Capsule reviews and notes from the Toronto International Film Festival, Sunday September 13th. I am now well into the dreamtime phase of the festival, as my brain shifts all resources to taking in movies. As opposed to, say, correctly working out the breaks I have between movies and where to best get food. Or remembering what time I need to leave the house without writing it down. Practical considerations, what are they, really? Give me another jump cut.
Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) [France, Eva Husson, 4] Rift between two high schoolers over a narcissistic boy triggers out of control sex parties. Dreamy dramas is subversive in depicting extreme teenage sexuality as entirely non-apocalyptic.
This one upends expectations to such a degree that I wasn’t sure all the way through if the filmmaker had found a viewpoint on the material. Even after it ended it took me a while to fully appreciate what it was doing and decide conclusively that I liked it.
Demon [Poland, Marcin Wrona, 4] English groom meeting the bride's family for the first time at a vodka-soaked Polish wedding gets possessed by a dybbuk. Stage play adaptation adds allegory and ghost story elements to the wedding spiraling out of control sub-genre.
Veteran [South Korea, Seung-wan Ryoo, 4] Ass-kicking loose cannon cop won't let go of a case against a cocky young psycho executive. Hard action comedy hits the crowd-pleasing beats.
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