Hey Toronto! Time To Get Tawdry And Penetrating With A Thorough Paul Verhoeven Retrospective

Contributing Writer; Toronto, Canada (@triflic)
With her tongue hanging out awkwardly and completely without sex-appeal, squeaky clean TV star Elizabeth Berkley's transformation to Nomi Malone in Showgirls anticipated Miley Cyrus's most talked about moment in 2013 - a awards show performance which heralded her descent from clean-cut Hanna Montana to trashy pop diva - and it did so by nearly two decades.  

And so goes the career of Paul Verhoeven, who makes films that confound critics and audiences alike upon initial release with unabashed earnestness acting as a veneer for the director's satirical approach to humanity and a perceived audiences unslakeable thirst for sleaze. Yet, his films seem well ahead of their time and not without purpose; whether it is putting blockbuster bombast towards satire or copious amounts of on-screen sex towards, of all things, social equality of the genders.

TIFF Lightbox is doing a retrospective on the Iconic Dutchman starting from his early homegrown masterpieces Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange, Spetters and The Fourth Man to his Hollywood blockbusters that are as savagely satirical as they are porno-violent Robocop, Starship Troopers, Total Recall and Showgirls. Click on the gallery images above to go through all that is on offer from January 24 - April 4. Or if you are in Toronto, head on over to tiff.net and spend some money.

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