As technologies advance faster than our ability to understand their consequences, virtual immortality awaits us through developments in artificial intelligence. The doc ARTIFICIAL IMMORTALITY examines what separates humans from machines when androids assume our identities. Director Ann Shin explores the broader and more personal implications of a post-biological world by collaborating with programmers and robotics engineers. By uploading her memories to create a digital clone, she gives her future descendants the option to have a simulated conversation with her, rather than rely on photo albums and family memories alone. As her aging father (there is a fact-time talk between her family and her father) faces a faltering memory, the desire to preserve her own past takes on a new urgency. The film makes an important note that A.I. can never replicate the human brain.As the film concludes, the audience gets to see the director’s avatar, in which the avatar talks to Shin’s children.The doc might appear too technical for some audiences in terms of following its logic or understanding but it exposes the limitless boundaries of mankind.
AUDIBLE (USA 2021) *** Directed by Matt Ogens
Matt Ogens’s 38-minute doc short tackles the series epic of coming-of-age of the deaf, set in the Maryland School of the Deaf.It begins with the subject, with headphones on, screaming in silence before it is revealed that he is deaf.Ogens then takes his audience to the football field where Amaree (the subject) takes his anger out the field.Athlete Amaree McKenstry and his close friends face the pressures of senior year and grappling with the realities of venturing off into the hearing world.They battle to protect an unprecedented winning streak, while coming to terms with the tragic loss of a close friend. Though deaf, these kids still face the identical up to adversities of the world, showing they does not need to shout to be heard.Three main issues are deal in the story. One is the death of the friend, Teddy who was transferred to an all hearing school. Another is the relation between Amaree and his father who left the family when he was 25.There, he was bullied.Unable to deal with a string of issues, he ended up hanging himself. After being saved by Jesus Christ after dealing heroin on the streets, fatherland son are finally reunited.Theother and main issue is dealing with the world after graduation from the school of the deaf. Though over-serious, a little humour would do the film some good, Ogens gets his message across.Opens up for streaming on Netflix on July the 1st.
DARK BLOSSOM (Denmark 2020) ** Directed by Frigge Fri
DARK BLOSSOM is a doc that follows the lives of three Danish Goth teens that come together because no one else want anything to do with them.The three love things that are different, radically different such as tattoos, macabre make-up and fashion, piercings, nose rings and heavy punk music.The doc shows what happens when one of them falls in love (with an older man) and friendship is threatened.The trouble wth this doc is that these three teens act spoilt and careless and it is unlikely that many will be sympathetic towards them,Director Fri does not make any effort in making them likeable either, letting them do what they want most of the time.Fri does bring the audience to take a look at the Goth culture but does not go into any depth of its origins, popularity or future.Instead of the subculture being fascinating and standing out, it ends up as a boring collage of images.It wold be surprising if many wouldreally care about these three annoying rebellious losers and their sub-culture.An example is the time wasting scene (does Fri really think this scene is amusing?) in a diner when they argue about the pop being served not being original Pepsi.
HELL OR CLEAN WATER (Canada 2021) ***1/2
Directed by Cody Westman
The doc trails the work of Shawn Bath, a born fisherman who finally after diving for sea urchins for a living, decided that he should give back to the environment what humans have taken from it. Indeed, the images of trash in the ocean is unfathomably disturbing. And the garbage endangers sea life as well, as crabbed orcas get tangled and die from discarded fishing nets and while lobsters and crabs eat plastic that eventually move up the food chain to be eaten by human beings.Director Westman shows the hardship that Bath undergoes in his basically thankless endeavour. The film shows cleanups down around Newfoundland and Labrador, where fishing is the main industry and livelihood for many. The landscape and scenery are a sight for sore eyes.HELL OR CLEAN WATER is an extremely moving doc and it would be no surprise that many would after watching the doc be happy to do their part with a hefty donation to do their part in cleaning up the waters.
A MARRIAGE (Czech Republic/USA 2021) *** Directed by Katerina Hagar and Asad Faroqi
A MARRIAGE has the feel of the TV reality show 90-DAY FIANCE except for the fact that the romance between Zdennka of the Czech Republic and Tabish of Sri Lanka is a true one.
