Classic Post: Dramatic Poles

I’ve talked before about the iconic characters and how they are driven by an ethos. By recapitulating it, they triumph over external obstacles, affirm their selfhood, and restore order.

But what drives dramatic characters?

When we care about a fictional character, we hope for X and fear for Y. X is the positive condition; Y is its opposite. In a procedural, we hope the character will succeed in reaching his procedural goals and fear that he will fail. In a drama, we perceive a positive and a negative potential. We want the character to reach the former and avoid the latter.

Compelling ongoing dramatic characters possess dual natures, or internal oppositions. We want them to overcome one of these and realize the other. Another way to express this is to say that the characters are torn between two internal forces or impulses. These are the poles of a dramatically active character.

• Rick Blaine (Casablanca) selfishness or altruism?

• Shelley Levene (Glengarry Glen Ross) winner or loser?

• Nora (A Doll’s House) subservience or selfhood?

• Tony Soprano: family man or Family man?

• Nate Fisher: (Six Feet Under) freedom or responsibility?

• Frank Gallagher: (Shameless US) dissolution or dignity?

• Walter White (Breaking Bad) virtuous weakness or anti-social power?

Our feelings toward the two poles may be clear-cut, or divided. Dramatic characterization deepens, and our reactions to it become more complex, when our reaction to the dual nature becomes ambiguous. Part of us wants Tony to be the good family man, but part of us takes dark vicarious pleasure in his sociopathic side.

See P. XX

Proving it still counts as the September issue if it comes out on the 29^th, the latest edition of the Pelgrane Press webzine, See P. XX, has now escaped from the nest. My eponymous column introduces you to the whys and wherefores of DramaSystem and Hillfolk.

The first of several exciting Ashen Stars demos appears, in the form of Kevin Kulp’s “Stowaway.” This had folks coming up to the booth raving (and then buying the book) when he ran it at Gen Con, and it’s great to see it made available for a wider audience.

Also: Jonny Nexus takes aim at red herrings, we get a peek at the Night’s Black Agents layout, Graham Walmsley continues the Cthulhu Apocalypse, and Beth Lewis debuts her Q & A column by soliciting some Qs and laying down one of her own. And as always, head Pelgrane wrangler Simon Rogers updates you on new and forthcoming projects.

Check it out!

Season Two

After an overly long summer break, my Thursday night playtest group will reconvene, continuing to put the first DramaSystem game, Hillfolk, through its paces. At this point, I’m confident that the main mechanism works well. This is the framing and playing out of dramatic scenes, in which one main character seeks an emotional concession from another. We’re still discovering new things to do with it, which will play into the final manuscript’s explanatory passages. The bit that might or might not now be in place is the less-used procedural system. This comes into play in the surprisingly few cases where you need to determine whether a character succeeds at an external, practical goal—what has always been the bread and butter of traditional roleplaying.

Knowing that we were headed for a hiatus, we tried to steer the previous episode to some climactic moment analogous to the season-ender of a serialized cable show. (The game uses the TV series as a reference point but doesn't try to impose specific television tropes or structures on your evolving narrative.)

That big shift point seemed elusive throughout the session. Then, with the magic gestalt that attends a multi-author improvised narrative, we suddenly got there in the last scene. For much of our first season, the Iron Age raiders of the main cast have been contending with an incursion from the culturally similar but more economically and politically advanced nation from the north. After going back and forth as to whether to ally with or fight the forces of King Goldenthrone, our heroes eventually threw in with him. To make a long story short (and simpler) the chieftain skull (played by Christoph) bowed down to him as a vassal, in hopes of eventually becoming king of the southern badlands, and then challenging him. In a surprise scene at last session’s end, Goldenthrone tired of Skull’s maneuverings and fired him as chieftain. In his place, he elevated Skull’s adviser/frenemy Thickneck (played by Justin.)

Tonight, we’ll add a new player. This will dovetail with the cable series tradition of adding new regulars to series in progress. We’ll start the session by deciding how far we want to jump ahead in the narrative, most likely to a revised status quo with Thickneck in charge and Skull looking for his new place in the clan.

The Birds: Subtlety

Click here for the complete strip archive.
Stuck in mobile mode? Click here for image file.

With All Due Punctilio

One piece of writing advice I have increasingly come to reject is the one that urges you to exterminate all trace of mannerism. Certain words are too distinctive, so the admonition goes, to use more than once in the course of a novel.

One particularly nutsoid bit of outward-turned insecurity I ran across a while back went so far as to complain about writers who used the simple word “tone” more than one in a book-length work.

Sure, you have to be aware of terms and expressions you overuse reflexively, and to be conscious of how hard you’re leaning on them.

But certain words are so distinctive that they help transport you into a writer’s particular world and vision. Recently, in preparation for an upcoming project, I had the pleasure of reading fourteen of Jack Vance’s Gaean Reach novels in a row. Vance rightly receives praise as one of the finest stylists in genre writing. And you know what? He breaks a bunch of supposed writing rules left and right, without blotting his copybook. Foremost among these is the injunction against re-use of exotic words. I don’t feel I’m truly in a Vancian setting until someone acts with punctilio. Or speaks with candor. An insulting reference to dog barbers becomes not a tired return to the same well, but a welcome moment of gratification—a return visit with an old friend.

Prose greats don’t vanish into the page. They grab hold of written language and make it theirs.

Jack Vance owns punctilio. But maybe we can aspire to our own landmark words, and free ourselves to use them with the ruthless abandon true masters employ.

Link Round-Up: Eau de Gamer, Crossing the Streaming

Gaming-inspired scents—do they warrant a !!! or a ?!?

Studios think streaming customers want to pay more and wait longer.

