work for it; the closest you’ll get to a Prince Charming here is the implication that Snow White is romantically involved with one of the drawves.

The End

My second Maribel Verdu film in a row, though she plays a smaller role.

The End tells the story of a group of college friends reuniting for a weekend in a cabin in the woods only to find that upon trying to return to civilization the world has ended and humanity has literally vanished.

Thankfully this doesn’t turn into a thriller but instead uses the context to deepen our understanding on the relationship between the characters and the long term resentments and affections that 20 years of friendship have allowed to flourish. As the cast members themselves start to disappear without warning (though there is a clear theme to the timing) the evolving dynamics between the remainders keeps it from getting stale until a surprisingly low key finale.

The End, based on an acclaimed novel by David Monteagudo refuses to explain what’s going on or how this silent apocalypse works, so this will be frustrating for anyone expecting full closure. For me though, the somewhat open-ended nature of the narrative actually helped it along as the audience is just as lost as the characters.

This was one of the better films at TIFF for me this year.

No One Lives

The Midnight Madness showcase features some of the more over the top films of the festival and No One Lives is right up there with them. Ultimately though, I can’t really recommend this flick from cult director Ryuhei Kitamura.

Kitamura has always been a bit hit or miss with me and after surprising me with the at-least-competent Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives  is back to his outrageous-for-its-own-sake style that made Versus such a dull watch.

This story of a gang of rednecks who kidnap a wealthy couple only to find they’ve taken on board something even more lethal than they are could have been extremely fun. Unfortunately the writing kind of wavers in the no man’s land outside of ‘good’ but not quite reaching ‘so bad it’s good’.

Genre fans will probably love it though as there’s certainly no skimping on the violence or the ridiculous nature of some of the kills and the pace at least zips along very nicely. Unfortunately for me though, I was thrown out of the film too much by the absurdity of it to really enjoy it.

It does have Lindsey Shaw in it though, so that’s something at least.

I Declare War

This Canadian film is a cute idea, taking a child’s game of Capture The Flag and twisting it into a parable about the horrors of war as the kids indulge in more and more extreme behaviour to win their game.

PK (Gage Monroe) is a decorated general of several campaigns savouring his upcoming challenge against the formidable Quinn (Aiden Gouveia) whom he has never competed against before. But when Quinn’s leadership is usurped by Skinner (Michael Friend), things take a sinister turn as the long-standing tensions between the PK and Skinner threaten to bubble over into legitimate violence and Skinner increasingly gets closer to the edge of madness. As the boys face off, their individual troops get drawn further into battle and nearer to danger.

The film generally works and is fairly engaging but is let down a little by some of the performances from the child actors (I know you’re not allowed to say child actors suck but some of them do in this case) and a slight issue with tone that keeps it from fully landing. The film is careful not to go too far into the violence surrounding the children which makes it a bit less clear what exactly its trying to say about the horrors or war and the effect it has on the human spirit. It’s going for a banality of evil kick but seems to be afraid to enter territory where even much older material like Lord of the Flies stride confidently.

A minor nitpick too about the use of the cliché of the mute ‘ethnic’ participant who is the most efficient of them all and whose closest relationship is with his dog companion, but only a minor nitpick as this is the only one whose likeability is never in question.

Overall though, I Declare War is well worth its 94 minutes.

Painless

Yet another Spanish film for the year, though surprisingly absent of Maribel Verdu. Did I mention I quite like Maribel Verdu? I quite like Maribel Verdu.

Painless straddles two time zones. The first is in the present day as a gifted neurosurgeon crashes his car, killing his wife and child and whose medical care thereafter reveals a form of leukaemia he’d been unaware of sending him on a quest to find his birth parents. The second starts during the Spanish Civil War as locals become aware of a number of children who are incapable of feeling pain and promptly institutionalise them. We follow one boy’s journey over years as he is brutalised and abused and slowly turns into a vicious scarred thug. Naturally the two threads eventually converge and the relationship between them emerges. I won’t spoil it here but it doesn’t take much imagination to figure it out.

Perhaps it’s because of the Civil war setting but Painless  reminded me a bit of Pan’s Labyrinth (which did star Mairbel Verdu) in terms of theme and tone, though with less of Guillermo del Toro’s whimsy.

Certainly the sections set in the past are more effective but that’s really where the heart of the film wants to rest anyway. It’s a bit more successful than I Declare War in wading into the banality of evil question and the effect that the violence of war has on children but it has more scope to do that in as well.

This is on my list of recommended for this year’s TIFF

In the House

I was always going to like this film, as a fan of Francois Ozon, but this is a definite step up for the French auteur after last year’s Potiche, which I was a mite disappointed in.

Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a French teacher growing increasingly jaded with his students’ sloppy essay attempts until he comes across a competent short story written by Claude (Ernst Umhauer) describing a visit to friend Rapha’s (Bastian Ughetto) home in disturbingly intimate tones. Intrigued, Germain encourages his charge to insinuate himself further into the house and reveal more of the voyeuristic secrets he uncovers. As Germain is drawn further and further in by Claude’s stories, his own wife Jeanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is drawn in and things start to spin out of control.

The film is a rare example of a genuine dark comedy (as opposed to a comedy about dark things) and Ozon balances the humour of Germain’s increasingly divorce from reality and the subtle darkness of Claude’s increasingly obvious manipulations. For a director who’s shown himself to be fond of farce in the past, Ozon is surprisingly restrained here and this lighter touch allows to tight little plot to comes to a boil without spilling over.

The Lords of Salem

Rob Zombie is an odd director for me. Sometimes I love his stuff, sometimes I hate it. I thought his House of A Thousand Corpses was absurdly fun and his take on the Halloween franchise fleshed out the series very nicely but was bored beyond belief during The Devil’s Rejects.

Unfortunately, The Lords of Salem is definitely in the latter camp.

Radio host Heidi (Sheri Moon-Zombie) receives a strange vinyl record in some fan mail of an act calling themselves The Lords of Salem. Upon playing it, she becomes increasingly haunted by shocking apparitions that have something to do with the witches’ coven lynched centuries ago.

To be fair to Zombie, he knows what he’s doing with the material and I believe the film does represent what he wanted to achieve. The problem is that it’s just so self-indulgent that I just don’t care. I can objectively recognise that Zombie is layering on the scares successfully but because none of the characters involved are remotely likeable I kind of want Heidi to succumb to dark forces just so we can all go to bed.

There is an audience for this, and they were out in force during the Midnight Madness session this screened at, so it’s more of a question of whether you’re one of the specific people Rob Zombie is trying to get to (hint: if you’re at all like Rob Zombie) as to whether you’ll enjoy this or not.

Three Sisters

This two and a half hour long documentary about three sisters living in regional China is excruciatingly boring and a Herculean task to sit through.

Maybe I’m not cultured enough for this stuff but I loathed every minute. Especially during the second ten extended sequence of a girl eating a potato. Worst of TIFF by a long way.

Sightseers

Surprisingly this wasn’t a Midnight Madness screening,. It was part of Vanguard – so effectively Midnight Madness but not at midnight.

I walked into Sightseers expecting something more along the lines of No One Lives or, probably even more, Eden Lake. Totally wrong.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, of last year’s Kill List fame, Sightseers is a hilariously funny comedy about a young woman whose new boyfriend wants to take get out from under her mother’s thumb and take her on a caravanning holiday. Along the way, Tina has the growing realisation that her beau may in fact just be a serial killer prone to violently disposing of anyone who contradicts his strict social mores. Rather than be turned off by the idea though, she starts to see the possibilities of such a style and soon is surpassing him in his bloodlust.

Yes, it’s a violent film but still a comedy as both leads beautifully portray the kind of social awkwardness made popular by The Office where they are both so backwards it becomes excruciating to watch and yet simultaneously hilarious in how brazen they are in their provinciality.

I do have slight concerns that this sort of thing runs the risk of coming across as sneering at the lower classes but there’s something oddly likeable about Tina that makes you root for her even as she expresses delight at the idea of visiting a pencil museum or serving ‘gourmet’ spaghetti and sauce for every meal. Combine that with the illicit thrill of watching people being violently dispatched for doing all those little things that irritate you in your daily life and you have an enjoyable couple of hours ahead of you.

Aftershock

Back to Midnight Madness and the screening of Eli Roth’s new film which was not actually directed by Eli Roth yet is such an Eli Roth film through and through you’ll forget that he only co-wrote, co-produced and stars in it. The actual director was Nicolas Lopez who came across in his introduction as being fairly close to Roth in demeanour though without the handsomeness.

I swear to God I’ll never know why but I have an odd affection for Eli Roth. I roll my eyes at his hyper-frat boy hijinks and accidental misogyny but there’s something so earnest about his efforts that I end up rooting for him anyway. Yes, he’s completely over the top but he truly loves what he does and seem to pour all that into his work. Where Tarantino has a more studied hand with genre material, Roth just throws everything at the wall and assumes it will stick.

And for what it’s worth Aftershock is a sign that he’s getting better as a filmmaker even if he’s not there yet. Aftershock, which tells the story of some tourists who must get to safety and high ground in Valparaiso, Chile, after a major earthquake creates major carnage, is still the gratuitously blood soaked material we’ve come to expect but at least it wasn’t as dull as Hostel 2.