Zdenka, a single woman in Czech Republic, started playing online games with strangers before meeting Tabish, a computer scientist a world away in Pakistan.Their friendship turned to romance, and after flying to Sri Lanka to meet in real life, the committed couple married. Tabish filled out Czech immigration applications and Zdenka eagerly awaited her husband's arrival.But five years later, the two remain apart, forced to live their married life on Skype.Time and again, the Czech government rejects Tabish's entry requests.The reason is never made clear except the hint given that the government is protecting its citizens from bogus marriages. But the couple persist despite obstacles and the waiting finally pays off.The directors try their best to film their doc as the events happen, but one can tell that many of the segments are re-enactments.What is revealed in the doc is how sincere the couple is.This is a once in a million couple.
MOLECULES (Italy 2020) *** Directed by Andrea Segre
The world has heard the sad news about Venice.Venice is sinking.Due to global warming leading to the increasing high tides, many of Venice’s buildings are flooded often.Since the pandemic of Covid-19 after March of 2020, tourism was at a standstill and the city of Venice, a hot tourist spot has emptied out.MOLECULES, an Italian doc, set in Venice shows images of the suffering city for audiences first hand.It is not a pretty sight.The film is called MOLECULES because the director’s father was interested in Physics and reserved a career as a molecular physicist.Using old Super 8 family films and an unanswered letter he wrote to his father decades earlier, director Segre's captivating investigation into his father's silences and absences beautifully dissolve into the emptiness of Venice itself. Through this arrested landscape stripped down to its natural frailties and lack of solidity, Segre unearths the roots of his father's and his own unease. A captivating yet sad story of Venice and its citizens.Definitely worth a look - especially for those who have visited (myself have been there twice - really awesome city) or plan to visit Venice in the future.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD (Sweden 2021) *** Directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri
The title of the doc would likely attract the attention of many an audience.A boy is searched from countries like Hungary, Poland, Finland and Russia before the chosen one was selected by famed Italian drier Luchino Visconti, an openly gay filmmaker who has made other films with gorgeous leading men like casting Helmut Berger in THE DAMNED.From Sweden Björn Andresen in 1971, and 15 years of age at the time, during the world premiere of DEATH IN VENICE, Italian director Luchino Visconti, was proclaimed his Tadzio as the world's most beautiful boy, a title which would say with the by for the rest of his life. In Visconti’s casting director’s words, the boy is extremely beautiful and photogenic.The curious doc, narrated largely by the adult Andresen,examines the shadow that today, 50 years later, as it weighs Björn Andresen's life.Visconti was a very powerful figure who protected the boy as his filming crew comprised almost all homosexuals.For cineastes who hail Visconti’s DEATH IN VENICE and for those who admired the Thomas Mann novel, this doc would be of particular interest.
RAISE THE BAR (Iceland 2021) ***1/2
Directed by Gudjon Ragnarsson
RAISE THE BAR is centred ona young (around 8 to 9 years of age) girls basketball team trained by an over-enthusiastic coach, Brynjar who ends up stirring up trouble with the country’s Basketball Association. The film’s first half goes about showing the talented and hard-working girls in training under Brynjar with his unconventional methods.Being young girls, their parents object to some of the coach's practices such as his fondness of swearing.Brynjar argues that he is training the girls to survive in the real world and his coaching also involves building the character of the girls to be empowered young women.In order to raise the bar on the training, Brynjar gets the girls to play against older and stronger girls but runs into trouble when the federation disallows the girls to play against a boys team.Emotions run wild and Brnjar coaches the girls to rebel.The doc turns controversial here and what seems to be a harmless doc about girls training for basketball turns into one of rights and principles.Director Ragnarsson cleverly pulls off the stunt.