Pathfinder Tales Web Chat Tonight

Tonight, Monday September 26^th, at 9 pm Eastern, the various authors of the Pathfinder Tales novel line will be convening at http://chat.dmtools.org/ for a free-for-all chat session. I’ll be there along with Dave Gross, James Sutter, and other stalwarts of the line. Ask me about The Worldwound Gambit, “Plague of Light”, or whatever else happens to be on your mind. I look forward to typing at you.

Toronto International Film Festival Capsule Review Round-Up

At one point in the archival, Borges-penned rarity Invasion (see below), the gray-haired spymaster Don Porfirio looks in a mirror and says, “I'm getting too old for this.” This moots the tantalizing possibility that this key film cliché, now better known in the updated “I'm getting too old for this shit,” was first introduced to the movies by Jose Luis Borges.

It also sums up how I'm feeling as I belatedly file this round up of capsule reviews from my twenty-fifth full-tilt run at the Toronto International Film Festival. The addition of a final full Sunday of programming, and more subtle changes to the arrangement of venues and slots, has made an event I used to jokingly refer to as grueling actually so. I really hit the wall this year and, days later, have yet to fully recover my stamina. Apparently my spring chicken status has been revoked. As of next year I'm going to have to find a more civilized and leisurely way of doing this—and that means fewer films.

Had this been a banner year, I might be celebrating the enervation as a badge of honor. And if you average my numerical ratings for each film, the number might be higher than in years past. I saw fewer less-than-okay titles than ever. There are only three films here that I can't recommend. Unfortunately, masterpieces proved scarcer still. Instead, my festival was about high-quality films that accomplished what they set out to do. Absent from the proceedings were works that startled, or broke new ground, or heralded the arrival of fresh directorial voices. Instead, familiar talents delivered in familiar ways.

I wonder if we're not seeing the downside of the ongoing commercialization of world cinema. Craftsmanship is up; vision is in shorter supply.

Or maybe it's just a down year. The gala side of the fest lacked luster as well. Star titles aimed at Oscar glory acquired scant buzz. The Peoples' Choice Award, often a harbinger of hit status and gold statues, passed over the Hollywood fare in favor of a foreign-language title, Nadine Labaki's Lebanese Lysistrata variation Where Do We Go Now?

Of the titles I skipped because they had distribution already in hand, Steve McQueen's Shame and Lars von Trier's Melancholia gave off the most promising buzz.

That said, the list below surely includes many of this or next year's top films. Clip and save for your future Netflixing, renting or art house delectation. Astute watchers of the daily reviews will note that some titles have risen, and others have settled, as immediate experience gives way to what lingers in memory.

 

Recommended

Himizu [Japan, Sion Sono] Junior high student with toxic parents who lives in the zone struck by the March tsunami and subsequent Fukushima disaster struggles to find an outlet for his existential fury. Epic, ambitious grapple with despair.

A Simple Life [HK, Ann Hui] Film producer (Andy Lau) sees to the care of the elderly family maid who helped raise him. Beautifully observed drama driven by a conflict so delicate as to be nearly imperceptible.

Into the Abyss [US, Werner Herzog] The imminent execution of a young Texan for a callous triple homicide prompts a discursive documentary portrait of his hometown, and the people touched in various ways by the crime. What seems at first like a standard inquiry into the death penalty unfolds into a surprising meditation on the richness, tragedy and strangeness of human lives.

Michael [Austria, Markus Schleinzer] Unassuming insurance man's affinity for routine detail assists him as he keeps a young boy imprisoned in his basement. Wickedly matter-of-fact take on the banality of evil can safely be called the most restrained horror film in movie history.

Kotoko [Japan, Shinya Tsukomoto] Hallucination-prone woman yearns to regain custody of her son. Alternately super-upsetting and poignant subjective portrait of mental illness.

Trishna [UK, Michael Winterbottom] Beautiful village girl (Freida Pinto) accepts a not entirely altruistic employment offer from an irresponsible Indo-British hotel heir. Modern, India- set Tess of the d'Ubervilles succeeds by fully transposing the premise to a new time and place, without seeking an analogue for every plot point of the original.

The Sword Identity [China, Haofeng Xu] Martial artist battles an outpost full of soldiers for the right to add an innovative sword design to the list of officially approved weapons. Sly exercise in formalist minimalism that, unlike most art takes on the martial arts film, doesn't cheat the fight choreography.

Invasion [Argentina, Hugo Santiago] Agents of a shadowy conspiracy fight to prevent younger, more casually dressed rivals from invading the city of Aquelia. Cryptic, deadpan, action-packed exercise in narrative deconstruction is what you'd get if Jorge Luis Borges wrote a spy thriller--because he did, and this is it. This 1969 archival rarity, once thought lost, screened as part of the fest's spotlight on the cinema of Buenos Aires.

House of Tolerance [France, Bertrand Bonello] In Paris, 1900, women face the vicissitudes of sex work during a legalized, luxury brothel's final months. Juxtaposes romantic visuals with an anti-romantic text.

Extraterrestrial [Spain, Nacho Vigalondo] Man and woman waking up after one-night stand realize they missed the evacuation of Madrid due to hovering UFOs; bedroom farce ensues. Delivers delightfully throughout on its inspired mix of seemingly unrelated genres.

Rebellion [France, Mathieu Kassovitz] Negotiator from the gendarmerie (Kassovitz) sent to defuse a hostage taking by insurgents in New Caledonia, discovers that the real obstacles to peace are the electioneering politicians back in Paris. Gripping examination of the steps that turned a 1988 colonial crisis into an atrocity.

