Toronto Screen Shots

En la ciudad de Sylvia

James McNally — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:24:05 +0000

En la ciudad de Sylvia (2007, Director: José Luis Guerin): When Guerin’s film played at TIFF last September, I remember being lured by the stills of a beautiful woman being tailed by a rakish young man, but what a strange little film it turned out to be. With long, almost dialogue-free shots, Guerin seems able to both distance us and draw us into what at first seems to be a simple, even romantic story. The handsome young man (Xavier Lafitte, looking vaguely like both David Bowie and Orlando Bloom) is a tourist in an unnamed French town (it’s Strasbourg, in Alsace, on the border with Germany), where he appears to be searching for someone. Day after day, he sits at a café near the School for Dramatic Arts, sketching in his notebook and people-watching. Well, truthfully, he’s girl-watching, and Guerin’s camera lingers over many a beauty. As a man, I can say with confidence that Guerin captures the sheer joy and pleasure of just looking at a beautiful woman. But our protagonist isn’t content to just glance. He stares, and it’s obvious he’s searching each face for some memory.

All at once, he sees the one he’s been looking for, and jumps up, knocking over his beer. For the next half an hour, we follow him, in real time, as he pursues “Sylvia,” the name he’s written in his sketchbook. At first, the woman seems unaware of his presence, but at one point he comes dangerously close and calls out to her. From then on, it appears that she’s half-aware of his presence. He loses her, and we begin to wonder what’s going on. And then he finds her again, and by now it’s starting to feel just a little bit creepy. Is he just a garden-variety stalker? I often tease some of my female friends that the only difference between a romantic gesture and stalker behaviour is whether the woman is at all physically attracted by her suitor. In this case, our man’s good looks have had us on his side up to now.

Note: Possible spoilers in the next paragraph. Although this is far from a plot-driven film, I’ve coloured the text white so you’ll need to click and drag your mouse cursor over the paragraph to read it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

When he finally gets on a tram and speaks to her, we’re almost 50 minutes into the film. Up to this point there has been very little in the way of dialogue, and so when our protagonist speaks, he sounds a little desperate. He asks her if she’s Sylvia, the girl he met at a bar in the city six years ago. She tells him he’s mistaken. He’s crushed, and embarrassed, or claims to be. We begin to wonder if his story is even true. Who would return six years later to find someone he chatted up in a bar? As she gets off the tram, the tension winds down again.

Except that by the end, we’re not quite sure what he’s going to do. He seems unable to shake his fixation with her. For a film so filled with beautiful people, sunshine, and cobbled streets, I found myself more than a little disturbed by the film’s conclusion. In the first half hour, I was praising Guerin’s ability to capture “the pleasure of looking” but by the time we reach the open-ended conclusion, that phrase holds a decidedly more sinister resonance.

I loved the film’s formal construction. Guerin lets his camera run before his characters enter the frame and long after they’ve left it, grounding us in several locations, to which he returns throughout the film. We see many of the same people several times in the film, although they don’t have speaking roles. It captures a certain claustrophobia, even in a beautiful European town like Strasbourg. The sound design really captured for me the feeling of traveling alone to a new place. The man hears music, but doesn’t really overhear conversations. His interactions with everyone are perfunctory. The whole film feels carefully put together as a kind of puzzle, and although I’ve been thinking about it for some time, En la ciudad de Sylvia made me even more eager to study film theory. It’s the sort of film that doesn’t give up its secrets too easily, and which will reward repeat viewings, even if it is only to look at the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Pilar López de Ayala. Perhaps there’s a little stalker in all of us?

(8/10)

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En la ciudad de Sylvia

Top Films of 2008

James McNally — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:43:13 +0000

I’m generally not a fan of year-end “best of” lists but on the other hand, I always seem to have an opinion on every other list I see so it’s only fair that I try to put together my own. It’s bound to be a little idiosyncratic, since I see most of my films at film festivals. There are a number of significant films that I haven’t (yet) seen but I wanted to limit my list to what I actually saw in 2008. Since I see so many documentaries, they get their own list, although I think the hard boundary between documentary and fiction is becoming more permeable all the time. I’ve limited myself to ten in each category, though there is no ranking.