WELCOME TO SPAIN (BIENVENDIDOS A ESPANA) (Spain 2020) *** Directed by Juan Antonio Moreno Amador
Seville's last brothel, repurposed into a refugee reception centre, is the main setting in director Amador’s look at the refugee crisis from the refugees' points of view.The problem of the refugee does not end when reaching the host country, though getting to it by boat or whatever desperate means can also be quite treacherous.Director Amador spent two years of getting to know the people, families and their traumas and shares their impressions of what life is like in this completely new European culture.The subjects range from different countries such as Venezuela, Yemen, Libya and Morocco.The subjects themselves range from a big family to a solitary gay teen who is all alone in the uninviting world.The doc traces the difficulty of finding the first work after waiting along time for a work and residency permit.When work is found, many of the jobs pay little with long hours.When things begin to look brighter, the pandemic sets in and this is where the doc concludes.major dishes out how tough life is yet showing survival is possible but not for want of trying.
Do not the term 'shorts' put you off. Every year, the Oscar nominated shorts are available for audiences to enjoy and appreciate buddng talent. The shorts are fresh, timlely in their messages and arrive from all over the globe. The shorts come in 3 programmes - animation; documentary and live action. if you have time to watch only one group, this year's best section belngs to 'live action'.
All three programmes will be available on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox (digital.tiff.net) as of April 2. Oscar Winners are announced Sunday April 25th.
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS - ANIMATION
BURROW (USA 2020) *** Directed by Madeline Sharafian
Much ado about nothing, which in this case is the rabbit’s simple architectural plan for his new dream home.A little brown rabbit has drawn a rough, childish sketch of her dream home on a piece of lined paper.When she starts to dig, two of her new neighbours, a mole and a field mouse, both eagerly offer their assistance, showing off the elaborate blueprints and floor plans of burrows they constructed for their families. Embarrassed at the simplicity and inexperience of her own drawing, the rabbit hides it from them, pretends she has somewhere to be, and starts frantically digging deeper to get away from them, leaving them confused, while accidentally burrowing into other animals’ underground homes.A funny and fast little fable from Pixar which has aired on Disney+ with the cute rabbit earning her dream home at the end.
GENIUS LOCI (France 2020) ***
Directed by Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
In the study of law of entropy in Chemistry, “in all energy exchange, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will be less than that of the initial state. In simple terms, left to itself, everything in the universe moves toward disorder and decay; metal rusts, food rots, the body etc…”This law can be seen as figures transform and matter from one form to another in the visually dazzling GENIUS LOCI.The world of chaos is displayed with for example, a minotaur forming from the light of a passing train.GENIUS LOCI does not contain a narrative or story so it is best just to sit back and appreciate the visuals of the talented animators, though it might be quite trying for some.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU (USA 2020) ***
Directed by Michael Govier and Will McCormack
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU is a beautifully sketched animated short film that takes the audience on a raw emotional journey of a father and mother both struggling to deal with the death of their daughter. The title comes from a note the daughter wrote before her death - a horrid school shooting.The story unfolds through shadows of the parents and daughter.The shadows represent the humans’ emotions and they try to reconcile the parents.The brutal violence of the shooting is not shown on screen but only the awful sounds of the shots are heard.The trouble with this impressive sort, however, is that it is very difficult to follow and understand.Only after one has read the entire synopsis of the film can one truly appreciate the work of the storytellers.
Trailer:
OPERA (USA 2020) ***** Directed by Erick Oh
This one will be hard to beat.OPERA is the only non-narrative animated short with no story nor dialogue but is so fascinating one can watch it a hundred times and still miss something. OPERA is inspired by the great Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Botticelli.The animation, which can be played on a continuous loop, looks at a society that exists within a pyramid structure with the camera moving slowly away then inwards shows many individuals living and dying and interacting with each action impacting another.One has to look carefully at each minute part of the image to examine what is going on.At one point, the audience sees figures being killed because they have different coloured heads (i.e. different races).Director Oh examines racism, terrorism and religion in his intricate pyramid that looks like hell on earth.I hope this one wins the Oscar, it being short of a masterpiece.
TO: GERARD (USA 2020) **** (this one was short listed but not nominated) Directed byTaylor Mecham
TO: GERARD is a real charmer. The short is about hope and how doing a good deed pays off at the end. Gerard alas dreamt of being a magician. He has perfected the magic trick of the disappearing and appearing coins but has never found an audience. He is now older and works as a postman. A chance encounter with a little girl enables him to show off his skills and impress the little girl of his magic coin tricks. As a good deed he leaves the girl with the gold coin, ensuring her to become a famous magician as an adult. Now a hunchback old man, Gerard is given his dream come true from the good deed. This is such a charming film about old people and about hope that it will bring tears to many. And did I forget to mention that the animation (especially the 3D rendering of the humans) is really impressive. The animation with the magic is also to be commended. From Dreamworks Animation Studies.
YES-PEOPLE (Iceland 2020) ***
Directed by Gísli Darri Halldórsson
Gísli Darri Halldórsson’s animated short can be understood in any country as it is language free dialogue except for the repeated word “Yo”, which is assumed to mean ‘yes’ in Icelandic. The film tells the story of an eclectic mix of people who one morning face everyday battles such as work, school, washing the dishes and even sex. They do not interact with each other except just in passing, as many people in the world don’t. As the day progresses, their relationships, and their capacity to cope, are tested. But they survive being yes people. A generally amusing and entertaining short that is observant not only of Icelandic folk but of people in general who would live life in the same manner. The impressive animation is cute and humorously depicts Icelanders as an unfit and chubby bunch.
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS - DOCUMENTARY
COLETTE (France 2020) *** Directed by Anthony Giacchino
The doc comes with a warning that many will find this depressing.And it is!Colette isColette Marin Catherine who makes a journey to the concentration camp at the age of 90 to pay tribute to her brother who died there after being arrested by the Germans.She herself was like Jean-Pierre in he French Resistance.With the help of Lucie Fouble, she is brought bak difficult memories.Colette has gone through a lot, as evident from the film and director Giacchino shows her losing it a few times, even at a former mayor’s speech in her honour.It all shows that it is still all a bit too much to take for poor Colette which affects Lucie and the audience of this short as well.A well-intentioned short that might just be too depressing to win the Oscar.
A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION (USA 2020) *** Directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION focuses on Bowers’ 91-year-old grandfather, Horace, and the discrimination he faced as he tried to escape the Jim Crow South. The story unfolds from the conversation with his grandson, Kris Bowers a virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer who has succeeded as a black artist.The doc is intercut with black and white archive footage relating how much prejudice exists then.Horace would not get approved of bank loans if he showed up in person because of his colour and had to get approval through the mail.But perseverance proved its worth.This doc might just win the Oscar for its timely subject and also the fact that it is an American short which helps in the Academy voting.
THE HUNGER WARD (USA 2020) ****
Directed by Skye Fitzgerald
THE HUNGER WARD begins with harsh words about man. ‘It is not God that kills children.Not fate that butchers them.Or destiny that feeds them to the dogs.It’s us!What follows is a harrowing look from inside two of the most active therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen.HUNGER WARD documents two female health care workers fighting to thwart the spread of starvation against the backdrop of a forgotten war.The film provides an unflinching portrait of Dr. Aida Alsadeeq and Nurse Mekkia Mahdi as they try to save the lives of hunger-stricken children within a population on the brink of famine.The sight of malnutritioned children on the brink of death is frightening.Ex-President Trump again rears his ugly head having supported Saudi Arabia missiles and weapons leading to the tragedy. Excellent cinematography as well depicting the streets and wards of Yemen.THE HUNGER WARD gets my bet and vote for the Winner in this shorts category.
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS - LIVE ACTION
FEELING THROUGH (USA 2020) **** Directed by Doug Roland
This simple looking made short is inspirational in showing the amazing craft of making movies given a limited budget.The film is brimming with emotions with characters that audiences can root for, and filled with suspense though the short is not a thriller.Nothing is black and white and the film has a brilliant climax that proves the good in humanity.Tareek a poor street kid with nowhere to stay, is waiting for his girl to respond to his request to stay over .Tareek meets a blind and deaf man who needs help taking a bus getting home.Out of the kindness of his heart he helps the man, later known to him as Artie, while stealing $10 from his wallet.FEELING THROUGH is thoroughly engaging and this one gets my vote for BEST of the live action shorts. FEELING THROUGH, breaking barriers is the first film starring a Deaf/blind Actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
THE LETTER ROOM (USA 2020) **** Directed by Elvira Lind
THE LETTER ROOM is the new office that ‘promoted’ corrections officer, Ricard (Oscar Isaac) works in.Richard is now the director of Prisoner Communication, but the job title is just a glorified name.At first enthusiastic, he learns that it is a menial job having to censor every single letter incoming, outgoing and internal.Richard decides to bring humanity back into his work, while taking risks at the same time.As he discoverssurprises on the way, Richard decides to make all this work, in what is a really simple yet charming moral tale of the charity that can still be offered to prisoners on death row.Despite being an angel with good intentions, Richard is also depicted as a human with temptations as he is shown in one scene jerking off, after reading one of his inmate’s love letters.Golden Globe Winner Oscar Isaac lends his hand in this short showing likely his admiration for director Lind’s work.