Your Sister’s Sister [US, Lynn Shelton] Woman (Emily Blunt) with unacknowledged feelings for her dead ex's brother (Mark Duplass) sends him on a head-clearing retreat to her family cottage, where he gets unexpectedly close with her sister (Rosemarie Dewitt.) Witty, truthful comedy-drama of romantic manners keeps the stakes high without extreme characters or phony behavior.

Love and Bruises [China/France, Lou Ye] Chinese student in Paris allows herself to become enmeshed in an abusive relationship with a manipulative laborer. Tough journey inside an all-too-common relationship takes on a political dimension.

Beauty [South Africa, Oliver Hermanus] Closeted Afrikaaner businessman's yearning for a old buddy's son sends him spinning out of control. Unflinching drama anchored by a pressure-cooker lead performance.

Generation P [Russia, Victor Ginzburg] Ad man spends the post-Soviet money grab era on a drug fueled rise through the unstable new power structure. Hallucinogenic satire based on a Victor Pelevin novel.

Mr. Tree [China, Han Jie] In a northern mining town, a perennial screw-up haunted by a family murder makes a footless effort to better himself. Finds unexpected depths in its central character as its naturalistic comedy shifts into the dramatic.

Life Without Principle [HK, Johnnie To] As global markets melt down, the robbery of a loan shark ripples through the lives of a disparate but interconnected group. Coolly controlled ensemble drama of fate and finance.

Juan of the Dead [Spain/Cuba, Alejandro Brugues] Band of Havana ne'er-do-wells copes with an epidemic of flesh-eating, undead "dissidents." Hilariously adds zombie action to the national "everything's fucked in Cuba but it's all right" template.

Sons of Norway [Norway, Jens Lien] When his mom is killed and his dad falls to pieces, a boy raised in a hippie household seeks angry solace in the burgeoning punk scene. Funny and moving coming-of-age story clangs to the music of the Sex Pistols.

Headshot [Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang] His vision upended after miraculously surviving a bullet to the head, an ex-cop turned assassin finds his destiny closing in on him. Moody Buddhist noir sees Ratanaruang returning to the style of his early classic Last Life in the Universe.

The Good Son [Finland, Zaida Bergroth] Young man whose actress mother's boundary-less dependence and history of bad boyfriends has turned him into her rage-filled protector overreacts when she lets a new man into her life. Taut, perceptively played drama.

Chicken With Plums [France, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud] In fifties Tehran, a temperamental violinist (Mathieu Almaric) takes to his bed, willing himself to die, after he gets swindled trying to buy a Stradivarius. Sad stories told in a funny way, through (mostly) live action sequences in a comics-influenced style.

Countdown [South Korea, Huh Jong-Ho] Icy collection agent's bad-ass search for a liver donor leads him to a game of cat-and-mouse with a glamorous con artist. Bubbling pursuit thriller gradually gives itself over to tearjerking melodrama.

Caprichosos de San Telmo [Argentina/Canada, Alison Murray] Documentary profiles members of a murga, a traditional costumed drum and dance group from a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood who perform at Carnival time. Testament to the power of collective creativity presents the folklore and politics of murga through the stories of the participants.

Monsters Club [Japan, Toshiaki Toyoda] Young mail-bomber leading a hermit's life in a snowy mountain cabin faces reproachful family ghosts. Contemplative inversion of the spiral into madness movie starts with its protagonist already mad and invites us to hope for his return to sanity.

Rampart [US, Oren Moverman] During the 1991 Rampart scandal, a beating incident triggers a reckoning for a brutal, racist patrolman (Woody Harrelson.) Bad cop character drama convincingly executed by an impressive cast.

Goodbye First Love [France, Mia Hansen-Love] A 15-year-old girl's intense love for her boyfriend casts a shadow over her life that lasts for many years after their break-up.

Play [Sweden, Ruben Östlund] Pre-teen trio gets dragged across Gothenburg by bullying, older immigrant kids. Coolly upsetting crime docudrama takes a despairing look at Swedish race relations.

Smuggler [Japan, Katsuhito Ishii] Loser's involuntary new job as an underworld clean-up man exposes him to a series of reprisals involving the nun-chuk wielding super-assassin Mr. Vertebrae. Manga adaptation pairs kooky comedy with lovingly detailed ultra-violence.

J’aime Regardez les Filles [France, Frederic Louf] Callow florist's son party-crashes his way into an ultra-wealthy social circle. Engaging coming of age comedy drama to which Whit Stillman comparisons are inevitable if not 100% on point.

You’re Next [US, Adam Wingard] Masked killers hunt down members of a well-heeled family's anniversary gathering--unaware that one of the new girlfriends wields a seriously bad-ass skill set. Musters more wit and character detail than you'd expect from a gory neo-exploitation thriller.

Pompeya [Argentina, Tamae Garateguy] Meta-fiction juxtaposes the writing of a bloody gangster pic with scenes from the final movie--or is it? Exploration of the cruel allure of the crime genre finds surprising layers by declining to treat the film- within- the-film as a joke.

 

Good

God Bless America [US, Bobcat Goldthwait] Middle-aged office worker with nothing to lose bonds with disaffected teen girl as they conduct a nationwide killing spree targeting exemplars of meanness and vulgarization. Gleefully nasty satire is what you might get if Paddy Chayevsky were still around to rewrite Natural Born Killers.

Alps [Greece, Giorgios Lanthimos] Secretive group consisting of two hospital workers, a gymnast, and her abusive coach aid the grieving by acting out scripted scenarios in which they substitute for the deceased. Variation on the director's previous film, Dogtooth, that isn't as resonant or mind-blowing.

Whore’s Glory [Austria, Michael Glawogger] Documentary achieves remarkable access into the workaday lives of prostitutes working in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico. Presents an impressionist portrait with arresting cinematography and cool music from acts like PJ Harvey and Antony and the Johnsons; could use a less forgiving edit from its 2 hr length.

