Leslie Armstrong
Arts Editor
This year at TIFF, Canadian and Toronto-based filmmakers will get the chance to showcase their work. Films like Breakaway starring Russell Peters and Afghan Luke by Nova Scotia-based director Mike Clattenburg will righteously steal the spotlight. But while it does its job of exposing Canadian film, what the Toronto International Film Festival does best, true to its name, is uncover film from different parts of the world.
As alternatives to the Western-influenced style of filmmaking, these films reflect, if unwittingly, pieces of a culture that resound with the viewer. This year, the first films of the festival display quirkiness, eccentricity, and romanticism with three films: Fable of the Fish (Philippines), Last Days in Jerusalem (Israel), and Always Brando (Tunisia).
Set in the extreme poverty of Manila, Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr.’s Fable of the Fish follows Lina and Miguel, a middle-aged couple without children, as they move to a house embedded in a dumpsite. Lina becomes pregnant, but she mysteriously gives birth to a milkfish. Much to her husband’s frustration, Lina treats the fish as her son, attracting attention from the villagers and various media outlets.
Fable is a spiritual recounting of the existing brand of Christianity in the Philippines, drawing on several symbols of Christianity, such as the Madonna and child relationship. It challenges and broadens the notion of the child figure, demonstrating unconditional love as proof. Miguel, the disgruntled husband, is seen stroking a white cat affectionately between scenes.
The film is at once comedic and solemn, allowing the audience a moment of incredulity at the incident, but using that strange incident to relay some profundity. Lina is well-cast (played by Cherry Pie Picache), with a calm, placid face, and her neighbourhood friends are sincere, recreating the tight-knit networks of Manila.
Last Days in Jerusalem is about a couple (Nour, an actress, and Iyad, a surgeon) living their final days in Jerusalem before moving to Paris. As they prepare to leave, they are both held back by their professions; Nour is offered an audition for a play while Iyad is called into the hospital after a bus accident. In the last days they spend in Jerusalem, they discover the weakness of their relationship.
Tawfik Abu Wael creates this nuanced film demonstrating the circumstances that tear relationships apart. Iyad and Nour find themselves trapped in the relationship, much like they find themselves trapped in the careers they set out for themselves. Arriving in the city of Paris represents the freedom that they never had in the walled streets of Palestine.
Nour, played by Lana Haj Yahia, is the strangely beautiful subject of the film. Cast deliberately for her unique charm, she carries the film along, remaining at the centre of it.
Part documentary, part feature film, Always Brando recounts Ridha Behi’s undying admiration for Marlon Brando’s acting career. The director meets Anis, a Brando look-alike, and tries to collaborate with the dying Hollywood actor on the script of a film that will star the look-alike. Anis wishes to travel to America to solidify his acting career, but is continually warned of the dangers of the business by his loving girlfriend.
Her warnings prove valid as the directors disturb her hometown to begin filming. Also present is the burden and responsibility placed on Anis as he tries his best to measure up to the great icon’s legacy with his sub-standard acting skills and lack of confidence.
These three selections are fine examples of what to expect at TIFF this year. International films are valuable in that they break away from the Western, Hollywood-influenced style of filmmaking that pervades most of the films on the big screens in North American. In short, expect the unexpected.
Excalibur’s TIFF coverage continues next week with a spotlight on films by York alumni.
These three selections are fine examples of what to expect at TIFF this year. International films are valuable in that they break away from the Western, Hollywood-influenced style of filmmaking that pervades most of the films on the big screens in North American. In short, expect the unexpected.
Excalibur’s TIFF coverage continues next week with a spotlight on films by York alumni.
Other foreign films to look out for at TIFF 2011
A Mysterious World
Rodrigo Moreno-directed, a man wanders aimlessly through Buenos Aires after his girlfriend leaves him.
Caprichosos de San Telmo
Alison Murray directs this film about a community of street dancers in Buenos Aires.
Elena
A husband and wife, both with their own children, fight after the husband decides to leave all his money to his daughter in Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film.
Fatherland
Nicolás Prividera’s essay film centres around a famous Buenos Aires cemetery where many poets and literary figures lie.