Documentaries

Dramatic Features (and One Short)

Hunger (review)
Doubt (review)
WALL-E
Wendy and Lucy (review)
Entre les murs (The Class) (review)
The Most Beautiful Night in the World (review)
Le silence de Lorna (Lorna’s Silence) (review)
Carlston za Ognjenku (Tears for Sale) (review)
Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) (review)
2 Birds (Smáfuglar) (the short film) (review)

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Top Films of 2008

Cineforum to Close

James McNally — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:27:12 +0000

Reg Hartt’s idiosyncratic Cineforum is shutting its doors after 16 years. I’ve seen the posters all over town for more than a decade, but never once got to go.

According to this Globe and Mail article, Hartt’s landlord is selling the house, where he has rented space since 1990, but Hartt has indicated he may reopen somewhere else in the future.

There are events going on December 23 and 25, if you can make it. It’s a shame I was never able to experience any of the weirdness on offer, but I’m hopeful this unique local microcinema will be resurrected in the near future.

UPDATE: No one can tell you about Cineforum more eloquently than Reg Hartt himself. I’m determined to try to get there in the next week or so. Anyone up for an excursion between Christmas and New Year’s?

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Cineforum to Close

AV Club Picks Worst Films of 2008

James McNally — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:06:16 +0000

Well, because someone actually had to watch them, the Onion AV Club has helpfully assembled their list of the Worst Films of 2008. I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen any of the 17 turkeys on this list, but it was interesting that they cover the gamut from redneck comedy to serious indie art films. Thanks, AV Club, for saving me many wasted hours and dollars. Although I must admit that the reviews do make me a tiny bit curious to see just how bad some of these are.

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AV Club Picks Worst Films of 2008

Toronto Film Critics Awards 2008

James McNally — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:45:36 +0000

In a bold move, the Toronto Film Critics Association has awarded their Best Picture award for 2008 to Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy (review). In addition, they’ve honoured Michelle Williams’ performance with the Best Actress award. Personally, I’m delighted and hope this will draw some attention to this small but devastating film, which has screened only at TIFF so far. They also lavished three awards on Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married, another left-field choice. I’ll be surprised if this list of awards isn’t closer to the Independent Spirit winners than the Oscars or Golden Globes, but I am happy that some neglected work is getting a little attention. The full list of awards follows:

BEST PICTURE

“Wendy and Lucy” (Mongrel Media) (review)

Runners-up:

“Rachel Getting Married” (Mongrel Media)
“WALL*E” (Disney/Pixar)

BEST PERFORMANCE, MALE

Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler” (Alliance)

Runners-up:

Sean Penn, “Milk” (Alliance)
Jean-Claude Van Damme, “JCVD” (Peace Arch)

BEST PERFORMANCE, FEMALE

Michelle Williams, “Wendy and Lucy” (review)

Runners-up:

Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt” (Maple) (review)

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, MALE

Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros)

Runners-up:

Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey, Jr, “Tropic Thunder” (Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt” (review)

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, FEMALE

Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”

Runners-up:

Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (Fox Searchlight)
Viola Davis, “Doubt” (review)

BEST DIRECTOR

Jonathan Demme, “Rachel Getting Married”

Runners-up:

Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight)
Andrew Stanton, “WALL*E”

BEST SCREENPLAY

Jenny Lumet, “Rachel Getting Married”

Runners-up:

John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt” (Maple) (review)
Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)

BEST FIRST FEATURE

“Ballast”, directed by Lance Hammer (KinoSmith)

Runners-up:

“The Band’s Visit”, directed by Eran Kolirin (Mongrel Media) (review)
“Frozen River”, directed by Courtney Hunt (Mongrel Media)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

“WALL*E” (Disney/Pixar)

Runners-up:

“Kung-Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animaton)
“Persepolis” (Mongrel Media) (review)
“Waltz with Bashir” (E1 Films) (review)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

“Let the Right One In” (Mongrel Media)

Runners-up:

“The Class” (Mongrel Media) (review)
“I’ve Loved You So Long” (Mongrel Media)
“A Christmas Tale” (E1) (review)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Man on Wire” (Mongrel Media) (review)

Runners-up:

“Standard Operating Procedure” (Mongrel Media)
“Up the Yangtze” (KinoSmith/NFB) (review)

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Toronto Film Critics Awards 2008