Cartuna Day 7: BUNNY & THE BULL, DELIVER US FROM EVIL, YOUTH IN REVOLT, LIFE DURING WARTIME + more!

CARTUNA REPORTING - TIFF DAY SEVEN Okay, kids... Day Seven of TIFF has concluded. It was a mostly great day, with some more awesome films. Here they are: LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL directed by - Reginald Harkema The short version: Didn’t like this one at all. It wanted to be edgy, shocking, funny, but was none of these things. I wouldn’t recommend it. The long version: This is one that I went into with no real expectations. Which is good, I guess, because I doubt it would’ve met any. The movie partly concerns itself with telling the story of Leslie Van Houten, and partly is about a dude who is picked to be on her jury during the Manson Family Trial. And partly, it’s about a bunch of 60s era documentary footage haphazardly jammed in between. But really, it doesn’t seem to be about much of anything at all. It seems to have no real opinion, except maybe that religious conservatives are mean. This movie has aspirations to be over-the-top and edgy, but never does anything particularly surprising or revolutionary. The director made claims before the film about it being hyper-stylized and anti-realist. If anything it was slightly-stylized and false, and neither element felt like a conscious choice so much as the result of extreme laziness from people who just couldn’t be bothered to build complete sets or pay attention to historical accuracy. It seems to want to try to ‘explain’ Leslie Van Houten, but isn’t willing to spend the time with her, and think beyond the shallow and obvious: her folks got divorced, her mom wouldn’t let her keep her unplanned pregnancy, Charlie was a surrogate father to her. Then, abruptly, the film turns towards her juror. A man from a conservative family who has never been exposed to any 60s hippie ideals, and whose mind is ripe to be blown, if only he could get past his oppressive upbringing. In tone and intention, these storylines are utterly different and opposed. Rather than building on one another, they fight for attention, and as a result, the movie is fractured and aimless. I’m sure there will be those who see this film, that are offended by it screwing around with the stories of real people and situations. It will be accused of exploitation, and that’s certainly a fair, if pointless, charge. But none of this would matter if the film had something greater to reveal by playing fast and loose with the facts. But it doesn’t. The film has a kind of a nasty, mocking tone. And instead of forcing us to look more closely at the people and attitudes that it targets, it just comes off as childish and insulting. Like the screaming guy on the soapbox loses any chance of actually being heard, whatever commentary this film hoped to make is lost in its own snarky tone. YOUTH IN REVOLT directed by - Miguel Arteta The short version: Pretty funny. Not anything earth-shattering, but I wouldn’t have a problem with seeing it again. The long version: For those who do not like Michael Cera, this movie will be torture. He is center-screen from pretty much the full running-time, and for some of the film, he is onscreen in duplicate, so be forewarned. For those of us who like him, well... The same warning applies. Michael Cera’s Nick has little hope of ever losing his virginity. His interests and pretensions are just not likely to ever match up with those of anyone of the opposite sex, a fact of which he is aware, if not quite accepting. His life is uprooted, when his fractured family goes on the run from sailors, angry at being conned by Nick’s mom’s boyfriend. They end up living in a trailer park, where he meets Sheeni, the rare girl who he could really connect with, and a real doll, too. He falls head over heels immediately, and pursues and more or less wins her shortly after. But what lengths will he need to go to in order to be with her, when her parents take a disliking to him? Well, pretty darn far, actually. It’s a funny film, but not one that fully engaged me. Maybe the leads were just a bit too willfully pretentious, or the situations felt somewhat forced. I’m not sure. I certainly laughed a lot, I guess I just hoped for more of a connection to be made. In order to win the girl, Nick must discover his darker side. This comes in the guise of Francois, Nick’s dark side, personified as a second Nick, with a pencil-thin moustache and CREEPY blue contacts. This actually allows Cera to venture beyond the standard fairly narrow territory where he usually plays, and I was a bit surprised by the result, which was distinctly different (if a bit one-dimensional by necessity). Based on this, I look forward to Cera taking on something more against-type in the future. In embracing his inner bad-boy, Nick ends up pulling some pretty questionable shit, and it’s a testament to both the filmmaking and the appeal of Cera himself that we’re willing to to continue on with him beyond that point. The supporting cast does fine work as well, with most given individual opportunities to shine. Though, between this, Big Love and City of Ember, Mary Kay Place is getting a bit typecast as Hollywood’s go-to religious fanatic matriarch. As Sheeni, Portia Doubleday is someone that you can well imagine falling head-over-heels for, even if she is a bit of a games-player. Ultimately, I didn’t like this quite as much as last year’s Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist - this one had a bit more of an edge, and not quite as much sweetness. But nevertheless, there’s lots here to like, and I’m glad I got the chance to see it. LIFE DURING WARTIME directed by - Todd Solondz The short version: Fantastic. A great and worthy sequel to Happiness. The long version: A convict child rapist is released from prison, just as his ex-wife has found a new love. As she embarks on this new relationship, her young son, who had always been told that his father was dead, learns