TIFF Day Four: Shanghai Spies & Larrain Lets His Bunuel Flag Fly

A day that begins with Bunuel lite and ends with Bunuel flamethrower.

The Barefoot Emperor [Belgium, Jessica Woodworth & Peter Brosens, 3.5] After a regrettable incident at a recreation of the Franz Ferdinand assassination, the Belgian king is confined to a sanatorium, formerly Tito’s island retreat whose head (Udo Kier) exudes a sinister solicitude. Absurdist fable of the slow-motion elite bafflement.

Sequel to 2016’s King of the Belgians, which it recaps at the top (not that it really has to.)

Saturday Fiction [China, Lou Ye, 4] Famed actress (Gong Li) returns to occupied Shanghai to run one last op for her French spymaster (Pascal Greggory) aimed at a Japanese cipher officer (Odagiri Jo.) Hazy, shifting identities in deglamorized B&W, culminating in gripping ballistics.

Coming Home Again [US, Wayne Wang, 4] Tightly wound writer (Justin Chen) returns to San Francisco to care for his cancer stricken mom (Jackie Chung), despite her and his dad’s worries over the effect this will have on his career. Contemplative drama of love, resentment, and the emotional weight of getting the food right.

The Good Intentions [Argentina, Ana García Blaya, 3.5] When her mom and stepdad decide to move to Paraguay, her precociously together young daughter lobbies to stay with her raffish, irresponsible slacker dad. Autobiographical slice-of-life, punctuated by real life home videos, illuminated by the performance of child actor Amanda Minujin.

Ema [Chile, Pablo Larrain, 4] Seductive dancer (Mariana di Girolamo) married to insecure choreographer (Gael Garcia Bernal) tries to regain custody of the boy they returned to the adoption agency after he burned her sister’s face. Unnerving, visually arresting, sex-drenched Bunuelian provocation.

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Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, streaming platforms and perhaps even good old physical media over the next year plus. If you’ve heard of a film showing at TIFF, I’m probably waiting to see it during its upcoming conventional release.Unless you mean The Color Out of Space, which I’m seeing on the 14th.

TIFF Day Three: A Ruthless South Korean Thriller and a Forbiddingly Beautiful Cult Drama

The Other Lamb [Belgium/Poland/US, Malgorzata Szumowska, 4] The onset of puberty changes everything for a young member of an isolated cult (Raffey Cassidy) consisting of the many wives and daughters of a charismatic leader (Michiel Huisman.) Set in a landscape of stark and forbidding beauty, this hits the baked-in beats of a cult liberation drama with an emphasis on the role of womens’ devotion in sustaining patriarchy.

Three Summers [Brazil, Sandra Kogut, 3.5] When her employers are busted in the Operation Car Wash bribery scandal, their resourceful chief maid steps in to protect the staff and a disregarded pater familias. Naturalistic drama with satirical undertones follows the effects of elite dereliction on the working class.

The Giant [US, David Raboy, 2] In what might be a dream, a distorted memory or a trip into the Bardo Thodol, a southern teen processes nameless trauma involving her dead mom and troubled ex. Bearing the stylistic influences of Aronofsky and Malick, this falls prey to the standard failing of head trip films—no payoff.

Bring Me Home [South Korea, Kim Seung-woo,4] Nurse’s search for her missing young son takes her to a rural village where fishing tour operators protected by a corrupt cop exploit the labor of a couple of kids. Bars no holds in pursuit of physically and emotionally brutal thrills.

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Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, streaming platforms and perhaps even good old physical media over the next year plus. If you’ve heard of a film showing at TIFF, I’m probably waiting to see it during its upcoming conventional release.Unless you mean The Color Out of Space, which I’m seeing on the 14th.

TIFF 2019 Day Two: Final Testament of a Cinematic Master & An Argentinean Musical

Not much space between screenings to compose interstitial observations today, so its capsules and just the capsules for Friday, the first full day of films.

Lina from Lima [Argentina, María Paz González, 4] As she looks after her rich boss’ new house and awaits a Christmas trip to see her family in Peru, a beleaguered maid’s mounting frustrations manifest as fantasized musical numbers. Drama of everyday yearning heightened by the interplay of naturalism and artifice.

Varda by Agnes [France, Agnes Varda, 4]. Documentary self-summation of the director’s body of work in cinema and installation art, expanded from a series of masterclasses shot prior to her death this March. Reveals the formal rigor underlying the apparent lightness of her style.

The Traitor [Italy, Marco Bellochio, 3.5] After his sons are slain in a 1980 Palermo gang war, a top soldier cooperates in a mass trial that spirals into histrionic chaos. Mafia docudrama embraces the tone shifts, narrative sidetracks and wild implausibilities of a landmark historical case.

A Sun [Taiwan, Chung Mong-Hong, 4] High schooler’s juvenile detention sentence strains his family, particularly his relationship with his father, a truculent driving instructor. Bittersweet family drama with a noirish fourth act.

The Lost Okoroshi [Nigeria, Abba Makama, 2] Unmotivated security guard transforms into supernatural masquerade spirit, performing blessing dances for the virtuous and smiting the wicked. Satire of traditionalism’s revenge on the urban is cleverer than other Nollywood films that reach the festival circuit, but the storytelling basics still aren’t in place.

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Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, streaming platforms and perhaps even good old physical media over the next year plus. If you’ve heard of a film showing at TIFF, I’m probably waiting to see it during its upcoming conventional release.Unless you mean The Color Out of Space, which I’m seeing on the 14th.

TIFF 2019 Opening Night: Giant Bioluminescent Sea Parasites and a Meta-Tribute to an Indie Icon

Simple Women [Italy/Romania, Chiara Malta, 3.5] Novice director bumps into Elina Lowensohn, who she has idolized since her iconic role in Hal Hartley’s Simple Men, and decides to star her in a a low budget biopic about her life. The shaggy spirit of the 90s indie scene smiles on this observational meta-drama about the ways films become part of our identities.

