THURSDAY, AUGUST 4
Cool. Something like half an hour to cover the whole ground between work and the Norris building. I'll just go by foot, and slightly pick up the pace should the need arise. Then I'll be just in time for one of the most awaited films of the festival, British anthology Little Deaths. Should kick off a bountiful soirée in style!
Hell, that's the frame of mind I was in before I stepped into the De Sève theater, which absorbed me in a maelstrom of crap for the very first time in my life. Luckily, my partner for the last two films couldn't make it in time for the first screening and thus had an horrific night severed by a third. Yuck... Little Deaths, then Exit, then Les bas-fonds... Luckily, there was Éric Falardeau's Crépuscule which was shown prior to the third screening. All things being equal, this simple, painstakingly crafted short made the entire evening memorable, even if little else in the other films did, but the aptly named "mutant tool".
FILMS SEEN
Little Deaths
I should've been alarmed by the diminutive crowd present for this, the second screening of the British horror anthology. When I walked out of Beyond the Black Rainbow on July 29th, there was a huge line for the first screening. Good vibe, I thought, contemplating a fine intro to the August 4th lineup. But by the time August 4th rolled by, I was confronted with absence. People had suddenly snubbed the film. Maybe word to mouth had started to spread. Maybe this second screening came at an inconvenient time in the day. At any rate, the high expectations I entertained in regards to this film were soon shattered. When the shockingly unimaginative twist ending to the first story came about, to be exact. Then, things went from bad to worse when I realized that this introductory chapter was also the most polished and technically competent of the three. The second chapter is perplexing, sure, and it contains some of the weirdest imagery I had ever seen (some mild recommendation for ya), but eventually, it all boils down to one jaw-dropping prosthetic and loads of bullshit involving any and every cheap plot device in the book (including the evil Nazi doctor). The third chapter, while more involving dramatically, implodes during the ludicrous revenge sequence punctuated by a totally out-of-place, joyous little tune worthy of a comedic scene from a family film. All in all, the entire enterprise is a cheap, ill-advised effort in button-pushing. It contains only disgusting characters indulging in overdetermined acts of everyday villainy. And while one may argue that this is what horror is all about, no one would have such a cheaply-produced, pretentious piece of crap in mind when making such an assumption.
THUMBS DOWN
Exit
Intriguing premise is reminiscent of Dark City's: a group of people is caught within the limits of one unnamed megalopolis, trying desperately to find an exit in the form of an unmarked door leading to whatever one can imagine. This would be all well and good if the characters were fleshed out beyond the scope of their obsessive behavior. If, for example, their motivations were clearly delineated, or their backgrounds elaborated instead of having them tagged merely as "door-hunters", one could find relevance in their actions, and could share in their desire to find the blasted door. But as it stands, the latter remains but an uninvolving, purely intellectual concept, the pursuit of which is totally meaningless to us. And it is a hazy concept at that, which hampers our involvement even further. Maybe the film could be understood, and loved, as a quiet study of obsession. But as a sci-fi film, it fails for it takes the human factor out of the equation, unlike the wondrous Another Earth, which takes the opposite approach. Exit is shot using one hell of a great HD camera, allowing for breathtaking shots of the cityscape and some awesome, organic tracking shots. The depth of field is probed with some genius results (especially in the dinner scene wherein proximity is brilliantly simulated and sustained despite the distance between the characters), but the alternating focus shifts are overused, eventually nullifying their effect. While the director is technically proficient, the narrative shares in the coldness of technique and thus loses all potential at creating affect. If only the guy had had a heart to match his brain...
THUMBS DOWN
Bas-fonds
Not unlike Noé's overrated Irréversible, this candid trash film works backwards, showing us the atrocious acts committed by perverted derelicts only to turn things 180 degrees once they get arrested and suddenly make them out to be the poor victims of circumstances. In light of the fact that any given half nullifies the other both in aesthetic and dramatic terms, Bas-fonds reveals itself to be an entirely self-defeating film, which is a shame considering the dynamite material that director Le Besco had to work with. Characterized by hysterical overacting reminiscent of John Waters' films, the first half is minimalistic to the core as it vies to reflect the void inhabiting the shells of Magalie, Barbara and Marie-Stef. At this point, they come out solely as spoiled brats indulging in every immediate desire they can muster. There is no mention pertaining to the progression which has lead them to that state. There is only the present state of affairs and it speaks for itself. One could call the three girls nihilists, and they would be much closer to the truth than what we are subsequently told is the real truth, namely that they are simply lost lambs looking for love. If ever there was a heavier load of bullshit than that, I'd like to see it. Surprisingly, the tenderness of ring leader Magalie is only revealed after she murders an innocent baker in a homicidal frenzy. Maybe it's just me, but trying to find a hint humanity in this despicable person is an ungrateful task and it should never be undertaken after the facts. From where I stand, the film would've spoken much more through a continuous showcase of violence than with a sappy, "humanistic" attempt at trying to understand. I mean, many people have looked for love in all the wrong places, but that doesn't absolve, nor does it explain any such actions as those depicted in the first half of the film.