the truth and struggles to understand what it means. Meanwhile, her sister is hounded by a ghost from her past, just as she separates from her own husband. Everyone is searching for a kind of happiness, but no one seems to find anything but misery. Wow. I had no idea that this was actually a direct sequel to Happiness. From what I had heard beforehand, I was under the impression that it was a spiritual sequel which covered similar ground and had a few characters with the same names. But, no, unless I’m very much mistaken (which is entirely possible) this is an actual sequel picking up on many of the stories from the original film, with one strange distinction: it has been entirely recast! I’m not sure what the thinking was behind this - whether it was purposeful from the start or a smart adaptation when some of the original cast was unavailable or not interested in returning, but it’s a smart choice, and allows this film to really stand on its own as a companion piece to Happiness, rather than just an extension. And it really does stand on its own. It could easily be seen and enjoyed without any knowledge of the earlier film. The original was pretty much complete and self-contained, and as much as I liked it, I’d be surprised to hear that there were many people clamoring for a sequel. But, unlike most cash-grab second chapters, this one really does have something to say beyond the first. It builds on and elaborates as we catch up with some of the same folks ten years down the road. It doesn’t have quite the same power as its predecessor, but that’s because the previous felt like a film of events, while this is more a film of repercussions. It’s filled with all of the awkward and painful characters and situations that we’ve come to look forward to from Solondz, and above all, his honesty and humor. He’s a very specific type of filmmaker with a particular voice, and I think people can gauge from their reaction to any single example of his work how they will respond to all of it. If you don’t tend to dig his films, this one won’t change your mind. If you’re already a fan, then you’re in for a treat. DELIVER US FROM EVIL directed by - Ole Borndedal The short version: Awesome, with a sneaky left hook. A confident film of escalating tension. I’d highly recommend it. The long version: When a truck-driver covers up his accidental running-over of a beloved local woman, one bad deed leads to another, until society in the small town seems to be on the brink of utter anarchy. Right from the start, this film is on the offensive. Even the introductions of its principle players come across almost like an attack. We’re pretty quickly thrown into the covering up of a murder, and the framing of an innocent outsider. But the main focus seems to be on pre-existing tensions in the town between the haves and have-nots, as exemplified by the shiftless dickhead truck-driver and the hardworking and much better-off brother whose life he envies to the point of vicious anger. It doesn’t take much to upset the town’s delicate balance and send things spiraling into a Straw Dogs territory. And that’s when things really go to hell. Everyone is fantastic in this film, but for me the stand-out is the husband of the dead woman. He starts the film as the town’s grand old man, who unknown to anyone, harbors an incredibly dark and tormented inner life, and whose capacity for evil has only ever been held in check by the love and kindness of his gentle wife. In her absence, his demons are free to take over, and they are more than happy to be let out of the bottle. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this movie, and would be happy to see it again, though... maybe not right away. BUNNY AND THE BULL directed by - Paul King The short version: Funny, smart, inventive, dumb-in-a-good-way, and ultimately pretty touching. I’d recommend it. The long version: So’s you know, I come into this with zero familiarity with the Mighty Boosh. Oddly, this is the second film I’ve seen this festival which is largely set in a single cramped apartment with an Agoraphobic protagonist who leads an imaginative inner life. Of the two, this is by far the one I prefer. Stephen hasn’t left his flat in a year. At that point, something traumatic happened, with which he has never been fully able to cope. He’s now insulated himself in his apartment with a comfortable routine, and little-to-no contact with the outside world. It is only when mice get in, and eat up his food supplies that he is forced to consider going outside, and as a result, forced to face his trauma, and relive the events of a road-trip through Europe that he’d taken with his best friend, Bunny. This film came as a nice little surprise. It felt like everyone making the film was really having fun, and wanted us to as well. I’m not sure which actors from this film were previously part of the comedy troupe, (though applause on some of the entrances led me to believe that many were) but there is a real comfort at play between the castmembers, all of whom seem to have real rapport and great trust for one another. Bunny, in particular, is a wonderful invention. Hilariously vulgar and obtuse, but a guy who you’d really do well to have on your side. Visually, the film is gorgeous. All of the remembrances of times past are recreated in heightened style, through the compositing of characters into home-made crafty worlds filled with stop-motion and miniatures. This is a great idea, and works fantastically well. The film has a really unique (and appropriate) look-and-feel and just wouldn’t have felt the same without it. A great and fun movie to end the day on, and one that I look forward to seeing again. So, there we are. But can it be possible? Is it really true? Are there only three more days to this year’s Festival? Can you call it a light at the end of the tunnel, when you really enjoy the tunnel itself? Anyway, five more today. I’ll let you know about them tomorrow.