The day after seeing Take this Waltz, I attended a party at Sarah Polley’s alma mater, the Canadian Film Centre (CFC). Polley wasn’t in attendance, unfortunately, but spirits at the annual BBQ were high because several alumni have hotly buzzed films at the festival, including Waltz, Ingrid Veninger’s i am a good person/ i am a bad person, and Randall Cole’s 388 Arletta Avenue. CFC is Canada’s top school for advanced training in film, television, and new media. Oscar-nominated director Norman Jewison founded CFC, which also produces shorts and feature films, and it runs the WorldWide Shorts Film Festival (one of only three festivals accredited by the AMPAS). Aside from the school’s recent films, you might have seen CFC in the news lately when it was announced that director Christopher Nolan selected CFC as the charity of his choice to receive a $100,000 donation. The annual BBQ was a fun event overall and a nice celebration of Canadian talent during the festival.
My first screening of the day was Steve McQueen’s Shame, and was it ever an exciting one! One of the great things about the Venice/TIFF overlap is that enthusiasm builds considerably whenever a TIFF selection triumphs in Venice. Post-Venice, the ticket lines (and Twitter) are all a flurry with extra-anticipation. TIFF-goers were so eager for Shame that I arrived at the venue an hour and a half before the screening to find the ticket holders line beginning to wrap around a few streets.
I’m very pleased to say that Shame lives up to the hype. From the stark opening sequence, director Steve McQueen fiercely thrusts the audience into the mechanics of sexual addiction. As Brandon (Michael Fassbender) broods around his apartment naked each morning, he blocks out the world around him. It’s not until Brandon flips on some porn or picks up a hooker that some spark of life seems to alight. Brandon will readily screw any living being in order to function. As portrayed by Fassbender, however, its plainly evident that Brandon’s sense of relief is not akin to being alive. Brandon is a junkie, and Fassbender’s smoldering performance palpably conveys the itch that mounts within Brandon as he awaits his next fix.
While Brandon’s appetite feeds itself, his sister is another story. Bandon receives a surprise visit from his younger sister, Sissy (played by a jaw-droppingly good Carey Mulligan), who is possibly more self-destructive than Brandon. An emotional wreak, Sissy seems utterly without direction, despite making progress as a lounge singer. It’s something Brandon realizes in a beautiful scene in which he and a friend attend one of Sissy’s performances. It befalls on both the siblings’ cravings, however, to avoid addressing the problem altogether and simply slap on the Band-Aid solutions of sex and booze.
It’s the hunger of the addiction that McQueen and Fassbender capture so well. While Fassbender bravely delivers a fully stripped performance (as do many of his female co-stars), Shame never titillates or teases; rather, the film excites the mind through a morbid curiosity and a yearning to understand Brandon and Sissy’s cravings. McQueen’s observational style puts the viewer in a position to sit back and contemplate Brandon’s self-destructive bent, yet the camera does not frame Brandon’s addiction from an angle of judgement. McQueen rather focuses on the psychology of the addiction, which ultimately is what makes the film so distressing because the performances and direction of Shame replicates this mindset so well.
Shame was followed by another psychological film, albeit a wholly different one: Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In. Skin is an immediate departure for the great Spanish director, not just because it’s a thriller, but also because it’s darker and more explicit than anything he’s made in some time. Antonio Banderas stars as Robert Legdgard, a plastic surgeon who develops a super form of synthetic skin and uses an imprisoned woman (Elena Anaya) as his guinea pig.
The plot is preposterous, but Almodovar almost makes it work through his energetic pacing and playful style. The tone of his direction is at odds with the subject matter, though, so The Skin I Live In gets a bit muddled in its execution. It is, however, evident that Almodovar is breaking new ground with his latest film: it’s certainly his most ambitious film in some time, and he still manages to put an Almodovar-esque tint on a story that will make skin crawl. Despite reservations, The Skin I Live In warrants a viewing primarily for Almodovar’s admirable experiment with genre – Skin is an sly hybrid (or hodgepodge) of thriller, B-movie, melodrama, and comedic farce. The downfall of The Skin I Live In may simply be that throughout the convoluted unfolding of events, my mind simply kept wandering back to Shame.
*The festival also paid tribute to the tenth anniversary of 9/11 by replacing the pre-screening commercials with a short film that offered a retrospective on how people felt after the attacks during TIFF 2001. Interviewees such as TIFF director Piers Handling, filmmakers Ingrid Veninger and Mira Nair, and critic Peter Howell all expressed how the tone and mood changed that day. Although screenings were reshuffled and the extravagant red carpets and press conferences were withheld that day, all involved observed how the choice to continue the festival that year offered hope, comfort, and refuge. It seems the show must go on.