Tyrannosaur [UK, Paddy Considine] Violent widower (Peter Mullan) learns to see rage from the other side when he connects with a devout charity shop worker whose husband abuses her. Performances and characterizations register despite a script with showing vs telling issues.

My Worst Nightmare [France, Anne Fontaine] Boorish tradesman defrosts demanding gallerist (Isabelle Huppert.) Use the fluffy dessert metaphor of your choice to describe this class-conscious romantic comedy.

 

Okay

Superclasico [Denmark, Ole Christian Madsen] Dejected wine shop owner goes with son to Buenos Aires to get his wife back before she divorces him for a football superstar. Fluffy, episodic comedy leaves too much of the narrative heavy lifting up to the voiceover narration.

Bunohan [Malaysia, Dain Said] Three estranged brothers--a kickboxer, a killer, and a shady businessman--return to their home village and come into conflict over the family land. Languidly paced rural noir punctuated by sudden bursts of brutal violence.

Alois Nebel [Czech Republic, Tomas Lunak] Depressed railway dispatcher stoically suffers setbacks after the fall of the Iron Curtain. B&W computer rotoscoping, in the Waking Life style, lends graphic novelty to your basic post-Communist despond movie.

 

Not Recommended

Nuit #1 [Canada, Anne Emond] Man and woman exchange self-lacerating confessions after a one-night stand. Stylized language and behavior might be easier to buy into on stage, free of a realism that calls its credibility into question.

A Mysterious World [Argentina, Rodrigo Moreno] After his live-in girlfriend dumps him, an affectless nebbish drifts through a series of droll and/or melancholy incidents. Bored art about bored people.

That Summer [France, Philippe Garrel] Feckless bit player recalls the events in a tortured marriage that led to his artist friend's suicide. I watched this listless trainwreck in puzzled fascination, wondering if its near-complete avoidance of well-constructed dramatic scenes comes through incompetence or perverse design.

TIFF Day Eleven

Well, it's all over save for the sleeping. And the laundry. And grocery shopping and general resurfacing. I'll be taking a couple of recovery days and then return with the annual round-up post, with capsule reviews, ranked in preference order, all in one place, for your clipping and saving needs. Until then, check out my last day flicks.

Monsters Club [Japan, Toshiaki Toyoda, 4] Young mail-bomber leading a hermit's life in a snowy mountain cabin faces reproachful family ghosts. Contemplative inversion of the spiral into madness movie starts with its protagonist already mad and invites us to hope for his return to sanity.

Smuggler [Japan, Katsuhito Ishii, 4] Loser's involuntary new job as an underworld clean-up man exposes him to a series of reprisals involving the nun-chuk wielding super-assassin Mr. Vertebrae. Manga adaptation pairs kooky comedy with lovingly detailed ultra-violence.

Countdown [South Korea, Huh Jong-Ho, 4] Icy collection agent's bad-ass search for a liver donor leads him to a game of cat-and-mouse with a glamourous con artist. Bubbling pursuit thriller gradually gives itself over to tearjerking melodrama.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this get a Hollywood remake (sans tone shift).

Pompeya [Argentina, Tamae Garateguy, 4] Meta-fiction juxtaposes the writing of a bloody gangster pic with scenes from the final movie--or is it? Exploration of the cruel allure of the crime genre finds surprising layers by declining to treat the film-within-the-film as a joke.

Warning: you might have to be a writer or critic to dig this as much as I did.

Kotoko [Japan, Shinya Tsukomoto, 4] Hallucination-prone woman yearns to regain custody of her son. Alternately super-upsetting and poignant subjective portrait of mental illness.

TIFF Days Nine and Ten

I hit the wall hard on Friday evening, and the wall hit back. Hence this delayed/doubled catch-up post. I shed screenings from the start and end of Saturday in the hope that I'll recover enough to keep my strong final day line-up intact.

Generation P [Russia, Victor Ginzburg, 4] Ad man spends the post-Soviet money grab era on a drug fueled rise through the unstable new power structure. Hallucinogenic satire based on a Victor Pelevin novel.

A Mysterious World [Argentina, Rodrigo Moreno, 1.5] After his live-in girlfriend dumps him, an affectless nebbish drifts through a series of droll and/or melancholy incidents. Bored art about bored people.

As readers who follow this blog with a stalkerish attention to detail will already recall, chairs and my legs have not been getting along lately. TIFF venues, in the order in which their seating is killing me:

1. Scotiabank 2

2. Jackman Hall

3. Scotiabank 11

4. Scotiabank 1, 2, 4

5. Ryerson

6. Elgin

7. AMC

8. Isabel Bader

9. Lightbox

Not reviewed: Roy Thomson, Princess of Wales

Tyrannosaur [UK, Paddy Considine, 3] Violent widower (Peter Mullan) learns to see rage from the other side when he connects with a devout charity shop worker whose husband abuses her. Performances and characterizations register despite a script with showing vs telling issues.

I hit the limit of my physical endurance during Carré Blanc [France, Jean-Baptiste Leonetti] and left the theater. What I saw of this condominium fusion of 1984 and Soylent Green did not engage, consisting nearly exclusively of down beats. But for all I know it turns masterpiecey in the last 10-20 minutes.

Juan of the Dead [Spain/Cuba, Alejandro Brugues, 4] Band of Havana ne'er-do-wells copes with an epidemic of flesh-eating, undead "dissidents." Hilariously adds zombie action to the national "everything's fucked in Cuba but it's all right" template.

If you've been under the impression that there is still a functioning film censorship system in Cuba, this splattery satire will spin your head around. The government is listed as a funding partner!

