Karl Leschinsky
Contributor
I’m not sure there’s any film out there so great it is essential people see it.
- The TIFF Bell Lightbox at King St. and John St. will be showing classic films throughout the fall, as well as featuring special events and guest speakers.
So when I heard about the Essential Cinema series of 100 classic films being screened this fall at the Bell Lightbox, the Toronto International Film Festival’s new downtown home, I was skeptical. I’m less interested in how “essential” these movies are and much more focused on the films themselves.
Many of these films have been hailed masterpieces, many have been influential in the evolution of the film medium and many are extremely unique. Though none of that necessarily means these films are essential to your appreciation of film, the opportunity to go see and discover them yourself is invaluable.
The audience is a part of the projector; everybody sees from their own angle. TIFF has done right in building this church of cinema. The Lightbox opened Sept. 12 with a performance by K’Naan – he played his anthem “Wavin’ Flag” – and its sponsors are on a mission to bring back into the public consciousness some films that, essential or not, are definitely important. Each of these films was made by an artist trying to share their understanding our existence here on Earth. Whether or not you agree with them, it’s the discussion you have with them that’s important.
One such classic is Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game, which follows wealthy members of society – and their servants, who don’t partake in the same “games” – as they amuse themselves with trivial things or love affairs revolving around one or two ladies.
All these characters consult with a neutral friend, played by the film’s director, who notes “everybody has their reasons” and none of these suitors is the right or wrong choice. Each offers what they offer, and the film attempts to show us just that.
Many critics consider Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane another Essential Cinema highlight, and potentially the greatest film ever. This faux-biopic paints the portrait of a newspaper tycoon and successful entrepreneur, from his tragic childhood to his cryptic dying words.
The poetic way it is photographed tells the true story of the film’s mysterious central character, obsessed with the glorious thrill ride that is a creative life.
Viridiana is Luis Bun?uel’s humanely cynical parable of a nun who feels her convent’s seclusion from the world is hypocritical. She then turns to actively helping the needy but, when her plans do not work out, she is forced to confront her doubts about her own faith.
If this sounds heavy, it’s not. In Bun?uel’s hands, the film offers a sympathetic understanding of human nature and, for better or for worse, finds humour in these images of defeat.
8 1/2 by Federico Fellini is a wacky but spectacular comedy about a successful director who isn’t sure what his next film is about, even as he’s making it, and who finds himself distracted by his womanizing ways. Somehow, by the end, this scoundrel uses his charm to turn his failures into one of the greatest celebrations of life on film and, more than that, a meditation on what film is here for.
I am proud to see a Canadian organization screening such insightful films as part of a head-on experience, something to be seen and not just read about. You can immerse yourself in the world of a film at any theatre, but the Bell Lightbox offers something else: great movies from the past that are regretfully being forgotten. Forget “essential”: think “experience.”
For a list of TIFF’s Essential 100, check out tiff.net/essential/about/ essential100
