TIFF Report: Shark in the Head (Žralok v hlave) Review

Well, the Toronto Film Festival is now officially underway and, advance screenings not included, I've gotten things rolling with Czech film, and owner of one of the best titles ever, Shark in the Head. Though many will find the complete lack of any conventional narrative a bit tiresome the film creates a convincing look at life through the eyes of a solitary Czech man.

The film revolves around a mna known only as Mr. Seman. He lives alone in a small apartment in the middle of a big city. Right out of the gate we learn that Seman is a little bit odd, from time to time rambling incoherent messages through the building intercom via his phone. Seman seldom leaves his immediate environs and never seems to go much further than a step or two away from his building. Mostly he simply leans out his window, dressed only in an undershirt and boxer shorts, and happily watches the world go by, striking up brief - and often surreal - conversations with passers by and making gifts of various things he finds discarded in his building's trash.

Seman, clearly, has some sort of mental illness but for the most part his life is a happy one and the point of the film is to make us experience life as he does. Using a range of animation techniques and a brilliantly designed soundtrack director Maria Procházková does her best to place us inside Seman's head, complete with the surreal fusion of images, bizarre logical leaps and, from time to time, frightening visions that that implies. Television images fuse into his actual memories, strange sounds trigger visions, and Seman's own fertile imagination launches into flights of fancy as we dip into his internal world. Externally we appreciate his ability to spot beauty in the overlooked and watch as he slowly builds a friendship with a woman who walks daily in front of his window.

Shark in the Head is a film that needs to be approached as an experience. As a plot based narrative it has only the barest of frameworks and people who come looking to be told a story will leave disappointed. Come looking to experience a different kind of life, however, and there's a fair bit here to appreciate.