Headshot [Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 4] His vision upended after miraculously surviving a bullet to the head, an ex-cop turned assassin finds his destiny closing in on him. Moody Buddhist noir sees Ratanaruang returning to the style of his early classic Last Life in the Universe.

Superclasico [Denmark, Ole Christian Madsen, 3] Dejected wine shop owner goes with son to Buenos Aires to get his wife back before she divorces him for a football superstar. Fluffy, episodic comedy leaves too much of the narrative heavy lifting up to the voiceover narration.

TIFF Day Eight

That Summer [France, Philippe Garrel, 1] Feckless bit player recalls the events in a tortured marriage that led to his artist friend's suicide. I watched this listless trainwreck in puzzled fascination, wondering if its near-complete avoidance of well-constructed dramatic scenes comes through incompetence or perverse design.

That Summer so completely embraces the stereotypical traits of Gallic film, and executes them so maladroitly, that it could be used as an argument against French cinema in its entirety. In other words, it is France's GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Love and Bruises [China/France, Lou Ye, 4] Chinese student in Paris allows herself to become enmeshed in an abusive relationship with a manipulative laborer. Tough journey inside an all-too-common relationship takes on a political dimension.

Caprichosos de San Telmo [Argentina/Canada, Alison Murray, 4] Documentary profiles members of a murga, a traditional costumed drum and dance group from a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood who perform at Carnival time. Testament to the power of collective creativity presents the folklore and politics of murga through the stories of the participants.

Michael [Austria, Markus Schleinzer, 4] Unassuming insurance man's affinity for routine detail assists him as he keeps a young boy imprisoned in his basement. Wickedly matter-of-fact take on the banality of evil can safely be called the most restrained horror film in movie history.

TIFF Day Seven

Rebellion [France, Mathieu Kassovitz, 4] Negotiator from the gendarmerie (Kassovitz) sent to defuse a hostage taking by insurgents in New Caledonia, discovers that the real obstacles to peace are the electioneering politicians back in Paris. Gripping examination of the steps that turned a 1988 colonial crisis into an atrocity.

Like Bloody Sunday or Night of the Pencils, this belongs to a genre that might be termed the anti-procedural. Instead of a look at a problem being solved, you get the moment by moment breakdown of a spiraling disaster.

Life Without Principle [HK, Johnnie To, 4] As global markets melt down, the robbery of a loan shark ripples through the lives of a disparate but interconnected group. Coolly controlled ensemble drama of fate and finance.

A Simple Life [HK, Ann Hui, 5] Film producer (Andy Lau) sees to the care of the elderly family maid who helped raise him. Beautifully observed drama driven by a conflict so delicate as to be nearly imperceptible.

Nuit #1 [Canada, Anne Emond, 2] Man and woman exchange self-lacerating confessions after a one-night stand. Stylized language and behavior might be easier to buy into on stage, free of a visual realism that calls its credibility into question.

TIFF Day Six

Your Sister’s Sister [US, Lynn Shelton, 4] Woman (Emily Blunt) with unacknowledged feelings for her dead ex's brother (Mark Duplass) sends him on a head-clearing retreat to her family cottage, where he gets unexpectedly close with her sister (Rosemarie Dewitt.) Witty, truthful comedy-drama of romantic manners keeps the stakes high without extreme characters or phony behavior.

My Worst Nightmare [France, Anne Fontaine, 3.5] Boorish tradesman defrosts demanding gallerist (Isabelle Huppert.) Use the fluffy dessert metaphor of your choice to describe this class-conscious romantic comedy.

If you're looking for the movie from my TIFF 2011 list to watch with your mom, My Worst Nightmare is probably the one. I mean, not that I know your mom.

Alps [Greece, Giorgios Lanthimos, 3.5] Secretive group consisting of two hospital workers, a gymnast, and her abusive coach aid the grieving by acting out scripted scenarios in which they substitute for the deceased. Variation on the director's previous film, Dogtooth, that isn't as resonant or mind-blowing.

Himizu [Japan, Sion Sono, 5] Junior high student with toxic parents who lives in the zone struck by the March tsunami and subsequent Fukushima disaster struggles to find an outlet for his existential fury. Epic, ambitious grapple with despair.

TIFF Day Five

Rampart [US, Oren Moverman, 4] During the 1991 Rampart scandal, a beating incident triggers a reckoning for a brutal, racist patrolman (Woody Harrelson.) Bad cop character drama convincingly executed by an impressive cast.

Extraterrestrial [Spain, Nacho Vigalondo, 4] Man and woman waking up after one-night stand realize they missed the evacuation of Madrid due to hovering UFOs; bedroom farce ensues. Delivers delightfully throughout on its inspired mix of seemingly unrelated genres.

The above is now my new fave so far. I've seen a good number of solid works in their respective modes; this is the first film to fully score on the "I've never seen this before" meter.

You’re Next [US, Adam Wingard, 4] Masked killers hunt down members of a well-heeled family's anniversary gathering--unaware that one of the new girlfriends wields a seriously bad-ass skill set. Musters more wit and character detail than you'd expect from a gory neo-exploitation thriller.

Invasion [Argentina, Hugo Santiago, 4] Agents of a shadowy conspiracy fight to prevent younger, more casually dressed rivals from invading the city of Aquelia. Cryptic, deadpan, action-packed exercise in narrative deconstruction is what you'd get if Jorge Luis Borges wrote a spy thriller--because he did, and this is it. This 1969 archival rarity, once thought lost, screened as part of the fest's spotlight on the cinema of Buenos Aires.

TIFF Day Four

Today the festival replaced its usual pre-movie bumpers with a featurette remembering its shellshocked reaction to 9/11.

