By Mathew Kumar

Couple of things going on with the films released this week. With Shutter, most interesting is that it’s based on a Thai horror film, but has been, in its Western remake, transplanted to Tokyo. Reasons? Well, either “all of Asia is basically the same thing, right?” or “people always think of scary pale girls with long black hair as being Japanese, anyway.”
Okay, that’s not really that interesting (who cares about Asian horror films featuring scary pale girls with long black hair by now?), but Drillbit Taylor is, kinda. If you’re like us you’ve seen the trailers a million times and thought absolutely nothing of it other than “poor Owen Wilson.” Which is strange, because it’s been co-produced by Judd Apatow and co-written by Seth Rogen… From a story idea created with the help of John Hughes??? Maybe John Hughes isn’t the draw he once was, but every other film that’s had Judd Apatow’s touch has been advertised with his name absolutely everywhere, and its absence here is conspicuous. Perhaps the fact that the film is “so indifferently written and sloppily produced that you can’t possibly enjoy or appreciate anything that happens in it” (according to Now’s Norm Wilner) is the reason they’re all keeping quiet—leaving the fragile Owen Wilson in the spotlight. Those heartless beasts.
Also on release this week: Denys Arcand’s Days of Darkness (“arguably Arcand’s most depressing film—yet it’s also one of his greatest,” says the Star’s Peter Howell), Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, Married Life, Snow Angels, and The Grand.
The Royal is showing the latest features from Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Jacques Rivette (The Duchess of Langeais). We feel absolutely nothing for the work of Gus Van Sant, but the Jacques Rivette is called “one of the most masterful examples of recent French cinema” by Eye’s Jason Anderson.
In Festivals this week, the big news is the Canadian Film Festival, starting at the Bloor Cinema on Tuesday with Hank & Mike at 8 p.m., but there’s also the Queer 2 Fly Film Festival this weekend at Innis Town Hall.