TIFF 2012: Capsule Reviews

The Central Park Five
Dirs. Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns
*** 

Ken Burns' documentaries have set the standard for in-depth analysis of the idiosyncratic traditions and transformative periods that have defined the socio-cultural history of the American west. But the through line that coarses through all of Burns' work has been the tumultuous, violent history of American racism, specifically the plight of African-Americans and the systemic inequalities that have informed their experience has an ethnic minority. Burns' new film,  The Central Park Five, is a straight-forward, but infuriating examination of what observers might call a modern public lynching; a story of racism set against the Crack epidemic that infected Black neighbourhoods in late 1980s New York City.

Directed alongside David McMahon and Sarah Burns (Ken's daughter), The Central Park Five tells the story of five ethnic NYC youths who were scapegoated by the NYPD and DA's office and subsequently imprisoned for the rape and beating of a Wall Street banker, attacked by a serial rapist while jogging through the city's storied park. Burns and company fashion the story as a product of the paranoid racial hysteria that captured New York in the summer of 1989, with the Crack epidemic reaching a violent climax and a sensationalist media subtly stoking the fire. This is a solid, straightforwardly engaging doc that works as a historical indictment; a reminder of the brutal, uncompromising American bigotry of centuries past and the power of optimism in the face of fear.

The Hunt
Dir. Thomas Vinterberg
*****

Thomas Vinterberg's (The Celebration) The Hunt is a spellbinding Danish drama about the extremes of love and the violent, irrational fear that grips those that love too much. Cannes Best Actor award winner Mads Mikkelsen (best known for playing the blood-crying heavy in 2006's Casino Royale) is emotionally shattering as Lucas, a handsome, masculine, respected Kindergarten worker whom is wrongly accused of a sexual encounter with his best friend and hunting mate's young daughter, sparking a small-town condemnation that spirals into psychological turmoil for Lucas and his teenaged son.

Vinterberg effectively casts no doubt on Lucas' innocence and the terrifyingly identifiable moral ambiguities that inform the paranoid, violent actions of his former friends and co-workers, bringing the viewer almost directly into the main character's shoes. This is a film that inspires frustration and anger in its depiction of group-think mentality as an irrational means of protecting loved ones; a scene inside a Church during a Chrismas Eve service is viscerally affecting as Lucas suffers a complete mental breakdown, set to the chants of his young accuser, surrounded by the townsfolk who have cursed his name. Tough, measured, world-class filmmaking.

Kinshasa Kids
Dir. Marc-Henri Wajnberg
**

An interesting, but frustrating doc/dramatic look at the plight of children living in the Congolese capital, Belgian director Marc-Henri Wajnberg's Kinshasa Kids is hopeful and raw, but lacking in plot and character. Opening on a grueling, real life ceremony that sees young children accused of witchcraft being exorcized of their demons by village witch doctors, the film follows young Jose, a Congolese boy who flees the ceremony and his family to live in Kinshasa, where he falls in with a gang of street-kids who find solace in song and spend their days hustling and stealing, trying to eke out enough money to eat and survive in the dirty, mean streets. The kids, aged somewhere between seven and eleven years old, join forces with Bebson, an eccentric but talented and connected singer / bandleader to start a band that would see them escape the misery and destitution of the slums.

As a naturalist snapshot of life in Kinshasa, Wajnberg's film for the most part is successful, but there just isn't enough substance or plot to keep us emotionally invested in the tribulations of Bebson and the kids, or even fill out its less than 90 minute run time. It's your standard underdog tale of discovering hope in the most unlikely of places, and there are real moments of fun, even joy amidst the misery, with a few crackling musical sequences and funny character quirks (a street-kid that has the moves of Michael Jackson is particularly memorable) but instead of the rousing, uplifting climax we expect, we're left with something of a dramatic slight.

Review - Take This Waltz (Polley, 2011) ***

Disclosure: I am proud to be a born and raised Torontonian, so it was hard for me not to get wrapped up in the stunning, sun-soaked portrayal of the city in Actor/Writer/Director Sarah Polley's sophomore feature Take This Waltz. The film itself is a love letter to the giant, amorphous city that I live in, but it is also a dizzyingly honest, if at times heavy handed treatise on the insecurities that plague us and the dangerous allure of infatuation; an almost apt metaphor for those who have fallen in love with the city, but are consistently disillusioned by its faults and inability to love them back.

Michelle Williams is breathtaking as Margot, a 28 year old pamphlet writer living in Toronto's characteristically quirky West End with her simple, but adoring husband Lou, played by a surprisingly convincing Seth Rogen. When Margot travels to the Maritime province of Nova Scotia, she meets and instantly develops a sexually tense bond with Daniel, an intelligent, hauntingly handsome artist who just so happens to have moved into a bachelor apartment across the street. Daniel and Margot's relationship quickly intensifies, but lies dormant under the weight of Margor's committment to her love for Lou, his family and their life together, despite the emotional distance growing between the married couple.

This is a poignant, humanistic look at the most desperate, idealistic form of love. The kind of love that is dreamed, never realized, but always sought after. Sarah Silverman plays Lou's sister Geraldine, a recovering alcoholic whose addiction Polley writes in as a thematic parallel to Margot's struggle to maintain control while being pushed towards romantic idealism. Is Margot addicted to delusions of a grand love? Polley toys with the answer, building her characters through sometimes subtle, sometimes metaphorically overbearing, but mostly memorable moments: a kaleidoscopic spin on a chaotic amusement park ride is effective, but hints at pretentiousness. A late night swim shared by Margot and Daniel at a local community center pool (which happens to be *my* local community center pool) is also lensed carefully, with an assured rhythm that permeates a number of key scenes.

Polley strikes a more provocative, interesting tone in the third act that almost absolves the film of its slightly overbearing symbolism. The film is paced somewhat like a Summer love affair. It's hot, full of passion, but has an inevitable tinge of melancholia that comes with its conclusion. There is something of a slight plot twist that I really liked in its powerful simplicity. Characters make decisions that have life-changing consequences, but we know their regrets will always linger. As Seth Rogen's Lou comments near the end of the film, "sometimes things stick." Polley's strengths as a writer and director come from her ability to create indelible cinema out of moments that feel entirely natural. In a recent interview, Polley said making this film was an opportunity to "experiment" after the critical success of her first feature, Away From Her. All filmmakers' experiments should hope to be as delicately crafted, if a little undercooked, as this Take This Waltz.