TIFF 2012: ‘Frances Ha’ finds Gerwig and Baumbach at their most ebullient and winning

Frances Ha
Written by Noah Bambach and Greta Gerwig
Directed by Noah Baumbach
USA, 2012

The Greta Gerwig Charm Offensive continues unabated. Following her star turn in Whit Stillman’s agreeably eccentric Damsels In Distress, Gerwig once again toplines a quirky, affectionate comedy, this time sharing a writing credit with her director, Noah Baumbach. Where Damsels channeled golden-age Hollywood and vintage musicals, however, Frances Ha appropriates the look and feel of early-60s French New Wave in order to channel the restless energy of the character at its center, a shiftless but well-meaning late-twentysomething who finds herself perpetually in the wrong place and time.

When the film opens, Gerwig’s Frances is in one of her life’s more agreeable phases. She is dancing for a reputable company – as an understudy, she’ll concede – and enjoying the near-constant company of her best friend and roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner). This arrangement comes to a sudden halt when Sophie opts to move out and dig into her relationship with her charmless but wealthy fiancé, around the same time that it becomes clear that Frances doesn’t have a real future stake in the company. These small-but-significant personal upheavals end up fueling a series of rash decisions, including moving in with a pair of younger rich kids (Adam Driver and Michael Zegen), jetting to France for a ludicrously brief vacation, and working menial jobs at her former alma mater.

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Sordid Cinema Podcast, Episode 37: ‘Room 237′

With TIFF over and done with, a huge number of noteworthy films have to be parsed, and first up is the “subjective documentary” Room 237, in which a host of obsessives muse over their pet theories on what Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is really about. Ricky D and Simon Howel are joined by special guest Corey Atad, who helps us survey the madness. Afterwards, we kick off our new Under the Radar segment, spotlighting whatever cultural detritus we happen to be digging this week.

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TIFF 2012: ‘Room 237′ – Conspiracy Theorist’s take on Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’

Room 237

Directed by Rodney Ascher

2012, USA

In Rodney Ascher’s documentary Room 237, the subject in question is Stanley Kubrick’s beloved The Shining. It explores the numerous theories and alleged hidden meanings lurking deep within the film conceptualized by devoted non-casual observers, theorists and scholars. The film may be over three decades old but it continues to spark debate and speculation. For many, the film is just another horror pic, an auteur trying his hand at the genre. But to some, it is so much more. Subtitled Being an inquiry into The Shining in 9 parts, Room 237 focuses on five very unique points of view, broken into nine sections and told entirely via voiceover. There are no talking head interviews. His interview subjects never appear on film. The documentary is made up entirely of stock footage, animation, dramatic reenactments, digitally altered images and scenes from various movies – sometimes in slow motion, or sped up – with frame-by-frame analysis, sequences superimposed, manipulated and so on. The doc itself is structured much like the movie’s hedge maze, drawing the audience into endless detours. This is best seen in an explanation of the Overlook Hotel’s “synchronous space”, detailed in 3-D illustrations of the set layout. Yes a devoted fan took the time to create a map of the hotel’s geography. There’s one spectacular sequence in which two celluloid strips of The Shining are superimposed backward and forward over one another to illustrate a famous comment made by a blogger named MSTRMIND, who once said that “The Shining was meant to be watched both forwards and backwards.” Just think REDRUM! Ascher’s cutting and assembly is entertaining but without a face to the names, the film leaves us a lot to be desired. These theorists are, much like Wendy and Danny, trapped inside the Overlook Hotel. But exactly who are these people? All we are told about this breakfast club of jokers, is that they are a journalist, a playwright, a professor, a musician and a conspiracy theorist. Apart from that, we know little else. Room 237 quickly becomes something alike a PowerPoint presentation. The ubiquitous tagline reads “Look Again” – but the theories are as old as the film itself, shedding little light on anyone already familiar with them. At best Room 237 works as study on obsession and delusion, and these ghostly figures are as frightening as Jack Torrance himself.

