FFWD REW

TIFF dispatch — day three (September 6)

Corbo (Dir. Mathieu Denis Canada)

The Duke of Burgandy (Dir. Peter Strickland U.K.)

Nightcrawler (Dir. Dan Gilroy USA)

Around is Around (Dir. Normal McLaren Canada 1951)

Hill of Freedom (Dir. Hong Sang-Soo South Korea)

Who doesn’t like to kick of their Saturday morning with a little radical terrorism? Just me? I won’t lie that I’d first hoped to catch The Tale Of Princess Kaguya the final film from the soon-to-be-defunct Studio Ghibli but wasn’t able to get in. Far from crestfallen (the film opens later this fall) I gladly made time for Corbo from Quebecois director Mathieu Denis. Set over several months in 1966 we watch as the disillusioned bourgeois teen Jean drifts towards the radical Front du libération du Québec and their extreme occasionally violent measures.

Dealing with such dramatic and sensational material — material that might garner the film an audience beyond Quebec — the film at times struggles to balance its populist leanings with what feels like historical due diligence. To do so Denis frequently employs didactic exposition masquerading as familial dialogue outlining the era’s conflicts over labour politics language politics and religion. These occasionally stilted moments feel forgivable in part as the film manages to rise above other easy conventions a young director might have fallen for. It’s not perfect but it’s taut intelligent and proof Denis is one to watch.

After Corbo I’ll admit I was ready for a brief reprieve from the real world so opted to try my luck Peter Strickland’s highly stylized The Duke of Burgundy my sole foray into TIFF’s "Vanguards" program. The follow-up to his dark and impressive send-up to Italian giallo cinema Berberian Sound Studio The Duke of Burgundy also turns to genre for inspiration in this case erotic melodrama.

More interested in mood than content the plot loosely revolves around the intricate role-playing fantasies of Evaline acted out with her lepidopterist girlfriend Cynthia in their stately mansion.The premise might sound titillating but aside from a few moments of comic relief the film dragged. Effective in part as an exercise in style sound and design I couldn’t help but wish Strickland had found something substantial to back it up.

My schedule for most of the day was looking pretty packed but thankfully I found a window to pop into a "Short Cuts Canada" program long enough to catch Around is Around a 1951 3D animation from NFB legend Normal McLaren. Anyone familiar with his fluid and hypnotic style can imagine what the leap to 3D would have achieved and it was breathtaking. It might have only been seven minutes long but was easily a highlight of the day.

I could easily have watched Around is Around on repeat for another hour but instead joined the massive line for the much-buzzed Jake Gyllenhaal vehicle Nightcrawler. Slightly side-stepping his recent penchant for brooding dude lead rolls here Gyllenhaal plays a gaunt keener that finds his calling capturing gruesome crime scene footage for local television.

Lighter in tone than I was expecting the film definitely plays up the character’s quirkiness and quickly evolves into a satire on the ruthlessness of broadcast media and personal obsession. The film has been garnering early praise and I’ve spoken to individuals who found it entertaining but I was not sold at all. As satire it felt stale and toothless while Gyllenhaal’s character felt thin and underwritten.

Korean auteur Hong Sang-Soo may release a movie each year (2013 saw two including the superb Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) but quantity has never proven a major hindrance for their quality. His films may find themselves falling into familiar rhythms — in web of chance meetings and missed encounters his characters spend most screen-time eating drinking and talking — but familiarity isn’t a bad thing at all.

In Hill of Freedom we meet the Japanese Mori who has come to Seoul to find a past love. Unable to locate her he spends his days bumming around the city with new friends from his inn and the local cafe drinking and talking (obviously). What I love about Hong’s films and Hill of Freedom especially is how effortless they all feel. Narrated through mixed-up letters the narrative is non-linear but never feels heady or pretentious. After two afternoon disappointments it was a blissful 66 minute breathe of fresh air as well as a personal favourite of TIFF thus far.

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