Monday’s screenings: Rampart, 388 Arletta Avenue, Dark Horse, and Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Good review! This is truly the type of information that needs to be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this blog post higher!
Good review! This is truly the type of information that needs to be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this blog post higher!
@nathan
thanks for your response. I live in berlin and i really hope the installation you talked about will come to berlin (not only in munich), so i could share your experience of woobling knees 🙂
@nathan
thanks for your response. I live in berlin and i really hope the installation you talked about will come to berlin (not only in munich), so i could share your experience of woobling knees 🙂
@Paddy I must agree. The more I discuss The Skin I Live In with fellow festival goers, the more my opinion of it veers towards a ‘thumbs down’.
@Harry Thanks for pointing out the thrillers of Almodovar’s early career. I haven’t seen many of his eariler films, so that’s good to know!
@Paddy I must agree. The more I discuss The Skin I Live In with fellow festival goers, the more my opinion of it veers towards a ‘thumbs down’.
@Harry Thanks for pointing out the thrillers of Almodovar’s early career. I haven’t seen many of his eariler films, so that’s good to know!
I thought the basic problem with The Skin I Live In was the the choice of timeline in telling the story. Most of the reveals come up front so that a lot of the expository scenes that help propel a typical thriller forward, don’t really do anything for this one. It just sort of screws up the pacing of the movie cause you’re invested in the performances of the actors since Pedro’s done his best to give away exactly where the story is going in advance.
I disagree about this being a departure for Pedro. He’s made a lot of thrillers throughout his career. Along with melodrama, it’s probably his favorite genre. This one is more in line with Bad Education in terms of being more purely a genre a film, but I’d say most of this movies have mystery/thriller elements to them. Maybe there’s a little more of a sci/fi twist bent to it.
It’s not a great movie, but it has the elements of a great movie. Maybe it could’ve turned out a bit more taut in the hands of an on-task editor.
I thought the basic problem with The Skin I Live In was the the choice of timeline in telling the story. Most of the reveals come up front so that a lot of the expository scenes that help propel a typical thriller forward, don’t really do anything for this one. It just sort of screws up the pacing of the movie cause you’re invested in the performances of the actors since Pedro’s done his best to give away exactly where the story is going in advance.
I disagree about this being a departure for Pedro. He’s made a lot of thrillers throughout his career. Along with melodrama, it’s probably his favorite genre. This one is more in line with Bad Education in terms of being more purely a genre a film, but I’d say most of this movies have mystery/thriller elements to them. Maybe there’s a little more of a sci/fi twist bent to it.
It’s not a great movie, but it has the elements of a great movie. Maybe it could’ve turned out a bit more taut in the hands of an on-task editor.
I was at the Shame premium screening last night and there was a lot of love in the room for Fassbender and McQueen. The film is so brilliant. If Fassbender and Mulligan don’t get Oscar nods, it is a great injustice. My favorite film of the fest so far.
I was at the Shame premium screening last night and there was a lot of love in the room for Fassbender and McQueen. The film is so brilliant. If Fassbender and Mulligan don’t get Oscar nods, it is a great injustice. My favorite film of the fest so far.
I haven’t chimed-in yet this year because, although it’s still early in the season, there hasn’t been much to get excited about – until now. Last year, I remember bemoaning the fact that Michael Fassbender hadn’t really taken off yet on this side of the pond. I loved Hunger when it came out and thought he did an astounding job playing the cad in Fishtank, but these performances were bookended with less serious swords-n-sandal/superhero efforts that made me wonder what in what direction he was heading. Now, with Shame, I think we know. The director/actor pairing here could become classic, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see the reception being given to Shame. Can’t wait to see it.
I haven’t chimed-in yet this year because, although it’s still early in the season, there hasn’t been much to get excited about – until now. Last year, I remember bemoaning the fact that Michael Fassbender hadn’t really taken off yet on this side of the pond. I loved Hunger when it came out and thought he did an astounding job playing the cad in Fishtank, but these performances were bookended with less serious swords-n-sandal/superhero efforts that made me wonder what in what direction he was heading. Now, with Shame, I think we know. The director/actor pairing here could become classic, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see the reception being given to Shame. Can’t wait to see it.
@ thomas
Thanks so much for your description of the work. i really wish I had had the opportunity to see it, all the stills looked so haunting. The sensation you described of floating afterwards pretty much sums up how I felt after seeing Hunger in a cinema for the first time, and I think I would have responded positively to the installation.