Chicken With Plums [France, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud, 4] In fifties Tehran, a temperamental violinist (Mathieu Almaric) takes to his bed, willing himself to die, after he gets swindled trying to buy a Stradivarius. Sad stories told in a funny way, through (mostly) live action sequences in a comics-influenced style.

Like Water For Chocolate comes to mind as a reference point. The sequence in Chicken With Plums depicting Americans as fat, vulgar grotesques might make it tough to replicate the older film's US art house success.

God Bless America [US, Bobcat Goldthwait, 3.5] Middle-aged office worker with nothing to lose bonds with disaffected teen girl as they conduct a nationwide killing spree targeting exemplars of meanness and vulgarization. Gleefully nasty satire is what you might get if Paddy Chayevsky were still around to rewrite Natural Born Killers.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of longish dialogue scenes trimmed before release, which would up my rating a notch.

Bunohan [Malaysia, Dain Said, 3] Three estranged brothers--a kickboxer, a killer, and a shady businessman--return to their home village and come into conflict over the family land. Languidly paced rural noir punctuated by sudden bursts of brutal violence.

J’aime Regardez les Filles [France, Frederic Louf, 4] Callow florist's son party-crashes his way into an ultra-wealthy social circle. Engaging coming of age comedy drama to which Whit Stillman comparisons are inevitable if not 100% on point.

The Sword Identity [China, Haofeng Xu, 4] Martial artist battles an outpost full of soldiers for the right to add an innovative sword design to the list of officially approved weapons. Sly exercise in formalist minimalism that, unlike most art takes on the martial arts film, doesn't cheat the fight choreography.

TIFF Day Three

A heavy-duty day today of sex, power and money--with a little family dysfunction for a change of pace. If you're wondering why cute, unassuming indie comedies sometimes get oddly rapturous receptions at film festivals, wonder no more.

Not that I'm snarking; it was a strong day.

Beauty [South Africa, Oliver Hermanus, 4] Closeted Afrikaaner businessman's yearning for a old buddy's son sends him spinning out of control. Unflinching drama anchored by a pressure-cooker lead performance.

Trishna [UK, Michael Winterbottom, 4] Beautiful village girl (Freida Pinto) accepts a not entirely altruistic employment offer from an irresponsible Indo-British hotel heir. Modern, India- set Tess of the d'Ubervilles succeeds by fully transposing the premise to a new time and place, without seeking an analogue for every plot point of the original.

While waiting on University Ave for a screening at the Isabel Bader, a big revivalist parade blaring J-pop style hymns passes by. Behind the Noah's Ark float teens wear rented animal costumes. I never knew that Piglet and Big Bird were aboard the ark.

The washrooms at this sleekly modernist facility are so cruelly mis-designed that it might better be called the Isabel Vader Theatre.

House of Tolerance [France, Bertrand Bonello, 4] In Paris, 1900, women face the vicissitudes of sex work during a legalized, luxury brothel's final months.

Juxtaposes romantic visuals with an anti-romantic text.

The Good Son [Finland, Zaida Bergroth, 4] Young man whose actress mother's boundary-less dependence and history of bad boyfriends has turned him into her rage-filled protector overreacts when she lets a new man into her life. Taut, perceptively played drama.

Whore’s Glory [Austria, Michael Glawogger, 3.5] Documentary achieves remarkable access into the workaday lives of prostitutes working in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico. Presents an impressionist portrait with arresting cinematography and cool music from acts like PJ Harvey and Antony and the Johnsons; could use a less forgiving edit from its 2 hr length.

TIFF Day Two

Alois Nebel [Czech Republic, Tomas Lunak, 3] Depressed railway dispatcher stoically suffers setbacks after the fall of the Iron Curtain. B&W computer rotoscoping, in the Waking Life style, lends graphic novelty to your basic post-Communist despond movie.

Advantage of digital projection era: when the screening glitches, a freeze frame is much less distressing than melting film.

Disadvantage: projectionists can now forget to turn the subtitles on.

Sub-advantage: this beats a celluloid print arriving with the wrong subtitles.

Mr. Tree [China, Han Jie, 4] In a northern mining town, a perennial screw-up haunted by a family murder makes a footless effort to better himself. Finds unexpected depths in its central character as its naturalistic comedy shifts into the dramatic.

The program book describes the protagonist as the village idiot. On viewing it becomes clear that he is in fact the village dipshit, a quite different position.

Goodbye First Love [France, Mia Hansen-Love, 4] A 15-year-old girl's intense love for her boyfriend casts a shadow over her life that lasts for many years after their break-up.

Sons of Norway [Norway, Jens Lien, 4] When his mom is killed and his dad falls to pieces, a boy raised in a hippie household seeks angry solace in the burgeoning punk scene. Funny and moving coming-of-age story clangs to the music of the Sex Pistols.

John Lydon, who executive produced and makes a cameo appearance, was present along with the filmmakers to give it his authentic rebellion seal of approval.

TIFF Day One

Into the Abyss [US, Werner Herzog, 4] The imminent execution of a young Texan for a callous triple homicide prompts a discursive documentary portrait of his hometown, and the people touched in various ways by the crime. What seems at first like a standard inquiry into the death penalty unfolds into a surprising meditation on the richness, tragedy and strangeness of human lives.

Herzog was present at the screening, describing the gentle but sometimes oddball interviewing technique that impels his subjects to sudden emotional revelations. "They don't teach you that in film school!" His longtime editor explained that they jointly took up smoking for the first time during Grizzly Man and were driven back to it again for this one.

Play [Sweden, Ruben Östlund, 4] Pre-teen trio gets dragged across Gothenburg by bullying, older immigrant kids. Coolly upsetting crime docudrama takes a despairing look at Swedish race relations.

