There weren't many genre films on that seventh day (none, actually), but it didn't matter much, seeing how the three screenings I had lined up each brought its share of goodies, the last two ranking atop the list of my favorite films this year.
While restricted by a conventional narrative model, Bullhead drew some interesting parallels between the industrial breeding of cattle and the industrial breeding of human males, capitalizing on a perfectly-cast lead and a colorful cast of characters to create a very engrossing story. Lined up as filler for the gap between the first and last screenings, You Are Here ended up being one of my favorite films of the festival by using a very loose narrative thread to draw the viewer in a series of philosophical games, each more involving than the last. Finally, Victims was a crowning achievement, as well as a crowning film atop a stellar series of two. Contained within a single long take, the narrative questioned not the nature of cinema, nor its depiction of time, but rather the perennity and truthfulness of guilt in our guiltless world. In typical British fashion, it also probed the problem of crime amongst urban youths.
While there was nary a soul with whom to share my thoughts that evening, I never felt alone, for there was always the promise of a better film hung in the horizon after each screening. Then Victims ended, and I still felt lighthearted, fueled by my appreciation thereof and happy to go home with the memory of a perfectly fulfilled festival day. It is also during that evening that I realized I could live in film theaters, watching celluloid roll all day long. After all, life doesn't seem all that crappy when you're sitting there, watching silently and forgetting your physical self. It's actually the closest thing to my ideal way of life, a non-physical, purely intellectual existence away from the constraints of hunger, ugliness and lust. Sigh...
FILMS SEEN
Bullhead
A taut crime drama involving the Belgian growth hormone mafia is intertwined with the personal drama of Jacky, a muscular eunuch, on a arduous quest to reclaim his long-lost manhood. Using opportune flashbacks, the film slowly fleshes out both the protagonist and his childhood friend Diederik (now a queer police informant), both of whom were previously involved in a weird "accident" which caused Jacky to lose both his balls and both of whom are now playing on opposite sides of the law. While their personal feud is well-played, the story focuses squarely on Jacky as he tries to conquer the one non-threatening woman which he feels confident enough to approach, childhood crush Lucia, now an outgoing business owner. All these individual narrative threads are knit elegantly within the ready-made canvas that is the crime family chronicles. And surprisingly, all of this holds pretty well, relying on a select number of revelatory episodes and subtle mood shifts. Carried by excellent actors from both sides of the linguistic barrier (French and Flemish alike), Bullhead is a nice change of pace from extravagant genre pieces, that is a very engrossing drama which doesn't overplay the spectacular elements of the narrative, choosing instead to rely on relevant details. Perfectly cast as the over-sized protagonist, Matthias Schoenaerts manages to be touching at times, and scary at others, depending on the needs of the scenario. Most interestingly though, his muscular physique offers perfect contrast to his mutilated genitalia, allowing the film to question the need to overcompensate, or to create masculinity artificially, with the same growth hormone with which we shoot our cattle. The problematic appraisal of masculinity is actually the meaty crux of the film and its most salient feature. While well-crafted, the rest plays along familiar, almost dotted lines.
THUMBS UP
You Are Here
This collage of shorts is one of the most fun rides I've had this year. The wits involved seep through every, carefully crafted micro-narrative inside, creating an illuminating entry in the log of Canadian eccentricities. Read full review here.
ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP
Victims
It was a shame to see how few people turned up to witness such an uncommon feat, a one-take film. I mean, most of the theater was empty, as if people couldn't care for any technical achievement that wasn't a first (The Russian Ark and PVC-1, amongst few others, have beaten Victims to the punch). Actually, I was surprised only for an instant, imputing the lack of an audience to the generalized lack of interest for film as a complex technical means of telling a story. That said, while Victims does manage to contain the entire narrative within a single take, it does so at the expense of concision, as exemplified by the overly lengthy van ride opening the film, which gobbles up a third of the runtime, and showcases a jarring number of redundant lines. Fortunately, the film then builds up nicely toward an explosive centerpiece containing some surprisingly crafty moments of tension.
The story focuses on one Neil Adams and a group of abductors hellbent on making him confess to a brutal rape/murder which he perpetrated as a child. While the man vehemently denies these allegations, his facade eventually cracks, revealing a rather penitent former rapist. But penitent or not, his captors have made up their mind to make him pay, as their very elaborate plan suggests. Wordy but tension-filled, Victims plays out like a timely debate on a subject quite dear to the British psyche, juvenile crime, the ramifications of which are cleverly weighted and appraised within the highly dramatic framework of the narrative. And while it all could be considered a rape revenge film, it is not a bloody one. Nonetheless, it is far more relevant than all the I Spit on Your Grave of this world, tackling its subject matter rather gravely, and synthetically, exposing the evils of both crime and its punishment. A surprisingly potent achievement, and one even your mother will love.
ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP
While restricted by a conventional narrative model, Bullhead drew some interesting parallels between the industrial breeding of cattle and the industrial breeding of human males, capitalizing on a perfectly-cast lead and a colorful cast of characters to create a very engrossing story. Lined up as filler for the gap between the first and last screenings, You Are Here ended up being one of my favorite films of the festival by using a very loose narrative thread to draw the viewer in a series of philosophical games, each more involving than the last. Finally, Victims was a crowning achievement, as well as a crowning film atop a stellar series of two. Contained within a single long take, the narrative questioned not the nature of cinema, nor its depiction of time, but rather the perennity and truthfulness of guilt in our guiltless world. In typical British fashion, it also probed the problem of crime amongst urban youths.
While there was nary a soul with whom to share my thoughts that evening, I never felt alone, for there was always the promise of a better film hung in the horizon after each screening. Then Victims ended, and I still felt lighthearted, fueled by my appreciation thereof and happy to go home with the memory of a perfectly fulfilled festival day. It is also during that evening that I realized I could live in film theaters, watching celluloid roll all day long. After all, life doesn't seem all that crappy when you're sitting there, watching silently and forgetting your physical self. It's actually the closest thing to my ideal way of life, a non-physical, purely intellectual existence away from the constraints of hunger, ugliness and lust. Sigh...
FILMS SEEN
Bullhead
A taut crime drama involving the Belgian growth hormone mafia is intertwined with the personal drama of Jacky, a muscular eunuch, on a arduous quest to reclaim his long-lost manhood. Using opportune flashbacks, the film slowly fleshes out both the protagonist and his childhood friend Diederik (now a queer police informant), both of whom were previously involved in a weird "accident" which caused Jacky to lose both his balls and both of whom are now playing on opposite sides of the law. While their personal feud is well-played, the story focuses squarely on Jacky as he tries to conquer the one non-threatening woman which he feels confident enough to approach, childhood crush Lucia, now an outgoing business owner. All these individual narrative threads are knit elegantly within the ready-made canvas that is the crime family chronicles. And surprisingly, all of this holds pretty well, relying on a select number of revelatory episodes and subtle mood shifts. Carried by excellent actors from both sides of the linguistic barrier (French and Flemish alike), Bullhead is a nice change of pace from extravagant genre pieces, that is a very engrossing drama which doesn't overplay the spectacular elements of the narrative, choosing instead to rely on relevant details. Perfectly cast as the over-sized protagonist, Matthias Schoenaerts manages to be touching at times, and scary at others, depending on the needs of the scenario. Most interestingly though, his muscular physique offers perfect contrast to his mutilated genitalia, allowing the film to question the need to overcompensate, or to create masculinity artificially, with the same growth hormone with which we shoot our cattle. The problematic appraisal of masculinity is actually the meaty crux of the film and its most salient feature. While well-crafted, the rest plays along familiar, almost dotted lines.
THUMBS UP
You Are Here
This collage of shorts is one of the most fun rides I've had this year. The wits involved seep through every, carefully crafted micro-narrative inside, creating an illuminating entry in the log of Canadian eccentricities. Read full review here.
ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP
Victims
It was a shame to see how few people turned up to witness such an uncommon feat, a one-take film. I mean, most of the theater was empty, as if people couldn't care for any technical achievement that wasn't a first (The Russian Ark and PVC-1, amongst few others, have beaten Victims to the punch). Actually, I was surprised only for an instant, imputing the lack of an audience to the generalized lack of interest for film as a complex technical means of telling a story. That said, while Victims does manage to contain the entire narrative within a single take, it does so at the expense of concision, as exemplified by the overly lengthy van ride opening the film, which gobbles up a third of the runtime, and showcases a jarring number of redundant lines. Fortunately, the film then builds up nicely toward an explosive centerpiece containing some surprisingly crafty moments of tension.
The story focuses on one Neil Adams and a group of abductors hellbent on making him confess to a brutal rape/murder which he perpetrated as a child. While the man vehemently denies these allegations, his facade eventually cracks, revealing a rather penitent former rapist. But penitent or not, his captors have made up their mind to make him pay, as their very elaborate plan suggests. Wordy but tension-filled, Victims plays out like a timely debate on a subject quite dear to the British psyche, juvenile crime, the ramifications of which are cleverly weighted and appraised within the highly dramatic framework of the narrative. And while it all could be considered a rape revenge film, it is not a bloody one. Nonetheless, it is far more relevant than all the I Spit on Your Grave of this world, tackling its subject matter rather gravely, and synthetically, exposing the evils of both crime and its punishment. A surprisingly potent achievement, and one even your mother will love.
ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP
