CityNews.ca's Suzanne Ellis and Brian McKechnie take a look at some of the films playing at TIFF09.
Antichrist (His Take)
If toddlers jumping out of windows, genital
disfigurement and holes drilled through legs are your thing then Lars
Von Trier's Antichrist is a must-see. If all of those things sound
horrific stay far, far away from this film. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte
Gainsbourg give Oscar-worthy performances but I can't see the public
getting behind this sadistic romp. Schedule at TIFF. BM
Antichrist (Her Take)
Deeply disturbing film about a couple dealing
with the sudden death of their infant son. Charlotte Gainsbourg won the
Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of the grieving mother,
while Willem Dafoe plays her therapist husband. At their remote cabin,
Eden, everything from the acorns to the trees to the wildlife takes on
an ominous cast, and soon husband and wife are turning on each other in
increasingly demented ways. Some of the shots are stunningly beautiful,
which only seems to emphasize the horror of what’s on screen. Though I
was at times repulsed, I was also rapt. Schedule at TIFF. SE
The Road *CityNews.ca Pick*
The Road is a brutal father-son story about
survival after the Apocalypse. Based on the book by Cormac McCarthy
this could be my favourite film at TIFF this year. Viggo Mortensen
gives an amazing performance and director John Hillcoat's vision of
the world is stunning. If you miss it at TIFF it opens wide October 16. Schedule at TIFF. BM
Phantom Pain (Phantom-schmerz)
A vehicle for German
man-of-the-moment Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds), who’s cast as a
self-centred, womanizing cyclist forced to reexamine his life and
what’s most important following a terrible accident that nearly kills
him. It should’ve been titled Phantom-schmaltz, because schmaltzy is
what this film is. And utterly predictable. But there’s no denying
Schweiger’s star power – expect to see a lot more of him in the years
to come. Schedule in TIFF. SE
Top image: A scene from Antichrist. Courtesy TIFF.