This was apparently the first title from the Discovery program, dedicated to first time directors, to screen on opening night, which came as a surprise to me.

I’m always pleased when it’s possible to start the fest with a film about film. This felt especially circular as I first came across Hal Hartley when his first movie, The Unbelievable Truth, as an out-of-nowhere discovery at TIFF in 1989.

Elina Lowensohn was at the screening.

Sea Fever [Ireland, Neasa Hardiman,4] Withdrawn oceanographer’s routine mission aboard a fishing vessel turns disastrous when a gigantic, multi-tendriled parasite affixes itself to the hull. Skillfully paced infection horror, with touches of Lovecraftian oceanic unease, explores the genre’s ethical implications.

This is Harriman’s feature debut after episodic TV credits including “Jessica Jones.”

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Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, streaming platforms and perhaps even good old physical media over the next year plus. If you’ve heard of a film showing at TIFF, I’m probably waiting to see it during its upcoming conventional release. Unless you mean The Color Out of Space, which I’m seeing on the 14th.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Stith Thompson Entries All Over It

In the latest episode of their ENnie-winning podcast, Ken and Robin talk time as a resource, occult Blues Brothers, the Gen Con auction with Jim Kitchen, and extending Habsburg Spain.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Live at Gen Con 2019

In a very special episode of their ENnie-winning podcast, recorded before a live Gen Con audience, Ken and Robin talk interstellar Habsburgs, balloonist danger, a trilogy of rebellions and donut hot takes.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Thunder and Filk

In the latest episode of their ENnie-winning podcast, Ken and Robin look back at the whirlwind of Gen Con, from awards to tiki gods.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Jealous of My Katana

In the latest episode of their ENnie-winning podcast, Ken and Robin talk lone wolf PCs, cooking shows, alien symbiotes in Night's Black Agents, and the Somerton Man mystery.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: It Ain’t That Non-Euclidean

In the latest episode of our beautifully antlered podcast, Ken and I talk DIE and depictions of RPG in fiction, Huey Long, qi-lin, and the USAF's plan to stop the earth.

Finding Me at Gen Con 2019

Hey, look what’s right around the corner again! Can it be a knife-wielding baby shoggoth? No, something much bigger and more exciting than that—adventure gaming’s biggest, whirwindiest convention, Gen Con, kicks off just a titch more than a week from now. If you’re headed there too and want to hear me lay down the wisdom and/or nonsense, I can be caught at the following panels:

2  pm Thursday Aug 1: Game Mastering 101 with Atlas Games, Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station A

4 pm Thursday Aug 1: Gaming with the King in Yellow, Stadium : Meeting Rm 8

1 pm Friday Aug 2: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Live, Stadium : Meeting Rm 8

5 pm Friday Aug 2: Investigative Roleplaying MasterClass, Westin : Grand Bllrm IV

2 pm Saturday Aug 3: Swords, Spies & Shoggoths: The Pelgrane Press Panel, Crowne Plaza : Pennsylvania Stn A

4 PM Saturday Aug 3: Dramatic Interaction MasterClass, JW : 202

As is its wont, KARTAS Live has sold out in advance, but perhaps you’ll be able to grab a seat left open by a no-show.

During exhibit hall hours, when I am not at a panel, on my way to a panel, or on my way back from a panel, I will be at the Pelgrane Press booth, 1417. Please swing by to say hi, ask a question, get books signed, or tell me about your favorite Hillfolk emotional tactic.

If you wish to see this year’s new shirt, and believe me you do, the day to catch me wearing it is Friday. Let no one say I don’t know how to lay down a teaser.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: You Can’t Say Eliptonic Without Tonic

In the latest episode of their ENnie-nominated podcast, Ken and Robin talk wait point scenario structures, thinking up good names, medicine hucksterism and politics, and time-machining the DC movies.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: We’ve Still Got that Other Folder

In the latest episode of our ENnie-nominated podcast, Ken and I talk scenario openings, critical term drift, radicalized FALL OF DELTA GREEN and Livonian werewolves.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: The Molticore

In the latest episode of our leonine podcast, Ken and Robin talk invisibility problems, Daniel Defoe's spying, manticores and a king knighted by a robot saint.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: 7th Anniversary LIGHTNING ROUND!!!

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff for the 350th time, and you know what that means—LIGHTNING ROUND!!!

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Bad Odds In a Balloon

In the latest episode of our semantically customized podcast, Ken and I talk bespoke game terms, doomed Swedish balloonists, the expanded Yellow King Universe, and occult Buenos Aires.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Marsupial Valley

In the latest episode of our loose cannon podcast, Ken and I talk Australian plot hooks, Dai Cathay, post-Lovecraftan King in Yellow tales and Stanton Friedman.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: We’ve Warren Commissioned Your Witch Problem

In the latest episode of our unwaveringly as-advertised podcast, Ken and I talk switcheroo campaigns, Ronald Hutton's The Witch, Derlethizing the King in Yellow, and what went wrong with Game of Thrones.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Everybody’s Limbs are Still On

In the latest episode of our energetic podcast, Ken and I talk RuneQuest, the British pet massacre, the core of the King in Yellow mythos, and Lev Gumilyov.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Go Talk to Some Other Trees

In the latest episode of our robed, scholarly podcast, Ken and I talk 13th Age icons in other games, Nathan Paoletta, The Repairer of Reputations and the Neoplatonic Academy.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Moses Does a Heel Turn

In the latest episode of their world classic podcast, Ken and Robin talk skill lists, Criterion Collection basics, Robert W. Chambers, and the Book of Jasher.