D4 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine
thursday, ocotober 6, 2011
andy explores the best of the AGH’s film festival
The Art Gallery of Hamilton’s third annual CIBC Wood Gundy Film Festival took over local screens this past week. Films representing a wide diversity of genres and styles from a multitude of countries across Europe, Asia and North America were shown to enthusiastic Hamilton audiences at a variety of area cinemas. Here is a selection of films ANDY got the chance to explore, critique and enjoy. Meek’s Cutoff Directed by: Kelly Reichardt Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams
Submarine Directed by: Richard Ayoade Starring: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige
Terri Directed by: Azazel Jacobs Starring: John C. Reilly, Jacob Wysocki
Life in a Day Directed by: Kevin Macdonald
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As bleak as its Oregon landscape, Meek’s Cutoff tells the realistic odyssey of 19th-century settlers, entrenched in a desolate pilgrimage against desertlike conditions. Director Kelly Reichardt, an intriguing presence on the independent circuit for several years, has now positioned herself amongst the finest with her 2010 feature. Aided with wagons, horses and ox, three families are led by Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a charismatic and scruff, if not wholly unreliable navigator. Claiming to know a short cut, he takes the group over the arid desert, only to find himself lost, his group accompanied by dwindling supplies of water, food and sanity. Alliances fracture even further when a Native American man (Rod Rondeaux) crosses their path, finding the emigrants divided between their trust in an unreliable guide and a figure of supposed evil. Much of Reichardt’s intention is undeniably valid and sincere, fashioning a rarity of the genre: a female-centric western. Like her other work, there’s little foregrounding of plot, dropping in on our hapless travelers almost by chance. Michelle Williams’ understated performance as the unflappable Emily Tetherow, whose discontent with her circumstances drives her to overthrow Meek, is a study in restraint. Like the other wives, she works a little harder than her husband, gathering wood and food after a long day. In her fastened bonnet, Emily largely keeps her thoughts to herself until a breaking point occurs. Through her tough performance, we detect a keen intelligence and a strategic patience that comes to define the film. Keep in mind: while Meek’s Cutoff will not be for everyone, it does convey what it must have been like – with tedium and the frustration – to cross a not entirely conquered United States. With its stark minimalism of vivid plains and conviction stemming from committed actors, Reichardt’s art matches few others’, leaving us to ponder over its final imagery of vacant stares and a half dead tree.
Submarine, first-time director Richard Ayoade’s quirky new comedy, is a refreshing take on the clichéd coming-ofage narrative. Set in a British coastal town during the late 1980s, this film follows Oliver Tate, a loner fifteen year old with an overactive mind, as he navigates high school, young love and the deterioration of his parents’ marriage. From this stock plot springs a surprisingly enjoyable story, made charming by its quirkiness, eccentricity and understated elements. Oliver is an unusual protagonist: he bullies the chubby girl at school, is shockingly insensitive to his girlfriend when she needs him the most and is awkwardly invasive into his parents’ sex life. He still wins the audience over, though, with his unfalteringly good intentions and adorably pretentious narration throughout the film. Over a fantastic soundtrack by the Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner, we witness Oliver fumble through his teenage years with the mysterious Jordana at his side. Her quiet, intense presence was at times amusing, and other times disconcerting. She is stoic and unaffectionate – another non-normative element of the movie – yet her relationship with Oliver somehow seems to work. It is in Oliver’s parents, though, that Submarine finds the most depth and the fullest laughs. His father is submerged in depression and feels constantly underwater – an ironic twist to his career as a marine biologist. His mother struggles to overcome her desire for the new age guru next-door neighbour, who also happens to be an ex-boyfriend of hers. The awkward family unit of Oliver, father and mother expose the deeply flawed aspects of every family. Submarine is worth diving into.
While Terri is a film firmly focused on its title character, there’s no sense that anyone on screen realizes he’s the star. From its opening shots, our sympathy is drawn to the large teenager (Jacob Wysocki), with his forlorn, almost haunted soul, tending to his ailing uncle before trudging off to school in a pair of pajamas. Consistently late for class, he faces ridicule by those who do not understand him and perhaps never will. His behavior, while otherwise normal, can be bizarre at times. When his uncle asks him to set traps for mice in their attic, Terri obliges, taking them out into the woods, gleefully watching a falcon devour the dead remains. Does this make him immoral? Though he shows remorse, the film wisely stays ambiguous, reflecting upon the curiosity of any teenage psyche. Luckily, Napoleon Dynamite or Juno comparisons are put to rest when Terri becomes acquainted with Mr. Fitzgerald, played by John C. Reilly. Genuinely concerned beneath the grizzled principle facade, Fitzgerald’s meetings with Terri solidify the movie’s heart and layered humour. It’s a perfect role for Reilly, exploiting his warmth and intelligence, culminating in the film’s best scene, illustrating themes of life and death in a discussion of his secretary’s passing. Although the movie hits familiar notes of self-discovery, the threat of humiliation is always present. Terri’s hesitant friendships with two other school misfits further feed his growth. One is Chad (Bridger Zadina), a detention regular, and the other is Heather (Olivia Crocicchia), a pretty blonde ostracized after sexually submitting to a boy in class. In a well-judged scene that represents the beginnings of Terri’s coming of age, the insecurities of all three characters are fueled in a haze of whiskey and his uncle’s pills. It is not a cruel film in the slightest, but one that announces affection for its troubled characters, making the natural performances of Wysocki, Reily, Zadina and Crocicchia a must see, and Terri, one of the best film’s of the year. • Myles Herod, Entertainment Editor
Life in a Day is the insanely ambitious attempt to show that not only does life imitate art, it is art. The result of 4,500 hours of footage from July 24, 2010, Life in a Day compiles the videos of people from 192 countries filming a single day of their existence. It sounds like a mess, and it kind of is. But it is a glorious mess, filled with so many stories that it’s hard not to connect with at least one. There are scenes that cover almost every emotion, and Life in a Day is very much a movie of extremes. There are parts that are beautiful, but there are also parts that are just boring. The film is at its best when it is focused, such as when morning rituals from across the world are shown in succession, or when it takes time to actually give some insight into the lives of the people in the film. Too often Life in a Day strings together a series of very brief scenes, and these sections rarely provide anything more than a fleeting feeling and some nice scenery to look at. The middle of the film is thoroughly charming, with a seemingly endless stream of lighthearted and humorous videos. But Life in a Day doesn’t shy away from some heavier stuff, and towards the end it takes a turn toward darker territory. The moody tone sets up the truly awful ending, consisting of an awkward, self-indulgent confessional that aims for profoundness but lands at the nonsensical. I found myself wishing the film would return to the lighter and more enjoyable beginning. Despite the dark ending, Life in a Day is a surprisingly successful experiment and an undeniably unique experience.
• Myles Herod, Entertainment Editor
• Jemma Wolfe, Senior ANDY Editor
• Nolan Matthews