It’s TIFF Time!

If it’s the first Thursday after Labor Day, it must be time for this blog to veer abruptly into all Cinema Hut, all the time...or at least for the next eleven days, as my wife and I once again plunge into our endurance-challenging celluloid staycation, hitting the Toronto International Film Festival for all it’s worth. Tonight kicks off with a Werner Herzog death row documentary and Danish pre-pubescent delinquents, and ends on Sunday Sept 18^th with a day 60% devoted to Japanese madness and mayhem. In between we’ve got Cuban zombies, Norwegian punks, and Korean Kazakhs. Provided all goes according to plan, I’ll be checking out new works from Johnnie To, Ann Hui, Shinya Tsukamoto, Michael Winterbottom, and other past favorites.

This is my 25^th year doing the festival in earnest, which was back when it was called the Festival of Festivals. This seems mathematically impossible.  I guess they let two year olds attend back then. It was a different time.
Here’s the standard drill, if you’ve forgotten how it works around the Cinema Hut at TIFF time or are joining the festivities for the first time:

I’ll be writing capsule reviews of everything I see, and then gathering them up in order of preference in the festival’s aftermath. Until then, I’ll be giving provisional ratings to the films, which are bound to change as they settle into memory. Ratings range from 0 to 5, with 0 arousing my active ire and 5 ascending to rarefied heights of masterpiece-dom.

Interspersed between the capsules will be expansions on the reviews, stray observations, and whatever logistical complaining I fail to suppress.

If you’ve heard of a release that’s playing TIFF, chances are that it’s because the film will be coming out shortly and is getting a big PR push. I tend to skip films that have distribution in place in favor of those I might never get another shot at. So I’m not the one to ask about the Oscar-bait movies with the big stars in attendance.

Do you want to see these movies right away? Well, these titles are beginning their long journey through the distribution chain. Many will continue to appear on the film festival circuit over the next year or so. The high profile releases I tend not to schedule at the fest may appear in theaters as early as next week. Indies and foreign titles will score theatrical releases over the next year or so, and DVD releases after that. Some may appear only on DVD, or vanish completely.

While a few of last year’s films still await theatrical release, most have made it through the chain. So if you want to enjoy some fine cinema right away, you could do worse than to check out my recommendations from last year.

King of Dragon Pass Now on iOS

It’s time to party like it’s 1999, because the once and future tribe-building game King of Dragon Pass has returned like settlers to the kingdom of Sartar. What was once a beautiful computer game without a category has joined the handheld era as a game for iPhone and iTouch, also playable on iPad. Get ready for hours of addictive play as you advance the unique history of your Orlanthi clan, straight from Greg Stafford’s classic world of Glorantha, as also seen in RuneQuest and HeroQuest. Decide whether to build your cattle herds, or raid the cows of clans weaker than yours. Learn the secrets of the Orlanthi gods, entering a sacred realm to recapitulate their myths and gain their power. Puzzle out the agendas of helpful but disparate-minded advisers. Deal with crises ranging from concupiscent poets to angry beast men. A single game will more than justify the price—though you will likely fall prey to its compulsive replayability.

I was fortunate enough to work on this project as a scene writer; when my scenes started showing up with numbers in them, my credit was upgraded to designer. I’m told I wrote 450,000 words, which for comparison’s sake comes out to about three Ashen Stars or four and a half novels.

For this new iteration, A-Sharp supremo David Dunham has leavened the formerly cruel economic model, in which one could undergo the notorious herd size death spiral, with a dramatic rhythm. This furthers easier, more entertaining game play. My role in the port has been of a eagerly anticipating spectator. I’m happy (and addicted all over again) to revisit those scenes. Hint: be harsh with the ducks, but not too harsh.

The game’s core format, alternating resource shepherding with scenes of crisis management, is one I’d love to see explored with other settings. You could do a great Hollywood studio game with much the same framework. The one I’d really love to see would follow the history of the mob in America from before Prohibition to the present day. Here’s hoping that the game will finally get its commercial due in the new format, possibly allowing such blue-sky thoughts to inch closer to reality.

The original game became a phenomenon in Finland, for cultural reasons that seem both obvious and elusive. Now that a new era of gaming has dawned on portable devices, it’s time for the rest of the world to catch up and get building their shrines to Lhankor Mhy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a feud to prosecute against the accursed, dog-loving Herani…

Link Round-Up: Bad Job, Caveman Crossbreeding

Here’s a fresh new occupation for the story beat where your hero hits absolute rock bottom.

Neanderthals weren't the only ones our ancient ancestors were getting it on with.

The Birds: Idiot

Click here for the complete strip archive.

Stuck in mobile mode? Click here for image file.

Link Round-Up: North Sea Stars, Discoverability

Thoughts inspired by Process vs. Outcome post earlier today, as extrapolated to computer games.

An actual play report takes Ashen Stars to the North Sea.

Process vs. Outcome

When developing a sub-system for an RPG rules engine, two qualities of a successful mechanic can fall out of sync. Let’s call these qualities process and outcome.

A sub-system with a strong process is:

• easily learned
• easily remembered once learned
• fast
• engaging

In other words, when you set out to use the rule in play, it goes quickly and smoothly, with a minimum of head-scratching.

A successful rules sub-system must also fulfill its purpose in the game, whatever that might be. In addition to the general goals of the process category, does it achieve the specific goal or goals of this particular project? If it’s a space combat system that’s supposed to feel a little bit tactical and give everyone on the ship something to do, does it achieve that? If it’s supposed to streamline investigative play, does it do that?

When it does, you’ve got a sub-system that contributes a desired outcome to the overall design.