THE PRESENT (Palestine 2020) ***
Directed by Farah Nabulsi
THE PRESENT deals with the present undesired and absurd situation of borders that exist because two peoples that have in history never come to an agreement on anything from lands to rights to peace - the Arabs and the Israelis.Director Nabulsi takes a microscopic look at the absurdity of the situation with a father and daughter trying to make a crossing back to their house after purchasing a refrigerator.It all comes to the whims and fancy of a crossing guard who uses the excuse that he has to follow orders. Yusef (Saleh Bakri) has crossed the border many times but the guard who knows him is not present.A Kafka-is situation eventually boils down to whether he can push the fridge through a doorway too narrow for it to go through.Director Nails allows the tensions to rise above boiling point, gettingaudience at the edge of their seats with weapons about to go off.The film ends with the famous words of Jesus who said in the Bible: "And a child will lead them.” A touching and effective examination of racial tensions!
TWO DISTANT STRANGERS (USA 2020) ****
Directed by Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free
It takes a while before this short takes hold, but once it does, TWO DISTANT STRANGERS surprises and captivates.It all begins with a common one night stand in which Carter James (Joey Bada$$) leaves his trick’s(Zaria Simone) condo only to be stopped by a cop outside (Andrew Howard) for smoking some weed and killed, Rodney King style, complete with the “I can’t breathe” dialogue.It is after this point that the groundhog day scenario takes effect.Carter relives the same situation, waking every morning after being killed by the cop. Carter learns from the previous incident (after reliving it a hundred times) and tries his best not to get killed and to reach home to feed his super cute dog - but to no avail.Nothing more should be revealed in this effective and powerful messagecomedy/drama which delivers its Rodney King message with a punch.
WHITE EYE (Israel 2019) **** Directed by Tomer Shushan
Israeli director Tomer Shushan’s fable of the stolen bicycle, set in Tel Aviv begins when a Tel Avivian sees his stool bike locked on the street.In his attempt to get the lock broken and get his bike back, he encounters the cops who tell him to call them back when the thief shows up, unless he will get arrested himself.That he does and the cops show up with unexpected results in this unpredictable tale of morals.What the audience assumes might just not be the actual case.The amazing thing about this short is that it runs in real time and filmed in one continuous take. The short also covers current issues like class, race, prejudiceand immigration. Director Shushan also delivers a solid sprite ending to boot with a message to be tolerant to everyone despite race and background.
SLALOM (France 2020) *** Directed by Charlene Favier
Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill, necessitating quicker and shorter turns. Internationally, the sport is contested at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and at the Olympic Winter Games.
Under the guidance of a strict ex-champion known only as Fred (Jérémie Renier) in the film a promising 15 year old girl Lyz (Noée Abita) trains as a professional skiing star.The question is whether she will be able to endure the physical and emotional pressures.
The effect of pressures of training for a particular sport on an individual has always been interesting fodder for film scripts.Just last year saw Nadia, an Olympic swimmer break down under enormous training and expectation pressures in Pascal Plante’s Quebec entry NADIA BUTTERFLY.
SLALOM was the 2020 Cannes selection which allowed me to review the film then.SLALOM bears similarities with NADIA BUTTERFLY.But slalom skiing is a different sport from the butterfly stroke.Both films attempt for authenticity.NADIA, BUTTERFLY excess in this respect as the script is a closer and more scrutinizing study of human endurance while SLALOM focuses more on the protagonist Lyz, coming-of-age. There is a scene of the 15 year old having her period in the shower.The issue is also addressed by her coach, Feed who tells her the effects on her muscle during that time of month.