I saw Isaac Julien’s 10,000 Waves at the Sydney Biennale last year, and the nine-screen installation absolutely floored me. I love the visceral response I have to video installation when everything about them is calibrated perfectly. When my knees wobble afterwards as I’m walking away I know I’ve been onto a winner.
@ thomas
Thanks so much for your description of the work. i really wish I had had the opportunity to see it, all the stills looked so haunting. The sensation you described of floating afterwards pretty much sums up how I felt after seeing Hunger in a cinema for the first time, and I think I would have responded positively to the installation.
I saw Isaac Julien’s 10,000 Waves at the Sydney Biennale last year, and the nine-screen installation absolutely floored me. I love the visceral response I have to video installation when everything about them is calibrated perfectly. When my knees wobble afterwards as I’m walking away I know I’ve been onto a winner.
@Nathan
I visited the Biennale in 2009 an i was so blown away by Steve McQueens Videowork in the British Pavillion. It was dark and silent in the Pavillion during the Video, but more important it was silent a few minutes after it was shown. And i saw some people later in the gardini or on the “streets” of venice. And they all smiled at me and i smiled at them, because we all shared a special experience. For me it was the best thing of the biennale 2009, because it connected with the place where it was shown. It was like a meditation of the giardini in autum or winter. You see only parts of the park and shadows of men walking around and maybe looking for sex, you could see an old women with her dog, you could see a falling leave a.s.o. And what makes this thing different was: you see it on a splitted screen. It was an experience i will never forget. When i left the pavillion i walked like in cloud and i got a feeling like kissed by an angel of art. And that is not so often, especially not in this year with a lot of concept-art. Only thinking about, reading about … an Steve McQueen in 2009 was all about feeling. And he found absoluty wonderful images for it.
And: He is right now one of my favortie artists and directors, because i really adore “Hunger”
@Nathan
I visited the Biennale in 2009 an i was so blown away by Steve McQueens Videowork in the British Pavillion. It was dark and silent in the Pavillion during the Video, but more important it was silent a few minutes after it was shown. And i saw some people later in the gardini or on the “streets” of venice. And they all smiled at me and i smiled at them, because we all shared a special experience. For me it was the best thing of the biennale 2009, because it connected with the place where it was shown. It was like a meditation of the giardini in autum or winter. You see only parts of the park and shadows of men walking around and maybe looking for sex, you could see an old women with her dog, you could see a falling leave a.s.o. And what makes this thing different was: you see it on a splitted screen. It was an experience i will never forget. When i left the pavillion i walked like in cloud and i got a feeling like kissed by an angel of art. And that is not so often, especially not in this year with a lot of concept-art. Only thinking about, reading about … an Steve McQueen in 2009 was all about feeling. And he found absoluty wonderful images for it.
And: He is right now one of my favortie artists and directors, because i really adore “Hunger”
I thought much the same about The Skin I Live In. I might even suggest it’s the worst Almodovar film I’ve seen.
I thought much the same about The Skin I Live In. I might even suggest it’s the worst Almodovar film I’ve seen.
I love that Steve McQueen has gone from Venice Biennale (2009) to the Venice Film Festival. I would love to see him add something like a Palm d’Or or an Academy Award to his Turner Prize. I think it would just be a cool swag of awards for any one person to be able to claim, possibly cooler than an EGOT. Similar to George Bernard Shaw having a Nobel Prize and an Oscar.
I was familiar with some of McQueen’s earlier performance based video works like Deadpan before I saw Hunger in 2008 and was blown away. His work Gravesend was also incredible, demonstrating that the man sure appreciates how important sound is within his particular medium… I knew if I waited eventually my interest in art and film awards trivia would chance to cross paths.
If anyone has seen any of McQueen’s video installations I’d love to know what you think. I read mostly negative responses to his 2009 installation at the British Pavillion from critics and my friends who went were similarly disappointed, but I wanted opinions from film fans?
I love that Steve McQueen has gone from Venice Biennale (2009) to the Venice Film Festival. I would love to see him add something like a Palm d’Or or an Academy Award to his Turner Prize. I think it would just be a cool swag of awards for any one person to be able to claim, possibly cooler than an EGOT. Similar to George Bernard Shaw having a Nobel Prize and an Oscar.
I was familiar with some of McQueen’s earlier performance based video works like Deadpan before I saw Hunger in 2008 and was blown away. His work Gravesend was also incredible, demonstrating that the man sure appreciates how important sound is within his particular medium… I knew if I waited eventually my interest in art and film awards trivia would chance to cross paths.
If anyone has seen any of McQueen’s video installations I’d love to know what you think. I read mostly negative responses to his 2009 installation at the British Pavillion from critics and my friends who went were similarly disappointed, but I wanted opinions from film fans?