Reel Talk World Cinema - The Tenants & Mary Pickford Exhibit at TIFF

Our friend gave us tickets to watch another film in the Reel Talk World Cinema series at TIFF, which presents a surprise foreign film once a month and then has a film critic lead a discussion about it afterwards. We previously watched the movie Tirza from the Netherlands.

This time it was a tension-filled Brazilian film called The Tenants (Don't Like it, Leave), depicting San Paolo Brazil as a violent, politically amoral city where bombings are a regular occurrence, the government is not to be trusted and crime is rampant while the police look the other way.  Valter, the head of a middle-class family living in a relatively peaceful neighbourhood, tries to deal a trio of hoodlums who move into the house next door.  They have loud drunken parties all night, terrorize the old man who also lives in the house, and are possibly involved in an assortment of crimes including drugs, robbery and murder.  Had this been a typical Hollywood movie like Gran Torino, the father would become the vigilante hero and confront the thugs in a big shootout.  Instead we get a nuanced character study that reflects the passivity and helplessness of a society that has no choice but to accept its bleak existence.

If the purpose of the World Cinema film series is to expose us to other cultures and societies, then I'm quickly amassing a list of locations that I never want to visit (including the Ozarks after watching Winter's Bone on DVD!).  Based on the two movies we've seen in this series, as well the comment forms from other viewers, most of the selected films have been extremely dark and depressing.  As one patron wrote, "Are there no happy foreign movies to show on a Sunday morning"?  These films are probably picked with the same thought process that drives the Academy Awards to mostly pick "serious" movies as best picture.  My personal theory is that we watch these types of movies to better appreciate our own lives.  Just the other day when I was feeling a little down, I perked up after thinking, "well, at least I don't live in San Paolo Brazil!".

While at the Bell Lightbox, we also visited the Mary Pickford exhibit.  Nicknamed "America's Sweetheart", this early 1900s Canadian silent film star spent her childhood in a home which is now the current site of the Toronto Sick Children's Hospital.  The extensive collection included posters from her numerous movies, as well as photos and memorbilia from her personal life.  She was one of the first celebrities to widely license her image, with her face imprinted on everything from jigsaw puzzles, broaches, spoons, makeup, pillows, cigarette cases and cards.

A film clip of "My Best Girl" illustrated why Mary Pickford was so successful in her silent films.  Her big expressive eyes, face and actions conveyed everything you needed to know about the story without the need for words.

I was impressed by how influential and business-savvy she was for a young woman in the 1920s.  Mary Pickford helped to form United Artists, the first artist-run film studio, after not being happy with the movie deals that she was offered.  She cofounded the Academy Awards of Motion Pictures, sold liberty bonds to raise money for the war and contributed hugely to charities.  Her scandalous affair and marriage to Douglas Fairbank made them the "Brad and Angelina" of their times.

This exhibit gave a very thorough retrospective of Mary Pickford's career and personal life and is well worth seeing.   It is on display on the 4th floor, in the Canadian Film Gallery and is free of charge (closed on Mondays)