Needless to say, the skiing segments are exhilarating to watch.This point lifts the film above other sports films, as it is more difficult to shoot and to illustrate slaloms.
The story of SLALOM follows an all too familiar path, with a lot of incidents predictable as the story unfolds.The Lyz has an accidental first glance at her icao Fred totally nice taking a shower, one can tell that she will be involved sexually with him.As a pre-teen, one knows too that she will be pressuring Fred to continue the affair.Unfortunately, this fact undermines the severity of the coach’s sexual abuse.Fred’s abuse is revealed in stages.He notices her period.He measures her body fat with no-one else in the room.Lyz’s rebellious nature towards her mother is also expected and leads to the same old story where the mother has found a new boyfriend and she is left jealous and abandoned, here during the Christmas holidays.
The sexual abuse is left hanging with the guilty left uncharged.The director has based her story on true events so one wonders if and how bad she herself have encountered in terms of sexual abuse.
SLALOM is an ok watch, not too demanding but unfortunately too commercial for many critics' liking.But it is a good sign to see more French films released in Ontario in what is a bilingual country.
AU POSTE! (KEEP AN EYE OUT) (France/Belgium 2018) ***1/2
Directed by Quentin Dupieux
AU POSTE by writer/director Quentin Dupieux is a weird film.For those unfamiliar with the director’s work, it would be good to know that he has made two oddball movies called RUBBER about a killer runaway tire and REALITE an equally odd film about a director getting finance for a film if he can record the perfect shout.AU POSTE! treads similar territory.For those unfamiliar with Dupieux’s brand of films, one can be in for a real treat if one loves absurdist films.
The prologue sees a man in his underwear conducting an orchestra.Police arrive and chase him.Then…..
AU POSTE! (which means AT THE OFFICE, the original title) begins like quite the normal film, say as in Claude Miller’s GARDE A VUE a film in which a police interrogation makes the entire film’s running time.In AU POSTE!,chief inspector, Commissaire Buron (Benoit Poelvoorde) is, when the film opens, questioning a suspect, Louis Fugain (Gregoire Ludig) on the death of a victim in a pool of blood in the middle of the street.It is going to be a long night.As the inspector says: “ a fool at the wrong place and the wrong time.”
Director Dupieux engages the audience with a seemingly list of happenings as confessed by Louis.A lot of these are everyday stuff like buying crisps, going to bed with his wife, taking a breather outside and so on.At one point during the questioning, Buron even tells Louis: “I have never been so bored shitless during an investigation.”
While stepping out for 20 minutes to meet his son, Buron asks a fellow cop, Philippe (Marc Fraize) to keep an eye on Louis.
Here comes the strange and weirdness characteristic of a Dupieux story.
- Philippe has only one eye, and he has to use the other to keep an eye out for Louis.
While doing that, Philippe trips on an open drawer and the set square he is carrying pierces his other eye and he dies
In the interrogation, Louis tells Buron that he stepped outside his flat when he discovered the body.This is the time when he meets Philippe’s wife, Fiona (Anais Dermoustier) though he had not met Philippe till 3 days in the future.
When Buron smokes, smoke emits from chest as he has a hole in his chest.
Louis keeps seeing the ghost of Philippe appear to him several times.
There are a lot of other minor weird things that go on like the stuck mosquito can spray and Buron’s wife who keeps seeing Louis entering and leaving his flat several times.Louis also attempts to heat away his fingertips so that no fingerprints can be left behind.
If everything seems all too weird, there is a logical explanation to all this, which comes at the end of the film.With all the craziness going on, the obvious logical explanation comes as a bit of a letdown.Still, director Dupieux has kept his audience in awe and surprise for the majority of his film, and that in itself is quite a feat.
MISERICORDE (MISERICORDIA) (France 2024) **** Directed by Alain Giuraudie
Returning to Saint-Martial for his late boss's funeral, Jérémie's stay with widow Martine becomes entangled in a...