Although DramaSystem focuses on dramatic and not procedural moments, it does need some way to work out whether characters succeed at external, pragmatic tasks, when they arise. Until recently I had a system for this that had good process but an unsatisfactory outcome. Procedural scenes “worked”: they were fun and simple in play. Yet they tended to come out the same way every time: the characters won, after accepting terrible consequences. This represented a failure of emulation; characters in dramatic shows don’t have to pay an awful price for every success. That sent me back to the drawing board. I think the new system has both process and outcome, but then I always think that. More testing will tell the tale.

Sometimes you'll have the opposite problem: a sub-system that gets you where you want to be, but in a manner that is unacceptably complicated, slow, or counter-intuitive. Your audience’s tolerance for difficult rules may change the definition of “unacceptably.”

Link Round-Up: Dragons Love Ashen, MJ’s a Mutant

After the hosts wrestle with combat, the house dragon of the 2gms 1mic podcast gives Ashen Stars two wings up.

Impossible Mary Jane pose, mocked by wags.

Korad: Ideology Vote Redux

Okay, the process by which we vote by liking comments clearly isn’t panning out. It requires people to remember to give a blog post a second look. When I put it that way, the flaw inherent in the system becomes obvious. So, one last time, let’s review the choices and vote with a poll over on the old mothership.

One of these ideologies will grow from obscurity to change Korad. Two others will do likewise to test the mettle of the eventual victor. I have taken the liberty of renaming some of the choices into handy -ism forn. They are:

Candlism. “The Candle in the Darkness” is a stoic path that blurs the line between religion and philosophy. The Candle in the Darkness is a school of thought that focuses on sharp rationality and observed phenomena. Gods are discussed in the same tone as ghosts and chivari apes - to be studied and respected exactly as much as direct observation suggests is necessary. While not, strictly speaking, an atheist movement, The Candle in the Darkness has the scorn and hatred of the religious organizations for the way it denounces faith and prayer.

Gentility. The Gentle Prince, a warrior demiurge, turned his back on the strife and violence associated with the Black Goat of the Fens and built a land of peace and ease. All who accept his path have a place prepared for them there. The Gentle Prince teaches loving submission to those greater than yourself and forgiveness for all who ask it. Surrendering to the will of the Gentle Prince (and his clergy) guarantee a place in paradise after death, and protection from the violent and hateful ways of the Black Goat and her angry children.

Nonism: Based on the teachings of nine masters who have since elevated to divinity through perfection of their philosophical purity. Themes include grace, beauty, and aesthetic excellence in one's duties. The Glorious Nine teach that a useful thing is wonderful, but a thing that is useful and beautiful brings us closer to unity with the godhead, and that a joyful heart is as important as a clever mind.

Satirism: Koradian freedman culture is often overlooked, largely because of the permanent second-class, yet not actually oppressive, citizenship that it imposes. Still, it was probably inevitable that certain of its members would turn to magic (the traditional pastime of slightly disreputable social classes everywhere); and it was probably also likely that said magic would break a mainstream Koradian taboo (in this case, the one against frivolity). Needing to keep said frivolity hidden from obvious discovery meant that its practitioners needed to grow adept at hidden meanings of texts and subtle shadings of speech: a Satirist spell is typically a well-disguised mockery of an existing artistic form, with a direct ratio between the power of the spell and the subtlety of the mockery. It is said that a true adept can transmit a blessing or a curse in a simple "Good morning." And then it was discovered that the spell for ensuring the sex of a child was easily within the powers of the adepts... provided that the woman who was the target of the spell accepted the central teaching of the Satirists: "Life is absurdly good." Which sounds a lot more transgressive in the original.

Symbotomism combines anti-Aesigil views with extreme devolutionism. They believe that the Aesigils have had undue influence on the development of human civilization and culture, and it is now necessary to expunge all symbols used to adorn bodies, clothing, architecture... even going so far as to advocate the destruction of all written records and language itself. Humans will become perfect when they develop their own thoughts and language without Aesigil influence.

Head over to LJ to vote for your favorites.

Link Round-Up: Repairer Reviewed, Santeria Smear, Detective Dee

The Repairer of Reputations scores a gratifying review at RPGnet.

Mirror appliques on mayoral campaign signs prompt Santeria smear.

Tsui Hark's delirious return to wuxia form, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, starts its limited US theatrical run tomorrow. One of my faves from last year's TIFF. Reindeer fu!

Illustrations and Expectations, or the Four-Gun Kch-Thk

In what might be our first Ashen Stars FAQ, I've been asked if Jerome Huguenin's cool image of a kch-thk warrior means that player characters of his locust-like species get four Shooting attacks per round. As the questioner pointed out, the illo will have his players making an impassioned case for it.

The reality is that Jerome came up with a great idea for an illustration independent of a specific crunchy bit in the rules text. Getting a roleplaying game out the door and into your hands is a long enough process without a stage where we look at the art and see if we want to rebalance character abilities based on what it seems to promise players. The ever-hungry kch-thk already come with a nifty array of unique schticks, not the least of which is being able to migrate their discarnate identities into new, fast-growing larval forms when they get killed. The idea of immediately adding yet another bit of defining crunch without testing for balance fails the caution test.

For the moment, let's say that some kch-thk fire four-handed, but that this is a style move. Holding four weapons is easier than coordinating them, even if the shooter sports a set of compound eyes. In the end the four-handers are no more effective than any highly-trained marksman carefully firing a single gun.

The four-handed stance might also show us what it looks like when kch-thk crew members make Intimidation spends. Sure, maybe their accuracy leaves something to be desired. It's still a hell of a way to bust into a room.
(Or he might just be holding four special scanning devices. But that would be too much of a buzzkill, wouldn’t it?)