Much like Jack, the film or interviewees put an axe to film criticism – in the limelight, the line between the insightful and the ridiculous is thin. Ascher’s playful montage tries its best to back up some of the wildest theories, but with little hope. The conspiracies don’t always relate directly to room 237; the majority often focus on mundane details and aesthetic choices. Why is Jack reading a Playgirl in the hotel lobby? Is that Kubrick’s God-like image airbrushed within the clouds? Is the film a metaphor for the murder of Native Americans? Why did Kubrick change the room number from 217 (as read in the novel) to 237? Was Kubrick dropping clues that he faked the footage of the Moon landing? Is that why NASA allowed him to use their special camera for the filming of Barry Lyndon? What is the meaning behind the film’s occasional use of the number 42 and what is the significance of the German typewriter? It there a deeply-laid subtext that takes on the Holocaust?

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TIFF 2012: ‘Berberian Sound Studio’ – the sounds between fantasy and reality

Berberian Sound Studio

Directed by Peter Strickland

Screenplay by Peter Strickland

2012, UK

British filmmaker Peter Strickland’s sophomore effort is many things: a sly deconstruction of 1970s hallucinatory Grand Guignol cinema – an audio geek’s wet dream celebrating the art of foley magic – a stylistic tour de force and a blend of comedy, drama and horror with a Lynchian twist.

Strickland’s meta-horror film begins as dream, before spiralling into a nightmare of sorts. Set entirely in the offices of a sleazy Italian film company in the 1970s, a British sound technician, played to perfection by Toby Jones, travels to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome blood-soaked giallo film called The Equestrian Vortex. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche as Gilderoy is unable to distinguish between the perverse fantasies of the film he is working on and so-called reality.

Disinterested in the typical conventions of a horror narrative, Strickland lets our own imaginations do much of the heavy lifting, if not all the work. As such, it offers something that is rare in cinema. In a tribute to the world of the Foley artist, this psychological thriller argues that, in filmmaking, sound design is just as important as anything else. Apart from the gonzo title sequence of the film within the film that reads ‘Silenzio’(think Mulholland Drive), Strickland never shows us what Gilderoy sees, but we watch how the images he witnesses affects him. What we do see or at least imagine, is all of through the point of view of Gileroy’s eyes, and everything else in what we hear. In other words Berberian Sound Studio benefits substantially from the ongoing emphasis of the sounds of the unseen horror film. And we hear plenty! The effect is nothing short of genius. Senses kick into overdrive, ominous sounds fade in and out, and the mix of visuals and sounds begin to cross over from the studio into Gilderoy’s mind, and the lines between reality and the subconscious become blurred. It’s all open to interpretation and there is a lot to interpret.

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TIFF 2012: Staff lists the biggest discoveries, waste of time and their favourite film

Ricky D

Biggest Discovery:

My biggest discovery came the morning of the very last day, Sunday September 16^th when I missed my screening to my most anticipated film, Michael Heneke’s Amour, because for some strange reason, Toronto is the only major metropolitan in the world whose subway stations only open at 9:00 am – the exact same time my film screened. WTF, yo?

As far as films go, I’d have to sadly say I don’t have a major discovery. Perhaps I spend too much time online following the latest news and updates from the world of cinema, but there was not one film I saw that I didn’t already know nothing of.

Biggest Waste Of Time:

What was the worst and most embarrassing aspect of TIFF 2012 was that awful excuse for a L’Oreal bumper, an advertisement so bad, so inept, so unbelievably painful, it’s almost impossible to comprehend how anyone brainstormed this idea, much less invested money into it. As someone who’s watched more bad movies than you can imagine, I’m usually quite forgiving knowing I’ll never have to sit through it again, but unfortunately I had no choice since TIFF felt it a good idea to screen this dung prior to each screening. Given audience reaction at multiple screenings, the ad may be something of a first: This is a commercial that prompts most of its viewers to want to get up and leave — before the film they’ve come to see even begins. With that said, viewed in a theatre with the midnight crowd after a few drinks will conjure up its own hilariously demented reality. And that’s the conundrum of the L’Oreal ad. It’s so very bad that it somehow became a highlight of the fest. Among the many pretenders to win the best-worst-sponsor- ever throne, L’Oreal and this odd bumper truly earn my vote. It was a real treat to see the audience, specifically the Midnight Madness crowd, dance, howl, clap and cheer to the commercial. What soon became the biggest waste of time turned into a good time!

Favourite Film:

In Ben Wheatley’s third film Sightseers, the British director, known for taking scenes of normalcy and then twisting them with extreme violence, continues to impress with is unique brand of unconventional filmmaking. The film, produced by Edgar Wright, is Wheatley’s follow-up to the well received Kill List. The writers/leads are comedians Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, playing characters they’ve developed in a stand-up act. The biggest difference compared to his two previous films, is the focus on comedy. Sightseers benefits from exquisite cinematography, beautiful locales and unusual murder. This satirical, bloody road trip comedyis strange, beautiful, charming and incredibly funny. It might just be my favourite film of 2012.

