CARTUNA REPORTING - TIFF DAY FOUR (Part One) - DAYBREAKERS, CLEANFLIX, UNDER THE MOUNTAIN, MALL GIRLS, And More!!

Merrick here...
Here's Cartuna after the fourth day of TIFF...

CARTUNA REPORTING - TIFF DAY FOUR Okay, kids... Day Four of TIFF has concluded. Not a lot of time for reports this morning, but it was a fantastic day of movies yesterday. Actually, I’m going to break this up into two reports, because I have no hope of finishing all five up this morning. Here are the first two films I caught on Day Four: CLEANFLIX directed by - Andrew James/Joshua Ligairi The short version: Very compelling, if somewhat slanted documentary. I really enjoyed it, and would watch it again, or maybe even buy the dvd at some point. The long version: In Utah, where Mormons have been explicitly told that they are not to watch R-rated films by their prophet, enterprising entrepreneurs start businesses where they edit people’s videos of blockbuster Hollywood films to remove any ‘objectionable’ content. This documentary follows a few of these businesses, as they bump into copyright law and the wrath of the artists whose work they are nipping and tucking. As you might expect, the ‘choir’ was definitely in the house for this particular bit of preaching. This is a documentary that has chosen sides - from its opening frames, it paints the Church of Latter Day Saints as horrifying and maniacal (by simply showing one of their prophets, preaching, on a distorted grainy videotape) and I wouldn’t want to be the one to argue against this stance. The documentarians were either very wise or very lucky to concentrate their narrative around Daniel Thompson, owner and operator of a small edited-video rental and retail business as their lead subject in the film, as the guy simply loves the attention of the media, and shows an incredible degree of hubris, which ends up coming back to bite him on the ass, multiple times. He rivals King of Kong’s Billy Mitchell in being one of those ideal documentary subjects, who you can’t quite believe is a real guy. We follow him through his emergence as a national spokesman for the concept of edited videos up to and beyond a shocking sex-scandal. I doubt edited-video supporters will really enjoy the film, but the rest of us should have a pretty darn good time. DAYBREAKERS directed by - the Spierig Brothers The short version: Holy shit! Fucking awesome. The long version: In the near-future, vampires have become the dominant society, and have very nearly wiped out humans, through unchecked overeating. And, as it turns out, when they don’t get enough blood (or feed on other vampires), they become Subsiders - something even worse than vampires. We follow a hematologist who is working to discover a viable blood-substitute, as he is enlisted into the service of a small group of rebels with a very important secret which I’m sure the trailers will spoil completely for everyone. This is a wicked movie. You will love it. If you don’t, I don’t want to hear about it. The Speirig Brothers have not only topped themselves, they’ve completely fulfilled whatever raw promise they showed in making Undead. They’ve made something amazing here, a film I’m sure will become a huge favorite, and in all likelihood spawn a franchise. I only hope the Speirig Brothers are able to stay at the reins. Based on this film (if not Undead) I’ll definitely be in line for whatever it is that they make next. Shoot! I’ve gotta make a run for transit. Hopefully, this doesn’t set me permanently behind. Until tomorrow, here are the short versions for the other films I saw today: UNDER THE MOUNTAIN directed by - Jonathan King The short version: Very good pre-teen-aimed movie, with a couple big flaws. Mostly really strong - I enjoyed it alot. MALL GIRLS directed by - Katarzyna Rostaniec The short version: Hard. Not a fun movie, but a good one. I’m surely glad this wasn’t the last film of my day. ACCIDENT directed by - Soi Cheang The short version: A great movie. Paranoid and obsessive. The Conversation by way of Jean-Pierre Melville. If that don’t pique your interest, what would?