This year I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to watch
some advanced screenings of movies prior to the start of the Toronto Film Festival. As with any eclectic set of films, I found
some were fun and entertaining, while others were more thought provoking, and
unfortunately, one was just downright aimless and boring.
My favourite movie of this set was the Irish crime comedy/thriller
called “Jump” involving a heist, an
attempted suicide, a car accident and small-time hoodlums running around, all
happening on New Years Eve. This action
packed flick hooks you from the opening scene and then takes you on a wild
ride, keeping you guessing all along the way. Multiple parallel plot lines
intersect with each other, but after a while you realize that at least one of
them is a flashback. As the scenes play
and then play again from different viewpoints, things that seemed confusing or
mysterious the first time suddenly make sense and each payoff feels really
satisfying. The pulsing soundtrack and
fast-paced action ratchets up the tension and then releases it with spurts of
comic relief.
Another fun movie was the documentary “Secret Disco Revolution”, which used 3 actors dressed like members of
the old TV show “The Mod Squad” to portray the “masterminds” behind the
promotion and evolution of disco. This cheesy and humorous plot device gave the documentary some structure in presenting
the history of disco . Interviews with
DJs, producers and former disco stars such as The Village People, Anita Pointer of the
Pointer Sisters, Gloria Gaynor, Thelma Houston, etc. were spliced with video clips of
archival live performances and scenes from discotheques. One of the main arguments of the movie was
that disco aided the cultural emancipation of women, blacks and gays. Much time was spent discussing how Donna
Summer’s moaning rendition of “Love to Love You” represented a 12 minute female
orgasm.
The movie that made the most impact on me (although I’m not sure I
would have called it entertaining) is Janeane
from Des Moines. A strange cross
between documentary/mockumentary and scripted drama, it follows ultra
conservative, religious housewife “Janine”, whose life is falling apart when
her husband loses his job with its company health care plan and she discovers
she has cancer. She attends the
Republican primaries, trying to question each of the candidates on their
alternative plan for providing health care to the poor since each of them pledge to eliminate Obamacare. It
is during these sessions that the line between documentary and drama
blurs. Janeane is captured on film
actually interacting with each candidate including Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and
Michelle Bachmann who actually converses with her at length over coffee. Janine begins to question the party platforms
when it becomes clear that none of the candidates offer her any real health care options. I wonder how the candidates feel to realize they were set up and now star in a subversive movie.
The Canadian movie I Declare
War depicts two groups of children using very realistic war game tactics to
play “Capture the Flag” in a remote woodland. The weapons and battles are seen
from the point of view of the children’s imaginations. Plastic toys turn into machine guns and
assault rifles, and the sounds of gunfire and bomb explosions are deafeningly
loud. Amidst of all this,
relationships are explored as mutiny, flaunting of game rules, friendships,
alliances, trust and betrayal are all in play.
Even though you can clearly see that these are just children engaged in make-believe,
you get caught up in the intensity of the game.
The child actors were all very talented and versatile, showing a wide
range of emotions and vulnerabilities underneath postured toughness. This movie is Lord of the Flies meets Patton.
Another Canadian film called Blackbird
revolves around a teenaged Goth-dressed outcast in a small town who is falsely
accused of planning a mass school shooting.
This was an intense movie that was admirable for the plot and acting but
was not exactly fun to watch. I came out
feeling anxious and a bit depressed.