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TIFF 2012: ’Middle of Nowhere’ praises it’s heroine for her strength while castigating selflessness

Middle of Nowhere

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Screenplay by Ava DuVernay

2012

Written and directed by Ava DuVernay, Middle of Nowhere demonstrates a profound knowledge of how formidable it is to carry on as one outgrows people and parts of life that threaten to stifle a true sense of self. Nowhere follows a woman who consistently gives more to her man than she gives to herself. For Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi) having one relationship be the focal point of her existence has taken a toll on how much she is willing to enjoy the company of others and appreciate her own sacred freedom. Trapped by her admirable loyalty, her journey to breaking away from crushing obligation is as much about fighting herself as it’s about repossessing a strength that has been there all along.
Ruby’s selflessness has become a liability. Her absent husband Derek (the excellent Omari Hardwick of TV’s Saved and For Colored Girls) is a man riding out an 8 year prison sentence. She promises him that she’ll wait for his release to restart life. The thought of Derek’s correlative love and devotion has been holding Ruby together. To discover his priorities are anything contrary to hers could tear her world apart. Remaining faithful, she has kept her head down working hard to make a comfortable existence for them once his term ends. Fortunately enough she has inadvertently been investing in herself, getting a nursing degree. She is an independent woman who relies on no one but herself. That her real goal for long term happiness rests solely on her husband behaving and holding up his end of the bargain is deeply troubling. It’s an all too common spiral of thinking that women can fall into- putting their own passions on the backburner. She seems like the last to acknowledge that a bit of giving into long repressed wants could make the difference between happiness and languishing in a self imposed purgatory.

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TIFF 2012: ‘Rust and Bone’ almost fights against audience affection

Rust and Bone

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Screenplay by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain

2012, USA

Acclaimed French director Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, A Prophet) poignantly contrasts delicate notes of loss and sensuality with brute selfishness in his prickly Rust and Bone. Debuting at Cannes, it’s a film that almost fights against audience affection. Although there are moments of breakaway freedom to cheer for, characters do not bend to each other’s feelings as is so expected from a love story albeit an off the beaten path one. While there is a tender spot for random events that rob people of their livelihood, it is above all concerned about the rough road to reciprocity many encounter in which the largest obstacle to happiness is not physical but a partner’s capacity to acknowledge the needs of others.

Matthias Schoenaerts’ (Bullhead, Black Book) Alain operates on basic survival mechanisms to push him through the hardships of life. He has been unemployed, hungry and gone to the lengths of petty theft to get by. It is sweet that he has taken on the care of his young and impressionable son but it’s clear that his son’s emotional well being gets shoved to the side by the basest of priorities. Alain does not know how to fully relate to anyone even as he dutifully cares for them. There is already little room in Alain’s life for anyone but himself when he rescues Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) from a fight at a club he’s been hired on to bounce. His first interaction with her is chivalrous but charged with an ignorant sexism that blames her for her victimization. Clearly there is an immediate attraction, closeness and sense of protectiveness between them that the entirety of the film frustratingly plays at accomplishing at wildly varying levels of depth. Driving the rest of the story is the bleak amputation of Stephanie’s legs from a freak accident while at work at a SeaWorld like establishment. Removed entirely from society, she copes with the complete alteration of her existence. At first an obstacle to viewing, the strangeness of the digital deletion of Cotillard’s legs soon falls to the wayside as her powerful conveyance of suffering commandeers the screen.

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TIFF 2012: ‘The Iceman’ Shannon spellbinds with chilling focus and calculated brutality

The Iceman
Directed by Ariel Vromen
Written by Ariel Vromen and Morgan Land
2012, USA

Chronicling the complicated balance between work and family that prolific real life contract killer Richard Kuklinski carried on for decades, The Iceman paralyzes the audience purely with Michael Shannon’s unrelentingly intense performance. When cloaked in silence his unnerving stare speaks volumes more than any of the periphery characters who happen to drift in and out of scenes around him. He is a force of terror and subtle affection to behold. While Kuklinski claimed to have murdered over 100 people, the far more remarkable part of his story is how vehemently he insulated his family from his criminal underworld and true nature. Director Ariel Vromen conveys here how he didn’t use them as a cover but as emotional security against the monstrous people he was in business with, people seemingly less monstrous than himself. Iceman details the routinely abominable exploits of a killer who built a wholesome family life a top of a mountain of blood soaked deceptions.