AMBIVALENT THUMBS DOWN
Cool. Something like half an hour to cover the whole ground between work and the Norris building. I'll just go by foot, and slightly pick up the pace should the need arise. Then I'll be just in time for one of the most awaited films of the festival, British anthology Little Deaths. Should kick off a bountiful soirée in style!
Hell, that's the frame of mind I was in before I stepped into the De Sève theater, which absorbed me in a maelstrom of crap for the very first time in my life. Luckily, my partner for the last two films couldn't make it in time for the first screening and thus had an horrific night severed by a third. Yuck... Little Deaths, then Exit, then Les bas-fonds... Luckily, there was Éric Falardeau's Crépuscule which was shown prior to the third screening. All things being equal, this simple, painstakingly crafted short made the entire evening memorable, even if little else in the other films did, but the aptly named "mutant tool".
FILMS SEEN
Little Deaths
I should've been alarmed by the diminutive crowd present for this, the second screening of the British horror anthology. When I walked out of Beyond the Black Rainbow on July 29th, there was a huge line for the first screening. Good vibe, I thought, contemplating a fine intro to the August 4th lineup. But by the time August 4th rolled by, I was confronted with absence. People had suddenly snubbed the film. Maybe word to mouth had started to spread. Maybe this second screening came at an inconvenient time in the day. At any rate, the high expectations I entertained in regards to this film were soon shattered. When the shockingly unimaginative twist ending to the first story came about, to be exact. Then, things went from bad to worse when I realized that this introductory chapter was also the most polished and technically competent of the three. The second chapter is perplexing, sure, and it contains some of the weirdest imagery I had ever seen (some mild recommendation for ya), but eventually, it all boils down to one jaw-dropping prosthetic and loads of bullshit involving any and every cheap plot device in the book (including the evil Nazi doctor). The third chapter, while more involving dramatically, implodes during the ludicrous revenge sequence punctuated by a totally out-of-place, joyous little tune worthy of a comedic scene from a family film. All in all, the entire enterprise is a cheap, ill-advised effort in button-pushing. It contains only disgusting characters indulging in overdetermined acts of everyday villainy. And while one may argue that this is what horror is all about, no one would have such a cheaply-produced, pretentious piece of crap in mind when making such an assumption.
THUMBS DOWN
Exit
Intriguing premise is reminiscent of Dark City's: a group of people is caught within the limits of one unnamed megalopolis, trying desperately to find an exit in the form of an unmarked door leading to whatever one can imagine. This would be all well and good if the characters were fleshed out beyond the scope of their obsessive behavior. If, for example, their motivations were clearly delineated, or their backgrounds elaborated instead of having them tagged merely as "door-hunters", one could find relevance in their actions, and could share in their desire to find the blasted door. But as it stands, the latter remains but an uninvolving, purely intellectual concept, the pursuit of which is totally meaningless to us. And it is a hazy concept at that, which hampers our involvement even further. Maybe the film could be understood, and loved, as a quiet study of obsession. But as a sci-fi film, it fails for it takes the human factor out of the equation, unlike the wondrous Another Earth, which takes the opposite approach. Exit is shot using one hell of a great HD camera, allowing for breathtaking shots of the cityscape and some awesome, organic tracking shots. The depth of field is probed with some genius results (especially in the dinner scene wherein proximity is brilliantly simulated and sustained despite the distance between the characters), but the alternating focus shifts are overused, eventually nullifying their effect. While the director is technically proficient, the narrative shares in the coldness of technique and thus loses all potential at creating affect. If only the guy had had a heart to match his brain...
THUMBS DOWN
Bas-fonds
Not unlike Noé's overrated Irréversible, this candid trash film works backwards, showing us the atrocious acts committed by perverted derelicts only to turn things 180 degrees once they get arrested and suddenly make them out to be the poor victims of circumstances. In light of the fact that any given half nullifies the other both in aesthetic and dramatic terms, Bas-fonds reveals itself to be an entirely self-defeating film, which is a shame considering the dynamite material that director Le Besco had to work with. Characterized by hysterical overacting reminiscent of John Waters' films, the first half is minimalistic to the core as it vies to reflect the void inhabiting the shells of Magalie, Barbara and Marie-Stef. At this point, they come out solely as spoiled brats indulging in every immediate desire they can muster. There is no mention pertaining to the progression which has lead them to that state. There is only the present state of affairs and it speaks for itself. One could call the three girls nihilists, and they would be much closer to the truth than what we are subsequently told is the real truth, namely that they are simply lost lambs looking for love. If ever there was a heavier load of bullshit than that, I'd like to see it. Surprisingly, the tenderness of ring leader Magalie is only revealed after she murders an innocent baker in a homicidal frenzy. Maybe it's just me, but trying to find a hint humanity in this despicable person is an ungrateful task and it should never be undertaken after the facts. From where I stand, the film would've spoken much more through a continuous showcase of violence than with a sappy, "humanistic" attempt at trying to understand. I mean, many people have looked for love in all the wrong places, but that doesn't absolve, nor does it explain any such actions as those depicted in the first half of the film.
AMBIVALENT THUMBS DOWN
