Craig at the Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF 2006 Day 10

The social order at the festival has broken down. It would seem that the last time I would see a Q&A following a screening was at THIS FILTHY WORLD on Friday morning. Since then there have been no directors, no stars, and not even the programmers introducing the films, just their assistants. It’s the festival’s way of telling us ‘your ride is about to end, the big names are already having their swag scanned at Pearson, get used to it…’ Well, normal life isn’t set to recommence without a few more films…

CASHBACK, a first feature from Britain’s Sean Ellis, is an expansion of his 18 minute Academy Award nominated short of the same name. It concerns Ben, an art student who is able to stop time and study the beauty in the world around him: any girl he says can suddenly be the ultimate life drawing model, frozen for Ben as he creates charcoal drawings or paintings. Ellis has created some fascinating stopped-time moments, still-life scenes made all the more interesting by Ben’s ability to weave through them: in a day when digital effects have rendered the impossible snooze-worthy, CASHBACK still elicited whispers of ‘how’d they do that?’ throughout the screening.

Beyond the visual wizardry, CASHBACK follows Ben’s journey from being dumped by his girlfriend to finding his place in the world. Along the way Ben, played by Sean Biggerstaff, joins the late shift at a supermarket, a place that provides a cast of cracked characters that make for a lot of fun, a bevy of beautiful shoppers for Ben to sketch, and Sharon, played by Emilia Fox, a cashier who is intent on bettering herself in preparation for moving on. Will Ben and Sharon move on together? Watch for CASHBACK when it opens in a few months…

No explanation is needed for what the name UN CRIME means in English. What could stand some explanation, however, is why this film, set in New York, and acted entirely in English, is called UN CRIME for in the first place. The third film from French director Manuel Pradal, UN CRIME stars Emmanuelle Béart as Alice, a woman obsessed with her tragic neighbour Vincent. Vincent was left a widower three years earlier by the murder of his wife Ashley, an unsolved crime which has left him angry, confused, and stuck in time. If Alice is ever going to become Vincent’s new lover, she is going to have to find Ashley’s killer, and allow Vincent to get his revenge and close that chapter of his life, able to move on. And if Alice cannot find the killer, she can set someone up to take the fall…

UN CRIME gives us an fascinatingly horrible villain to detest, and in Harvey Keitel, playing the hapless victim of Alice’s obsession, a unique and complex underdog who just may escape her plot. Despite its darkness, I enjoyed UN CRIME, up to a point where near its end the film strained its credulity beyond the breaking point. Emmanuelle Béart puts in a memorable performance, but I not sure I’m happy that I won’t forget this one.

LIGHTS IN THE DUSK was the last film of the festival for me, but as part of a whole, and despite working as a denouement for the fest, I wish it had been second last: I wanted to go out with more of a bang. Directed by Finland’s Aki Kaurismaki, who in 2002 created the wonderful multi-award-winning film THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST, LIGHTS IN THE DUSK is still a fine film, but more downbeat than my favourite Kaurismakis. DUSK tells the story of Koistinen, a security guard who rubs some Helsinki mobsters the wrong way, and who subsequently ends up as their witless patsy: Koistinen takes the fall for a crime they have committed. There is salvation waiting for Koistinen to ask for it, but will he? Darkly funny, DUSK holds some small rewards for the viewer’s patience. If you’re a Kaurismaki fan, line up, but if you haven’t seen his films yet, THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST makes a much better starting point.

PARIS, JE T’AIME was my second last film, but is literally a film festival all on its own, and was a fantastic surprise for my last day at the festival. PARIS is made up of 21 segments by prominent directors with 21 different stories and casts, all of which are clever nuggets of life and love in the City of Light. Segments include: Steve Buscemi starring in the Coen Brothers‘ amusing take on the perils faced by tourists in the Metro, Emily Mortimer and Rufus Sewell as a couple whose impending marriage is saved by Oscar Wilde in Wes Craven’s visit to Père-Lachaise cemetery, Juliette Binoche as a woman coming to terms with the death of her son in Nobuhiro Suwa’s ‘Place des Victoires‘, and more and more and more: each stories is a wink and a smile. This one is worth looking up on the festival’s website at bell.ca/filmfest, or at imdb.com for a full list of the talent involved in creating it.

PARIS, JE T’AIME hasn’t sold here yet as far as I know, but I certainly hope it will - the universality of the stories and the universal appeal of Paris should bring in the audiences - it certainly deserves them. In a little while, I’ll be looking for this one on DVD.

So that’s it. Another festival has come and gone, and it’s time to return to regularly scheduled programming… Only 355 days ’til next year’s.

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