Shannon holds the whole of the film together and doesn’t lose his grip unless you look away. While it could benefit from delving into his relationship with his family more than his underworld dealings, the concentrated tension from the killer’s eye movement and abrupt violence doesn’t let the viewer disengage. The role of Richard Kuklinski seems tailor made for Shannon, an actor who on the screen and stage has proven his absolute expertise with actualizing individuals verging on complete mental instability. In Bug, Take Shelter and Revolutionary Road he created masterfully manic characters whose sense of displeasure, unease and downright anger with life threaten to boil over at any moment. Here too Shannon possesses a quiet but on the edge air of fiery power. If provoked or leaned on for loyalty, he seems capable of absolutely anything. With his slicked back hair, remorseless stare and stiff demeanor- Shannon communicates an aptitude for destruction that is exacting and all consuming except when it comes to his family. In a quick flurry he deposes of people with machine like skill and a temperate expression. At home he does everything to be the most attentive and present father possible. Over time it is only his wife that notices he holds back certain parts of himself and doesn’t want to give up anything about his past. Winona Ryder plays his sweetheart Deborah, who seeks to affirm the best about Kuklinski. Her willful ignorance and minimal prying into his escalating lies is believable- no one wants to acknowledge their partner would be able to inflict such tremendous pain without regret. Ryder’s face carries the fear of someone who doesn’t want their idyllic world to come crashing down but still wishes to be close to whatever storm is raging inside her loved one.

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TIFF 2012: ‘The Hunt’ Mads Mikkelsen is a man ruptured to the core in this painful, frightening pic

The Hunt

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg

Screenplay by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm

2012, Denmark

Although director Thomas Vinterbeg’s The Hunt redoubles on well trodden material explicating the dangerousness of convicting without evidence or investigation, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Flame and Citron, Casino Royale, Valhalla Rising) profoundly visualizes just how excruciating the character assassination of a good man displaced by society’s rush to judgment can be. The role of Lucas, a personable and caring kindergarten teacher gives Mikkelsen the opportunity to spin movingly from a relatively content, ordinary man minding his own business to a man who has had almost every conceivable thing worth living for stripped away. Existing in the absence of any kind of existential meaning behind this punishment, Mikkelsen’s Lucas fights nobly and with what little self worth he can still muster to push back against the overwhelming tide of indiscriminate hate. It’s a harrowing emotional battle that leaves one with a strange sense of reverence for the beleaguered teacher, his integrity intact in spite of the world literally turning it’s back on him.

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TIFF 2012: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ captures the wit, charm, and drama of Shakespeare’s classic

Much Ado About Nothing
Directed by Joss Whedon
Adapted by Joss Whedon from the William Shakespeare play
USA, 2012

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is perhaps one of the most delightful romantic comedies ever written. Its tale of sparring and swooning love, betrayal, and redemption is timeless and, when done well, can leave audiences catching their breath and rolling in the aisles in equal measure. Joss Whedon has had a good year, with first the surprise success of Cabin in the Woods and then the smash hit that is The Avengers, but adapting your own work and tackling Shakespeare require very different artistic muscles. Filmed in black and white at Whedon’s home over the course of just two weeks and starring a cast mainly drawn from Whedon’s friends and former collaborators, rather than any sizeable names, Much Ado About Nothing is certainly a passion project. More than that, though, it’s a love letter to storytelling, relationships, and artistic inspiration. It’s the film that reinvigorated Whedon creatively after the grind of The Avengers and, hopefully, it’s only the beginning of smaller-scale filmmaking from a director who’s shown he can work both inside and outside of the system.

Any production of Much Ado About Nothing must rise or fall on the strength of the two central roles, Beatrice (here, Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof). They’re one of the all-time great literary couples and require tour-de-force performances from both to make the show work. Acker and Denisof slip into their roles with ease, bringing the necessary wit, intelligence, and intensity. Acker is particularly impressive, layering fragility and vulnerability underneath Beatrice’s characteristic strength and vivacity, and Denisof embraces Benedick’s goofier and hilariously self-obsessed moments with utter abandon.

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