TIFF Roundup: Short Cuts Canada Block One

The countdown to the Toronto International Film Festival continues and over hte next few days I'll be looking at titles screening as part of the Short Cuts Canada program, the program devoted to Canadian short films. Now for some reason I don't understand they show these films to the press in collections completely different from the programs that they'll be screened to the public for so you'll need to check the official program listings to find the one you want before buying tickets.

The short version of this entry? Madame Tutli-Putli is flat out one of the greatest pieces of stop motion animation I have ever seen and should have creators Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski treated as equals of the Brothers Quay for the rest of their days. It really is that good.

Onwards!

Terminus by Trevor Cawood
The story of a man slowly breaking down into a perpetual state of fear and paranoia thanks to the large stone statue that followed him home from the bus station. The statue? Well, it just wants a partner to dance with. Director Trevor Cawood does a remarkable job of telling his story almost entirely without dialog. The blending of CG effects with the handheld, verite-style cinematography is astounding as his his ability to give the persistent statue, nothing more than tubes of concrete, a distinct personality. Terminus could easily have been a simple technical showreel, but instead it marks Cawood as one of those rare talents who is stunningly gifted with effects and yet wise enough to use them only in service of his characters and story.
Terminus Website

Knights of Atomikaron by Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany
Adam and Dave, as they bill themselves, a re local heroes here, their prolific output always turning up in short film events where it is always well received. They're smart, funny, charming guys and I've always enjoyed their work but found this one a little underwhelming. A moc-doc about a small group of alternative reality game players who joust on segways in a school gym while dressed in ridiculous home made costumes - and the segway jousting really is an inspired touch - the film is impeccably made and gets the mood and tone of the gaming community spot on. So why the middling response? Well, it's because of Darkon. Someone's already made an actual documentary of real people actually doing this sort of thing and once you've seen that any parody of the culture pales by comparison. The real stuff is just far more compelling. It's fun and very well made but perhaps just a little bit wrong-headed in concept.

The Last Moment by Deco Dawson
An experimental film maker from Winnepeg Dawson created this film as a thirty year anniversary project for her sponsoring film group. It takes a single scene set in a single room and plays it out repeatedly, every time with the same actors in the same space but every time completely reworked into an entirely different film style. You get some classic noir, a bit of Hitchcock, some Tarantino, some 70's verite, etc etc. Dawson's certainly versatile enough to pull off the style changes but the picture's female lead is not, it runs longer than the concept can sustain and without any sort of narrative to drive things it ends up coming off like a crib sheet of shots lifted from superior film makers.

Madame Tutli-Putli by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
An absolutely stunning piece of stop motion animation rendered all the more unsettling by the creators superimposing actual eyes into the faces of their models. Dark, surreal, richly detailed and flawlessly executed. The less you know going in, the better, just be sure to go. Zowie.
Madame Tutli-Putli website

Gene Boy Came Home by Alanis Obomsawin
Honestly, the programmers did this one no favors by including it with this block of titles, within which it was very much out of place. An NFB produced documentary in that classic NFB style that has changed little since the 1970's the film is the story of the titular Gene Boy, as narrated by himself. A veteran of the Vietnam war Gene returned to his Native reservation lands after nearly losing a struggle with post traumatic stress disorder in hopes of finding healing. What you feel about the film will depend very largely on what degree you identify with Gene but it is certainly well made with an engaging subject.

Code 13 by Mathieu Denis
The second directorial effort from the veteran Quebecois editor is the story of a cabbie working night shift. A slice of life character study the film feels like a very small slice of a much larger story - there is very little arc to it - but Denis shoots simply breathtaking film. This thing is flat out gorgeous to look at.