It’s also slightly kinder on the ladies this time round, if only slightly. They at least now have some degree of agency and there are even points in the film where it’s a woman’s action that drives the story forward as the men are foundering.

There is still a considerable amount of sloppiness here though. The film’s three acts are very distinct from each other and the first act, which is almost nothing but frat behaviour goes on far too long. Things improve dramatically for the second act as the earthquake hits and the seriousness of their situation sets in but then falls apart for the third act after something happens that breaks pretty much all the rules of scriptwriting, leaving the last thirty minutes without an anchor.

Also, that’s not how tsunamis work.

Film #48 - Robot and Frank

I don’t know who Susan Sarandon’s agent is these days but, frankly, he or she could do with a raise. For an industry that famously gives short shrift to older actresses this is the second small-scale, solid film I’ve seen her shine in this year (after Jeff, Who Lives At Home which I actually saw at TIFF last year).

Not that Sarandon is the centrepiece of this debut scifi-comedy from director Jake Schreier, she is more the icing on the already very sweet cake.

Robot and Frank is set in the “near” future, where robots have begun to take over many of the menial (and less menial) roles once performed by human. The curmudgeonly Frank (played by the coincidentally named Frank Langella) is making the worst of his retirement and showing alarming signs of developing severe dementia. His frazzled, jaded son Hunter (James Marsden), frustrated with weekly ten hour journeys to ensure Frank stays alive decides to solve the problem by buying Frank a robotic android in the Honda Asimo style whose programming is to prolongate Frank’s independence through diet, exercise and maintaining mental acuity.

You'll be glad to know they still have
trees in the near-future.

An old-school thinker, Frank is far from impressed by Robot (rather distractingly voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) impinging on his scattered lifestyle until he discovers that it would be the perfect accomplice in his old racket of cat burglary. As the object of Frank’s affection Jennifer’s (Susan Sarandon) job comes under fire as hipster yuppy Jake (Jeremy Strong) buys out the library she works and seeks to turn it into a merely-ironic celebration of the printed word, Frank hatches plans for vengeance and incorporates Robot into his schemes. Robot, seeing the dramatic improvement in Frank’s health statistics as he plans his newest burglary, feels programmed to comply. From there an unlikely friendship between the two blooms.

As high-concept as Robot and Frank may sound, what works about it is that it keeps things on a very low-key level. The film is careful to position the plot only a few years in our future (Frank’s adult children are called Hunter and Madison after all) which lets it get away with featuring only mild changes from the present day and keeps the robots peppered through the script at a relatively low-tech level.

If you want me to think he's demented, I'm not sure telling me
he has a crush on Susan Sarandon is the best way to achieve it

Similarly the plot doesn’t have grand ambitions for where it is going with the concepts, holding to more of a character study of Frank himself and his evolving mirror, Robot. Frank isn’t planning to jack a casino, merely enact petty revenges on the people making Jennifer’s life difficult. For a first time feature director to keep his vision so containable is a great idea as it has allowed Schreier to focus much more on key elements rather than getting lost in the effects.

With Langella and Sarandon in the leads, it almost goes without saying that the performances are excellent though the warmth each brings to their role is certainly a delight during the relatively quiet second act. To a lesser degree Marsden and Liv Tyler (as Frank’s daughter Madison) help round out the emotional nuance though Marsden is asked to switch gears a few too many times in the final act to get a good bead on his character. Jeremy Strong is surprisingly effective as the obsequious Jake those his severe rattling in the third act diminishes some of what he’d achieved previously in the film.

Although, Robot and Frank is certainly a solid film with solid writing, you can’t help but feel a little bit frustrated that the script doesn’t nail its colours to the mast in terms of what it is actually about and investigate that idea a bit more fully.

What a hellhole this library is!

The script varies from being an interesting look at the way the rise of technology will challenge and change human interaction with the world around them to the somewhat more generic take on a family’s loss of identity as one of their members succumbs to a degenerative disease. Ultimately it plays it safe on both counts (technology is interesting, Alzheimer’s is sad) and thus fall a bit short in saying anything definitive about either.

For example, Frank’s motivating factor is the threat Jennifer’s job as a librarian comes under when Jake wants to revisualise the concept of a library as a communal space. But Jake’s belief is already clearly in evidence in libraries around the country in the present day, so to present it as something scandalous in the near future is a bit disingenuous. Not that we ever get a clear sense of exactly what Jake actually hopes to achieves, so it all just seems to boil down to ‘books are good, yuppies are dumb’. It’s this sort of thing that makes me worry that Robot and Frank’s relevance won’t last long enough to see the year it purports to be set it.

Which is sad because it is a rather sweet film. It’s got Ana Gasteyer in it and all.